INSIDE: B-52s will fly to 2050 p. 16 |DOD leadership under Trump p. 42 |When Bears threaten America p. 52

ROCKET SCIENCE SpaceX enters the military space launch fray. Can it challenge mighty ULA?

April/May 2018 $8

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April / May 2018. Vol. 101, No. 4 FEATURES STAFF

Publisher Larry O. Spencer Editor in Chief Adam J. Hebert

16 Managing Editor Juliette Kelsey Chagnon Editorial Director 58 John A. Tirpak News Editor Amy McCullough Assistant Managing Editor Chequita Wood Senior Designer 34 Dashton Parham Pentagon Editor 12 Speeding Up Space 27 The Wright Decision 46 Rocket Science Brian W. Everstine By Wilson Brissett By Gideon Grudo By Gideon Grudo Senior Editor Should USAF’s operationally CMSAF Kaleth Wright is The Air Force makes military Steve Hirsch responsive space o ice working to get airmen’s lives space look easy. It is not. Digital Platforms Editor morph into a rapid back in balance. 52 Intercepting the Bear Gideon Grudo capabilities o ice for space? 34 Red Air For Hire By John T. Correll Production Manager 16 Bombers in 2050 By Amy McCullough The Tu-95 Bear is still flying— Eric Chang Lee By John A. Tirpak The Air Force needs every and still testing air defenses Photo Editor USAF plans to retire the B-1 fighter it can spare for real- around the perimeter of North Mike Tsukamoto and B-2 in the 2030s, while world missions. Are private America. the B-52 remains in service aggressors the wave of the 58 Doc’s Saga Contributors until 2050. future? By Frederick A. Johnsen Wilson Brissett, John T. Correll, 22 The Tanker’s Trying Time 42 DOD Senior Leaders Getting the B-29 Doc flying Rachel Cox, Robert S. Dudney, Jennifer Hlad, Frederick A. By Brian W. Everstine Compiled by Chequita Wood again took decades of Johnsen After a tough 2017, the KC-46 Who’s who in the Trump perseverance. tanker is inching closer to defense administration. reality. ADVERTISING: Arthur Bartholomew DEPARTMENTS 213.596.7239 Tom Buttrick 2 Editorial: Nuclear 6 Aperture 63 Wingman: AFA Emerging 917.421.9051 Rohrshach Test By John A. Tirpak Leaders James G. Elliott Co., Inc. By Adam J. Hebert [email protected] 8 Forward Deployed 64 Namesakes: Travis People see what they wish By Jennifer Hlad in it, but the Nuclear Posture SUBSCRIBE Review prescribes exactly 9 Air Force World & SAVE what’s needed. 21 Verbatim Subscribe to Air Force 3 Letters Magazine and save big o› 32 Screenshot the cover price, plus get a 4 Index to Advertisers free membership to the Air Force Association. Call 1-800-727-3337 FOLLOW US GET THE ON THE COVER A SpaceX rocket booster lifts a payload into space. See “Rocket Science,” p. facebook.com/ twitter.com/ instagram.com/ airforcemag airforcemag airforcemag 46. Photo by SpaceX.

Air Force Magazine (ISSN 0730-6784) April / May 2018 (Vol. 101, No.4) is published monthly, except for two double issues in April/May and October/November, by the Air Force Association, 1501 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA 22209-1198. Phone (703) 247-5800. Periodical postage paid at Arlington, Va., and additional mailing oŒ ices. Membership Rate: $50 per year; $35 e-Membership; $125 for three-year membership. Subscription Rate: $50 per year; $29 per year additional for postage to foreign addresses (except Canada and Mexico, which are $10 per year additional). Regular issues $8 each. USAF Almanac issue $18 each. Change of address requires four weeks’ notice. Please include mailing label. POSTMASTER: Send changes of address to Air Force Association, 1501 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA 22209-1198. Publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. Trademark registered by Air Force Association. Copyright 2018 by Air Force Association.

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM  Editorial By Adam J. Hebert, Editor in Chief

