Space Force CTIO: AI Will Be ‘Game-Changer’ for Operational Space

Space Force CTIO: AI Will Be ‘Game-Changer’ for Operational Space

Space Force Chief Technology and Innovation Officer Lisa Costa called artificial intelligence a “game-changer” for the service during a recent Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies’ webinar event, highlighting its potential to enhance USSF’s operational capabilities and affect the global space race, while also acknowledging some of the hurdles still in the way.

A common concern for the U.S., China, and other space-faring nations is the quality and immense volume of the data. But Costa expressed confidence that AI technology like machine learning and natural language processing could help solve that issue.

“Computer-based tagging of large amounts of information in real-time is possible, and, in fact, computers are much better at tagging and marking up data than humans are,” Costa said during the Nov. 8 event. “I believe this is going to be a real game-changer in terms of being able to use AI in operational space.”

AI-driven real-time tagging of vast information sets could surpass human capabilities in consistency and efficiency, Costa said. To get there, though, she emphasized the need for real-time training for large language models, as they allow effective control of various sensors and sensor webs.

The Space Force previously limited usage of those models for official purposes, but Costa made clear at the time the pause was temporary as the service considered data security concerns. In the long term, she said such models “will undoubtedly revolutionize our workforce and enhance Guardians’ ability to operate at speed.”

Before that long-term vision comes to fruition, the Space Force must deal with the aging infrastructures and technology it inherited when starting up four years ago. These outdated technologies, networks, and software may not be conducive to the integration of advanced technologies like AI, which Costa refers to as a “tech debt.” This includes the limitations of older GPS satellites, various constellations running on different or outdated networks, and the difficulty of building advanced AI models on top of these aging infrastructures.

“We’re working to modernize those capabilities, fundamentally looking at fixing the foundation.” Costa said.

To update the foundational elements will require taking risks and being innovative—Costa said the goal is to bring in innovation and agility without compromising the reliability of crucial systems. This is part of the branch’s overall plan to modernize and transform digitally.

Another unique potential challenge in the realm of space operations is satellites reacting to AI-perceived threats that are not real, disrupting operations and wasting resources. Repositioning satellites due to such perceived threats could also create space debris, endangering future missions.

Adversaries may also use AI for threat detection, raising concerns about security breaches and increased errors. The picture grows even more complicated when countries such as China are often opaque about their procedures and intentions in space. China’s on-orbit presence has exponentially grown since 2015, with a 379 percent increase in satellites.

“When China does not make available their TTPs [Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures] and their CONOPS [Concept of Operations] for mission operations … mistakes can be made,” Costa said. “We want to make sure that space is usable by everyone in the future.”

For responsible AI in space, Costa suggested Human in the Loop (HITL) and On the Loop (OTL) approaches. HITL ensures human oversight and control over AI by having someone directly involved in the decision-making who can intervene the process if necessary. The OTL approach allows humans to monitor AI systems and make decisions based on the information provided by AI.

Another solution she touched upon is potentially integrated the ‘Guardian AI’ method, which involves training AI and managing its data exposure. This idea opens the door to putting a certain level of responsibility and trust in the technology. Criteria for a Guardian AI would include the amount and types of data it has been trained upon, the duration of its use, and the level of trust it has earned. However, for this to be effective, it will take time for people to be comfortable with the technology’s capabilities and to build trust through positive experiences and demonstrated reliability.

Nationwide awareness is growing for the essential adoption of reliable, secure, and trustworthy AI. In October, President Joe Biden signed an executive order promoting responsible AI adoption across the government. Following the announcement, Department of Defense said it is anticipating collaboration with the White House and other national security agencies on a national security memorandum on AI, to build upon their ongoing responsible AI initiatives.

Senate Panel OKs Measure to Break General Nomination Logjam, Sets Up Final Vote

Senate Panel OKs Measure to Break General Nomination Logjam, Sets Up Final Vote

The Senate is set to consider a measure that would break the massive logjam of general and flag officer nominations in the chamber. On Nov. 14, the Senate Rules Committee voted to report favorably on the resolution from Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he would bring it up for consideration on the Senate floor “shortly.” 

Reed’s resolution would create a temporary standing order for the rest of this Congress—ending Jan. 5, 2025—allowing for “en bloc” consideration of nominees. That would let the Senate vote on groups of nominations, with exceptions for members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and head of combatant commands, and prevent any single Senator from blocking the process. 

