PHOTOS: US, 4 Allies Kick Off Cope North Exercise with Impressive Elephant Walk

Feb. 6, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

The U.S. Air Force, Marines Corps, and Navy, along with four partner nations, flexed their airpower in an “elephant walk” at Anderson Air Force Base, Guam, to kick off Pacific Air Forces’ largest annual multilateral exercise, Cope North.

All told, 35 aircraft from the U.S., Royal Australian Air Force, Japan Air Self-Defense Force, French Air and Space Force, and Republic of Korea Air Force lined up in a united formation on Feb. 5, according to a PACAF release.

The roster comprised 13 U.S. Air Force, 8 Marine Corps, 10 JASDF, 2 French Air and Space Force, 1 RAAF, and 1 ROK Air Force aircraft, encompassing fighters, airlifters, and command and control aircraft, 36th Wing spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

“On behalf of RAAF, JASDF, and the USAF exercise leadership, we are excited to kick off Cope North 24 with this successful demonstration of interoperability through the Elephant Walk,” Lt. Col. David Overstreet, Cope North lead planner, said in the release. “Throughout the exercise we aim to aggressively practice combat air forces and mobility air forces dispersal activities in concert with all six participating nations. Our network of alliances and partnerships remains the backbone of global security.”

The demonstration illustrated the U.S. and its allies’ airpower presence and readiness across the Indo-Pacific region. It is the second multi-national elephant walk on Guam in recent months, after a 23-aircraft formation with six participating nations rolled out in July.

“The sheer amount of aircraft and the way our Allies and partners operate together with us is inspiring,” said Senior Airman Robert Rennie, an Air Traffic Controller assigned to the 36th Operations Support Squadron. As one of the Airmen who directed and oversaw the process, Rennie added that seeing the elephant walk reminds him that the team is “moving in the right direction to ensure deterrence.”

The larger three-week Cope North exercise provides a chance for the U.S. to cooperate with regional partners through sharing data and intelligence, refining tactics, and improving interoperability.

“The planning and execution was excellent,” said Master Sgt. Steven Hood, 756th Air Refueling Squadron KC-135 boom operator. “Everyone’s professionalism and eagerness to work together will propel our war-fighting capabilities in the Pacific.”

Cope North 24 is in full swing. PACAF shared photos Feb. 6 of a B-52 Stratofortress from the 5th Bomb Wing flying over Tinian and Saipan islands, about 120 miles north Guam. The heavy bomber was escorted by a USAF F-15, two F-16s, a Navy E/A-18 Growler, and a Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet, as well as JASDF F-15J Eagles, U-125A, and two F-2s. B-52s from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., deployed to Anderson last week to support the multinational exercise, running through Feb. 23.

During Cope North 24 a U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress is flanked from left to right by a U.S. Navy E/A-18 Growler, Japanese Air Self-Defense Force F-2, F-15MC, USAF F-16CM, JASDF U-125A, USAF F-16CM, USAF F-15C, JASDF F-2 and a U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet during a multinational formation over Tinian and Saipan Feb. 6, 2024. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Gerald R. Willis

About 700 service members from five nations, including the Royal Canadian Air Force, will join some 1,700 U.S. Airmen, Marines, and Sailors in training together to enhance agile combat skills, better integrate mission planning, and execute aerial missions. In addition, the exercise will include humanitarian assistance and disaster relief training and command and control operations, including airlift and logistics training from various locations.

In anticipation of the exercise, the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy engaged in three days of training to qualify members on fueling operations last week.

Originated in 1978 at Misawa Air Base, Japan, as a quarterly bilateral drill, Cope North relocated to Andersen in 1999.

New Report: Wargames Show CCA Could Have Huge Influence in a Pacific War

Feb. 6, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

Moderately capable—and moderately costly—Collaborative Combat Aircraft would be extremely valuable in a war with China, so long as they are “additive” to new crewed aircraft already planned and used independently and not just “tethered” to those crewed aircraft, according to a new report from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

A series of wargames run by the Mitchell Institute showed that when used by the U.S. Air Force in large numbers, CCAs—autonomous drones meant to supplement the manned fleet—compelled China to expend large numbers of missiles, created beneficial chaos in the battlespace, and overall were a cost-imposing factor on the adversary, participants said Feb. 6.

Retired Col. Mark A. Gunzinger, retired Maj. Gen. Lawrence A. Stutzriem, and Bill Sweetman summarized the wargames’ findings in a paper, “The Need for Collaborative Combat Aircraft for Disruptive Air Warfare.”

