B-21 Begins Taxi Tests in Last Step Before First Flight

B-21 Begins Taxi Tests in Last Step Before First Flight

Oct. 25, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

The first B-21 Raider has begun taxi tests, in preparation for a first flight by the end of the year, the Air Force confirmed Oct. 25.

The B-21 “is conducting ground taxi activities,” an Air Force spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine in response to a query. The War Zone first reported the development.

“Rigorous testing is a critical step in the B-21 flight test program,” she said. “Extensive testing evaluates systems, components, and functionalities. This testing allows us to mitigate risks, optimize design, and enhance operational effectiveness.”

The spokesperson had no other details to offer and said no photography is planned by the Air Force at this point.

The most recent photos of the first B-21 at Northrop Grumman’s facility at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., showed the aircraft outside its hangar, presumably for outside engine runs, but the labyrinth of buildings at the plant make it possible for the aircraft to be outside and not visible from local roadways.

Social media sites that monitor Plant 42—where Lockheed Martin and Boeing also have facilities and where novel aircraft and modifications often show up unexpectedly—have been buzzing about “something moving” at Northrop’s end of the plant for two days.

Taxi tests indicate the airplane has already conducted a series of outdoor engine runs. A taxi test campaign typically follows a pattern wherein ground-handling qualities are tested and evaluated at slow and medium speeds before high-speed tests, which are the direct precursor to first flight.

In July, Northrop Grumman officials disclosed the B-21 had accomplished its first “power on” test. In September, Air Force Global Strike Command boss Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere announced the bomber has begun engine runs as part of its ground testing program.

Especially with a large flying wing like the B-21, high-speed taxi tests could inadvertently lead to a first flight. When the YF-16 was making a high-speed taxi test in January 1974, the eager aircraft made an unplanned takeoff.

Air Force officials have said they do not plan to make a media event out of first flight, insisting the bomber will fly as soon as it is ready to do so.

The B-21 was originally expected to fly in 2022 but did not roll out until December of last year, and first flight was then projected for the middle of 2023. In March, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the airplane will fly “by the end of 2023,” but service officials have insisted the event will be driven by technical readiness and not the calendar.

The B-2—the B-21’s predecessor—flew nine months after its rollout in 1988.

The aircraft now taxiing is one of six known to be in some stage of production, and has been described as production-representative. The B-21s are being built on production tooling, and the first examples shouldn’t be considered prototypes, Northrop Grumman aeronautics president Tom Jones said at AFA’s Air, Space and Cyber conference in September.

“The jet that’s going to fly this year, for all intents and purposes, is a production jet,” Jones said during a B-21 panel discussion. “It’s got all the coatings, it’s got the mission systems, it was built using factory processes … with regular workers, by regular factory technicians, not engineers doing a bespoke first article.”

While the first one to fly will be a “flight sciences” aircraft—meaning it has been instrumented to collect data on all aspects of the aircraft’s performances—the B-21 contract calls for configuring all test aircraft as operational models after testing is concluded.

Northrop Grumman CEO Kathy Warden, in a company quarterly earnings call in January, told reporters she expects the contract for low-rate initial production this year, but after first flight. At the second-quarter call, she reported that the first B-21 had completed its first “power on” test, paving the way for engine runs and taxi.

In both calls, Warden cautioned that the fixed-price nature of the LRIP contract, coupled with the inflation of recent years, means there won’t be any profit on the program during that phase, but that Northrop expected to receive a $60 million payment from the Air Force to mitigate inflation and smooth the way toward first flight.

Northrop’s third quarter earnings call is scheduled for Oct. 26

Ukrainian Pilots Start Training on the F-16 in Arizona

Ukrainian Pilots Start Training on the F-16 in Arizona

Oct. 25, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

The U.S. has begun training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s, the U.S. Air Force announced Oct. 25.

A “small number” of Ukrainian pilots began training with the 162nd Wing of the Arizona Air National Guard earlier this week in “F-16 fundamentals,” according to a service spokesperson.

