News from the Air Force

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Jordan Ramps Up Airstrikes In Wake of Pilot's Death

Jordan's Air Force carried out numerous airstrikes on Thursday in the wake of the execution of one of its pilots captured by ISIS terrorists in Syria. Dubbed "Operation Martyr Muath," the name of the Royal Jordanian Air Force pilot killed, RJAF fighters staged strikes with "dozens of jets," the Petra state news agency announced. According to the Jordanian military, the strikes hit ISIS "training centers and ammunition dumps" with Jordanian officials declaring it would be "just the beginning" of an escalated campaign. The news wire Al Arabiya cited local Iraqi reports stating many of the RJAF strikes hit targets in Iraq, killing some 55 ISIS militants, including a senior leader known as the "Prince of Nineveh." US Central Command said the coalition also escalated strikes on Wednesday and Thursday, and Jordan flew in those operations. Between Feb. 4 and Feb. 5, coalition aircraft pounded ISIS forces near Kobani, Syria, with 11 strikes— using bombers, fighters, and remotely piloted aircraft to hit nine tactical units, a "large tactical unit," and destroying three staging positions and a fighting position, as well as six more in Iraq. On Feb. 5, in Syria, near Kobani, three strikes hit ISIS "tactical units" using bombers, fighters, and RPAs. An additional nine attacks were carried out in Iraq the same day.

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Fighter Space Launch Nearing Test Flight

DARPA plans to test-fly a prototype F-15-carried rapid and affordable light weight satellite launch vehicle later this year, and potentially blast a test vehicle into orbit as early as 2016, officials announced. "We’ve made good progress so far toward [Airborne Launch Assisted Space Access'] ambitious goal of propelling 100-pound satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) within 24 hours of call-up, all for less than $1 million per launch," said Bradford Tousley, DARPA tactical technology director. DARPA worked with Lockheed Martin Skunk Works to mature the technology, and awarded Boeing a contract to design and build up to 12 test articles. Pending the success of a new liquid monopropellant fuel being developed for the booster, DARPA plans to launch an ALASA prototype into space in the "first half of 2016," according to the Feb. 5 release. Depending on the result, DARPA plans to launch 11 more test-shots in the summer of 2016.

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Just 15 Years Away


The Air Force is launching a study “to look at air superiority” in the 2030 timeframe, said Lt. Gen. Mike Holmes, deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements. There’s “a lot of work that’s already been done that we’ll bring together” under the study, to determine what control of the air looks like 15 years hence, Holmes told defense reporters at a Pentagon briefing on Feb. 6. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has made investments in underlying technologies and so has DOD, writ large, said Holmes. “We just don’t want to jump straight to the [analysis of alternatives] on the next airplane before we’ve looked across the range of ways to do, it,” he said. It’s hard to say how much the Air Force is spending on potential sixth generation fighter technologies because “there are things that might be applied” to more than one area, such as hypersonics, directed energy, and a new adaptive engine, said Holmes. “That’s part of why we haven’t lumped it together in a program,” he said.

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Active Badgers

The Wisconsin Air National Guard's 115th Fighter Wing stood up an active association with an injection of Active Duty airmen at Truax Field near Madison, Wis., on Feb.7. "We're going to get young aviators, young maintainers, young support personnel, and they are going to work right alongside those of you in the guard who have been doing this for a lot longer than they have," said Lt. Col. J. Scott Gibson, commander of the new Active Duty 495th Fighter Group Det. 176 at Truax. The detachment will add four Active Duty F-16 pilots, and a total of 40 Active maintenance and support personnel that will work alongside their Air National Guard counterparts, according to the unit release. Madison's association is part of the Air Force's overall Total Force Integration effort to stand up Active Duty detachments at each of its ANG and Air Force Reserve Command fighter units.

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Stealthy Son of A-10?