Since March, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has placed a legislative hold on general and flag officer nominations to protest a Pentagon policy providing paid leave and travel funds for troops requiring reproductive services, including abortions, who are based in states where those services are not available.  

That hold prevents quick consideration and voice votes on the nominations, which are typically uncontroversial and unanimous. As of Oct. 31, there were 379 nominations pending. 

Nominations can still be called up for individual consideration, as the Senate did for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and service chiefs for the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. But for the most part, Schumer and the Democratic majority have resisted individual votes, saying it would take up too much floor time and encourage more blockades like Tuberville’s in the future. 

Meanwhile, some of Tuberville’s fellow Republicans have also expressed frustration with the situation. On Nov. 1, five Republican Senators attempted to call up dozens of nominees for unanimous consent votes, only to be blocked by Tuberville. 

“I think one of the most decisive actions was, frankly, my Republican colleagues going to the floor … standing up and saying this is not what we should be doing,” Reed noted Nov. 14 at POLITICO’s Defense Summit. “We should drop these holds immediately, we should confirm these officers, and allow them to go where they’re needed. We have serious challenges across the globe.” 

However, it remains unclear whether enough Republicans will vote for Reed’s resolution for it to pass. On the Rules Committee, all seven Republicans present voted against the measure.  

Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said “productive discussions” about how to resolve Tuberville’s hold are still ongoing and “I’m of the mind that we ought to allow them to continue.” However, he hinted that his patience was wearing thin. 

“I appreciate the work put into the standing order proposal that the committee is considering, but I’m going to oppose taking that route at this particular moment,” McConnell said. 

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the ranking member on the Rules Committee, argued that Reed’s resolution would “alter Senate process and undermine the long-standing traditions of the Senate,” which allow for legislative holds. 

Reed, however, argued during the POLITICO event that Tuberville had “abused the rules” and hurt military readiness with his blockade. 

If every Democrat votes in favor of Reed’s resolution, it would need nine Republicans to reach the needed 60-vote threshold. Reed sounded cautiously optimistic about its passage. 

“We’re going to finally, I hope, take action to put us back on a course where one person can’t essentially stop the Senate,” he said. 

Schumer, speaking before the Rules Committee vote, said that “if my Republican colleagues can’t convince Sen. Tuberville to relent, I will bring it to the floor shortly for a vote. We need to get these military nominees confirmed ASAP for the sake of our national security.” 

In a statement released after the committee vote, Reed indicated that final consideration on the Senate floor will take a back seat for at least a few days, as Congress works to avoid a government shutdown on Nov. 17. 

In the meantime, more than 110 Air Force and Space Force nominations remain pending, including vice chiefs for both services, three combatant commanders, the heads of two Air Force major commands, and all three Space Force field commands. 

New Sentinel ICBM ‘Struggling’ Due to Complexity, Kendall Says

New Sentinel ICBM ‘Struggling’ Due to Complexity, Kendall Says

The LGM-35A Sentinel program to replace the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile is “struggling” due to the breadth of its scope and the fact that it has been so long since the Air Force has done a wholesale ICBM replacement—making cost estimation iffy—Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said Nov. 13.

Speaking at the Center for a New American Security, Kendall said the Sentinel—formerly called the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent and being built by Northrop Grumman—is “quite honestly, struggling a little bit.”

He added there are “unknown unknowns that are surfacing, that are affecting the program” and the Air Force is going to have to work through them.

Of the Air Force’s two main nuclear deterrent programs in development—Sentinel and the B-21 Raider,—Kendall said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the bomber, which made its first flight Nov. 10, is but “more nervous” about the ICBM.

“Sentinel is one of the most large, complex programs I’ve ever seen,” Kendall explained. “It’s probably the biggest thing, in some ways, that the Air Force has ever taken on, because it’s a vast real estate development; a civil engineering program; a fairly vast communications, command, and control program as well as, of course, the missile itself.”

The program was actually started during the Obama administration, when Kendall was the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.

“When we put that program together, the early stages of it, we got a huge uncertainty in the cost estimate,” said Kendall.

The uncertainty was driven by the “number of decades since we’ve done this. It’s been a very long time since we did an ICBM.” The previous ICBM deployment project, the Minuteman III, dates back to the 1960s and 1970s.

The Sentinel program involves “complex real estate” considerations for the missile fields, as well as the construction of new launch control complexes and a new command and control system to go with it, he said.

At the program outset, “we got to go assess all that to see what might need to be replaced, and how hard a job that was going to be,” Kendall recalled. “That was one of the sources of the unknown unknowns.”