“The training curriculum will align with the foundational knowledge and skills of each pilot and is expected to last several months,” a U.S. Air Force spokesperson said in a statement provided to Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The 162nd Wing trains pilots at Morris Air National Guard Base, which is located at Tucson International Airport. It is the only unit in the U.S. Air Force tasked with training foreign pilots on F-16s as part of its day-to-day mission. The wing has trained over two dozen countries in how to operate the F-16.

“They’re very intimately familiar on how we do training of foreign military pilots,” Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh, the director of the Air National Guard, said in September.

A typical F-16 training course takes around six months. However, U.S. officials have indicated Ukrainian pilots are unlikely to follow a standard model as the course will be suited to Ukraine’s need to protect its skies from Russian aircraft, drones, and missiles. European nations are also training Ukrainian pilots in how to operate the F-16.

Training of F-16 pilots typically includes significant classroom and simulator time in addition to training in the air. Foreign F-16 pilots also have to undergo English language training, which Ukrainians began last month at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

“For Ukraine, it is going to be tailored for exactly what they need to do, which is multirole, both air-to-air and air-to-ground,” Loh said. “We will train them to do the full multirole spectrum of what we can expect in their theory of conflict.”

Ukrainian pilots are not expected to start flying F-16s in combat until 2024. European nations have pledged to provide Ukraine with used F-16s. The U.S. has committed to training some pilots and maintainers to supplement the coalition of countries working to provide Ukraine with F-16s.

Gen. James B. Hecker, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, said in an interview in September that “up to about 10 pilots” would be trained by the U.S. The Pentagon has said the U.S. will also train “dozens” of maintainers, though the U.S. has not revealed whether that training has begun.

“One of the reasons why the F-16 is such a good match for the Ukrainian Air Force is because of the multiple roles that it can conduct,” said retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, a former fighter pilot and dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “It can perform air-to-air combat, which is a role that is critical in providing air defense for the cities and military areas that require protection from Russian attack in Ukraine.”

The F-16 can also be used to employ air-to-surface weapons and to suppress enemy air defenses. Such capabilities would enhance Ukraine’s ability to retake its territory by providing capabilities that ground forces alone cannot, Deptula said.

“What the F-16 does allows the Ukrainians to leverage multi-domain operations in a way that they simply don’t have the ability to do today,” he added.

Though the U.S. has not pledged to provide any American-owned F-16s, transferring the stalwart multirole fighter—around 3,000 of which are in service around the world—requires approval by the American government to be given to Ukraine, which the Biden administration signaled it would sign off on in the summer.

The training by the 162nd Wing “follows President Biden and Secretary Austin’s decision to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s as part of the United States’ contribution to Ukraine,” the Air Force spokesperson said.

Pentagon: China Working on Upgrades to Top Stealth Fighter, Manned-Unmanned Teaming

Pentagon: China Working on Upgrades to Top Stealth Fighter, Manned-Unmanned Teaming

Oct. 24, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

The People’s Liberation Army Air Force is upgrading the Chengdu J-20 Mighty Dragon, China’s answer to the Lockheed Martin F-22, and is experimenting with manned-unmanned teaming concepts, much in the same way the U.S. Air Force is doing, according to the Pentagon’s latest assessment of Chinese military power.

In the annual China Military Power Report, released in mid-October, the Pentagon reports that the PLAAF “is preparing upgrades for the J-20, which may include increasing the number of air-to-air missiles (AAM) the fighter can carry in its low-observable configuration, installing thrust-vectoring engine nozzles, and adding super cruise capability by installing higher-thrust indigenous WS-15 engines.”

The two-seat J-20S has also been introduced, and experts speculate that this version is being evaluated for possible control of autonomous escort aircraft.

Since the J-20 already has the capacity to launch a number of missiles equivalent to the F-22, the carriage upgrade in stealth mode would give the J-20 a distinctive edge over the F-22; particularly because the J-20 can carry the PL-15, which is China’s counterpart to the U.S. AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile. While the range of the PL-15 is speculative and the range of the latest version of AMRAAM is classified, senior USAF officials have said the PL-15’s range exceeds that of the AMRAAM, giving the Chinese stealth fighter a potential first-look/first-shot capability against the American fighter.