Nuclear Rohrshach Test

“We must modernize and rebuild our nuclear arsenal, hopefully never having to use it, but making it so strong and powerful that it will deter any acts of aggression,” President Donald Trump asserted in his February 2018 State of the Union address. “Perhaps someday in the future there will be a magical moment when the countries of the world will get together to eliminate their nuclear weapons,” he continued. “Unfortunately, we are not there yet.” People see what they wish in it, but the Nuclear Posture Review prescribes exactly what’s needed A B61-12 test unit is dropped from an F-15E during a development flight test in 2015. Former President Barack Obama’s vision, articulated in Prague in 2009, was to put nuclear disarmament first while maintaining a noted. Examples include flight-testing weapons and performing credible arsenal. Trump’s vision reverses this and says strengthen stockpile stewardship computer simulations. the nuclear arsenal first. There are no plans to conduct an actual nuclear test, as the What happened in the intervening nine years? Russia hap - US has had a self-imposed “Big T” testing moratorium in place pened. since 1992. When Obama was elected, hopes ran high that Russia would “The United States remains committed to its e›orts in support evolve into a peaceful actor. As the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review of the ultimate global elimination of nuclear, biological, and put it, “Russia is not an enemy and is increasingly a partner.” chemical weapons,” the NPR reads. The US has reduced its nu - The New START agreement, signed that year by Obama and clear stockpile from a peak of 31,000 weapons to 4,000 and has then-Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, limits the US and Russia deployed no new nuclear capabilities in two decades. to 1,550 deployed strategic launchers through February 2021. Still, antinuclear critics are beside themselves. In a master- Things have gone downhill since then. Russia, China, Iran, stroke of hyperbole, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists this year and North Korea are not interested in following the US lead on moved its “Doomsday Clock,” which “warns the public about how nuclear reductions. They are brutally self-interested and see close we are to destroying our world with dangerous technolo - much to gain by improving their own nuclear forces. gies of our own making,” to two minutes to midnight. This is “the In 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine and illegally seized Crimea. closest the Clock has ever been to Doomsday.” It steadily ramped up rhetoric and aggression toward its neigh- Similarly, Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) said the NPR “lowers bors and the United States and repeatedly violated arms control the threshold for use of nuclear weapons,” repeating a canard agreements and international law. “We must look reality in the that seemingly resurfaces with every new nuclear review or eye and see the world as it is, not as we wish it to be,” Defense strategy. Secretary James Mattis wrote in his introduction to the NPR. If the only options are unusable nuclear weapons, “are we then In response, the NPR lays out specific force-structure plans. back to the doctrine of massive retaliation, from which every Ohio-class nuclear missile subs will be replaced by next gen - American administration since the 1950s has sought to escape eration Columbia-class boomers; the Ground-Based Strategic because of the lack of credibility of the choice it posed between Deterrent (GBSD) will begin replacing Minuteman III ICBMs; suicide and surrender?” asked Henry Kissinger … in 1990. the next generation B-21 bomber will supplant the B-2 stealth People see what they want to see in this NPR. The review is bomber; and Long-Range Stando› (LRSO) cruise missiles will short on hope, long on reality. It o›ers exactly the nuclear road - replace old Air-Launched Cruise Missiles. map the US needs right now. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which “I hope everyone understands that it is better to not mess ensures the safety, security, and e›ectiveness of nuclear weapons, with Russia,” Putin bluntly stated in August 2014, in the midst of is accelerating some programs begun under Obama. NNSA is his invasion of Ukraine. “I have to remind you that Russia is a modernizing warheads and developing the B61-12 nuclear bomb nuclear superpower.” to consolidate multiple old weapons and o›er greater accuracy This “environment makes further progress toward nuclear arms and reliability. reductions in the near-term extremely challenging,” Mattis wrote. The US will also develop new, lower-yield nuclear cruise mis - “Ensuring our nuclear deterrent remains strong will provide the siles for Navy use and will shorten the time needed to conduct best opportunity for convincing other nuclear powers to engage a “live” nuclear test. in meaningful arms control initiatives.” America’s “test readiness posture has not changed,” said USAF New START expires in 2021. The US should pursue an advan- Brig. Gen. Michael J. Lutton, who is responsible for military appli- tageous new arms control agreement before then, but to do so

cation at NNSA. Little “t” testing takes place all the time, Lutton it must negotiate from a position of strength. Security Nuclear Administration National Photo:

 APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM Letters

Rare-Earth Now Rare in US to get ahead of this potential problem? teams to elevate bases and programs The recent issue contains an article Or are we going to allow our lesser com- for computer security risks. about how the rare-earth elements have petitors to get ahead of us on this front? There is so much more to this history seemingly been corralled by the Chinese Norman Gaines that should be told to the Air Force [“Rare-Earth Uncertainty,” February, p. Hartsdale, NY as the events that took place at Air 52]. Force Space Command, what went into One of the past candidates at either Before Cyber the planning of the Air Force Security the Air War College or combined schools, A great article on the state of the Program and its writing of the first Air Col. Justin C. Davey, wrote about this very Air Force’s cyber warrior forces and Force Computer Security Regulation, subject several years ago and it seem- mission area today [“The Cyber War- the first Air Force Security Workshop ingly received little attention. riors,” January, p. 38]. But who were the (Conference), and the difficulties in In that article Davey pointed out what airmen before the term “cyber” came getting funding, and finally getting its the impacts would be, and no one in- into vogue that were the foundation first program plan approved. There is cluding Congress appears to have paid for this mission area? You really have a lot there. But more importantly, the attention to that until this new adminis- to go back into the 1960s and look at tie from there and what happened after tration came to be. evolution happening in computers, in the beginning, the wake-up, then the In many areas now, the US is totally re- the world, and the military. Who is the slow progress to what it is today. When liant upon foreign sources for things that Air Force’s Cyber-1, and what was the briefing, the main comebacks I always used to be very common in our industries. Air Force doing in the then-realm of received were: “There is no smoking Thanks to the socialism and attitudes of computer security or the terms “confi- gun!,” “You’re too 1984!,” “You’re going our Congress we are no longer the leader dentiality, data integrity, and availabil- against the Privacy Act!,” “Our airmen of the world but are having to compete ity,” the basis of what later morphed have security clearances and they will where we never have before. into cyber security with the integration never do that!,” “We have guards and James Tribbett of other security areas. The Air Force fences!,”0 “That is not possible!,” “You Phoenix Computer Security Office moved from can’t do that!,” “Networks won’t be a the Air Force Data System Design Cen- problem!,” “Small Computers should be Two items stood out: first, that the envi- ter at Gunter AFS, Ala., to Electronic a supply item and not controlled!” ... and ronmental damage that is possible (like- Security Command (Air Force Intelli- this was in 1980-83. ly?) in storing the tailings for this type of gence Command), Kelly AFB, Texas, in Lt. Col. Curtis Higuchi, mining is so profound it is understand- the 1984-85 time frame and then on to USAF (Ret.) able that there are very few places in the Air Force Space Command. Colorado Springs, Colo. US from which we can obtain them. But This rich history is there for the writing. if that’s true, why isn’t the US military re- The Cyber-1 is Col. Roger R. Schell, who All Hail February Issue moving and recycling the existing rare- was instrumental in the Air Force eorts ”Replacing Minuteman,” [February, earth element components? Does that in development of multilevel secure p. 27]: Excellent coverage of a complex mean that they are usually thrown away, operating systems at ESD [Electronic subject that doesn’t get discussed much, potentially causing the same damage? Systems Division] and later became the but is of critical importance. Second, and unsaid in the article, is deputy director, NSA National Computer “Life on the Line,” [February, p. 40]: I that certain foreign powers have “part- Security Center, author of the Orange was surprised at how eective this photo nered” with smaller nations in order to Book, and mentor for me during my time essay is in conveying engaging informa- obtain, retrieve, and refine rare-earth as program manager, Air Force Comput- tion about a subject that usually comes elements for retrieval and storage in the er Security Oice. Cyber-2 is Lt. Col. Bill across as dry and clerical. The selection US. What action has the US military taken Rendelman, my predecessor as program of photographs is outstanding. They are manager. Cyber-3, Lt. Col. Larry Nobel, both colorful and descriptive in ways that WRITE TO US Roger Schell’s predecessor at ESD and I’ve rarely seen. They succeed at showing then action oicer at the Air Sta, the an amazing breadth of manufacturing Do you have a comment about a current unsung hero who lead the way through capabilities and technologies that are article in the magazine? Write to “Letters,” Washington at all the agencies, other one of the US’ crown jewels. Good job! Air Force Magazine, 1501 Lee Highway, services, and Air Sta to get our regula- “Rare-Earth Uncertainty,” [February, Arlington, VA 22209-1198 or email us at tion coordinated, funded, and message p. 52]: This is a really obscure subject [email protected]. Letters should be concise through. The other eort that is missed that I haven’t seen treated this clearly and timely. We cannot acknowledge receipt is the OSI’s Abacus Seven Program in and thoroughly anywhere else. The of letters. We reserve the right to condense the early 1980s which took automation discussion of both the physics and the letters. Letters without name and city/base oicers/NCOs and trained them as OSI politics provide a welcome perspective and state are not acceptable. Photographs agents to combat computer crime and to a hot-button topic that generally is cannot be used or returned. espionage (this was the brainchild of dealt with only in short sound bites. —The Editors Lt. Col. (then-Capt.) Bob Schlansker). Hank Caruso My oice and theirs combined to form California, Md.

APRIL / MAY  ★ WWW.AIRFORCEMAG.COM We Are Not Alone intercepted and altered and thus, not Thanks again for yet another great to be trusted. issue of Air Force Magazine. As I neared A further feature allows for the eort- the end of the article by John Tirpak, less encryption of sensitive information [“Aperture: America First” March, p. 9], such as medical or legal documents. It and read what our President said about is in eect a built-in notary public for the NATO, I was again dismayed by the entire system. rhetoric “…we can no longer be taken The Department of Defense developed advantage of or enter into a one-sid- and released PKI to the Services nearly Air Force Association ed deal where the United States gets 20 years ago, and the true heroic eorts 1501 Lee Highway • Arlington, VA 22209-1198 nothing in return.” Does the President are those accomplished year after year, afa.org not remember 9/11, when for the first to deploy, maintain, update, and improve Telephone: 703.247.5800 time in history Article 5 was invoked the infrastructure part of PKI to keep up Toll-free: 800.727.3337 with the technology that the bad guys and for our country’s sake? Does anyone Fax: 703.247.5853 remember when NATO sent AWACS are using. Although the Service PKI aircraft to Tinker Air Force Base to fly System Program Oices (SPOs) operate cover over these United States while out of tightly controlled facilities, one AFA’s Mission Our mission is to promote a dominant our AWACS were scattered around the can garner a decent idea of the system United States Air Force and a strong capabilities by checking out some of the globe? I certainly do! I will be the first to national defense and to honor airmen and agree that our NATO partners should pay Defense Information Systems Agency our Air Force heritage. their fair share, but can you imagine what (DISA) websites. Europe would look like today if it were While the current media frenzy over To accomplish this, we: not for the strong NATO partnership the American election system security Educate that kept the Soviets at bay? Without is getting all the attention, it is easy to ■ the public on the critical need NATO we really would be on our own in forget that we already have and are for unmatched aerospace power and a this big world, and that is simply not an using the tools that can secure such technically superior workforce to ensure acceptable strategy. systems. It seems that the only issue US national security. Col. Frank Alfter, requiring public discussion is that PKI ■ Advocate for aerospace power USAF (Ret) requires the use of assured identities. and STEM education. Beavercreek, Ohio The simplest approach would require that the card stock and processes used ■ Support the Total Air Force family and In response to the “America First” ar- by state motor vehicle agencies to issue promote aerospace education. ticle, p. 9, March 2018, I would think that driver licenses be upgraded to DOD a publication such as Air Force Magazine identification standards—typically, an Contacts would contain editorials that were more ID card or approved device. CyberPatriot .... [email protected] supportive of the commander in chief, Anyone willing to explore this topic Field Services ...... [email protected] President of the United States, and with from the Air Force perspective will be Government Relations ...... [email protected] less of a negative overtone. supremely impressed by the relatively Insurance ...... [email protected] small team comprising the USAF PKI Membership...... [email protected] Ron Banks SPO, which is also based out of JB- News [email protected] Hurst, Texas SA-Lackland, Texas. Lastly, an aware public might insist upon a more wide- Magazine Secure in Our Identities spread civilian use of such tools to se- [email protected] I am curious about the very narrow cure their private and business dealings. Editorial O›ices ...... [email protected] subject matter [in the] all-too-brief “In- Is there an expense associated with such Letters to Editor [email protected] fographic: Intruder Alert” [March, p. 54]. tools? Certainly! However, according to a Wingman ...... [email protected] Don’t get me wrong, having some recent Department of Justice report, the idea of what the 33rd Network Warfare 2014 cost of identity theft in the United Change of Address/Email In an e›ort to stay connected with AFA Squadron does to secure the Air Force States was $15.4 billion dollars. Surely, and your local chapter, please update your we can find a way to invest, so as to avoid Network (AFNET) is very interesting. To mailing and email addresses. Change of most readers however, this information the cost and the anguish associated with address requires four weeks’ notice. will be unactionable. What might they identity theft. do with this information? Capt. John Facey, To update your contact information: I would suggest a further exploration USAF (Ret.) ■ Email: [email protected] into the tools that are used daily by Sant Antonio literally millions of airmen, soldiers, and ■ Visit: The Members Only area seamen to secure their unclassified INDEX TO ADVERTISERS of our website, afa.org communication transactions. Avoiding ■ Call: Our Membership Department Bradford ...... 41 the eye-crossing technical details of at 1-800-727-3337 the cryptographic private and public Rolls Royce ...... Cover II key infrastructure (PKI) tools that are USAA ...... Cover IV ■ Mail your magazine label, including your used to assure the identities of the Join AFA ...... 5 first and last name, to our Membership message senders and recipients, the Member Benefits...... 31 Department at 1501 Lee Highway, tools also reveal if the message was Monthly Giving ...... Cover III Arlington, VA 22209-1198.