The CCA program, still in its infancy but expected to grow quickly, represents “an opportunity for the Air Force,” Gunzinger said during an online event. Given that the Air Force fleet is the smallest and oldest it’s ever been and there is a growing mismatch between “the supply and demand for Air Force airpower,” Gunzinger said, an injection of low-cost CCA drones in large numbers to match or overwhelm China’s air assets makes USAF potentially dominant in such a fight.

Gunzinger further emphasized the importance of low costs.

“It’s unreasonable to assume” the Air Force will be able to match China aircraft for aircraft, missile for missile, and so it must invest in an “asymmetric” approach which will disrupt China’s operating plan and impose costs upon it, he said.

In the wargames, three separate “Blue” teams were free to ask for CCAs ranging from “exquisite,” $40 million-plus autonomous aircraft with capabilities near that of a crewed fifth-generation fighter—2,000-mile range, six missiles onboard, very-low observable stealth, onboard radars and infrared trackers, and runway independent—to more basic craft, under $15 million apiece, with far fewer weapons and stealth.

The result: teams scarcely used “exquisite” CCAs in the early days of a fight because of the risk of losing them.

Curtis Wilson, senior director of emergent missions at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, participated in the games and said if a CCA “only needs to last 30 minutes, the cost goes way down” relative to an aircraft expected to serve for decades and built to do so. He also noted that the artificial intelligence needed for such aircraft can be more generic and less capable than would be needed for high-end “exquisite” systems.

Wilson recommended that CCAs be generically designed to take advantage of existing ground support equipment, rather than “bespoke” aircraft requiring significant investment in specialized handling and maintenance gear.

General Atomics is one of five contractors that have been selected to design and build CCAs by the Air Force.

Independently, all the teams involved in the Mitchell wargames chose to use large numbers of moderately-capable, moderately priced mid-range CCAs. These autonomous airplanes sharply reduced the risk to crewed aircraft by soaking up adversary missiles, and China was forced to “honor” each one as a threat that could not be ignored, Gunzinger said.

Their deployment across a wide range of austere air bases, some launched from aircraft or islands with no runways, also compelled China to meter its use of ballistic missiles against the usual well-established operating bases, he noted.

Moreover, Blue threats “attacking early from every axis” vastly complicated China’s defense problem, Stutzriem said, and forced China to maintain a high pace of defensive operations around the clock.

“There is a need to break from the mindset that the CCA always operates in support of crewed aircraft,” Gunzinger said. “CCAs that are appropriately designed to have the right mission systems [and] the right degree of autonomy, can also be used as lead forces to disrupt the enemy’s operations.”

Still, when CCAs were used cooperatively with crewed aircraft like the F-35 or the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter, “it made the fighters better” at accomplishing their missions, Mitchell fellow Heather Penney said.

Robert Winkler, vice president of corporate development and national security programs at Kratos Defense and a wargame participant, said CCAs added considerably to crewed fighter survivability.

Participants from industry, the Air Force and other experts participating in the wargames “unanimously agree” that the CCAs must be “additive and complementary” to crewed aircraft programs already in the pipeline and not a substitute for them, Gunzinger said.

“They’re not going to reduce the Air Force’s requirements for F-35s, NGAD, and B-21s and other critical modernized systems,” he said. Their maximum combat value “will be realized by taking full advantage of the attributes of crewed and uncrewed aircraft, that each bring to the fight.”

Asked if CCAs should have their own squadrons and organizations or be blended with crewed combat aircraft organizations, Gunzinger said this was a heavy topic in post-games analysis.

The conclusion, he said, was that “we need to build future units that consist of both CCA and fighters …bombers, maybe even tankers … So they can operate every day like they’re going to fight, so they can develop the tactics, techniques, procedures, concepts and so forth.”

At the same time, when employed, CCAs don’t need to be “co-located with fighter units or bomber units,” Gunzinger said. They could be crated up and pre-positioned at austere fields, ready for use at need.

Winkler noted that CCAs work best when they are positioned “inside the first island chain” of China’s sphere of operations, rather than operating at long ranges. Doing so increases their operating tempo and further taxes China’s ability to respond, he said.

While the Air Force considers how it will organize and use CCAs, Gunzinger stressed that it is important to recognize that “as the capabilities increase, so will your costs.” Stealth and high-end sensors “all add up to more cost, just like other aircraft, so the secret sauce is developing CCA forces” with the right mix of capabilities.

Certain capabilities are crucial—Stutzriem said a “major insight” of the games was that CCAs must have enough survivability “to reach their weapons launch point.” CCAs that weren’t stealthy enough to survive obviously played little role in the battle.