The Air Force has been developing the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM), built by Lockheed Martin, since about 2017, but the program is highly classified. When it was first revealed at an industry conference in 2019, Air Force munitions leaders said the weapon would be operational in 2022, but no announcement has been made indicating that has happened, and the Air Force has declined to answer any questions about the missile since.

While the report didn’t indicate how many J-20s China has built, industry experts have said that by early 2023, Chengdu had manufactured between 180-220 J-20s, eclipsing the 187 F-22s built by the U.S. They also report that China is building J-20s at a rate of 40-50 per year. However, those analyses are based on serial markings seen on aircraft at air and trade shows, and China may have painted deceptive serial markings on its aircraft to suggest a greater inventory than it actually has on hand.

Most J-20s are deployed in the interior of China or near the Indian border, making it hard for Western analysts without access to national satellite imagery to make a reliable count.

The China report kept largely mum about the PLAAF and People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)’s counterpart to the F-35, known in China as the FC-31/J-31.

“Development continues on the smaller FC-31/J-31 for export or as a future naval fighter for the PLAN’s next class of aircraft carriers,” the report said, without commenting on the jet’s progress.

Early versions of the J-31 seemed to be near-clones of the F-35, but more recent imagery shows a more elongated overall shape, with larger tail surfaces, perhaps more suggestive of the F-22. Unlike the F-35, the J-31 has two engines.

The report indicated that roughly 1,300 of China’s 1,900 fighters are fourth-generation or better. The J-20 and FC-31/J-31 are considered fifth-generation types.

The Pentagon’s assessment offered little new information on China’s H-20 stealth bomber program, reportedly a near-twin of the U.S. Air Force’s B-2 bomber, except to say that Chinese state media has reported “that this new stealth bomber will have a nuclear mission in addition to filling conventional roles.”

China is upgrading its existing H-6 Badgers, based on 1950s-era Tu-16 bombers built under license from Russia. The H-6 serves in both the PLAAF and PLAN, and these aircraft have in recent years been equipped with long-range, standoff land-attack missiles, “giving the PLA a long-range standoff precision strike capability that can range targets in the Second Island Chain from home airfields in mainland China,” the Pentagon said.

The navalized H-6N can carry “an air-launched ballistic missile,” the report noted, which “may be nuclear capable.”

In addition to fielding more mature air combat capabilities, China is developing a host of unmanned air vehicles, ranging from handheld units to large aircraft in the class of the U.S.’s RQ-4 Global Hawk.

“Air and trade shows are displaying growing numbers of autonomous and teaming systems, including for combat applications,” the report said. “In these concepts, Chinese developers are demonstrating an interest in additional growth beyond [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] and EW (electronic warfare) into both air-to-air and air-to-ground combat, with a substantial amount of development displaying efforts to produce swarming capability for operational applications.”

China has displayed large stealthy-looking, jet-powered drones in military parades, and has a number of drones in the class of the U.S. MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper, which it is also making available for export, the report noted.

F-16s Deploy from Germany to Iceland for Air Policing Mission

F-16s Deploy from Germany to Iceland for Air Policing Mission

Oct. 24, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

A quartet of F-16 fighters and some 100 Airmen from the 480th Fighter Squadron at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, arrived in Keflavik, Iceland, on Oct. 22 to take over the NATO Air Policing mission there—the first deployment of U.S. Air Force fighters to Iceland in two years. 

The arrival of the F-16s detachment comes a month after three B-2 bombers departed Keflavik, wrapping up a month-long Bomber Task Force deployment there. 

In a social media post, NATO Allied Air Command wrote that the F-16s would “conduct Air Surveillance missions and provide interceptors for NATO’s Air Policing mission in the High North.” In a release, NATO stated the deployment would last until Nov. 12. 

Like other NATO allies that lack combat air forces, Iceland hosts a rotation of allied fighters to keep its airspace secure. Unlike air policing missions in the Baltic States and Eastern Europe, NATO does not maintain a continuous presence in Iceland, however, instead deploying forces for three to four weeks three times per year. 

