Latest Cuts at Military Times Accelerates Decline of News Source to Airmen, Guardians

July 25, 2024 | By David Roza

Air Force Times, its sister Military Times publications, and Defense News—for decades among the leading publications in their sectors—have endured multiple rounds of layoffs over the years as the internet remade the media landscape. But on July 12, Sightline Media Group, which owns those publications, C4ISRNET, and, until earlier this month, Federal Times, laid off nine reporters and editors, leaving Air Force Times without its principal editor or its only reporter.

Combined with earlier layoffs in March, the cuts left Sightline Media Group with a skeleton crew of just 15 U.S.-based journalists, less than half of the 31 it started 2024 with.

Among those most recently laid off were Air Force Times Editor Rachel Cohen, Air Force Times Senior Reporter Courtney Mabeus-Brown, Military Times Managing Editor and Marine veteran James Clark, Marine Corps Times editor Andrea Scott, and Army Times Senior Reporter Davis Winkie, an Air National Guardsman. The five are some of the most experienced journalists on the military personnel beat, which enjoys far fewer outlets providing regular coverage than weapons and platforms do.

Winkie, the Air Guardsman, was laid off while on military leave. “I felt sadness for our readers, who now have nine fewer journalists covering issues that matter to them. … They are at risk of losing a key vector for accountability, for staying informed, for having a voice of their own.”

Sightline’s latest layoffs came just five weeks after its staff voted to unionize in a bid to improve their working conditions, and the Sightline Media Union immediately filed charges of illegal labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board, the independent federal agency that enforces U.S. labor law. Sightline staff said the company has a history of undervaluing its reporters and the journalism they produce.

The company, a corporate member of the Air & Space Forces Association, did not respond to requests for comment from Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Storied History

Military Times has a long history of impactful coverage. In the early 1990s, Gen. Colin Powell, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held the papers up during a Congressional hearing about the post-Cold War drawdown, quoting page-one headlines and noting that his troops “don’t read the New York Times or the Los Angeles Times, but the Army Times, Air Force Times, and Navy Times.”

As early as the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989, it sent reporters to cover troops in and supporting combat operations, including in Iraq, Rwanda, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq again, and numerous other locations.

In the 2000s, Military Times reporters broke the story of service members sickened by toxic smoke generated from overseas burn pits, highlighted the growing prescription of psychotropic drugs for military members in Iraq and Afghanistan, and campaigned for appropriate recognition of military heroes. Military Times reporters experienced combat operations first hand while embedded with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, pored over military data to track a surge in aviation mishaps, and revealed systemic flaws in the National Guard’s ongoing deployment to the border with Mexico.

The unique approach to coverage made the Military Times papers an important news source for service members, said the moderator of the unofficial r/Army subreddit—an online forum where Soldiers anonymously discuss Army life.

“Reporters can often make connections with ‘ground truth’ that we don’t often see,” the moderator, an Army veteran, told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The moderator specifically called out Winkie’s recent investigation of suicide rates by brigade type, something the Army itself did not track. The investigation found suicide rates among tank brigades were higher than in other combat units, prompting Congressional action. It resonated with service members across the military, signaling that, “Yes, you really are overworked. It’s not in your head. It is a problem,” the moderator said. “The Army doesn’t provide that feedback, but Army Times did.”

military times — Oriana Pawlyk, then an Air Force Times reporter, explained the function of a dropsonde on camera inside a 53d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron “Hurricane Hunters” C-130 Hercules during a flight June 28, 2016. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Kat Justen

Stephen Losey, the air warfare reporter for Defense News, speaking in his role as president of the newsroom union, has worked at Sightline since the early 2000s, having grown up with Air Force Times as a continuous presence in his childhood home.

In the early 2000s and 2010s, when the company belonged to Gannett, then the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, the combined newsroom employed more than 100 reporters and editors, with multiple bureaus in the United Sates and overseas, and freelancers around the world.

In those days, company leaders proudly claimed ownership of “the world’s largest military newsroom,” commanded the attention of Congress, Pentagon leaders, hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and tens of thousands of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines, who plunked down $3 and more for the weekly print edition, with a particular focus on personnel policy and regulations, topics largely ignored by mainstream media.

But in recent times, Losey said, wages at the company lagged behind inflation, effectively resulting in a pay cut every year, and that promised raises earlier this year never materialized. In 2015 Gannett spun off its TV holdings, digital brands, and the company now known as Sightline under the corporate brand Tegna, which soon after sold the publications in 2016 to Regent, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm. Regent reduced staff, eliminated matching contributions to its 401(k), and accelerated a decline that began around the time of the Great Recession, following the 2008 stock market meltdown.

“None of us got into journalism to get rich,” Losey said. “We love telling stories, and helping to serve and inform the military community is a meaningful calling. But at a certain point, we have to pay our rent and grocery bills, and when we go multiple years without a raise, that gets harder and harder.”

As the staff shrunk, other media properties grew, luring away talent. Still other staff migrated to major news brands, including the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post (The Air & Space Forces Association, which publishes Air & Space Forces Magazine, employs three former Military Times staffers).

The editorial staff at Sightline decided to unionize on April 8 to improve the situation and protect against lay-offs.

