Air Force World By Aaron Church, Associate Editor New Deployment Model MOP Ready for War To improve unit cohesion, the Air The new bunker-busting Massive Force is changing the way it deploys Ordnance Penetrator bomb is now screenshot airmen under the Air and Space Ex- available for combat on the Air Force’s peditionary Force construct. B-2 stealth bomber. Christened “AEF Next,” the new sys- Whiteman AFB, Mo.—home of the tem will deploy airmen alongside their B-2 fleet—received its first batch of squadron commander as an “airpower MOPs “ready for operational use” in team,” said Col. John Long, chief of September, according to Air Force USAF’s war planning and policy divi- acquisition officials. USAF photo by SSgt. Rasheen Douglas sion. However, “for most airmen, the Coupled with the stealthy, penetrat- differences will be minimal,” he said. ing B-2, the 30,000-pound-class con- “We want to get the commander and ventional weapon gives US planners immediate supervisors back into the a potent means of attacking even the deployment decision process. This most challenging hardened targets. will allow commanders to make key Previously, some targets were dif- deployment decisions about their unit ficult, if not impossible, to reach with personnel rather than relying on func- other bunker busters due to their depth tional managers at the major command beneath the surface and protective or headquarters Air Force level to make layers of earth, stone, and concrete. those decisions.” There is “no other weapon that can The new model will simplify the get after those hard and deeply buried existing structure, giving leaders a targets like MOP can,” said Brig. Gen. better perspective on the stress level Scott A. Vander Hamm, commander of for individual career fields. Whiteman’s 509th Bomb Wing. Deployment-to-dwell time ratios will likely stay around one-to-two, meaning AirSea Battle Bureau airmen will deploy for six months and The fledgling AirSea Battle concept return home for at least a year before gained new impetus with the creation redeploying. of a designated Pentagon office to The Air Force expects to phase in push Air Force and Navy integration the change over the next two years. of combat resources. Chief among its tasks are influencing Balad Farewell wargames, fostering development and The 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing integration of air and naval capabilities, relinquished the United States’ sec- and facilitating collaboration with joint ond largest base in Iraq—Joint Base forces, Pentagon officials said. Balad—with the departure of the last A minimum of two field-grade officers airmen from the facility in early No- or civil servants of equivalent rank from vember. the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy The base once housed roughly will staff the new office, which has a 36,000 American troops and contrac- core staff of some 15 people. tors. It passed to Iraqi government Under AirSea Battle, the Pentagon control Nov. 8. Known as al Bakr Air hopes to make better use of its assets Base, the original airfield served the to guarantee freedom of action in po- Iraqi Air Force before the US invasion tentially contested areas such as the in March 2003. After the US arrival, Western Pacific. the base was split to become USAF’s Balad Air Base and Camp Anaconda, Global Strike Gets the Bomb a major Army logistics hub. In 2008, The next step in consolidating the the base was realigned under the nuclear mission under Air Force Global stewardship of USAF’s 332nd AEW, Strike Command will be for the com- becoming Joint Base Balad. mand to assume responsibility for Boasting an 11,000-foot runway, USAF’s nuclear munitions support Balad hosted USAF aircraft, includ- squadrons. ing F-16s, MQ-9 Reapers, and MC-12 Nuclear-tasked squadrons will now Liberty aircraft. report directly to wing commanders 10 AIR FORCE Magazine / January 2012 on base, replacing the centralized The Air Force is “continuing to “This first F-35 for the first interna- Air Force Materiel Command system, strengthen the nuclear enterprise while tional program partner is symbolic of managed through the Air Force Nuclear seeking constant improvement and do- the proud partnership we share with Weapons Center at Kirtland AFB, N.M. ing things the best way possible for safe, the United Kingdom,” said Tom Burbage, Various munitions units at F. E. War- secure, and effective operations,” said Lockheed’s F-35 general manager of ren AFB, Wyo.; Kirtland AFB, N.M.; Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz program integration. Malmstrom AFB, Mont.; Minot AFB, in signing the directive Nov. 20. Designated BK-1, the F-35B short N.D.; Vandenberg AFB, Calif.; and takeoff and vertical landing variant left Whiteman AFB, Mo., now fall under F-35 for Britain Lockheed Martin’s production line at Fort AFGSC, though both AFMC and the Lockheed Martin recently completed