Most recently, Norwegian F-35s deployed to Keflavik in January. The last American fighters to deploy to Iceland did so in July 2021, when F-15s from RAF Lakenheath, U.K., fulfilled the rotation. 

“The mission demonstrates U.S. commitment to the NATO Alliance, security in Europe and the strong transatlantic bond among our members,” Maj. Clifford Peterson, 480th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron detachment commander, said in a statement. 

Images shared by NATO Allied Air Command also showed a C-130J Super Hercules from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, carrying F-16 support personnel to Iceland. 

A C-130J Super Hercules tactical aircraft carrying F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft support personnel departs Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany to support North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Air Surveillance and Policing at Keflavik International Airport, Iceland, October 22, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Max J. Daigle

Deploying F-16s from a German base to Iceland comes as the U.S. Air Force is shuffling aircraft and personnel around the globe. B-1 bombers recently landed at RAF Fairford, U.K., for another Bomber Task Force rotation, while in the Middle East, F-16s from the New Jersey Air National Guard have joined five other fighter squadrons in the region as the U.S. bulks up its Middle East presence in an effort to deter any expansion of the Israel-Hamas War. Meanwhile, in the Pacific, B-52 bombers are flying missions out of Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, amidst a BTF deployment. 

PHOTOS: After Flying Out Personnel, C-17s Return to Israel Carrying Munitions

PHOTOS: After Flying Out Personnel, C-17s Return to Israel Carrying Munitions

Oct. 24, 2023 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

While the Pentagon surges U.S. forces to the Middle East to deter further conflict in the region, the Air Force’s airlift fleet has been steadily working to deliver essential munitions, armored vehicles, and aid to Israel for its war against Hamas using C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.

Images published Oct. 24 show that aid in action, with Airmen from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, loading cargo onto a C-17 from Travis Air Force Base, Calif., and delivering it to Nevatim Base in Israel.

According to the Pentagon, five C-17s transported a variety of security assistance to Israel between Oct. 12 and Oct. 16. U.S. Transportation Command declined to release additional information on the volume and the specifics of the munitions C-17s are carrying to Israel.

During a briefing last week, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said she anticipates “nearly daily deliveries” of aid to Israel.

The U.S. has already supplied Israel with munitions such as small diameter bombs and Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) tail kits, through Direct Commercial Sales Contracts, a senior defense official said Oct 23.

The JDAM is a guidance kit that transforms existing unguided free-fall bombs into precise, all-weather ‘smart’ weapons.

The senior official added that before the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack, some 155mm ammunition had been taken from Israel’s war reserve stockpile to replenish U.S. stocks in Europe. However, a significant portion of that ammunition has been redirected and provided to the Israel Defense Forces for their use.

The Pentagon is expediting existing weapons orders for Israel from defense companies as well.

The C-17 is a heavy-lift, strategic transport capable of direct tactical delivery of all classes of military cargo. The aircraft previously conducted missions to bring back individuals from Israel following the Hamas attack.

After deploying F-15Es and A-10 Thunderbolts to the Middle East, the Air Force is bolstering its presence in the Middle East by sending additional F-16 Fighting Falcons that landed Oct. 24.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden briefed Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on U.S. support and regional deterrence, including new military deployments on Oct. 23.

Biden also welcomed the release of two more hostages from Gaza and reaffirmed his commitment to securing the release of all remaining hostages including Americans, and maintaining humanitarian assistance in the region.

More F-16s Arrive in Middle East as AFCENT Fighter Footprint Grows to 6 Squadrons

More F-16s Arrive in Middle East as AFCENT Fighter Footprint Grows to 6 Squadrons

Oct. 24, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

More U.S. Air Force F-16s arrived in the Middle East, the service announced Oct. 24, as threats to American forces in the region continue to grow.

The New Jersey Air National Guard’s 119th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron’s arrival in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) region increases the Air Force’s fighter footprint in the Middle East to six squadrons. U.S. bases in the Middle East have begun to come under attack from militia groups aligned with Iran, and officials have voiced concerned about possible region-wide escalation of the Israel-Hamas war.