“We love our work: telling our readers’ stories, holding policy makers accountable and upholding the values of the First Amendment,” journalists on the union organizing committee wrote on the social media platform X in April. “We want our newsroom and colleagues to succeed. This, we believe, is how we guarantee our future.”

But Sightline Media Group did not voluntarily recognize the union, forcing staffers to take a formal vote June 3, which won unanimous support. The next step is for workers to bargain with management for a contract, but before that began, nine employees were laid off.

Besides Clark, Cohen, Mabeus-Brown, Scott, and Winkie, others let go were C4ISRNET senior managing editor Cary O’Reilly, Military Times reporter Zamone Perez, Defense News Congress reporter Bryant Harris, and Defense News Managing Editor Chris Martin. That followed the layoffs of Pentagon Bureau Chief Meghann Myers, senior editor Sarah Sicard, and multimedia reporter Daniel Woolfolk in March. Others departed voluntarily, leaving the overall Sightline newsroom with just 15 of the 31 U.S.-based journalists who worked there at the start of 2024.

“This decision significantly hampers our ability to cover the news our readers depend on,” the Sightline Media Union organizing committee wrote in a July 12 statement. The union filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that the company violated federal labor law by unilaterally firing unionized employees before a contract was settled.

Jessica Ramirez, a bargaining representative with the union’s parent organization, the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, said the law makes exception for employers in financial distress, but said Sightline Media Group offered insufficient evidence that this applied to the firm.

“They have to show they have a high level of economic instability, like ‘we would have to close our doors if we don’t do this,’” she explained. “In our opinion, they did not provide enough details of their financial situation to justify their decision.”

The union also filed a charge with the NLRB alleging that the layoffs were retaliatory. They cited the timing of the layoffs just a few weeks after the union election and the fact that six of the laid-off employees were part of the bargaining unit that had voted to unionize.

If the NLRB upholds the claims, it could levy damages, fines, or backpay for the laid-off employees, but NLRB reviews often take months to complete. In the meantime, the union still plans to bargain for a contract for the journalists who remain at Sightline and negotiate severance pay for those laid-off.

“These people believe strongly in their work and spent their careers supporting the military community through their journalism,” Losey said. “We want to make sure they get what they deserve.”

Journalists are shown the aeromedical evacuation demonstration during Mobility Guardian 2019 at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, Sept. 25, 2019. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Kristine M. Gruwell

A Growing Gap

Regent, Sightline’s owner, is hardly alone among cost-cutting private equity firms that own military media properties. Task & Purpose, another military news publication, suffered a wave of editorial staff departures, including this reporter, after it was acquired by North Equity LLC and its media company, Recurrent Ventures.

Such losses reduce the public’s understanding of the military at a crucial time, observers say.

Katherine Kuzminski, Deputy Director of Studies and the Director of the Military, Veterans, and Society Program at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, said the civilian-military divide has grown wider in the 50 years since the transition to an all-volunteer force in 1973, but journalists who specialize in the military beat can help close that gap.

“On the one hand, fewer journalists can lead to less attention paid to quality of life-related issues for service members,” she said. “On the other hand, it can do the opposite, which is essentially build a military that lives on a pedestal not reflective of reality. Then it’s easier for civilians to be disillusioned when the military does not live up to that pedestal.”

On July 21, Losey accepted an Aerospace Media Award for best military aviation submission on behalf of Rachel Cohen, who had been laid off a week earlier. His comments, made at a gathering of international aerospace media and industry professionals, was captured on video and posted on social media.

“A newsroom is made up of people,” Losey said. “It can only thrive as long as there are people there.”

Bodyguards, Hunter-Killers and More: Analysts Envision New, Expanded Roles for Small Satellites

July 25, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

In October 2022, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration Frank Calvelli released his nine “tenets” of space acquisition, meant to guide the future of the Space Force’s capabilities. His very first step: Build smaller satellites.

Nearly two years later, the service has made some progress in embracing so-called “small sats,” but there is still plenty to do—and possible ways to use small satellites that at least publicly the Space Force has not taken, according to a new report from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

Retired Space Force Col. Charles S. Galbreath, a senior fellow at Mitchell, and Aidan Poling, a research analyst, co-authored the 25-page policy paper, which was released July 25 and has more than half a dozen recommendations for the Pentagon to fully embrace small satellites.

“There’s obviously a lot of interests in small sats, but it’s primarily focused on small sats for resilience and in low-Earth orbit,” Galbreath told reporters. “… But the truth is small satellites can provide a lot of utility beyond just proliferation, beyond just the deterrent aspects and disaggregation. So we wanted to explore how they can be used support all three elements of competitive endurance and help achieve space superiority.”

Small sats include any satellites under 1,200 kilograms. Within the Space Force, perhaps the most well-known example is the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, which features hundreds of satellites “about the size of a loaf of bread,” Galbreath said, a fraction the size of legacy satellites that can sometimes be as large as a bus.