The report authors recommended that the Air Force:

Determine the sweet spot of capabilities for the bulk of CCAs and develop a cost-effective mix for the future force structure

Develop operating concepts for CCAs, such as going after high-value targets and compelling an enemy to expend weapons against them

Treat CCAs as force multipliers and not substitutes for new crewed systems in the pipeline

Acquire CCAs “at scale” in this decade

Give CCAs enough survivability to reach their weapon release points

Determine what support and launch location needs are required for CCAs in forward areas

Adapt current munitions to fit on small CCAs and work on miniaturizing new munitions such that many can fit on a small CCA platform

Persuade Congress of the practical benefits of CCAs and not to “cannibalize” other programs to pay for them

Gunzinger said CCAs “could dramatically change the Air Force’s air combat operations, but it will not happen if the Air Force is forced to rob money from its other modernization programs to pay for it.”

Will the Air Force Bring Back Warrant Officers?

Feb. 6, 2024 | By Tobias Naegele and David Roza

Challenges with retaining highly skilled technical specialists could drive the Air Force to reintroduce warrant officers 45 years after the last Air Force warrant officer retired in 1980. The Air Force and Space Force are the only military services not to include warrant officers, who fill technical, rather than leadership functions in the other military branches.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall III expressed interest in the idea in a recent interview, saying “We’re looking at things like technical tracks for officers and NCOs, and possibly creating something like a Warrant Officer track for people that are in, cyber, for example, an area where we need people and where there are a lot of people who don’t want to do other than technical things.”

A copy of what appears to be an Air Force planning document began circulating on social media in recent days, indicating a possible pilot program. Air Force spokespeople declined to comment however.

The document, posted anonymously on the unofficial Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page and the Air Force subreddit directs Air University to develop a concept of operations for establishing a training pipeline at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. “to reintroduce a USAF non-aviation warrant officer program as a technical corps.”

The initial cohort, according to the document, would consist of 30 prior-service personnel, but a separate planning document obtained by Air & Space Forces Magazine says the pipeline could scale up to 200 junior warrant officers and 50 senior warrant officers a year.

“The Service must examine new ways to develop and retain a highly capable, technologically capable corps of air-minded warfighters,” the order states. A warrant officer corps would “fully leverage the technical depth and breadth of talent of our Airmen and cultivate the strategic advantage USAF technicians have historically provided[.]”

Reaction on social media was strong and positive.

The Air Force is expected to announce a series of changes next week after an extensive five-month review of challenges to readiness and its preparedness for great power competition with China at the AFA Warfare Symposium near Denver, Colo. “Anything related to the plans for Reoptimizing for Great Power Competition will be announced next week,” the spokesperson said.

Kendall is expected to unveil extensive plans meant to prepare the service for a possible conflict with China or Russia. Among other changes, significant changes to the service’s organization are under consideration, Air & Space Forces Magazine has reported.

Warrant officers are neither enlisted nor commissioned officers, falling in the middle between the two. The Air Force had about 4,500 warrant officers in the late 1950s, but phased them out after the top-most enlisted ranks were added, according to the RAND Corporation.

The last Air Force warrant officer retired in 1980, and the service has flirted with the idea of reinstating them in the past, both as a stop-gap to stem the ongoing pilot shortage and for other purposes. The latest proposal was discarded in 2018.

“Congress asked us … do warrant officers make sense to come in and help the Air Force with their pilot retention problem [and] pilot production problem?” Lt. Gen. Brian Kelly, then the Air Force personnel chief, told Air Force Times. “We’re going to go back and say, ‘No, they do not.’”

But Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass has floated the concept as one way to retain highly skilled enlisted specialists.

“I think the Air Force has to, as we’re developing our broader talent management model, make sure that we have a pathway to be able to retain our technical expertise,” she told Air & Space Forces Magazine in July.

When asked if the Air Force ought to implement a warrant officer system, Bass said she was “definitely not opposed to the suggestion of that. We just have to do the analysis to make sure that is what is best for the U.S. Air Force.”

In the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, warrant officer and limited-duty officers help retain subject matter experts without pushing them into leadership or administrative roles. Then-Chief Master Sgt. of the Space Force Roger Towberman also expressed interest in warrant officers, saying in 2021 that the Space Force would study the option.

Ellsworth Runway Reopens After B-1 Crash Wreckage Moved

Feb. 6, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

After a month-long closure, the runway at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., has reopened and a B-1 bomber that crashed there has been cleared, a 28th Bomb Wing spokesman said Feb. 6.