“As we understand more deeply what we are actually going to have to do, we’re finding some things that are going to cost money,” said Kendall. “There’s no question about that. And we’re trying to assess how much of an impact that’s going to have and what kind of adjustments we’re going to make because of it.”

Kendall did not elaborate on the adjustments that might have to be made to the program, which is to have new missiles ready for action by 2030. He said he could not be more specific about either the B-21 or Sentinel because he is recused from decisions on projects involving Northrop, having done work for the company while he was out of government.

“I can’t make any decisions about those programs. I get to watch and hope for the best,” he said.

The Government Accountability Office said in June that Sentinel is about a year late and is edging close to the no-fail initial operational capability date of September 2030 required by Air Force Global Strike Command. The watchdog agency chalked up delays to staffing shortfalls and supply chain interruptions, as well as added cybersecurity requirements. The GAO also called the program “complex,” and noted that the Critical Design Review is slated for the spring of 2024, with low-rate initial production of the missile itself expected two years after that.

US and South Korea Expand Cooperation with Early Warning System for Missile Threats

US and South Korea Expand Cooperation with Early Warning System for Missile Threats

The U.S. is working to expand how much it shares from its Shared Early Warning System with South Korea, also known as the Republic of Korea, to counter missile threats from North Korea.

The move was confirmed during the annual U.S.-ROK Security Consultative Meeting in Seoul on Nov. 13, as U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III met with ROK Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik.

The leaders also updated and specified the two countries’ deterrence agreement, known as the ‘Tailored Deterrence Strategy,’ for the first time in a decade.

“Our deterrence commitment to the ROK remains ironclad,” Austin said in a press briefing following the meeting. “That includes a full range of our nuclear, conventional, and missile defense capabilities.”

The 2023 TDS was revised to include responses to potential scenarios such as attacks by North Korea using nuclear weapons or other Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).

Austin and Shin also evaluated the progress of Program Analysis Working Group for U.S.-ROK Missile Defense and decided to launch a “Joint Study” to enhance the Alliance’s comprehensive counter-missile strategy.

South Korea is also working to bolster its own missile surveillance capabilities, starting with the launch of its first reconnaissance satellite aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., on Nov. 30.

Following this initial launch, Seoul plans to have four more satellites launched from the Space Force base by 2025.

A day before Austin and Shin met one-on-one, they huddled with Japanese Minister of Defense Kihara Minoru as part of a trilateral Ministerial Meeting. During that meeting, they confirmed the three countries will implement a system for real-time missile warning data exchange, to monitor North Korean missile launches.

The mechanism, first announced during a trilateral summit involving the U.S., Japanese, and South Korean leaders in August, is undergoing final testing and is expected to be fully operational by the end of December, according to a Pentagon release.

Austin and the two defense Ministers also discussed the first ever trilateral aerial exercise between the three countries conducted in October, emphasizing the importance of continuing such joint training to address security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.

Austin, along with his ROK counterpart, is attending a meeting with 16 other member states of the U.N. Command hosted in Seoul on Nov. 14. According to the ROK’s Ministry of National Defense, the summit aimed at pressuring North Korea to cease its illegal activities and reinforce U.N. security council resolutions on North Korea.

Pyongyang, after previously failing to launch a spy satellite in May and August this year, pledged to have its third attempt in October. There have been no public reports as to whether that occurred.

South Korean officials have suggested Russia, which is suspected of buying artillery rounds from North Korea, might be offering technical assistance to its space program.

16th Air Force Seeks ‘Unity of Effort’ on Information Warfare

16th Air Force Seeks ‘Unity of Effort’ on Information Warfare

The 16th Air Force is working on an “information warfare operations center concept” to more effectively counteract narratives pushed by China and Russia, said its commander, Lt. Gen. Kevin B. Kennedy Jr., Nov. 13. Enhanced “unity of effort” across the service is the goal, Kennedy said during a livestreamed discussion with AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

“We have public affairs Airmen that are trained in how to get messages out and how to transmit what we’re seeing to the American population as well as global audiences,” Kennedy said. “We have cyber experts that understand how to gain access and understand what’s happening in that domain. Clearly we have our intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance experts.   

“But the biggest thing that we’re doing right now is not a new tool, but it’s really understanding how do we take this expertise, converge all those capabilities, to establish that baseline? And the concept is a unity of effort. How do we generate unity of effort without specific unity of command? Yes, they’re all within 16th Air Force, but their operational activities a lot of times … are operationally controlled by somebody else.” 