“What has happened in the last several days is efforts by Iran and Iran proxy forces to seek to escalate this conflict,” a senior defense official told reporters Oct. 23.

The addition of another multirole fighter squadron will “provide flexible options to coalition leaders directing air operations throughout the Middle East, including contingency response capabilities and deterrence mission,” according to a release from Air Forces Central (AFCENT). The exact location of the F-16s was not disclosed.

The F-16 Fighting Falcons are part of a broader package of forces that have deployed after Hamas’ attack on Israel. F-15Es from RAF Lakenheath, U.K., and A-10 Thunderbolt IIs from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., have already arrived in the region to bolster the U.S. Air Force presence.

AFCENT now operates three F-16 squadrons, two A-10 squadrons, and an F-15E squadron “alongside several strategic airlift, aerial refueling, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms,” according to the release. U.S. officials are considering deploying additional military forces to the region.

“We are fortunate to have the 119th EFS join us in U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility,” Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, the commander of Air Forces Central, said in a statement.

Nicknamed the “Jersey Devils,” the 119th Fighter Squadron is based in Atlantic City, N.J.

“Air National Guard Airmen bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to our mission in the Middle East,” Grynkewich said. “The arrival of these Airmen strengthens our ability to support our allied, coalition, and regional partners as we work together to enhance regional stability and security.”

U.S. officials are increasingly alarmed at the threat posed by Iranian-backed groups. U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria have been attacked with rockets and drones numerous times in the last week, including the first attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq in over a year. According to the Pentagon, there have been at least 13 attacks on U.S. forces—10 in Iraq and three in Syria—between Oct. 17 and Oct. 24.

“That is a clear indicator that additional force protection measures are needed,” a senior military official said of the attacks. “We know there is a significant threat of escalation throughout the region and that would include towards U.S. forces.”

On Oct. 23, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III called Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as U.S. officials seek to deter threats to U.S. forces in Iraq, where some 2,500 U.S. troops are advising Iraqi forces that are fighting Islamic State group militants. President Joe Biden has also spoken with Sudani. On Oct. 23, the Iraqi government released a statement calling on its forces “not to allow under any circumstances” actions that “harm security and stability.”

The latest attack on U.S. forces in the Middle East confirmed by the Pentagon occurred Oct. 23 and was targeted against the Al Tanf Garrison, a base in southeast Syria that is used by American troops and their Syrian partners. The U.S. has around 900 troops in Syria who are working with local partners to combat the Islamic State group.

On Oct. 19, the Pentagon said a U.S. Navy warship operating in the Red Sea, the destroyer USS Carney, shot down four land attack cruise missiles and several drones launched by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels that were potentially heading toward Israel.

“When you see this uptick in activity and attacks by many of these groups, there’s Iranian fingerprints all over it,” the senior defense official said.

The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier is operating in the eastern Mediterranean Sea to deter further escalation of the conflict. The Ford carries four fighter squadrons and other aircraft and is accompanied by cruise missile-carrying warships. The USS Bataan, which carries about 2,400 Marines as well as fighters and helicopters, is heading closer to Israel, the Pentagon says.

The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier was scheduled to join the Ford in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, but has now been redirected to CENTCOM. The USS Eisenhower and its accompanying warships are transiting the Atlantic. U.S. officials have not disclosed the final destination of the ships or said when they will arrive in the region.

Thousands of U.S. troops have been placed on a heightened state of readiness, according to the Pentagon, and the U.S. has ordered the deployment of a Terminal High-altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery and an unspecified number of additional Patriot air defense system battalions to the CENTCOM region.

“We are deliberately sending an incredibly strong signal to our adversaries but also to our allies and partners about the depth of our support and the ability of the U.S. military to expeditiously, dynamically, respond to contingencies anywhere in the world,” the senior U.S. defense official. “That’s what we’re demonstrating today in the Middle East.”

Lockheed Quits Air Force Tanker Competition, But Airbus Will Go It Alone

Lockheed Quits Air Force Tanker Competition, But Airbus Will Go It Alone

Oct. 23, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Lockheed Martin has withdrawn its LMXT aerial refueler from the Air Force’s KC-135 fleet recapitalization program—previously referred to as the “bridge tanker” effort—the company said Oct. 23. However, its partner Airbus said it will press on, offering its Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) version of the aircraft.