​The Air Force will consider developing a new dedicated close air support platform capable of operating in contested airspace; a follow-on to the A-10, Air Combat Command chief Gen. Hawk Carlisle said Thursday. Speaking with reporters at AFA's Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Carlisle said that such a platform "may be something … we need to look at in the future, depending on what's happening. Nothing is off the table." Carlisle said he believes "we'll have to perform close air support in contested environments" given that adversaries are growing more sophisticated. They "are going to try to figure out how to … not let us do that," he said, so a new platform may be required. The idea is not a response to critics of USAF's plan to retire the A-10, Carlisle insisted. USAF has "always been dedicated to the mission of support to the ground component" and takes the mission seriously, he maintained. Airspace denial is already a tough challenge, and the need to "close … gaps and seams" in future capability "I think (is) something we have to be cognizant of." He added that for the near-term, "there may be something that we can do with legacy platforms to make them better" at delivering CAS. The A-10 is "significantly more vulnerable in a contested environment than other airplanes … and what provides that mission set in the future is something we'll continue to look at … it's something that's got to be in the discussion," he added.

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Airpower is Making Difference in ISIS Fight

Air Combat Command boss Gen. Hawk Carlisle pushed back on some critiques of the military campaign against ISIS, saying he has "frustration" with those who claim airpower isn't working because by all metrics the opposite is occurring. "In fact, airpower is doing fantastic," he told the audience at Thursday's panel on the combat air forces at AFA's Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando. US and coalition airpower has effectively taken away the ability for ISIS to mass forces, destroyed its ability to produce and sell oil on the black market, and to command and control forces in Iraq and Syria. "People talk about the influx of fighters, but what do you do with them when you can't mass them or command and control them," he said, noting comparisons with the air campaign in Afghanistan are not appropriate, because the combat is different and requires a different approach. Though more work remains, US Central Command, the Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve and US Air Forces Central Command have been "very successful" in coming together to coordinate with allies to both continue striking targets and holding​ ground, as well as enable allies, such as the Gulf Cooperation Council, to successfully target ISIS forces, he said.

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Resetting Space Operations

The Air Force is working to "reset" its thinking in three areas of space operations, said Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh during his address at AFA's Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., last week. The first is the discussion of space as a warfighting domain. Although Welsh said the Air Force does not want to fight a kinetic war in space, it can't ignore the fact that others are posturing to do so. Second, he said, USAF's "vision of space superiority as a mission is evolving." Space situational awareness, though still important, is no longer sufficient by itself. "Now you have to be able to survive in space," said Welsh. "Resiliency is critical. The way you put that together with space situational awareness will determine if you are able to provide either locational or situational superiority in space in the future." Finally, "We have to make sure the Air Force continues to be the lead operational voice in discussions about the space domain in the nation, because nobody knows this domain better than the United States Air Force does," Welsh added.

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How Do You Spell Relief? S-I-X-T-Y

The Air Force will seek relief from the mandated 65 combat air patrols of MQ-1 and MQ-9 remotely piloted aircraft, service intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance chief Lt. Gen. R​obert Otto said Wednesday. Speaking at an AFA-sponsored, Air Force breakfast in Arlington, Va., Otto said USAF will ask to field just 60 CAPs for one or two years until it can ramp up its RPA schoolhouse and staunch the exodus of overworked airmen flying the aircraft. "We need to give them a break," he said. "They've been surging for essentially seven straight years." While the RPA cadre is patriotic and likes the mission, Otto said he's worried that relentless six-day work weeks and a "one-to-one dwell—they're gone as much as they're home"—will lead to the families saying "enough." Given the improving economy, "We've got to give them a reason to stay," he added. New bonuses will help, but Otto said the reduced workload is just as important, otherwise there's a risk that "you break the force." A net four pilots a month are leaving, "so every two months, you're losing another CAP," he noted. "If we can come down to 60 CAPS from 65 … then we can get our manpower in balance," Otto added. He pointed out that MQ-1 and MQ-9 CAPS being flown by Italy, Britain, and France, along with Shadow RPA assets from the Army, add up to 90 CAPS, so there shouldn't be too much unsated demand for full-motion video. At 60 CAPS, he told reporters afterwards, "we can get healthy and maintain (the RPA force) even with expected losses