Within the 16th Air Force, the 616th Operations Center was formed in March 2020 by combining the 624th and 625th Operations Centers, responsible for coordinating cyber and ISR operations worldwide. 

Now within the new operations center, Kennedy said, “we’re building a competition-based framework that allows us to pull across the other components. So whether it’s the [Combined Forces Air Component Commander] out in the Pacific or the CFACC in Europe … we think about, how do we enable ‘reveal, conceal, expose, or disruption’ type of activities.” 

Information warfare is intensifying as U.S. competition with China intensifies. China is the “pacing challenge” according to the National Defense Strategy. Information warfare activities “can have real strategic advantage,” Kennedy said. 

On one hand, the Pentagon has stepped up its efforts to expose dangerous or provocative behavior on the part of Chinese or Russian forces, declassifying hundreds of incidents and releasing photos and videos from dozens of them.

On the other, the 16th Air Force and its partners across U.S. Cyber Command, the FBI, and other government agencies are working to disrupt IW efforts like disinformation and misinformation being pumped onto social media. 

On American-owned platforms, disrupting those efforts can merely mean reporting Chinese or Russian propaganda as violating Terms of Service. But Kennedy noted that the effort is more complicated on the hugely popular app TikTok, which has drawn scrutiny for its connections with the People’s Republic of China and possible data collection. 

“The grabbing of data from TikTok isn’t my biggest concern,” Kennedy said. “It’s the manipulation of our perceptions and [efforts to use the platform to] try to shape our behavior…. If your first reaction when you see something is an emotional one, you’re being manipulated. Now that’s a form of rhetoric. That’s good. But then always look for those other forms of logic—don’t take what you’re seeing, and just realize, your social media feeds, especially on TikTok, are being curated by the PRC or those aligned to the PRC in ways that are pushing certain narratives and certain information and trying to foment dissent within our population as well as to push the narrative that’s advantageous to the PRC.” 

Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass highlighted those dangers in a September keynote address at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference. “There are armies of bots, swarms of trolls, legions of sock puppets, strategically manipulating the information that we see to achieve their own objectives,” said Bass. “This is unrestricted warfare and it comes with minimal to no physical force.” 

Kennedy said that, in addition to defending against IW, the 16th Air Force also wants to create a clear “baseline” understanding for service leadership on how its own information warfare efforts are working. 

“We have the enterprises resident in our Numbered Air Force, to enable us to understand what potential causation and correlation for some of the things that we’re doing there and establish that baseline,” Kennedy said. “So if we do something in the future, we’re able to go to senior leaders that are executing that and say this operation was observed and this was the insight that our adversary took from this operation, and then we can help think about our behaviors in that way.” 

Why Are Airmen Training for Arctic Weather in Florida?

Why Are Airmen Training for Arctic Weather in Florida?

Sunny, humid Florida may not fit most people’s idea of an Arctic warfare training location, but a group of 23 Airmen from Hurlburt Field, Fla. proved otherwise during a recent visit to the McKinley Climatic Laboratory at nearby Eglin Air Force Base.

The world’s largest environmental test complex, the McKinley lab gauges how stealth bombers, trucks, and other equipment fare under extreme weather conditions. The lab can heat up to 165 degrees Fahrenheit or cool down to -80 degrees. It can create high humidity, high altitude air pressure, solar radiation, salt spray, ice, wind, rain, freezing rain, and clouds of sand or dust. Hurlburt’s Mission Sustainment Team wanted cold weather and darkness so they could prepare for what conditions might be like in the Arctic.

“We are quantifying scientifically how much we can do with the equipment and the personnel that we have,” Master Sgt. Luis Velez, logistics material management superintendent for the 1st Special Operations Logistics Readiness Squadron, said in a press release about the visit. “This training is vital for preparing our Airmen for the challenges they may face.”

Lives may depend on their ability to work in the freezing cold. Special Operations Mission Sustainment Teams (SOMSTs) set up forward operating bases or contingency locations that allow Air Force special operations forces to operate in remote environments.

arctic
Medics from Hurlburt Field assigned to 1st Special Operations Support Squadron practiced prolonged casualty care in cold weather environments during a two-day training at the Mckinley Climatic Lab at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, Oct 19, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Hussein Enaya)

“As an example, a SOMST element of about 10 Airmen could deploy to a small airfield on an island and set up a contingency location enabling the aircraft and aircrew to launch and recover with no previously established lodging, food, or mission generation support,” 2nd Lt. Andre Jackman, 1st Special Operations Support Squadron Mission Sustainment Team commander, told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

“A SOMST of 54 Airmen could set up a forward operating base enabling mission generation, protection, and sustainment of about 400 Airmen flying aircraft out of a small airfield or an abandoned road,” he added.