(From left to right) Dirk Wallinger, CEO and President of York Space Systems; the Honorable Frank Kendall, Secretary of the Air Force; Dr. Derek Tournear, Director of the Space Development Agency; and Charles Beames, Executive Chairman of York Space Systems tour York’s new manufacturing facility. Image courtesy of York Space Systems

Yet while SDA has been hailed as a success story and implemented many of Calvelli’s acquisition tenants, Galbreath argued more can be done—both with acquisitions and operations.

New Orbits, New Roles

While the very first satellites in space were small, a confluence of factors steadily drove the U.S. to build bigger and bigger satellites over the years, such as:

Strategic mission sets that required low risk, requiring redundancy for assurance

Bulkier, larger technology

Longer development timelines

High launch costs forcing officials to maximize every opportunity

In recent years, proliferated low-Earth orbit constellations of small satellites have experienced a surge in interest, led by SpaceX’s Starlink. Yet Galbreath and Poling argue the conditions are right to expand the use of small satellites across the board:

New missions like moving target indication and tactical communications

Miniaturized technology

“Spiral” development with rapid updates

Lower launch costs and lower risk

“Calvelli has talked about using small satellites, not just in LEO, but in all orbital regimes,” Galbreath said. “And I think that absolutely has to be part of architecture going forward. We’ve seen small satellites and even cubesats out to cislunar. And so the utility of small sats that 10 years ago, wouldn’t have been possible is now operationally relevant.”

And while SDA is primarily focusing on data communications and missile warning/missile tracking for its small sats, Galbreath also believes the potential is there to explore new uses for them.

“Small ‘bodyguard’ satellites with non-debris generating kinetic or non-kinetic effects could be stationed next to high-value satellites to protect them from attack,” Galbreath and Poling wrote.

The Space Force could also deploy small sats as “co-orbital weapons to disable adversary satellites using localized kinetic, EW, lazing, spoofing, or jamming techniques,” they wrote. “These ‘hunter-killer’ SmallSats could patrol near adversary assets, hide in less monitored orbits, or remain with a larger bus or an upper-stage vehicle waiting for activation.”

The Space Force has expressed interest in refueling satellites in the future—“hunter killer” small sats could be refueled by their “motherships” to extend their lives, Galbreath said.

Such concepts echo ideas from other military services, like fighter escorts or Collaborative Combat Aircraft from the Air Force or aircraft launching from a carrier from the Navy, Galbreath and Poling said. But to make them happen, the Space Force has to develop its own tactics, techniques, and procedures, especially for operators to handle large numbers or clusters of satellites all at one time, they recommended.

Addressing Threats

Small satellites don’t just help counter adversary threats by introducing more and more targets for them to consider, the analysts argue. They can be released in clusters, more easily hide in different orbits, and even take advantage of camouflage, concealment, and deception techniques.

“When SpaceX launched Starlink, the astronomy community really raised concern about the impact that was having on their ability to collect data,” Galbreath noted. “And so SpaceX began a campaign to add in non-reflective materials, as well as light-absorbing paints that help reduce the signature. And so we could apply the same sorts of techniques to our small satellites.”

Proliferation remains a powerful advantage as well, especially if spread across orbits, they wrote. Even Russia’s plans to develop a nuclear weapon to go in low-Earth orbit, which could take out hundreds of satellites indiscriminately, show the value of small sats, Galbreath argued.

“Small sats create an incredible opportunity for us to recover from that in a rapid fashion, through rapid development, mass production, and then able to use a variety of launch providers, including heavy launch or even small launch, to replenish or reconstitute lost capabilities,” he said. “Additionally, when we’re talking about where small satellites can be used, it’s not just LEO, it’s all orbital domains. And if Russia is going to put a nuke in every orbital domain, I think we’re going to be in a whole different type of conflict.”

Finally, Galbreath and Poling also advocated for more “single purpose” satellites to make it even harder for an adversary to knock out a broad swath of capabilities.

Culture Change

While Calvelli has emphasized proliferation and small sats and some parts of the Space Force are pursuing them, Galbreath argued a broader mindset shift is needed to fully embrace them. That starts with larger “block buys” of satellites that will encourage manufacturers to create production lines of satellite buses, a far cry from the exquisite, hand-crafted satellites of years past.

“How can the Space Force better utilize all of the potential of small satellites?” he said. “It’s going to require shifting our mindset, shifting our policies, and our acquisition approaches, as well as enabling the industrial base to make that adjustment and shift.”

Industry seems to already be taking notice.

“There’s the traditional industry and how they’re beginning to pivot towards small sats. But there’s also the development of sort of a cottage industry around small sats, where companies are focused, that is their primary product line,” Galbreath said.

But in order for the Space Force to fully make the pivot, it will require more money, he added, which is in short supply at the moment. The service is looking at its first ever budget cut in fiscal 2025.

Air Force Pulls CV-22 Osprey from Exercise with Japan to Focus on ‘Internal Training’

July 25, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

Yokota Air Base will not fly its CV-22 Ospreys in a joint training exercise between U.S. and Japanese forces starting this weekend.

The decision comes four months after the fleet-wide grounding of the Osprey was lifted in March. Naval Air Systems Command and Air Force Special Operations had halted operations of some 400 V-22 variants across the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps for three months following a fatal accident in November that killed all eight Airmen aboard a CV-22 Osprey that crashed off the southern coast of Japan.