Worth, Tex., for the flight line on Nov. 20. AFNWC will continue playing a key role assembly of the first F-35 strike fighter The F-35 is “ideally suited” to Britain’s in nuclear sustainment and integration. for Britain. combat needs since it “is capable of F-16s from the 8th Fighter Wing and 419th Fighter Wing perform an “elephant walk”—taxiing in formation in a display of airpower—down a runway during an exercise at Kunsan AB, South Korea. The exercise with Kunsan F-16s and Vipers 12.02.2011 deployed from the Reserve wing at Hill AFB, Utah, demonstrated Kunsan’s wartime operational practices. Airmen at the base generated the aircraft precisely as they would during war. AIR FORCE Magazine / January 2012 11 Air Force World operating from both the land and our new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft Dover Morgue Mishandled Remains carrier,” said RAF Group Capt. Harv Smyth, British national deputy for the Air Force investigators uncovered egregious mishandling of the remains of F-35. service members killed in combat—including lost body parts—by mortuary The aircraft was ordered, however, staff at Dover AFB, Del. At the behest of the US Office of Special Counsel, before Britain amended its procure- the inspector general’s office in June 2010 began investigating allegations of ment plan to buy only F-35C variants “serious misconduct” reported by several whistle blowers. optimized for aircraft carrier operations. According to OSC, “In two separate incidents, body parts of service members The UK will use BK-1 as an operational killed while on active duty were lost by the port mortuary.” In another incident, test and training airframe. There has OSC said that “a US Marine was dismembered with a saw in order to make also been talk of a swap of the aircraft the body fit inside a military uniform.” for a US Navy F-35C to make the Brit- “The mortuary for the United States military should boast the best conditions ish aircraft’s test and checkout more and best practices of any mortuary,” said Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner in applicable to its eventual fleet. the OSC release in November. “These events are deeply troubling, as is the Lockheed Martin will deliver the Air Force’s failure to acknowledge culpability.” aircraft later this year, following initial Subsequent Air Force investigation found no evidence of intentional mis- testing and checks. handling, though USAF officials acknowledged the “mortuary staff failed to maintain accountability while processing portions of remains.” OSC recognized Raptor Grand USAF’s extensive overhaul of mortuary procedures to improve accountability, An Air Force Reserve pilot has be- but asserted the service did not adequately discipline those responsible. come the first in the service to log 1,000 In direct reaction to the incidents, the Air Force disciplined the mortuary’s hours in the F-22 Raptor. then-commander, issuing him a letter of reprimand, and demoted two civilian Lt. Col. David Piffarerio broke the employees to nonmanagement roles. 1,000 flight-hour mark on a check flight Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta appointed an independent assessment from JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, of overall mortuary operations at Dover. “None of us will be satisfied until we in November. Piffarerio is commander of have proven to the families of our fallen heroes that we have taken every step Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd possible to protect the honor and dignity that their loved ones richly deserve,” Fighter Squadron, an associate unit said Panetta. of the active duty 3rd Fighter Wing at As of press time, reports also surfaced that contractors had disposed of Elmendorf. cremated remains in a Virginia landfill as recently as 2008—a practice the Am I Blue?: Over Iraq, a USAF F-16 Air Force says it halted immediately upon learning of it, replacing the practice takes on fuel from a KC-135. Iraq wants with procedures for burial at sea. to buy 36 of the fighters to secure its airspace. USAF photo by MSgt. Cecilio Ricardo 12 AIR FORCE Magazine / January 2012 “More important to me than this mile- stone is that the F-22 fleet is safely in AFMC’s Risky Business Case the air and accomplishing the mission,” he added after the record sortie Nov. 4. Air Force Materiel Command is risking the future of aircraft sustainment Piffarerio began flying the Raptor as by centralizing management of its three air logistics centers to a single base, part of USAF’s operational evaluation warned Rep. Robert Bishop (R-Utah). team at Nellis AFB, Nev., in 2002 after Under a cost-cutting plan announced in November, command officials transitioning from the F-15E. He has want to consolidate management of the Air Force’s air logistics centers subsequently served in a number of where various aircraft fleets cycle through intensive scheduled maintenance.