APRIL / MAY  ★ WWW.AIRFORCEMAG.COM We are YOUR Air Force Association We are AIRMEN for LIFE

For a $50/year Membership or a $35/year E-Membership, you too can be part of an organization that believes whether you are Active Duty, Guard, Reserve, or Civil Air Patrol; in uniform or civilian; students, cadets, or family members – we are all Airmen for Life.

The Air Force Association exists so we can all be Airmen for Life. It is the very foundation on which General Jimmy Doolittle built AFA.

Of course the world and the Air Force have changed a lot since 1946. However, one fact remains unchanged: We are all Airmen who believe deeply in a dominant Air Force for our nation.

Join today at www.AFA.org Aperture By John A. Tirpak, Editorial Director

ISIS AFTER ISIS who are easy prey for that legacy of stuff that stays out there on the Internet.” The bomb-dropping phase to exterminate the so-called He added, “If we fail to address” those conditions, “my concern Islamic State may be over and its strongholds conquered, but is, in five or 10 years, we’ll have ISIS 2.0 or al Qaeda 3.0, and the ISIS is likely not going to be truly dead for years—and may process will start again somewhere else in the world.” never be—Gen. Paul A. Selva, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Selva also said that it’s not the military’s task to address those of Staff, explained in January. underlying economic breeding grounds for terrorism. Though many ISIS fighters were killed or captured, many “I kill people and break things. I don’t build schools and teach escaped, likely to go back to their countries of origin still radicalized, Selva told defense journalists in Washington. One way to “thin the herd” is to get home countries to take back and imprison their citizens who fought for ISIS, or directed or committed domestic terrorism in places like Paris or Belgium. This approach can prevent, long-term, the “consolidation” of ISIS vets. Coalition intelligence knows, though, that other “unaccounted for” survivors are attempting to return to their home countries, Selva said, and “what they’re going to do is hard to predict.” He’s worried that these radicalized fighters have gotten used to an environment where there are no “rules of engagement” and no restrictions on killing civilians or children. They’re “very dangerous” he said, because the ISIS ideology pegged nonbelievers as not valuable. And their mindset is, “because you have no value, I may do with you as I please. I SSgt. Jonathan Young prepares to upload the X-51A can take your life, I can rape you, I can subjugate you, I can do WaveRider hypersonic flight test vehicle to a B-52 for fit anything I want. And there’s no deprogramming involved in their testing at Edwards AFB, Calif. return home, so that is a very, very compelling problem,” Selva explained. The kind of violence these fighters have unleashed children the right way to treat one another. But somebody in on others is “unspeakable.” government needs to be paying attention to that part,” he said. ’ The coalition is providing whatever information it can about LOST LEAD returning ISIS fighters, but “the catalog” of foreign fighters is In the area of hypersonics, Selva confirmed what current and “not terribly precise.” Many have dual passports and multiple former defense leaders have been saying for months: The US aliases, so home-country security may not even be aware of has lost its lead to China. many individuals who fought for ISIS. China, Selva said, has made hypersonics a “national program,” Unfortunately, “their ability to communicate … to their fol - and has made plain that it’s willing to spend “up to hundreds lowers worldwide is still fairly robust,” Selva said. Social media of billions” of dollars “to solve the problems of hypersonic flight and new encryption methods “make that possible.” [and] hypersonic target designation.” While the US may have Worse, the videos and websites that radicalized ISIS recruits paved the way, China and Russia alike have “moved out pretty are still out there, and “the latency of stuff on the Internet is smartly” to conquer this field of technology. measured in years, not months or minutes,” Selva said. Hunting The US, however, has not “lost the hypersonics fight,” Selva it all down and deleting it is a chore, because “people are willing insisted. The US has “taken a di›erent approach,” working on “a to reinstall it” on other social media platforms. Selva warned family of hypersonic systems that work without necessarily trying that “the ideology of ISIS will persist for some time after the to close all the technology pieces” at the outset. The focus for the group itself is extinguished.” US is on making such a vehicle “survivable and maneuverable, Banning this material is “something we … as a free and open which is a flight control problem.” Getting the vehicle to be re - set of societies ought to be really thinking about,” he said. “How sponsive to commands and updates and hunting down moving do we get at the counter-radicalization piece that will still targets is something that “will happen later in the development have to go on after the physical caliphate itself is completely of the technology,” he revealed. extinguished? Because we’re going to go about the process of He did not say whether the preferred US approach is in a rooting all this stuff out, off the Internet, and putting moderate gliding vehicle, launched to hypersonic speed by a booster or voices out there that actually counter this ideology.” an air-breathing approach like that taken in the X-51 program, And then, there will have to be economic opportunities made but he clearly was referring to a hypersonic missile and not a available “to the population that was the source of the foreign manned platform. fighters in the first place.” Selva noted.: For example, those “Can you scale hypersonics from a small, highly maneuver - who “believe they’re disenfranchised all around the world, able, high-G, sturdy machine to something you’d put a human