“The 21st Special Operations Squadron made the determination to focus on internal training requirements, and consequently withdraw their CV-22B participation in Exercise Resolute Dragon 24.” Capt. Richard Caesar, a spokesman for the 353rd Special Operations Wing, told Air & Space Forces Magazine on July 25.

The 21st Special Operations Squadron originally planned to support casualty evacuation training with U.S. and Japan Self-Defense Force units in the exercise, scheduled from July 28 to Aug. 7, as well as participate in “joint and bilateral V-22 unit engagements,” Caesar added. The squadron’s Ospreys took flight at Yokota for the first time since the crash in November earlier this month.

“The safety of the flying crews and Japanese neighbors remains our number one priority,” said Capt. Caesar.

Yokota Osprey — An CV-22 Osprey flies over Kanto Plains during a spouse incentive flight at Yokota AB, Japan, on Nov. 15, 2019. Air Force photo by A1C Brieana E. Bolfing.

The exercise will still include eight U.S. Marine Corps Ospreys and two Japanese Self-Defense Force MV-22 Ospreys, according to the Japan Times. The V-22 Osprey family variants include MV-, CV-, CMV-, and Japanese MV-. Japan was the first international customer for the Osprey, receiving its first aircraft in 2020. The country’s defense ministry also briefly halted its Osprey operations following the accident on Nov 29.

As of now, the timing of the Yokota CV-22 Osprey unit’s next exercise with local Japanese troops remains murky.

“The 21 SOS is currently focused on the safe completion of the final phase of our return to flight plan, which will include resumption of full mission profiles,” said Caesar, adding that multilateral exercises, operational taskings, and deployments of the Osprey aircraft will follow after that. For the time being, the aircrews are focused on “expansion to full mission currency and proficiency” during their internal training.

“Maintainers have remained engaged in conducting routine maintenance and receiving training in line with the maintenance protocols directed by the Naval Air Systems Command return-to-fly bulletin,” said Caesar.

The Pentagon has been carefully easing the Osprey variants back into action since March.

Last month, Vice Adm. Carl Chebi, head of Naval Air Systems Command testified that the aircraft has not been deemed “entirely safe.” He described the November accident as a “catastrophic material failure that we have never seen before in the V-22 program,” without identifying the defective part of the aircraft.

“I will not certify the V-22 to return to unrestricted flight operations until I’m satisfied that we have sufficiently addressed the issues that may affect the safety of the aircraft,” Chebi said during a House Oversight Committee hearing last month. “Based on the data that I have today, I’m expecting that this will not occur before mid-2025.”

Meanwhile, lawmakers are growing frustrated with the Pentagon over the Osprey program. The CV-22 crash in November marked the fourth deadly Osprey crash in just over two years and prompted the House Oversight Committee to launch its own investigation of the aircraft.

Last week, committee chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) and national security subcommittee chair Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.), reiterated their request for key documents related to Osprey accidents from the Pentagon, which was initially made in December. They threatened to consider measures like subpoenaing the department if the information is not provided by the end of this month.

Following that, three Massachusetts lawmakers also called the decision to resume the tiltrotor’s flight in March “premature,” urging the Pentagon to ground the V-22 Osprey again “until the root cause of the aircraft’s many accidents is identified and permanent fixes are put into place.”

In a letter signed July 18, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), and Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) requested answers from the Pentagon about the Osprey’s full review, the roles of the two manufacturers, Bell Textron and Boeing, in that review, and further details on Class A mishaps involving the aircraft by Aug. 1.

Greece to Buy Up to 40 F-35s, Growing Fighter’s European Footprint

July 25, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

Greece has agreed to buy at least 20 F-35s for $3.5 billion, with options for up to 40 fighters in total, in a deal worth up to $8.6 billion, the Greek defense ministry announced July 25. The jets will be delivered starting in 2028.

Greece is now the 19th country to officially join the F-35 program, and the 12th to do so in Europe.

The move has been a long time coming—Greece began the process in 2019, but the purchase was delayed by the country’s financial crisis.

The sale will also include at least 42 engines, plus electronic warfare equipment, communications, training and logistics support.

The purchase is one element of what the Athens government calls a major overhaul of its defense structure. Greece is updating its air defense fleet, which features F-16 Block 52s, French Dassault Mirage 2000s, and Rafales, some of which were aircraft from the French inventory. A majority of the F-16s are being upgraded to F-16V configuration, while some others and the French aircraft are likely to be sold. Greece has hinted that it may sell or provide some of its F-16s to Ukraine.

A Hellenic air force pilot assigned to the 347th Fighter Squadron, Greece, lands an F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft at Lechfeld Air Base, Germany after a joint flight mission with the Idaho National Guard and Greek air force counterparts during exercise Air Defender 2023 (AD23), June 14, 2023. U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Becky Vanshur

Defense minister Nikos Dendias said in a statement F-35s will be a “powerful deterrent in our region.”

The sale will give Greece a leg up in its military competition with NATO ally Turkey, with which it has a longstanding border dispute. At this month’s NATO summit, Turkey suggested it might acquire Eurofighter Typhoons and scale back a major upgrade of its large F-16 fleet. Turkey was drummed out of the F-35 program five years ago when it decided to buy Russian S-400 air defense systems, which NATO and F-35 partners said could give Russia crucial information about how to detect and defeat F-35s.