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Energizer F-16

The F-16 orderbook will take until 2017 to work off, and Lockheed Martin anticipates there may be a market for a further 50 airplanes, said Rod McLean, company vice president and general manager for the F-16 and F-22. Speaking with reporters at a Lockheed Martin media event in Arlington, Va., on Wednesday, McLean said the company is producing F-16s for Iraq, but there is "considerable" interest in both new-build F-16s and substantial modifications. "We have already reduced our footprint in Fort Worth," Texas, where F-16s have been built since the mid-1970s, McLean said, and there is "no near-term pressure" to make space for more F-35 work there. Lockheed is making F-16s at a rate of one per month, so an additional 50 jets would extend the line potentially to 2021. That would make the Viper the longest in-production fighter by far (outstripping the MiG-21, which was produced for 26 years). There's also enough capacity that Lockheed could build more than one a month if a customer needed jets faster, McLean said. He added that "even if we do have a gap" in orders, the operation is efficient enough that it could take a break and "stand up that line" again without too much difficulty. There "continues to be a market for a fourth-generation aircraft," he said.

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Pilot Error Caused F-16 Midair Collision

Two F-16Cs assigned to the Oklahoma Air National Guard's 138th Fighter Wing collided midair over Kansas on Oct. 20, 2014, after a student pilot failed to maintain a visual on the instructor pilot and deconflict their flight paths, according to an accident investigation board report, released Feb. 20. The instructor pilot, who had more than 2,400 flight hours in an F-16, was playing the role of the "engaged pilot" during a training mission, while the student pilot, who had 106 F-16 flight hours, was to play the "supporting role." A third F-16 was to act as the adversary, according to the report. The aircraft conducted the first scenario without incident, but the student pilot lost visual contact of the instructor pilot during the second scenario. Sixteen seconds later their aircraft collided, causing the instructor pilot's aircraft to lose control. The instructor successfully ejected from the aircraft, sustaining minor injuries, but the aircraft was considered a total loss with some $22.5 million in damage. There was no significant damage to private property, according to the report. The student pilot successfully returned to base despite losing the right wing flaperon and horizontal tail in the collision. The student pilot was not harmed, according to the report.

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Chinese Missile Defense, or Space Offense?


State Department officials believe Chinese development of a ballistic missile defense system would at best provide the Chinese with a "limited defense" of their homeland that would not undercut the deterrent value of the US nuclear arsenal, said Frank ​Rose, assistant secretary of state for arms control, verification, and compliance. "Developing a comprehensive system to cope with a full-scale attack from another nuclear-armed great power would be expensive and ultimately unsuccessful," said Rose in a Feb. 20 speech in Washington, D.C. "Although China does not say much about its BMD programs, China publicly announced that it conducted ground-based midcourse BMD tests in 2010, 2013, and 2014," he said. US officials are most concerned by the fact that the one in 2014 actually appears to have been a test of an anti-satellite weapon, said Rose, noting that such action is "destabilizing and threatens the long-term security and sustainability of the outer space environment." China remains opaque regarding its nuclear posture and strategy, including the role of BMD. The United States is attempting to open dialogue on these topics to encourage a "more stable, resilient, and transparent security relationship with China," said Rose.

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And Everyone Phoned Home

Operators at Buckley AFB, Colo., proved their ability to command all three types of missile warning satellites individually from the new, unified mission control center. Controllers with the 460th Operations Group successfully passed signals back and forth with Defense Support Program, and Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS)—both highly elliptical, and geostationary assets, according to a Feb. 27 release. This unified control system—dubbed increment 2, will replace the previously distributed control sites used since 2001 next year. It is "an enormous leap forward in capability and technology," said Col. Mike Guetlein, remote sensing system program office director, in the release. Once operational, "the system will increase the warfighter's ability to better characterize world-wide threats, more accurately determine their launch point and impact points, and alert the [combatant commands] to an impending attack in time for them to respond appropriately," he added.