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM in? I’m not sure that one would invest the money to make that transition,” he said, suggesting a hypersonic weapon obviates the need for a hypersonic platform. Selva declined to name a single hypersonics lead at the Pentagon, saying only that there are three entities working the problem. He would only name two. One is the Defense Ad - vanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. “The Navy has a hypersonics program,” too, he said, and “the third one I won’t reveal,” he added.

GO FASTER!

In a January interview with Air Force Magazine, however, Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Stephen W. Wilson said “I can tell you we’re all doing things: us (the Air Force), DARPA, SCO (the Defense Department’s Strategic Capabilities Office),” and he al - lowed there’s “discussion in with the Department” about whether somebody should be in charge of the hyypresonic enterprise. A possible candidate to be the Pentagon’s director for hy - personics might be the planned new Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Wilson said, but that position “doesn’t exist yet.” Wilson also said the Air Force can “never” again spend 20 years introducing a new system, because adversaries are simply A North Korean team elevates a missile for firing. developing new capabilities too rapidly. “Speed wins,” Wilson asserted, explaining that he believes new class of vehicles which can very quickly raise and launch USAF’s new starts should have a goal of delivering combat a missile. Pyongyang previously relied on Scud-type transport - capability within five years of a go-ahead. He pointed out that er-erector-launchers, or TELs, to move and launch missiles. in the 1950s and 1960s, big programs were brought to the field Once they stop moving, they go through a process of raising within three years, but whether the nation can return to that and fueling the missile, requiring “tens of minutes to an hour,” model, “I don’t know.” Selva said, which allowed that much warning time of a launch if they were spotted. Now, North Korea has new vehicles, mo - bile-erector-launchers or MELs. DOES NORTH KOREA HAVE THE GOODS? These can move a missile out to a circular concrete launch pad, elevate it already fueled and launch in “a dozen minutes or North Korea’s military has not yet openly demonstrated all so,” with a commensurate reduction in warning time. the elements needed to make a successful nuclear-armed ICBM Making the task doubly challenging is the fact that North capable of reaching the continental US. In the January meet - Korea has been “very disciplined” about keeping its missile ing with defense reporters, Selva said while Kim Jong Un has activities concealed when US satellites pass overhead, he said. shown progress in long-range rockets and developing nuclear It also practices good camouflage techniques and keeps as warheads, he has not demonstrated “all the components” of a much illicit activity as it can underground, Selva noted, adding true ICBM. “it’s very hard to catch them out in the open.” A fully functional ICBM is more than just a rocket and a war - Selva insisted the US does not “do preemption,” but wouldn’t head, Selva explained. The rocket has to be maneuvered such simply wait to be attacked if it saw troubling activity. Any ac - that it can “do the roll maneuver that actually points it in the tion would have to be taken within the context of rhetoric and direction of the United States.” Targeting and fuzing systems provocations signaling that North Korea was getting ready to are also needed, and they must be packaged inside “a surviv - launch. But if the context signaled that intent—and the US could able re-entry vehicle that can withstand the stress and shock” not necessarily see all of North Korea’s missiles—it could still of launch, transit, and re-entry when the unit is subjected to render them ineffective by attacking their supporting infrastruc- extreme heat and vibration. ture, such as crews, fuel, command and control, etc. To date, Kim has not demonstrated “the fusing and targeting In certain circumstances, all of those things would become technologies … or the re-entry vehicle,” Selva said. And while “legitimate, proportional, discriminate military targets,” Selva North Korea has conducted much of its rocket and nuclear asserted. If “the poor sergeant” whose job it is to launch the research underground and in widely separated locations, Sel - missile is bombed in his quarters, he’s “not available” to perform va said he’s unaware of any way to test re-entry technologies that task, Selva pointed out. underground. Though a “bolt out of the blue” attack with no warning or “I believe we would be able to observe the tests” if they’d provocative precursors is always possible, Selva said it’s unlikely, been made, Selva said. He also noted, however, that Kim has not and if tensions rose, the US could adjust its “day-to-day posture” pursued any part of its ICBM project in “the way we would do in the region to have assets in place capable of crippling North it. So it’s possible, although I think unlikely, he’s found a way to Korea’s missile capability. do the testing another way.” For that reason, the US must “place If North Korea succeeded in launching a missile, the US has the bet that he might have” a working ICBM. space-based means of detecting it and ground-based means