Lt. Gen. Michael J. Schmidt, F-35 program executive officer, said the F-35 will provide “exceptional capability to the Hellenic Air Force, build interoperability between our allies and strengthen the combat effectiveness for all of NATO.”

Bridget Lauderdale, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and F-35 general manager, said the company has a long F-16 relationship with Greece and said the F-35 is “the only fighter suitable to strengthen Greece’s sovereignty and operational capability with allies.”

In a press statement, Lockheed noted that 10 European countries will operate the F-35 by the 2030s—totaling more than 600 aircraft—and the U.S. Air Force has fielded two operational squadrons at RAF Lakenheath, England. Nearly 1,000 F-35s are deployed operationally worldwide.

The list of countries either operating or buying the F-35 include:

United States

United Kingdom

Canada

Norway

Finland

Denmark

Belgium

The Netherlands

Poland

Italy

Switzerland

Germany

Czech Republic

Israel

Singapore

South Korea

Japan

Australia

New Report: Many Failures in $450 Million B-1 Crash ‘Not a One-Time Occurrence’ Among Units

July 25, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

A high-profile crash of a B-1B Lancer at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., earlier this year destroyed the $450 million bomber and was caused by a cascading series of aircrew missteps, overlooked information, and an overall lax culture in units at the base, according to an Air Force accident investigation report released July 25.

Taken together, the series of mistakes turned a landing in poor weather into a crash when the B-1 slammed into the ground 100 feet short of the tarmac, slid to a stop, and caught fire, the Accident Investigation Board report concluded. The four aircrew ejected and survived, but two suffered injuries, and the aircraft itself largely disintegrated.

Investigators primarily cited aircrew errors as the bomber approached Ellsworth Air Force Base’s lone runway in poor weather on Jan. 4, 2024, as the main cause of the mishap. But they also found many mistakes in the hours and even months leading up to those fateful seconds and issues with the unit and base personnel that contributed to the crash.

“This investigation has shown that many failures leading to this mishap were not a one-time occurrence or an aberration,” the report stated, detailing over two dozen human error infractions. While the crash would not have happened in good weather, the board was blistering in its criticism of the aircrew, support personnel, and their leaders.

The report cited numerous contributing factors to the crash, including “poor crew resource management, poor weather conditions, ineffective flight operations supervision, a lack of awareness of airfield conditions, and an organizational culture that tolerated decaying airmanship skills, a lack of discipline, poor communication, and inadequate focus on regulations.”

“The chain of command is in the process of responding to the report and taking the appropriate corrective actions,” Air Force Global Strike Command said in a statement.

The aircraft was part of a two-ship of B-1s on a training mission, callsigns FELON 01 and FELON 02. Due to minor maintenance issues, which the Air Force said did not contribute to the crash, the mishap aircraft, FELON 02, took off two hours after the lead aircraft. The weather began deteriorating during the training sortie, and the crews considered diverting to Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., but they decided to proceed back to their home base despite the changing weather conditions.

The first aircraft, FELON 01, landed without incident on Runway 13 at the base. But when the second aircraft encountered wind shear, the pilot mismanaged the throttles, allowing the plane to become too slow and too low. By the time the crew realized the error in the dense fog, the plane was sinking too fast and hit the ground.

“The mishap aircraft continued to skid onto Runway 13 for approximately 5,000 feet and toward the left, eventually coming to a rest in the infield between two of the airfield’s taxiways. The [aircraft] caught fire during the mishap sequence and was a total loss. The total estimated loss from the mishap is $456,248,485.00,” the report detailed.

The trajectory of a B-1 bomber that crashed at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., in January. Image from Air Force Accident Investigation Board report

An Air Force official told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the service has not yet decided whether to regenerate another B-1 from storage. Two of 17 aircraft placed in long-term storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base by the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group—known as the Boneyard—were recently regenerated.

While the bad weather was a factor in the crash, prohibitions in a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), against landing in the conditions the flight faced were not followed.

“FELON flight aircrews discussed the required visibility for the approach collectively,” the report stated. “They erroneously agreed that a visibility-only straight-in approach to Rwy 13 required only a minimum visibility of 1/2 [mile], contrary to the 3/4 [mile] minimum stated in active NOTAM.”

The reason for that mistake was clear, the investigation found. The NOTAM, which increased the required increased visibility to land on the runway roughly two weeks before the crash, was not contained in the pre-flight briefing.

“This NOTAM was not explicitly highlighted,” the report stated, though higher-ups were aware of its existence and some dismissed its importance.

Investigators also said the Airmen failed to properly follow what is known as crew resource management and cross-check their instruments.

“Changes in local wind direction during landing should have prompted the crew to adjust throttles and maintain proper airspeed, but a lack of situational awareness and ineffective crew communication resulted in the aircraft falling below required airspeed to maintain a safe approach,” AFGSC said in a release.

While wind shear incidents can be dangerous, there are many common aircraft safety procedures in place that were not followed during FELON 02’s flight. Practices such as crew resource management and maintaining proper situations awareness are usually drilled into all pilots to reduce mistakes.