Meanwhile, some of the B-1s that left the base to train and operate elsewhere have returned, with the entire contingent expected back by the end of the week, the spokesman told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The runway was initially closed Jan. 4 after a B-1 crashed while attempting to land. Base officials said the closure was necessary to fully document the crash site and conduct a sweep of the airfield for debris needed for the investigation and that could threaten future flight operations.

It was briefly reopened late in January to allow several B-1s to move to Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, to continue training and operations—around 250 Airmen made the move as well. Some of those bombers wound up participating in the Feb. 2 airstrikes over Iraq and Syria.

Now they are starting to return, with the full contingent expected back by the end of the week. The exact number of aircraft that left was never publicly disclosed.

The cause of the Jan. 4 crash also remains undisclosed as investigators continue to probe the incident, the 28th Bomb Wing spokesman said. Four Airmen ejected from the aircraft and survived. The incident occurred during poor weather in below-freezing temperatures with dense fog limiting visibility, according to local weather reports. Radio traffic from local first responders said there was an “active fire” after an “explosion.”

Unofficial imagery that circulated online showed the aircraft severely burned, with significant damage after crashing and skidding off the runway.

The spokesman said engineers from the 28th Civil Engineer Squadron and maintainers from the 28th Maintenance Group, along with other personnel, “teamed up to relocate the wreckage from the side of the runway to another location on the installation where the investigators will continue to complete their review of the accident.”

Should the aircraft be deemed unrepairable, it would mark a significant blow to the Air Force’s B-1 fleet, which consists of just 44 other airframes at this point.

With 17 recently-operational B-1s stored at the “Boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., it may be possible to return a retired B-1 to operational duty, but the Air Force has not said whether it is considering such a move.

Cannon Program Brings Needed Medical Specialists To Rural Base

Feb. 6, 2024 | By David Roza

A new program at rural Cannon Air Force Base, N.M. brings in medical specialists who can’t be found nearby. Since the “Circuit Rider” program stood up in October, specialists have come in from as far as Alaska to spare Airmen and their families long trips off-base for consultations and treatments.

“We recognize the strain that traveling over 100 miles for many medical specialties can cause on Airmen and their families,” Col. Jeremy Bergin, commander of the Cannon-based 27th Special Operations Wing, said in a statement to Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The idea for Circuit Rider grew out of a medical support summit held at Cannon in September meant to identify barriers to health care at the 27th SOW. Lack of access to specialty care is a challenge for both military and civilian families in the area.

“We don’t have enough doctors anywhere in New Mexico, but especially in rural New Mexico,” one doctor told New Mexico in Depth in October.

Specifically, the summit found shortfalls in specialties such as behavioral health, applied behavior analysis, neurology, and endocrinology. The summit also found that families at Cannon travel an average of 147 miles for consultations and treatment. Increased access to virtual appointments is one way to help shorten the distance, and another is the Circuit Rider program.

Circuit Rider programs are not unique to the Air Force, but the Cannon version comes during a time when medical staffing shortages are widespread across the Military Health System. The Cannon circuit rider providers come from military treatment facilities with enough capacity to support the program, said Capt. Jaclyn Pienkowski, Cannon’s chief of public affairs.

Staff shortages were a common complaint among members of the 27th Special Operations Medical Group who responded to a 2022 Defense Organizational Climate Survey. Pienkowski said the group worked with the Air Force and the Defense Health Agency to improve Active-Duty manning and bring civilian positions up to 95 percent.

“The 27th SOMDG continues to review staffing to ensure solutions are in place, or pending, to support the mission,” she said.

All circuit rider providers are military personnel, who do not have the same state licensure restrictions that civilian providers often have, though they require an unrestricted active state medical license to practice, Pienkowski said.

The 27th Special Operations Medical Group uses its travel funds to bring in specialists from further afield. The Defense Health Agency also pitches in to help the effort. A visiting developmental pediatrician saw 12 patients in October, followed by a child psychiatrist in December—both providers plan to return in February, according to a press release. Current offerings include psychiatric care for children and adolescents, developmental pediatrics, and endocrinology, while dermatology, neurology, and audiology could be on the docket for later. Visits are scheduled based on patient needs.

Though other rural Air Force bases already have similar programs, Cannon is working with Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., to share travel costs when they both need circuit rider specialists.

“We will continue to pursue these efforts and highlight new programs as they come online,” Bergin said in his statement. “We are incredibly thankful for our partnerships within the state of New Mexico and Defense Health Agency as we work to improve the quality of lives for the Air Commandos and their families at Cannon AFB to ensure we are ready to respond whenever the nation calls.”