A Lockheed spokesperson said the company will focus on the Next-Generation Air Refueling System (NGAS) program instead.  

“Lockheed Martin has decided not to respond to the U.S. Air Force’s KC-135 fleet recapitalization Request for Information (RFI),” a company spokesperson said.

“We are transitioning Lockheed Martin’s LMXT team and resources to new opportunities and priority programs, including development of aerial refueling solutions in support of” the NGAS program, the spokesperson added. “We remain committed to the accelerated delivery of advanced capabilities that strengthen the U.S. Air Force’s aerial refueling missions.”

An Airbus spokesperson said the company “remains committed to providing the U.S. Air Force and our warfighters with the most modern and capable tanker on the market, and will formally respond” to the KC-135 recapitalization request for information. “The A330 U.S.-MRTT is a reliable choice for the U.S. Air Force: one that will deliver affordability, proven performance and unmatched capabilities,” they added.

The Air Force released the RFI on Sept. 14, but the document is “controlled” and not available for public dissemination. Lockheed had almost six weeks to review the document before deciding not to pursue the program further but would only say through the spokesperson that “a combination of a few factors in the RFI shaped our decision, as well as acceleration of the NGAS program.”

The company said the details of its partnership with Airbus are proprietary and would not say whether Lockheed faces any financial obligations to Airbus as a result of its decision to end its part of the LMXT.

As to whether any elements of the LMXT which Lockheed brought to the partnership could find their way into Airbus’ proposal, the Lockheed spokesperson said “any future tanking opportunities between Lockheed Martin and Airbus will need to be considered based on specific requirements and timelines.”

The Air Force was not immediately prepared to provide comment on Lockheed’s decision. Service officials said as recently as August that there is not as yet an acquisition strategy for the KC-135 recap program or NGAS, as the Air Force analysis of alternatives for both programs was to begin after the RFI responses.

The KC-135 recapitalization is currently projected to be a program of about 75 aircraft—at roughly 15 per year—meeting the Air Force’s desire to keep some kind of traditional refueling aircraft in production between the end of Boeing’s KC-46 program—which wraps up with 179 aircraft circa 2028—and operational service of the yet-undefined NGAS, in the mid-2030s.

The NGAS is expected to be a smaller tanker able to operate alongside combat aircraft in contested airspace; Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has said the traditional approach of converting tube-and-wing-type freight aircraft into tankers will no longer be survivable in the late 2030s.

The service wants to preserve competition as much as possible, but Kendall has said that the cost of a competition—and a separate logistics train for a different aircraft—may not be worth it. Some members of Congress—particularly the Alabama delegation, where Lockheed would have assembled the LMXT—have objected to the idea of Boeing receiving a sole-source contract for more or modified versions of the KC-46.

Lockheed and Airbus’s LMXT proposal was based on the Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT), but with additional capabilities and features that would be unique to USAF. In June, Lockheed pitched the LMXT as a “mothership” for the NGAS fleet of smaller, stealthier tankers.

A European Aeronautic Defense and Space (EADS)-Northrop Grumman offering of an Airbus A330-based tanker was Boeing’s competition in several USAF tanker contests since the early 2000s, and was selected as the winner in 2008, receiving the designation KC-45. But that award was thrown out after a protest by Boeing, which won the re-compete with what is now called the KC-46. In that recompete, Northop left the KC-45 partnership—saying the rewritten contest rules favored Boeing’s entry—and Airbus entered on its own.

Lockheed’s campaign lead for the LMXT, Larry Gallogly, said in a June phone call with defense reporters that while 75 airplanes would have been a challenging business case for the aircraft, Lockheed expected the Air Force would need more time—and more tankers—because the Air Force’s NGAs timeline is a “very aggressive target.” He said 150 bridge tankers was more probable, and other company officials have said that a minimum of 110 aircraft was needed to close the business case.