“Throughout its investigation, the Accident Investigation Board found unsatisfactory levels of basic airmanship, an inadequate focus on foundational governing directive knowledge, and an overall lack of discipline throughout the 34 [Bomb Squadron],” the report concluded. “The preponderance of the evidence revealed an ineffective and unhealthy culture, which directly contributed to the mishap.”

The report also faulted the 28th Operational Support Squadron, which manages the base, for its briefing failures, weather reports, and other confusion. The crew only received weather for Runway 31, not Runway 13, which has an approach in the opposite direction on the same strip of tarmac. Runway 13 had an issue with a visibility sensor, a known issue, compounding Airmen’s mistakes.

Ultimately, the board found the lack of a cross-check directly caused the crash because the pilots lost control of what to do and when.

But the report made clear investigators thought FELON 02 should never have tried to land on the runway in such poor visibility and without full knowledge of their surroundings—and many people were to blame.

“I have noted that the mishap occurred due to numerous factors, including a culture of noncompliance, widespread deviation from established policy and procedure, and several organizational influences and preconditions,” Col. Erick D. Lord, the president of the AIB, wrote.

The full report is available online here.

NORAD Fighters Intercept Russian, Chinese Bombers Near Alaska

July 24, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

Russian and Chinese bombers and fighters were intercepted off the coast of Alaska by American and Canadian fighters on July 24, marking a rare case in which aircraft from the increasingly aligned U.S. adversaries jointly ventured near U.S. territory.

Two Russian TU-95 Bear and two Chinese H-6 strategic bombers flew a mission the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), a buffer zone in international airspace near North America, NORAD said. The event was the first time Russian and Chinese military aircraft entered the Alaska ADIZ at the same time, a U.S. defense official told Air & Space Forces Magazine. It was also the first time Chinese H-6s have encroached on the area, the official added.

American F-16s and F-35s and Canadian CF-18s were involved in the intercept, along with support aircraft, the defense official said.

“The Russian and PRC aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace,” NORAD said.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III told reporters at the Pentagon on July 25 that the Russian and Chinese aircraft came within roughly 200 miles from sovereign U.S. airspace.

“I applaud the efforts of [U.S. Northern Command] and our great Airmen, who are always at the ready,” he said.

The Russian and Chinese bombers were on a combined patrol, flying together from the same Russian base, a person familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

“This Russian and PRC activity in the Alaska ADIZ is not seen as a threat, and NORAD will continue to monitor competitor activity near North America and meet presence with presence,” NORAD said.

Russia and China have become increasingly aligned against the United States and its allies since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

“This is first time that we seen these two countries fly together like that,” Austin said. “If it happens again, if there is any kind of challenge from any direction, I have every confidence that NORTHCOM [U.S. Northern Command] and NORAD will be at the ready.”

The Russian government provided their own account of the mission on July 25.

“Tu-95MS strategic bombers of the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Hong-6K strategic bombers of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force conducted a joint air patrol over the Chukchi Sea, the Bering Sea, and the northern part of the Pacific Ocean,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. “Russian and Chinese crews practiced cooperation while carrying out an air patrol mission in a new area. The Su-30SM and Su-35S aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces provided fighter cover.”

The Russians said the mission lasted five hours.

China has bolstered Russia’s military industry by providing it with microelectronics, machine tools, and other dual-use components, which have helped produce Russian weapons for its war in Ukraine. In 2023, 90 percent of Russia’s microelectronics imports, critical for the production of missiles, tanks, and aircraft, came from China, according to U.S. officials.

China has also provided nitrocellulose, a compound used to make explosives, as well as satellite imagery that Moscow has used for its invasion of Ukraine. At NATO’s 75th Anniversary Summit in Washington earlier this month, the 32 allies called on China to “cease all material and political support to Russia’s war effort.”

The U.S.’s latest Arctic Strategy, released July 22, also called out increasing Russian and Chinese military cooperation near North America. “We’ve seen growing cooperation between the PRC and Russia in the Arctic,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks told reporters earlier this week, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China. She noted that China has become a “a major funder of Russian energy exploitation in the Arctic.”

The presence of the Chinese aircraft in the U.S. Air Defense Identification Zone was not unexpected. Last August, Russia and China conducted a large naval flotilla near Alaska that was shadowed by U.S. Navy ships. And Air Force Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, the head of NORAD, told the House Armed Services Committee in March that Chinese air operations in the U.S. Air Defense Identification Zone would likely come “as early as this year.”

The Russian Defense Ministry said the mission “was not directed against third countries.”

Editor’s Note: This article was updated on July 25 to include comments from Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III.

First Airmen Graduate from Army Warrant Officer Instructor School

July 24, 2024 | By David Roza

The U.S. Army Warrant Officer Career College at Fort Novosel, Ala., usually trains Soldiers in the fine art of being warrant officers, who fill technical rather than leadership functions. But among one recent class of instructors were four Airmen who later this year will help train the Air Force’s first batch of new warrant officers in 66 years.