As interest, tensions, and temperatures rise in the Arctic, Airmen may be called on to set up food, shelter, or other essentials in the far north. The Mission Sustainment Team wanted to test their gear and each other under the conditions found there.

“Equipment and personnel tend to operate differently in cold climates,” Jackman said. “This exercise allows us to adapt our equipment and learn how to navigate this environment effectively.”

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Airmen from Hurlburt Field assigned to the Mission Sustainment Team participate in a two-day cold weather training at the Mckinley Climatic Lab at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, Oct 20, 2023 U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Hussein Enaya

The Airmen practiced stacking equipment on pallets, off-loading cargo from pallets, and rapidly setting up a contingency site with a generator and HVAC units. The temperature in the test chamber on Oct. 19 was 0 degrees Fahrenheit, then -10 degrees on Oct. 20. The only lighting was from whatever equipment the team brought with them, in an effort to simulate the dark of an Arctic winter.

The team learned that diesel-powered generators require different sustainment techniques in extreme cold; that tent fabric hardens, which can cause cracking and take up more space when re-packed; and that HVAC units could not provide enough heat without running additional units or insulating the tents. The Airmen also learned how the cold affected them personally.

“Even with cold weather personal protective gear, freezing temperatures require longer rest cycles/shorter work cycles,” Jackman wrote. 

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Airmen from Hurlburt Field assigned to the Mission Sustainment Team participate in a two-day cold weather training at the Mckinley Climatic Lab at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, Oct 20, 2023 U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Hussein Enaya

Other Airmen have had a similar experience in the cold. Chief Master Sgt. Jeremiah Wickenhauser and Master Sgt. Cody Hallas, both members of the Minnesota Air National Guard’s 133rd Contingency Response Team, trained with international partners in negative 65-degree weather in northern Canada in February.

“The Arctic environment is constantly trying to kill you; every task is harder in the cold,” Hallas said afterwards. “Every task takes longer, and the risk of serious injury is always present. Moisture management and the inability to dry gear is a huge issue. Cold, wet gear is miserable to wear and work in and extremely dangerous in the Arctic.”

Since the Arctic is such a significant challenge, and since McKinley is so close to Hurlburt, Jackman hopes to make the visit an annual training event for the SOMST. The next iteration may even feature snow and ice. The climate just outside is a nice perk, too.

“Emerging from the cold darkness into 75-degree sunshine was a relief and a great way to end a two-day exercise,” he said. 

As Funding Deadline Looms, Air Force Warns of Major Impacts from Another Stopgap

As Funding Deadline Looms, Air Force Warns of Major Impacts from Another Stopgap

As Congress barrels toward another government funding deadline, the Department of the Air Force has prepared a sobering assessment of how a continuing resolution would hurt modernization and undermine readiness.

The government is only funded through Nov. 17, and Congress looks unlikely to pass a full budget. Instead, it is expected to pass a temporary extension, known as a continuing resolution (CR), which keeps the government open at the previous year’s funding levels.

“Any length of CR impacts DAF readiness, hinders acceleration of the Space Force, delays military construction (MILCON) projects, reduces aircraft availability, and curbs modernization in our race for technological superiority,” according to an unclassified Department of the Air Force document obtained by Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Most prominently, continuing resolutions do not allow so-called new-starts, which are programs not authorized under the prior year’s budget.

The prohibition against new starts would be a major obstacle as the Air Force has proposed an array of new initiatives in its fiscal year 2024 budget. They include new programs, such as Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCAs), as well as investments in infrastructure, communications, and base defense of around $1.2 billion in the Indo-Pacific under the umbrella of Agile Combat Employment. None of that could happen under a CR.

In a Nov. 13 event at the Center for a New American Security, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall offered a stark appraisal of how continuing resolutions have stymied his modernization efforts.

“If we have a yearlong CR, I’m looking at the possibility that my entire tenure in office will be spent waiting for money from the Congress, that we’ll have identified in the first few months what we need to do, asked the Congress for that money and then spent the entire rest of the term waiting for that money to be appropriated,” he said.