First Phase of Taiwan F-16V Program Is Complete

Feb. 5, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

The $4.5 billion “Peace Phoenix Rising” program to upgrade 139 of Taiwan’s F-16s to the F-16V (Block 70-72) configuration is complete, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center announced Feb. 5. The next step in the boost of Taiwan’s air defenses is to deliver 66 new-build F-16s in a comparable configuration, expected within the next two to three years.

The upgrade gives Taiwan’s F-16s a capability equivalent or superior to those of most U.S. Air Force F-16s. The program is intended to help deter the People’s Republic of China from a military assault on Taiwan.

The last “Viper”-upgraded jet was delivered in December after final checks, AFLCMC said. The Taiwanese Air Force, officially known as the Republic of China Air Force, commissioned its first operational wing of F-16Vs in November 2021.

“This massive upgrade,” as AFLCMC described it, provided Taiwanese F-16s with the Northrop Grumman-built AN/APG-83 Active Electronically-Scanned Array radar, the Sniper targeting pod, Link 16, a helmet-mounted cuing system, precision GPS navigation, capability for advanced weapons, an upgraded modular mission computer, an ethernet high speed data network, a new center cockpit pedestal display, and heavyweight landing gear.

“Additional modifications to the aircraft include a slew of structural upgrades to the wings, fuselage and landing gear that make the aircraft more capable and sustainable. It also allows for a heavier takeoff as well as increased landing weight,” said Nathan Frock, AFLCMC’s acting security assistance program manager for the Taiwan F-16 retrofit program.

The upgrade program began in 2016 and the first completed aircraft was delivered in late 2018. Peace Phoenix Rising is the largest F-16 FMS retrofit program since the F-16 was inducted into the U.S. Air Force in 1979, AFLCMC said. Taiwan bought 150 F-16A/Bs in 1992; most of those were upgraded under Peace Phoenix. The upgrade was originally supposed to cover 144 aircraft, but there have been attrition losses since the original request.

Taiwan requested the Block 70 upgrade and new-jet sale after being rebuffed from buying F-35s.

The completion of the program comes on the heels of a letter from 24 U.S. lawmakers to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall in November 2023, urging the service to expedite the program’s conclusion and press quickly ahead with the follow-on $8 billion purchase of 66 new F-16Vs approved by Congress in 2019. They noted that the upgrades were running behind schedule and the new-build fighters were delayed by at least two and maybe three years.

“We still consider these FMS cases to be high-risk,” the lawmakers said. The members said the two FMS cases—the upgrade and new-build F-16 sales—were “impacted from their earliest inception by optimistic assumptions about how rapidly new technology and modifications might be integrated” into the F-16 design.

“Taiwan urgently needs these new and upgraded aircraft, and a stronger, more resilient Taiwan will improve stability across the Taiwan Strait,” they said.

Air Force acquisition executive Andrew Hunter replied that the service is exploring “all options to prioritize and expedite” the transfer of new F-16Vs to Taipei.

Although the first two new jets were supposed to be delivered in late 2023, that did not happen; the delay was chalked up by the Air Force and Lockheed Martin to “complex developmental challenges” in developing new software for the fighter. Industry sources now say Taiwan should get its first F-16 Block 70 in the third quarter of 2024.

In their letter to Kendall, the lawmakers urged that the Air Force not make “similarly optimistic assumptions from manifesting in the future. We cannot afford to over-promise and under-deliver to our closest friends.”

President Joe Biden’s administration has pledged to speed up the Foreign Military Sales process, and last week reported that 2023 was a record year for FMS agreements, totaling $80.9 billion, a 55 percent increase over fiscal 2022.

Unlike earlier F-16s, which had about an 8,000-hour service life, newly built F-16Vs will have a 12,000-hour service life.

Aerospace Industry Development Center (AIDC) was Lockheed’s subcontractor in Taiwan. Together, the two companies designed and built Taiwan’s indigenous F-CK-1 Ching Kuo, or Indigenous Defense Fighter, 130 of which were delivered in the 1990s. The jets are considered to have a capability between the Northrop F-5E, which Taiwan also flies, and the F-16. Taiwan’s air force also includes Dassault Mirage 2000s, some of which may be life-extended due to delays in delivering the F-16Vs.

AFLCMC said it’s now working on a second phase of the upgrade project—Peace Phoenix Rising Modernization II—which will add capability for the AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM), an automatic ground collision avoidance system, the MS-110 multispectral reconnaissance pod, and the AGM-154 Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW).

“We know this work is not done, as we continue to accelerate capability upgrades to the Taiwan Air Force’s existing F-16 fleet, but successfully accomplishing this key milestone is definitely worth highlighting,” said Col. Eddie Wagner, AFLCMC’s F-16 FMS Senior Materiel Leader.