The Airmen—Master Sgt. Vernon Boyd, Master Sgt. Ryan Lawrence, Master Sgt. David Elliott, and Senior Master Sgt. Kayleigh McAviney—graduated July 19 from the Train, Advise, and Counsel Officer Certification Course, the first Airmen in history to do so.

In the Army, TAC officers prepare Soldiers for the responsibility of being warrant officers, and the new Air Force TAC officers will help prepare Airmen for the job later this year at the newly-opened Air Force Warrant Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., just a two-hour drive north of Fort Novosel.

The Air Force and Space Force are the only military services currently without warrant officers, but today the Air Force sees the reintroduction of warrant officers as a way to maintain an edge in two fast-moving technical fields: information technology and cybersecurity.

In the enlisted and commissioned officer ranks, Airmen often have to take career breaks for leadership and development roles as they rise through the ranks. The warrant officer track offers a different path.

“With perishable skills, like cyber, like IT, where the technology is moving so rapidly, folks who are experts in that can’t afford to be sent off to a leadership course for eight or nine months,” Alex Wagner, assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs, said April 9.

About 490 Airmen across the Active-Duty, Reserve, and Guard components applied for the warrant officer school which will train two eight-week classes of about 30 candidates each. The first class starts this October and the second in early 2025. After inheriting its warrant officer training from the Army decades ago, the service is using the reintroduction to develop a brand new regime, Maj. Nathaniel Roesler, the school’s commandant, told Air & Space Forces Magazine earlier this month.

“We’re not trying to make warrant officers into better cyber operators,” he explained. “They come to us with those skills, with years of practical experience. What we’re doing with them is building them into … the Air Force’s leading professional warfighters, technical integrators, and trusted advisors.”

In other words, what makes a warrant officer a warrant officer is not only technical knowledge, but also communication skills, legal awareness, ethical decision-making, strategic understanding, and emotional intelligence—skills that will be particularly important as Air Force warrant officers navigate a bureaucracy that has not dealt with their kind in decades.

“They will have an outsize impact,” Roesler said.

Graduates of the Train, Advise and Counsel Officer Certification Course, recite the TAC Officer Creed during a graduation ceremony at the Holman House in Ozark, Alabama, July 19, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Evan Porter)

To get there, instructors will need to show them the way. The four Airmen who attended the TAC officer course put their joint warfare skills to good use to overcome the lost-in-translation moments that happen when troops from different branches, each with unique jargon and protocols, serve together.

“Attending an Army training course for the first time presented unique challenges, such as translating Army-specific language, acronyms, and processes, which were different from what we use in the Air Force,” one of the graduates, Master Sgt. David Elliott said in a July 22 press release. “I overcame these challenges by creating a personal glossary of terms and frequently consulting my instructor and my Army classmates.”

Another graduate, Senior Master Sgt. Kayleigh McAviney, said “the greatest benefit came from understanding the intricacies of how the Army and each specialty utilizes their warrant officers.”

The new instructors are eager to put their skills to work this October.

“We are receiving highly competent, driven, subject-matter experts, and giving them eight weeks of deliberate training,” Elliott said. “They will graduate and show up to commanders eager to show them the value warrant officers will provide.”

Air Force Generals Tapped to Lead National Guard Bureau, TRANSCOM, AMC

July 24, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

A trio of Air Force lieutenant generals are in line to gain a fourth star, as the Pentagon announced their nominations for top roles at the National Guard Bureau, U.S. Transportation Command, and Air Mobility Command.

Lt. Gen. Steven S. Nordhaus has been tapped to lead the National Guard and become a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, succeeding Army Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson. If confirmed, Nordhaus would continue a 30-year tradition of the Air Force and Army trading off the top spot on the NGB.

Nordhaus is currently the commander of the 1st Air Force, or Air Forces Northern, and the head of the Continental U.S. Command Region for NORAD. An F-16 pilot by trade, Nordhaus is a member of the Air National Guard and has commanded a Guard squadron, detachment, and wing, as well as time as commander of the Air National Guard Readiness Center. He also had stints as executive assistant and director of operations at the National Guard Bureau.

Air Forces Northern has members from the active duty Air Force, Air Force Reserve, and Air National Guard, but most of its aircraft come from Guard wings. The Pentagon also said President Joe Biden is nominating Maj. Gen. Michael L. Ahmann to succeed Nordhaus. Ahmann, also a Guardsman, is currently the director of programs and requirements at the Guard Bureau.

If confirmed, Nordhaus would be responsible for advocating for more than 430,000 Guardsmen and guiding the Guard as it faces ever-growing demand for its services.

Lt. Gen. Randall Reed, deputy commander of Air Mobility Command, has been nominated to take the lead of U.S. Transportation Command, succeeding Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost.

Reed, a former KC-135 instructor pilot, has commanded at the squadron, group, wing, and Numbered Air Force level. He has more than 3,500 flight hours in the C-141B, KC-135R/T, B-1B, RC-135V/W, E-8C, C-130, C-5A, C-5M, and C-21. He arrived at AMC in May 2022.

If confirmed, Reed would keep the number of Airmen in charge of combatant commands at four, tied with the Army and ahead of the Marine Corps and Space Force.