Just how much harm is done to the Air Force’s effort to compete against China and other adversaries would depend on how long the continuing resolution is in effect—a yearlong CR is not guaranteed.

“We need more time,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on CBS’s Face the Nation Nov. 12. “The CRs always hurt the military, always hurt our national security.”

But there are few other feasible options to avert a government shutdown next week, McCaul noted.

“We’re going have to. I mean, there’s no choice here,” he added. “We can’t sit back and do nothing.”

Kendall and other defense officials have warned that CRs stretching into 2024 would take an increasing toll on the service’s programs, an assessment echoed by the DAF document. 

A yearlong CR would mark an 8 percent cut to the DAF’s non-personnel budget, according to a November DAF assessment. The document lists some of the tangible impacts of a lengthy CR.

“These actions not only stifle modernization, but inalterably give ground to our adversaries by reducing DAF buying power,” it states. The DAF says that the total would be around $13 billion.

The first flight of the B-21 Raider bomber on Nov. 10 created a sensation among defense and national security observers. But under a CR, the Air Force would not be able to ramp up production of the aircraft. The document states that under a CR, B-21 procurement would be delayed as a contract award “is held to the previous year’s quantity and funding.”

A lengthy CR would also delay the Air Force’s efforts to expand production of the JASSM standoff cruise missile. The key long-range munition is currently at maximum production, according to defense officials, at 550 missiles per year. The Pentagon wants to finalize a multiyear contract to help expand production, but a yearlong CR would mean the Air Force “will not be able to provide the tooling, test equipment, and staffing necessary to begin increasing JASSM production capacity to the 810 missiles [a year] required of a high‐end fight,” according to the document. It would also mean that the service would not be able to buy an additional 518 Small Diameter Bombs.

A full year continuing resolution would also force the Air Force to cut its buy of F-35 Lighting IIs, the future backbone of the its manned fighter fleet, by five airframes—the service has hoped to purchase 48 F-35s in fiscal 2024, according to the document.

Overall, a yearlong CR would delay the purchase of 754 munitions and 10 aircraft, according to the DAF.

The Space Force would also be affected by a yearlong CR, losing out on $2.8 billion in planned growth—nearly one-tenth of the USSF’s budget. Such an outcome, the document says, would impede “the development of a family of survivable, long‐range, persistent sensors and kill chain automation tools necessary for warfighter capability,” such as data transport, missile tracking, and sensing.

The cuts would also impact programs “critical to the Joint Force in contested environments,” according to the document. The military would also be exposed to “massive risk” by delays of seven National Security Space Launch (NSSL) missions under a yearlong CR.

“We don’t have an innovation problem, we have a money problem,” Kendall said. “We know what we need to buy. We know where to buy it from. We need the money to buy it. That’s really where we are, right now. There is a very long list of things that I would love to buy for the Department of the Air Force that I can’t afford to fund.”

The government is already operating under a CR, which has become common practice. Since fiscal 2000, defense appropriations have only been passed on time on six occasions.

“We really would like to get that budget,” deputy secretary of defense Kathleen Hicks said at CNAS on Nov. 7. “The now-routine failure to secure needed resources for defense and for the whole government erodes military trust in civilian leaders. If you add up the months DOD has been under a CR since 2011, it totals four years worth of delays—delayed new programmings, delayed training, and delayed permanent change of station moves. We cannot afford any further delays. I can assure you that Russia and [China] are not going to slow down while we get our house in order.”

Editor’s Note: This story was updated Nov. 14 after the Department of the Air Force provided a revised estimate on the impact a yearlong CR would have on DAF’s non-personnel budget.

Frank Borman, Apollo 8 Commander and USAF Pilot, Dies at 95

Frank Borman, Apollo 8 Commander and USAF Pilot, Dies at 95

Frank Borman, Air Force fighter and test pilot, American astronaut who commanded Gemini 7 and Apollo 8, and later head of Eastern Air Lines, died Nov. 7 at 95.

The Apollo 8 mission, in December, 1968, was the first manned mission to fly the Saturn V rocket, and marked first time human beings traveled to and orbited the moon. The successful flight paved the way for the six moon landings by the U.S. that followed.

Borman learned to fly at 15, graduated West Point near the top of his class in 1950, and joined the Air Force, where he became an instructor and fighter pilot. He flew F-80s, T-33s and F-84s. After earning a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering at the California Institute of Technology in 1957, he taught thermal dynamics and fluid dynamics at West Point for three years. He then attended the Air Force’s test pilot school and was involved in testing a number of new aircraft, including the F-104 in a series of “zoom” to high-altitude test flights.