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Saluting Those Imprisoned With Honor


​A lone B-52 passed over the Air Force Memorial on Monday on the 50th anniversary of the shootdown of the first airman taken prisoner during the Vietnam War. "Fifty years ago today, the United States kicked off Operation Rolling Thunder, led by a B-52 assault," said Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh before laying a wreath in honor of the service's prisoners of war during the March 2 ceremony in Arlington, Va. "The US would also lose more than 1,000 aircraft in that campaign," including the F-100 of pilot 1st Lt. Hayden Lockhart, said Welsh. "He was the first Air Force prisoner of the Vietnam conflict and would remain a prisoner until his release on Feb. 12, 1973, nearly eight years later," noted Welsh. In addition to the 566 airmen held prisoner during the conflict, another 512 airmen went missing in action. "Imagine that there is no joyful reunion, no tearful hug. Nothing but a deep, dark hole in your heart where love somehow lives on," said Welsh, addressing the audience of former POWs, their families, airmen, and officials. Welsh charged today's airmen to pledge themselves "to making those great airmen as proud of us as we are of them."

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USAF Budget Request Bolsters MILCON Funding

The Air Force's Fiscal 2015 budget accepts risks in installation support, military construction, and facilities sustainment in order to "strike the delicate balance between a ready force for today with a modern force for tomorrow," but the Fiscal 2016 budget request looks to soften that blow by increasing funding in each of the three categories, said Miranda Ballentine, assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment, and energy. The Air Force's Fiscal 2016 budget request seeks $4.8 billion for military construction, facility sustainment, restoration, and modernization. That's $1.9 billion more than the Fiscal 2015 President's Budget request, according to Ballentine's prepared testimony to the House Armed Services Committee's readiness panel on Tuesday. In addition, USAF requested $331 million for military family housing operations and maintenance and $160.5 million for military family housing construction. However, Ballentine cautioned that if sequester-level funding returns, the Air Force "would expect a reduction in military construction funding resulting in reduced support" to combatant commands, "reduced funding to upgrade the nuclear enterprise and support new weapons system beddown, and elimination of permanent party dormitories from the FY16 request," according to the statement.

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Women in Leadership

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James on Wednesday announced nine new initiatives aimed at attracting and retaining women and minorities in the service. The initiatives range from improved mentorship programs for airmen to providing more height waivers to ROTC cadets interested in pilot slots, said James during her keynote address at the Center for New American Security's women and leadership in a national security conference in Washington, D.C. Although the Air Force leads the Defense Department in the number of serving women, she said it falls somewhere in the middle as far as ethnic diversity is concerned. "The question is: Are we spending as much time, resources, and energy thinking about the next generation of airmen as we are the next generation of aircraft?" asked James during her keynote address.

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24th AF Boss Cites Value of CyberPatriot

Maj. Gen. Burke Wilson, commander of 24th Air Force, extolled the value of AFA's CyberPatriot program during testimony before the House Armed Services emerging threats and capabilities panel on March 4, saying the program is helping students develop the skills needed to become part of the future cyber security force. Wilson said the Air Force supports "a host of missions" focused on encouraging the younger generation to take science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. He highlighted the CyberPatriot VII National Finals competition, which will be held March 11-15 in National Harbor, Md., as an example. The event is sponsored by the Air Force Association and supported by several industry partners, "as well as cyber professionals from the Air Force," and seeks "to encourage students to pursue cyber​security and other STEM careers," said Burke. This year's competition involved over 2,100 teams with more than 10,000 students from the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Defense Department schools overseas, Wilson said.