He admitted his concerns about North Korea developing a of tracking and intercepting it, Selva noted. Photos: Bellay/USAF; Chad Korea DPR

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM Forward Deployed By Jennifer Hlad

RAVEN, JIGSAW, AND CHAINSAW

Maj. Eric Bow used to spend most of his workday copying and pasting. As the targeting effects team chief, Bow created a lot of PowerPoint slides and Excel documents, and a lot of information was conveyed by phone or email. Now, thanks to a target development management program called Raven, all of the “junk” and duplication of effort has gone away, cutting 12 hours of work down to three or four hours. “We were killing ourselves back in Raqqa and Mosul,” Bow said recently, as he walked Air Force Magazine through the process of developing a target. Raven is one of about six Defense Innovation Unit-Exper - imental (DIUx) programs running now at the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) at Al Udeid AB, Qatar. Most were developed and reached initial operational capability within the last year, and helped increase efficiencies and effectiveness, reduced man hours, and increased savings, explained Col. Mike Drowley, US Air Forces Central Command chief of staff. An F-16 Falcon is refueled by a KC-135 Stratotanker. A new In the CENTCOM area, Drowley said there are multiple program called Jigsaw allowed CAOC planners to ditch streams of information from multiple places: signals intelli - the whiteboards previously used for tanker planning. gence, communications intelligence, and human intelligence. When Lt. Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian became the commander of matter of minutes, versus hours, said Baker. AFCENT, one of his imperatives was, “how do we manage all At the same time, on the combat operations division floor, Marine Corps dynamic targeting chief Capt. David Wesalo is Capt. Gary using a program called Chainsaw for dynamic targeting and Olkowski, communicating with coders in real time to provide feedback. seen The program consolidates “a ton of programs into one,” reduc- here with ing a process that took an hour or two, to a matter of minutes, Jigsaw, the he said. Pentagon’s Chainsaw reached initial operational capability in mid-Novem- digital tanker ber, just 120 days from its inception, and Wesalo said he’s already planning tool. given the developers about 50 suggestions. He likened the initial program to a skateboard, with the goal of using user feedback to evolve that skateboard into a Ferrari. Drowley said the speed the programs are developed is unlike this data and then how do we effectively give it to the people anything he’s ever seen in the military, and much of it is due to that need to utilize it the most,” Drowley said. an iterative, adaptive approach that doesn’t focus on getting a One of the first programs to roll out in March 2017 was a perfect solution right out of the gate. tanker planning tool called Jigsaw. Previously, Drowley said, it Airmen work with DIUx coders to identify what they need, took five or six people upward of eight hours each day to plan and the first version of a program is usually about a “60 percent tanker flights, using magnets on a giant whiteboard. Now it’s solution,” Drowley said. Then, users begin to use the beta version down to one or two people for two or three hours a day, and and give constant feedback about how to change or improve the the whiteboard has been replaced with a dual touch screen program, which has allowed rapid changes to meet real needs. that has generated savings of 400,000 to 500,000 pounds of “We’re not looking for the home runs here, we’re trying to get fuel—or $750,000 to $1 million—each week. a bunch of singles and make progress,” he explained. “You’re “It was literally a whiteboard with a dry-erase marker, trying trying to come up with that first step, and once you have that first to figure out what receivers are going to one tanker, and then step, now you do rapid iterations to get to where we need to be.” all of a sudden, a change would come in at the two-hour point, The command also sends airmen to Silicon Valley to learn about and you’d have to completely wipe the board and start all over the culture and the processes, and brings coders to the CAOC to again,” Drowley said. see what operations are going on and what the requirements are. Now, the tanker planning airmen can just click on an icon Drowley said, It’s all part of a culture that we are trying to build and drop it on another location, and the program calculates where “we don’t want airmen thinking like airmen, we want them everything—from how much fuel the tanker has left to the avail - thinking innovatively, we want them thinking di›erently.” able airspace—Maj. Derrick Baker, air refueling coordination “We don’t want just one way of thought,” he added. chief, explained. The program eliminates the need for tedious math, reduces the Jennifer Hlad is a freelance journalist based in the Middle East potential for human error, and allows them to redo the plan in a and a former Air Force Magazine senior editor. Photos: USAF; Speck/ANG MSgt. Phil

 APRIL / MAY  ★ WWW.AIRFORCEMAG.COM Air Force World By Steve Hirsch, Senior Editor