Taiwan was also approved for $500 million worth of infrared search and track systems for the F-16s last August. The Legion IRST systems are considered essential to helping fourth-generation fighters like the F-16 spot aircraft with a low radar cross section, like China’s J-20.

“I am extremely proud of how all stakeholders involved with this [Peace Phoenix Rising] critical modification were able to overcome so many obstacles, including the COVID-19 pandemic, to deliver all 139 retrofitted aircraft by the end of 2023,” said Wagner. “We know the work is not done as we continue to accelerate capability upgrades to the Taiwan Air Force’s existing F-16 fleet, but successfully accomplishing this key milestone is definitely worth highlighting.”

Lockheed has at least six customers for the Lockheed F-16V/Block 70 and delivered Slovakia’s first two in January. Company officials say they are aiming at production of up to 36 F-16s per year by the end of 2024 and 48 per year by the end of 2025 from Lockheed’s Greenville, S.C., plant, where F-16 production moved from Fort Worth, Texas several years ago. However, at these rates, it will be challenging to deliver all of Taiwan’s new F-16Vs by 2026.

O.J. Sanchez, integrated fighter group vice president and general manager at Lockheed, said the company sees substantial F-16 upgrade opportunities, with more than 3,000 F-16s flying around the world. Greece, for example, has accepted more than 10 F-16s upgraded to the V configuration out of 84 expected to be delivered by 2027.

New Photos Show B-1 Lancer Crews Prepping for Feb. 2 Middle East Strikes

Feb. 5, 2024 | By David Roza

The Air Force published a batch of photos and videos this weekend showing B-1B bomber crews preparing for the CONUS-to-CONUS mission that included strikes targeting Iranian-aligned groups in Iraq and Syria on Feb. 2.

The crews and jets are from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., but launched from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, due to an ongoing investigation closing the runway at Ellsworth after a B-1 crashed there on Jan. 4.

Taking off from Dyess, the B-1s flew nonstop to the Middle East, where, along with fighter aircraft deployed to U.S. Central Command, they dropped more than 125 precision-guided munitions on 85 targets at seven facilities, according to the Pentagon.

The strikes were in response to the Jan. 28 drone attack on Tower 22, a U.S. outpost in northeast Jordan near the border with Syria. Three U.S. Army reservists were killed and at least 47 other troops injured. The group of Iranian-backed militias known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack.

Speaking to reporters Feb. 5, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder said the targets struck by the B-1s included “command and control operation centers, intelligence centers, rockets, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicle storage and logistics and munitions supply chain facilities.”

“Although we continue to evaluate, we currently assess that we had good effects and that the strikes destroyed or functionally damaged more than 80 targets at the seven facilities,” he added. “The number of casualties is still being assessed.”

Even so, Iran-backed militia groups hit back at least twice, killing six allied Kurdish fighters in eastern Syria on Feb. 4. When asked about the ongoing attacks, Ryder said “our responses are not complete.”

“I’m not going to telegraph or discuss what that may be, other than we’ll conduct that at a time and place of our choosing,” he added.

A B-1B Lancer from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, takes off the runway at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, Feb. 1, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Leon Redfern)

Meanwhile, U.S. and coalition forces also struck multiple areas controlled by Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have launched dozens of attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea in recent months. The intent is to “disrupt and degrade” the Houthis’ ability to disrupt shipping through the vital channel, Ryder said.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, Iran-backed militia groups throughout the region have used ballistic missiles and drones to attack U.S. forces scores of times. That includes groups in Iraq and Syria, as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Whether B-1 crews will make another trip to the Middle East is unclear. For now, Col. Derek Oakley, commander of Ellsworth’s 28th Bomb Wing, seemed pleased with his troops’ performance last week.

“Our Airmen demonstrated once again our ability to conduct long range precision strike missions when tasked to do so,” he said in a press release. “Teaming with our fellow Strikers at Dyess to accomplish the mission is a testament to what we are able to do while further enhancing interoperability and improving our collective readiness.”

An Airman from the 7th Munitions Conventional Maintenance shop prepares Joint Direct Attack Munitions at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, Jan. 31, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Leon Redfern)

Though it cannot carry nuclear weapons, the B-1B’s three internal weapons bays can carry more guided or unguided weapons than any other Air Force aircraft, including the venerable B-52 Stratofortress. The jet’s four engines can push it over 900 miles an hour, and its swing-wings give it better performance at low speeds while loitering over a battlefield. The crew of four includes an aircraft commander, a copilot, and two combat systems officers who specialize in offensive and defensive systems.