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US Squandering Airpower Advantage in ISIS Fight

​The United States is "systematically squandering" its "asymmetric airpower advantage" by not fully considering the use of ground troops in the fight against ISIS in Iraq, said Benjamin Lambeth, a nonresident senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, in a March 5 opinion piece published in the Washington Post. Lambeth argued the boots on the ground debate has centered on "two false and overly simplistic choices," including the notion that tens of thousands of ground troops are required or that airpower alone suffices. "What remains unexplored … is the appropriate mix of air and land involvement to leverage our strongest comparative advantages from the air without risking a return of our troops to high-intensity close combat on the ground," he wrote. Lambeth said the US should use the "ground-enabled precision airstrikes carried out in 2001" during the beginning of the war in Afghanistan as a "template," focusing on the "reintroduction of US Special Operations forces and ground-based forward air controllers." Second, the US should utilize more intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft. "Third, and most important, … we need a more robust air-centric and land-enabled campaign along the lines of the one that wo

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Iran's Influence in the ISIS Fight

Although there is a "general consensus" between the US and its Middle East allies that any military forces countering ISIS is a "positive thing," Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Army Gen. Martin Dempsey said Iran's regional activities in places such as Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq is "concerning." Specifically, Dempsey said military leaders are concerned about what happens after ISIS' defeat, particularly if Iranian-allied militias engage in retribution or cleansing. He also questioned whether the Iraqi government will be inclusive of all sects in the country. Dempsey described the anti-ISIS fight in Syria differently, noting the US does not have a "credible partner" on the ground yet. However, he said the US is continuing to use aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and close air support strikes against ISIS forces when necessary. Responding to a question from Chairman Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Dempsey said the proposed Authorization for Use of Military Force language would not authorize military action against Bashar Assad's regime or air exclusion zones.

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Lakenheath Maintainer Awarded Airman's Medal for Heroism

​Gen. Frank Gorenc, US Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa commander, presented SSgt. Greggory Swarz the Airman's Medal during a ceremony at Lakenheath AB, Britain, according to a base release. Gorenc recognized Swarz, a member of Lakenheath's 492nd Aircraft Maintenance Unit, for saving the lives of three French airmen after a Greek F-16 crashed at Los Llanos AB, Spain, on Jan. 26 during a NATO training exercise. A contingent of Lakenheath airmen and F-15s was deployed there for the event. "I'm extremely honored," said Swarz during the March 13 award ceremony. Despite rampant fires at the crash scene, Swarz maneuvered between the flames to pull two of the French airmen to safety; two other airmen assisted him in bringing the third French airman out of danger. Swarz also used his belt as a tourniquet to stem the loss of blood from the right arm of one of the French airmen, who lost his right hand in the mishap. "It was a very scary situation," explained Swarz. "The fires were huge. ... I just tried to stay calm and be rational about everything," he said. The Airman's Medal honors an airman for heroism, usually at the voluntary risk of life.

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KC-46 First Flight Faces Potential Delay

​The KC-46 tanker program is "clicking well" as it enters its flight test program this year, the Air Force's program manager told an industry conference in Washington, D.C., March 17, but "a lot of discovery can occur" when a program begins flying. Brig. Gen. Duke Richardson, the program executive officer for all USAF tanker programs, said the Air Force is still under a lot of schedule pressure to delivery 18 "ready for war" KC-46A aircraft by August 2017. "We're not stumbling across things we're not solving," Richardson said, but testers are taking longer to solve problems so the program's six months of schedule margin is all but gone. "We've eaten that all up now," he said, adding the program is trying to put more schedule margin back in. Richardson said he wants to soften the planned first flight date in April, saying he prefers to say it will occur in the "second quarter" of 2015. He wants to make sure the first engineering, manufacturing, and development airframe, EMD-1, undergoes a successful "flutter test" and calibrate controls before the first KC-46A flight so he knows it can collect good data and information. Richardson said he's looking for a "safe airplane, not the perfect airplane," he said.