Lockheed touted the LMXT as a hedge against a “single point failure” of the Air Force’s air refueling enterprise if Boeing’s KC-46 fleet was grounded. However, the LMXT, which is significantly larger than the KC-46, would be limited to a smaller number of airfields than the Boeing jet—a potentially problematic issue given the Air Force’s “Agile Combat Employment” model for operating from a widely dispersed number of airfields. Lockheed said the jet’s extra fuel capacity would enable it to operate from well outside contested airspace. The aircraft would also have had automatic air refueling capability; a feature the Air Force is eyeing for latter versions of the KC-46.

New Report: How the Air Force Measures and Trains for Readiness Needs a Revamp

New Report: How the Air Force Measures and Trains for Readiness Needs a Revamp

Oct. 23, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

As the Department of the Air Force undergoes a sweeping “re-optimization” review focused on its readiness for great power competition, a new research report cites gaps in the department’s methods for measuring readiness and suggests advanced new simulators and relatred technologies could be useful to close those gaps.  

The report was published Oct. 19 by the federally funded RAND Corporation and shed light on senior leadership’s concerns “that the current readiness assessment system is not providing sufficient insight into the capability of the force to meet future mission requirements because of the lack of quality outcome measurements in the readiness system.”  

Those concerns about readiness seemingly culminated in a series of remarks by Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall in September.  

“If we were asked tomorrow to go to war against a great power, either Russia or China, would we be really ready to do that?” Kendall asked rhetorically during a livestreamed discussion with Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass. “I think the answer is not as much as we could be, by a significant margin. And we’ve got to start spending a lot of time thinking about that and figuring out what we’re going to do about it.”  

Then, in his keynote address at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference a week later, Kendall declared that “we must ensure that the Air Force and Space Force are optimized to provide integrated deterrence, support campaigning, and ensure enduring advantage.” 

The re-optimization review, currently under way and set to produce recommendations by January, has five lines of effort, one of which is focused on “how we create, sustain and evaluate readiness across the Air and Space Forces,” Kendall said. 

The RAND report, commissioned by the Headquarters Air Force Training and Readiness Directorate, could inform the review effort and its recommendations. Relying on interviews with subject matter experts and Air Force leaders, RAND researchers homed in on issues with the department’s current readiness metrics and recommendations for improving the test and training infrastructure to close those gaps. 

“The [Air Force] is not measuring the most useful things to gain insight on the readiness of the force,” researchers concluded. “Legacy metrics focus on the ability of individual service members to conduct individual missions. But most National Defense Strategy missions require an integrated approach: Both USAF training requirements and how training is achieved need to change to capture more meaningful readiness metrics.” 

Researchers highlighted three interconnected issues with current readiness metrics: 

  • They don’t do a good job of measuring integration across services or even Unit Type Codes (UTCs), instead asking individual units and service members to assess their own readiness in isolation 
  • They don’t reflect how the Air Force actually presents forces; individual units are assessed for different missions or environments, but the service then has to aggregate and extrapolate for the force packages it actually uses to respond to situations. 
  • “Opportunities can be nonexistent or scarce for units to practice and demonstrate proficiency for certain capabilities,” researchers said, meaning leaders have to make educated guesses as to their forces’ readiness for certain missions. 

“Addressing these gaps is not a simple matter of adjusting the current training infrastructure,” the researchers wrote. “Qualitatively different capabilities are needed to scale, integrate, and present complex scenarios and environments, which could be scheduled across units to aggregate force packages and executed to align with readiness reporting cycles. Furthermore, to fully close the gap in readiness assessment, the capabilities must allow some form of data collection to capture necessary and interpretable readiness measurements.” 

The answer, the report suggests, are substantial investments in training infrastructure, particularly in simulators and “synthetic environments” that would allow the department to conduct more integrated training without massive, costly exercises; and to test troops’ readiness against threats and missions that might be impossible to recreate in the real world. 

Such improvements would also provide more objective data on readiness, the report notes, helping leadership make more informed decisions. 