“The mission we conducted validated that we can respond to any threat anywhere on the globe,” Oakley added. “We continuously train and prepare for these types of situations, and we are always ready to answer the call when it comes.”

New NORTHCOM, NORAD Boss Pledges ‘Relentless’ Homeland Defense

Feb. 5, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

Air Force Gen. Gregory M. Guillot took the helm of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command during a ceremony at Peterson Space Force Base, Colo., on Feb 5. Succeeding Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, Guillot is now responsible for the 24/7 homeland defense mission.

“NORAD and NORTHCOM and their complementary missions are more imperative today than ever before,” Guillot said at the ceremony. “We owe the American and Canadian citizens that depend on us a relentless, disciplined approach to defending our homelands in all domains from all avenues of approach against all who intend us harm. Delivering that defense in today’s challenging environment is our commands’ no-fail mission.”

That mission is only growing tougher, Guillot said, in the face of competitors’ increasing capabilities.

“Today, the United States and Canada face an extraordinarily complicated and quickly changing strategic environment,” Guillot said. “Competitors can hold North America at risk in multiple domains from all avenues of approach and are increasing both their capability and their capacity to strike the homeland, either kinetically or non-kinetically, at a rate far exceeding the pace seen just a few years ago.”

Deputy Secretary General Kathleen Hicks echoed Guillot’s sentiment, citing Russia’s long-range aviation capabilities, North Korea’s growing ICBM program, and the Chinese surveillance balloon from last year as examples. Gen. Wayne Eyre, Chief of the Defence Staff for the Canadian Armed Forces, also stressed that competitors’ efforts have escalated over the years.

“Our competitors have become bolder, more active in this space, not just Russia, but China, too, acting on its aspirations of global preeminence,” Eyre stated.

To combat those threats, Guillot and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. stressed the need for robust partnerships and collaboration.

“To the men and women of NORAD and NORTHCOM who deepen our partnership every day, thanks for your dedication, thanks for your sacrifices you all make to strengthen our shared security.“

NORAD, founded in 1958, is a bi-national organization for aerospace warning, aerospace control and maritime warning for North America. NORTHCOM, established in 2002, is focused on homeland defense and providing military support to non-military authorities when directed.

The homeland defense mission gained renewed focus after the Chinese spy balloon incident in early 2023, and VanHerck cited the incident before Congress in pushing for better domain awareness technology to cover “gaps.”

In his farewell speech, VanHerck once again pushed for more resources to tackle the problem.

“To execute our assigned missions, NORAD and NORTHCOM require improved and increased domain awareness, adequate infrastructure, and access to trained, ready, and equipped forces,” VanHerck said.

In particular, he called for global integration across the Department of Defense and modern technologies to enhance awareness and information processing.

“We must process this domain awareness and information more quickly and get it to our decision-makers,” VanHerck said. “The only way you create more time and decision space is you process data and information with the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning and distribute it faster, allowing key deterrence options to be developed, and defeat options, if required.”

VanHerck also used his address to call for lawmakers to take the homeland defense mission more seriously through consistent, stable funding.

“I am concerned for our nation; a divided nation leading to an inability to focus on strategic imperatives and threats,” Vanherck asserted. “Continuing resolutions and the failure of Congress to pass a budget on time in 13 of the last 14 years, hollow promises that don’t equal tangible investments in support of the stated number one priority of homeland defense.”

Now, VanHerck will pass the mantle of leadership on to Guillot after a 36-year career in the military and almost four years at NORAD and NORTHCOM. Guillot comes to the job after stints as deputy commander of U.S. Central Command and head of Air Forces Central, but prior to that he was director of operations at NORTHCOM. He also spent time in Pacific Air Forces and commanded at the wing and squadron level.

When It Comes to Refueling Satellites, Space Force Faces Hard Choices

Feb. 5, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

As Pentagon and Space Force leaders plan for future dynamic space operations where satellites can maneuver as needed and get refueled to prolong their service lives, industry leaders are preparing to deploy new technology and finalizing their concepts of operations for what they agree is an “incredibly hard mission area.”

Refueling Interfaces

In-orbit refueling requires some kind of port or interface for satellites to receive fuel. Industry officials compared such a port to the “inlet of a gas tank” or a “gas cap” on a car. The Pentagon has extensive requirements for such receptacles for aerial refueling, but standards for a satellite equivalent are still being hashed out.

On Jan. 29, Northrop Grumman announced that Space Systems Command had selected its Passive Refueling Module (PRM) as a “preferred refueling solution interface standard.” Lauren Smith, Northrop’s program manager for in-space refueling, told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the module went through a “rigorous review” with SSC’s engineering review board and is the only interface to receive that certification to date.