In 1962, Borman was picked for the second group of astronauts, and went into rotation for the Gemini and Apollo flights.

He was chosen to command his first space mission, Gemini 7, flown in 1965. The 14-day mission in the cramped capsule with fellow astronaut Jim Lovell proved that human beings could function in weightlessness for the duration needed in the upcoming Apollo flights. In addition, the craft rendezvoused with Gemini 6, validating procedures needed for future space rendezvous and docking activities.

The crew of Apollo 1—Gus Grissom, Edward White ,and Roger Chaffee—died in a capsule fire while performing a launchpad “plugs out” check of their spacecraft in January, 1967. Pressurization and the hatch’s design had made it impossible for the crew to escape. Borman was tapped to be the sole astronaut on the review board to determine the root causes of the fire.

He was also credited with persuading Congress to resume support for the Apollo program in testimony on the review’s findings. Borman expressed his confidence in the enterprise and its leadership and said the fire was due to a “failure of imagination” to anticipate every potential problem, and asked for Congress’ confidence that NASA would learn from the tragedy.

Borman was then chosen to work with North American Aviation to correct the deficiencies and defects in the Apollo spacecraft, and redesign the hatch so that future crews could escape quickly if necessary.

Picked to command Apollo 8, Borman accepted the challenge when the 1968 mission was changed. It was originally intended to be a deep-space test of the Apollo Command and service modules with the lunar module. But the Soviet Union had achieved a lunar circumnavigation with a “Zond” unmanned craft earlier in the year, and intelligence indicated Russia might try to declare victory in the moon race by sending two cosmonauts on a similar flight in a Soyuz craft before the end of the year.

Viewing the situation as virtually a military battle, Borman took on the retooled mission, which only allowed a few months of training.

Apollo 8, which made ten lunar orbits, came off with virtually no technical glitches. It confirmed the navigation techniques and computer software needed to go to the moon.

It was during the mission—flown by Borman, Lovell and William Anders—that the famous “Earthrise” photo was taken of the small and fragile-looking Earth emerging over the lunar horizon, providing inspiration for the environmental movement and the creation of a national “Earth Day” less than two years later. The flight was also memorable for the crew’s reading from the biblical book of Genesis during a live broadcast from the spacecraft on Christmas Eve.

Taken aboard Apollo 8 by Bill Anders, this iconic picture shows Earth peeking out from beyond the lunar surface as the first crewed spacecraft circumnavigated the Moon, with astronauts Anders, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell aboard. NASA photo

A year of traumatic events, 1968 had seen the Tet offensive in Vietnam, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, Russia’s invasion of Czechoslovakia, race riots in U.S. cities and unrest on college campuses. NASA received a telegram after the moon mission, addressed to Borman and the crew, expressing appreciation that “you saved 1968.”

Borman was NASA’s liaison with the White House for Apollo 11 in 1969, and he successfully coached President Richard Nixon to shorten his congratulatory message to the moon landing crew and a playing of the National Anthem, as it would consume precious extra minutes of the crew’s air.   

Though offered command of a moon landing mission, Borman declined, saying he had no interest in lunar exploration and that he had simply viewed the moon race as a necessary military contest with the Soviet Union that the U.S. had to win.

He told an interviewer in 1999 that “as far as I was concerned, when Apollo 11 was over, the mission was over,” and the science obtained on the five subsequent landings was “frosting on the cake.”

After leaving NASA, Borman undertook a mission for Nixon, visiting 25 countries in 25 days as a special presidential envoy, seeking help from countries to pressure North Vietnam to release American prisoners of war. Borman returned with good wishes but no practical results. He was invited to address a joint meeting of Congress to discuss the effort, in which he described the hardships of the captives, and urged lawmakers  “not to forsake your countrymen who have given so much for you.”

He retired from the Air Force in 1970 as a colonel.

Later that year, Borman joined Eastern Air Lines, becoming its senior vice president for operations. He rapidly rose through the executive ranks and became chief executive officer in 1975 and chairman of the board in 1976.

Borman’s hands-on approach was on display when Eastern Flight 401 crashed in the Florida Everglades in 1972. Borman took a helicopter to within 150 yards of the crash site, and, wading through deep water, helped locate survivors and get them to rescuers.