TRANSCOM is in the early stages of implementing a new Global Household Goods contract for moving troops’ belongings around the world. The command will also face pressure to prepare for the complex logistics that would define any conflict in the Indo-Pacific.

At AMC, Reed and commander Gen. Mike Minihan emphasized the importance of mobility forces in great power competition with the likes of China, executing more maximum endurance operations and conducting a massive “Mobility Guardian” exercise in the Pacific in 2023.

Now, AMC is poised to get entirely new leadership. Lt. Gen. John D. Lamontagne has been nominated for a fourth star and to take over as commander of AMC.

Lamontagne is currently the deputy commander of both U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa. Both a C-17 and KC-135 pilot, Lamontagne has a deep history with AMC and Scott Air Force Base, Ill. In the 1990s, he worked there at the Tanker Airlift Control Center and the Civil Reserve Air Fleet program, and in the 2010s, he served as deputy director of operations for AMC and commander of the 618th Air Operations Center, the nerve center of AMC.

Having commanded at the squadron, group, and wing level, Lamontagne also had joint stints as the deputy director for the J-5 and as chief of staff for U.S. European Command.

At AMC, he’ll be succeeding a larger-than-life presence in Minihan, while likely trying to continue his work in boosting connectivity across the entire mobility fleet.

His new deputy will likely be Maj. Gen. Rebecca J. Sonkiss, who has been nominated for the job and a third star. Sonkiss is currently deputy at another component command, Air Force Special Operations Command.

Also nominated July 24 were:

Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael L. Downs to be lieutenant general and associate director for military affairs at the Central Intelligence Agency. Downs is currently the vice director for the Joint Staff.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Evan L. Pettus to be lieutenant general and military deputy commander at U.S. Southern Command. Pettus is currently the commander of the Twelfth Air Force, or Air Forces Southern.

Space Force Brig. Gen. Devin R. Pepper to become major general. Pepper will stay in his job as deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and policy at Supreme Allied Command Transformation, NATO.

AMC Is Working on Analysis of Commercial Refueling. Can Retired KC-10s Help?

July 24, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

Air Mobility Command has explored the idea of commercial refueling to supplement its tankers and is working on more analysis—including potential use of retired and stored KC-10 Extenders—commander Gen. Mike Minihan told lawmakers July 23.

Testifying at his last House Armed Services Committee hearing before retirement, Minihan was asked by Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.) about commercial refueling, with Alford arguing the Air Force should embrace the concept. Minihan agreed that there is “value” to the arrangement and said AMC is coordinating with U.S. Transportation, having done the “initial first work” on the idea.

Alford noted that many KC-10s are now retiring to the “boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., and could supplement the Air Force’s tanker fleet as commercial tankers.

“Yes, sir,” Minihan agreed. “There’s enormous value in aircraft that have the potential to provide readiness in the commercial sector.”

“The important first work has been done,” he added of AMC’s commercial refueling efforts. “The analysis on the oversight and the certification is what’s next, and we now have enough data to do that.”

Yet Minihan also cautioned that it will be important to “make sure that with commercial refueling, that we don’t decrement the readiness of those in uniform flying the tankers.”

Air Mobility Command was not immediately able to clarify Minihan’s last remark, but it may have been a reference to the number of operational air refuelings aircrews do, and whether handing some of those events off to a commercial provider would reduce training sorties and experience levels among uniformed operators.

“Those three bins of analysis are what need to be initiated and are being initiated,” Minihan said. “And then I think we’ll be able to get to a point where we can make a holistic approach to commercial air refueling.”

There are two commercial aerial refueling companies—Omega Air and Metrea—now serving the U.S. military and other customers. They can refuel aircraft conducting training or in exercises but cannot refuel them in combat. Metrea recently acquired retired KC-135 tankers from Singapore and France and performed the first commercial air refueling of an Air Force aircraft—an RC-135—just a year ago. Omega Air followed with more in December. Commercial air refueling services have been operating for nearly three decades.

A commercial KDC‐10 tanker aircraft refuels a U.S. Air Force F‐16 Fighting Falcon from the 51st Fighter Wing, enroute Commando Sling 23 at Paya Lebar Air Base, Singapore, Nov. 6, 2023. Courtesy Photo

The Air Force’s retirement of the KC-10, reaching its final stages, was driven by budget pressures to reduce the number of logistical tails it maintains and not because of dissatisfaction with that tanker’s performance. In fact, the KC-10 achieved a mission capable rate in fiscal 2023 of 80.4 percent, and as the service’s largest tanker, it also had a cargo capacity roughly equivalent to that of the C-17.

KC-10s in commercial hands would likely be a welcome addition to the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, which U.S. Transportation Command can call on in a time of national crisis to supplement the organic air mobility inventory. Civil carriers agree to be part of CRAF in exchange for routine contracts to carry cargo and passengers for TRANSCOM. The KC-10s would need no modifications to be able to conduct either commercial air refueling or cargo missions.

An industry official said KC-10s on call for CRAF would be “a Godsend if you need to clean out [a lot of cargo] or [passengers] somewhere in a hurry, like in a NEO [noncombatant evacuation operation],” and help the Air Force with its hub-and-spoke Agile Combat Employment logistics concept.