“Standards are important to help the entire satellite service ecosystem grow, and we want to do the right thing for our customers,” Smith said. “There’s a demand signal that preparing satellites for refueling is important moving forward. And since the PRM has been identified as an SSC preferred refueling solution, the approved version of the PRM documentation and specifications will be provided by SSC.”

The plan is to have the PRM flying on satellites in orbit by 2025, Smith added.

Yet an SSC official later told SpaceNews that the selection did not mean the Space Force would use the PRM interface exclusively. And an executive with Orbit Fab, a startup that has developed its own port called the Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface (RAFTI), told Air & Space Forces Magazine that its interface will go on Space Force satellites too.

“We have eight RAFTI refueling ports currently going to [Air Force Research Laboratory] and Tetra-5 missions in the short term, and many more headed for spacecraft programs around the world this year and beyond,” chief commercial officer Adam Harris said. “RAFTI is shipping to SSC spacecraft this month.”

Smith said Northrop will retain the intellectual property rights to the PRM, but the government, which helped fund the technology’s development, will have usage rights and can distribute the technical specifications to other contractors, who will not have to pay a licensing fee. Harris said RAFTI “is available for $30,000 to anyone that wants refueling.”

Orbit Fab’s Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface (RAFTI).

Getting the Gas to the Customer

Between RAFTI and PRM, more refuelable satellites will likely launch in the coming years.

Actually doing the refueling is another story—and Northrop and Orbit Fab are taking different approaches.

Orbit Fab’s plan is to have operational fuel depots, or what it calls “Gas Stations in Space,” in the next few years. But the depots themselves won’t refuel satellites. Instead, they will stay in place and “shuttles” will maneuver between the two so that the client (such as the Space Force) doesn’t have to burn fuel getting to the depot.

In late January, Orbit Fab announced it was partnering with another startup focused on in-orbit servicing, ClearSpace, to collaborate on operations and key technologies.

“You can think of ClearSpace as kind of being the tow truck in space. So we do a number of different servicing capabilities, whether it’s hauling you off the side of the road, or it’s topping off your fuel tank,” Tim Maclay, ClearSpace’s U.S. general manager, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “Eventually we’ll be replacing batteries and doing maintenance and that sort of thing. So we’re really sort of the AAA of the satellite world. And so with regard to refueling, think of us really as the last-mile delivery between the fuel depot and the customer.”

Orbit Fab is also working with Astroscale, another startup, on a Space Force project called the Astroscale Prototype Servicer for Refueling (APS-R) that is scheduled to go into orbit in 2026. In January, Astroscale revealed new details on the project, including a concept of operations for how it would use the RAFTI interface and dock with an Orbit Fab depot.

Partnering with other companies to get fuel to client satellites “is the fastest way to get our service to market,” Orbit Fab CEO Daniel Faber told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Such speed is important, he added, because the Space Force is pushing industry to provide in-orbit refueling on an accelerated timeline.

“The government is now trying to move our timelines to the left,” Faber said. “They’re pushing really hard to make this happen quicker. The generals are saying every single spacecraft should be refuelable from, well, they started by saying the end of the decade, now they’re saying 2028. We’re going to get operational by 2026 and then give them that confidence that it’s going to work and that they can get these things installed and then they’ll get refueled.”

Meanwhile, in the same release announcing the PRM selection, Northrop revealed that it had received a contract from Space Systems Command to develop the Geosynchronous Auxiliary Support Tanker, or GAS-T, a spacecraft that will have enough fuel to maneuver between satellites and refuel them.

“If you had a servicer that was quite small, then you would really need to be going back to a depot frequently. And that’s part of the architecture and the trades—how much fuel is really beneficial for the vehicle that’s interacting directly with the client vehicles? And I think for us specifically, we have enough fuel that we’ll be able to refuel multiple client vehicles,” said Smith. “GAS-T is envisioned to be able to be refueled. So it could be filled up at a depot in the future certainly. But in this architecture today, GAS-T has enough fuel capacity to be able to refuel multiple vehicles. And so as part of this architecture, we don’t have to have a depot today for it to be useful.”

Smith called GAS-T a “pathfinder” program for the Space Force, and while Northrop believes the technology is mature enough to be operational, she said the contract is meant to be “iterative.”

“The information that we’re generating through S&T, getting to the requirements review, SSC will have the option to say we’d like to move forward with this to demonstrate the technology,” said Smith. “ … Ultimately we’re taking SSC’s lead for sort of how they want to move the technology forward.”