At first, Borman’s management turned the ailing airline’s fortunes around, slashing the ranks of middle management as well as corporate perks, and persuading workers to accept a pay freeze. By the late 1970s, Eastern was again profitable, and some workers received higher pay through a kind of profit sharing plan.

Borman then bought a fleet of more fuel-efficient aircraft to cope with rising gas prices, but soon after, airline deregulation—with some startups charging less than their costs to rapidly gain market share—combined with Eastern’s debt, clobbered the airline’s bottom line. Wage growth, already anemic, evaporated, and unions agreed to new contracts on the condition that Borman resign, which he did in 1986, although he stayed on the payroll as a consultant for a number of years. He served as CEO of Patlex Corp. a small technology company, from 1988.

After Eastern, Borman operated an auto dealership with his son, and then became a cattle rancher in Montana. In 1996, with co-writer Robert J. Serling, he published his autobiography, Countdown.

In retirement, he served on a number of corporate boards, including Home Depot and National Geographic.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Borman “knew the power exploration held in uniting humanity when he said, “Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit.’ His service to NASA and our nation will undoubtedly fuel the Artemis Generation to reach new cosmic shores.”

Borman’s lengthy list of awards included the Harmon Trophy—twice, for Gemini 7 and Apollo 8—and the Collier Trophy for the Apollo 8 mission, along with Lovell and Anders; the U.S. Air Force Space Trophy; the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy; the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and the Society of Experimental Test Pilots James H. Doolittle Award, as well as honorary doctorates from eight institutes of higher learning, including Air University.

The crew of Apollo 8: James Lovell, William Anders, and Frank Borman. NASA photo
New B-21 Bomber Takes First Flight

New B-21 Bomber Takes First Flight

The first B-21 Raider bomber took off from Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., just after dawn on Nov. 10, in a flight that concluded at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif, after 90 minutes, according to local observers.

“The B-21 safely landed,” said Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek. “This was a test flight.”

The aircraft was filmed from outside Plant 42, heading eastbound with an F-16 chase plane after climbing to about 500 feet. The landing gear had yet to be retracted in video and photos that appeared on social media.

The aircraft appeared to be trailing a lengthy cable from the upper surface of the tail on the port side, near the exhausts.

An Air Force spokesperson confirmed reports by individuals watching from outside the gates that the aircraft took off at approximately 7 a.m. local time and landed at Edwards at approximately 8:30 a.m. local time.

The event fulfills the prediction by manufacturer Northrop Grumman and the Air Force that the new stealth bomber would fly before the end of 2023, and clears the way for the Air Force to issue a low-rate initial production contract for the bomber.

The duration of the flight suggests that the flight could have been more than a ferry hop to Edwards and that a test card may have been conducted, which can evaluate flying qualities. Flight tracking websites indicated the aircraft was flying a roundabout pattern between Palmdale and Edwards.

The service did not immediately release imagery, and the flight was not announced beforehand, which is consistent with the Air Force’s statements that the bomber would fly when it was ready to and not according to a calendar schedule.

“As confirmed by the U.S. Air Force, the B-21 Raider is in flight test,” Northrop Grumman spokesperson said. “The robust flight test campaign is being executed by a Combined Test Force comprised of Northrop Grumman and Air Force personnel that will validate our digital models and moves us another step closer to reaching operational capability.”

Flight testing “is a critical first step in the test campaign managed by the Air Force Test Center and 412th Test Wing’s B-21 Combined Test Force to provide survivable, long-range penetrating strike capabilities to deter aggression and strategic attacks against the United States, allies, and partners,” Stefanek added.

The first operational B-21s will be based at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., while maintenance will be managed at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.

Six test aircraft are being produced now. The test aircraft are being built on the same production line, using the tools, processes, and technicians that will be used for production aircraft.

The Air Force has previously said that B-21 test aircraft will be “usable assets” as soon as they are airworthy, and that the test aircraft will be converted to operational configuration after developmental and operational testing is complete.

The contract for the B-21, originally called the Long-Range Strike Bomber, was awarded in 2015, and the aircraft is expected to cost around $700 million each in current dollars.

The B-21 was officially named the “Raider” in 2016, to honor the Doolittle Raiders of World War II that carried out the first airstrikes against Japan.

Northrop Grumman president and chief executive officer Kathy Warden has acknowledged that, due to the fixed-price nature of the program, inflation, and labor costs in recent years, the company will earn “zero” profit on the initial production contract. However, the company has said it expects to receive a $60 million adjustment from the Air Force to mitigate those additional expenses.