In discussions with leaders from Air Combat Command, Air Force Global Strike Command, and Air Mobility Command, researchers found a common requirement for more and better distributed mission operations training, which would require expanding simulator training to more communities, standardizing the simulators and synthetic training environments currently used, and upgrading the IT infrastructure to support the connectivity required for such training—a frequent concern across many of the department’s technology efforts. 

The Air Force’s main effort to address that demand is the evolving “Common Synthetic Training Environment,” which has been in development for several years. “This approach intentionally shifts the focus of training capabilities away from system-specific simulators to a modular, open architecture that directly supports integrated training across air platforms,” RAND researchers wrote. But they cited a range of technical challenges, from scalability to realism to integration, that continue to challenge developers. 

The report concluded with five recommendations for the Air Force to consider: 

  • Define readiness more broadly and add specific measures within that definition 
  • Create processes to determine readiness for force packages that go beyond individual unit commanders 
  • Add a field in the Defense Readiness Reporting System–Strategic where commanders can explain qualifying information relating to their subjective assessments 
  • Establish a working group focused on data and measurement in support of the Common Synthetic Training Environment 
  • Factor readiness assessment gaps when establishing priorities for training infrastructure 
US, S. Korea, Japan Hold First Ever Trilateral Air Exercise, with B-52 and Fighters

US, S. Korea, Japan Hold First Ever Trilateral Air Exercise, with B-52 and Fighters

Oct. 23, 2023 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

The air forces of the U.S., South Korea and Japan held their first ever trilateral aerial exercise Oct. 22.

One American B-52 bomber and three U.S. F-16s flew alongside two F-15Ks from the Republic of Korea Air Force, and four F-2s from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.

The exercise marks a major milestone in the trilateral relationship between the allies, which saw a historic boost in August when U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Republic of Korea (ROK) President Yoon Suk Yeol met at Camp David, Md., for the first ever standalone meeting of the three countries’ leaders and pledged to hold “annual, named, multi-domain trilateral exercises”.

“This aerial exercise builds on the continued interoperability of our collective forces and demonstrates the strength of the trilateral relationship with our Japan and Republic of Korea allies,” U.S. Pacific Command said in a release.

The drill took place in the southern part of the peninsula, where South Korea and Japan’s Air Defense Identification Zones overlap, according to the ROKAF.

In the past, U.S. Air Force aircraft have often conducted bilateral exercises with Japan and South Korea in succession. Just last week, the JASDF and USAF held a joint drill with two B-52s and a multiple fighter jets on Oct. 18, and a B-52 landed in South Korea for the first time in three decades after executing flyovers at the 2023 Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition.

Following the exhibition, North Korea’s state-run media KCNA criticized the B-52’s presence in the peninsula, calling it an “nuclear war provocative moves of the United States.”

The B-52 Stratofortresses, fom Barksdale Air Force Base, La., have subsequently flown to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, for a Bomber Task Force rotation, according to Pacific Air Forces. The Stratofortress, known as the BUFF, is the Air Force’s primary standoff cruise missile carrier that can carry nuclear or precision guided conventional ordnance, with worldwide precision navigation capability.

While the Oct. 22 air drill marks the three countries first joint aerial collaboration, the three allies have conducted naval exercises before. Earlier this month, Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo orchestrated a naval exercise with the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in international waters off South Korea’s southern Jeju Island.

The exercise was conducted to enhance their ability to detect and track targets, as well as data sharing in response to potential provocations by Pyongyang.

South Korea’s Navy also disclosed that this exercise incorporated training for intercepting North Korean weapons of mass destruction.

The three countries have also conducted a trilateral ballistic missile defense exercise earlier this year with the USS Benfold. At the trilateral summit this summer, leaders also agreed to establish a shared real-time missile warning system.

As the U.S., Japan, and South Korea tighten their ties, a potential trio of competitors may also be forming. In September, Seoul’s National Intelligence Service revealed that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu proposed a possible trilateral naval exercise with North Korea and China while meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in July.

This emerging “trilateral imperialist partnership,” according to Bruce Bennet at the RAND Corporation, not only raises concerns about the prolonged conflict in Ukraine and its consequences but also presents a concerning potential for future conflicts involving nuclear weaponry.