Air Force “Zero-Based Review” Underway Air Force leaders have begun a “zero-based review” of the service’s pro- grams and activities, taking a hard look to see if anything it’s doing is propelled not by need but inertia, service undersec- retary Matthew P. Donovan said Jan. 18. “We are looking for programs that are no longer needed. The idea is to get after the relevancy of what we do,” he said in a speech to an Air Force Association audience on Capitol Hill. It’s been “more than 20 years” since the service has con- ducted such a review, and “everything is on the table.” Donovan told reporters he doesn’t An airman readies a weapons load at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia. expect “major changes” from the review, which is being led by USAF’s strategic Afghanistan Strikes Increase Significantly in 2017 plans and programs shop. US aircraft finished 2017 flying combat missions in Afghanistan at the highest rate The review is expected to be conclud- in years—dropping more bombs than in any other year since 2011. ed by March 15, Donovan said. US aircraft in the final two months of 2017 kicked o› a new campaign against the Taliban, called Jagged Knife, targeting Taliban drug facilities inside Afghanistan. After an initial salvo involving F-22s, aircraft including B-52s, F-16s, MQ-9s, and Navy F-18s Air Force to Establish hit 11 narcotics facilities in Helmand Province. D.C.-Based Vice Commander This contributed to 2017’s total of 4,361 strikes in Afghanistan, according to numbers for Space Command released by Air Forces Central Command. Air Force Secretary Heather Wil- Tanker sorties to fuel this new o›ensive also increased, reaching 5,714—the most son has told congressional defense in the past three years. committees the Air Force plans to In December, US and coalition aircraft released a total of 584 weapons in the air war establish a three-star vice com- against ISIS, the lowest monthly total since August 2014. However, 2017 was a busy year mander of Air Force Space Com- as coalition aircraft helped US-backed fighters rout ISIS from its so-called capitals of mand who will serve in the Wash- Raqqa, Syria, and Mosul, Iraq. ington, D.C, area, USAF spokesman There were a total of 39,577 bombs dropped as part of Operation Inherent Resolve Maj. William Russell said. in 2017, bolstered by 13,243 tanker sorties and 14,015 ISR sorties. The new position will be respon- sible for a variety of tasks relat- ed to coordinating with Air Force headquarters and other national security agencies. Air Force Space Command will still maintain its two-star deputy commander billet in Colorado Springs, Colo., whose responsibilities do not change. Russell said he could not spec- ulate on potential nominations, but this position, like all three-star A B-52 lands at Andersen positions, must be confirmed by AFB, Guam, in January. the Senate. The Air Force had previously cre- ated a position for a deputy chief of All Three USAF Bombers Deploy to Guam sta› for space, and Maj. Gen. David Six B-52s and about 300 airmen from Barksdale AFB, La., deployed to Andersen AFB, D. Thompson was confirmed for Guam, in January to participate in the continuous bomber presence mission in the Pacific. the position last year. However, the The B-52s replaced six B-1B Lancers from Ellsworth AFB, S.D. Additionally, three B-2 Fiscal 2018 defense authorization Spirits deployed to Guam to support the Pacific deterrence mission. bill eliminated that position. At one point in January all three bomber variants were at the base for the first time since August 2016 and for just the second time in USAF history. Photos: SrA. Kevin Tanenbaum; TSgt. Ebensberger Richard Photos: Kevin SrA. Tanenbaum;

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM Air Force World

JROTC John Rood students survived explore the a bruising flight deck confirmation of a KC- process to 10 tanker become during a undersecretary tour of of defense for Travis AFB, policy. Calif.

Senate Confirms New Under- secretary of Defense for Policy The Senate on Jan. 3 confirmed John Tackling the Pilot Shortage Problem C. Rood to be undersecretary of defense The Air Force launched the Junior Reserve O›icers’ Training Corps Flight Academy for policy with a vote of 81-7, despite a scholarship program in January, which plans to teach cadets how to fly. The e›ort is rocky nomination process. During his one of many steps the service is taking to address its growing pilot shortage. confirmation hearing, both Republican Scholarship recipients will take classes this summer, each course lasting between and Democratic senators hammered seven and nine weeks, according to the Air Force. If all goes according to plan, cadets Rood, a former senior vice president at will return with private pilot licenses. However, there is no requirement for cadets to Lockheed Martin, about potential con- become military pilots. flicts of interest. “We understand not all of the cadets graduating from the Flight Academy will elect to take a military track, but that’s OK as those young people electing to enter commercial aviation will have a positive impact on the overall national crisis,” said Brig. Gen. Michael Airmen Receive Distinguished G. Koscheski, director of the Air Force Aircrew Crisis Task Force, in a press release. Flying Crosses for Afghanistan Mission Two airmen at Cannon AFB, N.M., on Jan. 5 received Distinguished Flying Crosses for their role in a 2016 resupply mission in Afghanistan, braving enemy anti-aircraft fire to help US special op - erations forces on the ground. On Jan. 5, 2016, Capt. Charlotte Raabe and SSgt. Gary Bjerke were flying as part of a six-man aircrew in an MC-130J Commando II conducting an emergency resupply airdrop to special operations forces who were under fire in an isolated area of Afghanistan. The aircraft flew through an area where it was within T-6 Texan II aircraft are grounded—again. reach of small arms and anti-aircraft artillery. 19th Air Force Grounds T-6 Trainers “It did not set in that we were taking Maj. Gen. Patrick J. Doherty, commander of 19th Air Force, indefinitely suspended fire until the ramp and door had opened,” all T-6 Texan II operations on Feb. 1, after a “cluster” of unexplained physiological said Bjerke, the loadmaster on the mis - events (UPEs) were reported at three bases within a week. sion. Raabe was the aircraft’s combat “We’re acting swiftly, making temporary—but necessary—changes to everyone’s systems officer. “I distinctively remember training, general awareness, checklist procedures, and possibly [modifying] aircrew hearing the cracks of the bullets passing flying equipment to mitigate risk to the aircrew while we tackle this issue head-on behind the aircraft. The only thing I could to safeguard everyone flying T-6s,” Doherty said in a statement. think of was that this resupply needed The suspension comes a week after USAF stood up a team dedicated to investi - to be executed successfully.” gating similar UPEs. As recently as November 2017, two A-10 pilots at Davis-Monthan The crew air-dropped a bundle of AFB, Ariz., reported physiological incidents while flying, which led the base to ground ammunition and supplies, which landed a third of its Warthog fleet for about a week. within 50 meters of the team, according to an Air Force news release.

 APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM Air Force World

Speeding up F-35 testing.

F-35 “Pre-IOT&E” Underway, Aimed At Expediting Testing Six F-35 jets—two of each variant— deployed to Eielson AFB, Alaska, on Jan. 18 for cold-weather testing as part of an unusual e›ort to speed up initial opera- Maj. Gen. Anthony Cotton is taking over as commander of Air University. tional test and evaluation, according to USAF o›icials. 20th Air Force Commander Promoted to Lead Air University The Air Force Operational Test and The Senate has confirmed Maj. Gen. Anthony J. Cotton, commander of 20th Air Evaluation Center at Kirtland AFB, N.M., Force, based at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., for promotion to lieutenant general. He is to in coordination with the Pentagon’s Op- take command of Air University at Maxwell AFB, Ala. erational Test and Evaluation shop, has Maj. Gen. Ferdinand B. Stoss assumed command of 20th Air Force from Cotton begun “pre-IOT&E” activities on the F-35, during a Jan. 26 ceremony. Stoss previously served as director of operations and com- to “mitigate delays in program develop- munications for Air Force Global Strike Command headquarters at Barksdale AFB, La. ment,” a center spokeswoman said. The jets at Eielson were doing cold- weather testing in temperatures aver- aging minus 23-degrees Fahrenheit. AFOTEC and the Defense Department’s OT&E were collecting “data regarding the F-35 air vehicle system’s e›ectiveness, suitability, and mission capability during alert launches in cold-weather,” said Maj. Gen. Matthew H. Molloy, AFOTEC commander and head of the F-35 joint operational test team.

The War on Terrorism US Central Command Opera - tions: Freedom’s Sentinel and In- herent Resolve. Casualties As of Feb. 15, a total of 49 Amer - Vice President Mike Pence speaks during the AFWERX grand opening in Las Vegas. icans had died in Operation Free - dom’s Sentinel in Afghanistan, and Air Force Opens Innovation Hub in Las Vegas 52 Americans had died in Operation The Air Force opened its new innovation hub and start-up center in Las Vegas on Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria. Jan. 11 with the goal of incubating a new approach to solving national security problems. The total includes 97 troops and With an initial $2 million budget, AFWERX includes Air Force o›icials, with involvement four Department of Defense civil- from industry and academia. It centers on a facility that includes a 25,000-square-foot ians. Of these deaths, 46 were killed fabrication lab, containing 3-D printers and carbon fiber ovens to help “bring some in action with the enemy while 55 ideas to life in a physical form,” AFWERX spokesman Bobby Mack said. The second floor died in noncombat incidents. is a 15,000-square-foot collaboration space, which includes areas that are restricted There have been 239 troops for classified work. wounded in action during OFS AFWERX will eventually have a permanent sta› of 12 people focusing on new USAF and 58 troops in OIR.

mission areas. Photos: Heide Couch/USAF; McBride; Partlow; Ariel A1C Alyssa DOD; SrA. Akers; SSgt. Trevor Johnson A1C Isaac

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM  SPEEDING UP

The first Operationally Responsive Space satellite, ORS-1, successfully launched from NASA’s Wallops  ★ APRIL / MAY  AIRFORCEMAG.COM Flight Facility in Virginia in 2011. SPEEDING UP

SHOULD USAF’SSPACE OPERATIONALLY RESPONSIVE SPACE OFFICE MORPH INTO A RAPID CAPABILITIES OFFICE FOR SPACE?

By Wilson Brissett

ir Force leaders have sounded a consistent warning in recent years: e National Security Space enterprise must accel- erate the way it acquires new systems. Space has become a combat domain, they say, and adversaries are building the means to rapidly take oensive action in orbit. e US, in turn, must be ready to counter such action just as quickly. “I really see a need to go fast” in acquisition, said Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond, commander of Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) at the 33rd Space Symposium in April 2017. Responding to this situation demands that USAF devel- op and launch resilient capabilities more eciently, and space leaders believe a Rapid Capabilities Oce focused on space is likely the best way to do it. Experience with space defense programs over the past decades has been Aa harsh teacher, as some major programs have soared over budget and William LaPlante, missed deployment by years. e GPS III’s next generation operational Gen. John Raymond, USAF’s former ground control system, known as OCX, is one of the more infamous ex- commander of acquisition chief, at amples. Even when OCX Block 0 was nally delivered to the Air Force in Air Force Space AFA’s Air Warfare November 2017, Space and Missile Systems Center commander Lt. Gen. Command, speaks Symposium in 2015. John F. ompson called it “a historically troubled program.” to ROTC cadets at Both he and Gen. John Other major space programs, such as the Space Based Infrared System Clemson University in Raymond say speed and the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite, have struggled, but August. in developing space hit closer to their acquisition targets. Overall, the military space sector has assets is becoming actually delivered many more new systems and capabilities through its evermore critical. recent modernization eorts than other parts of the Air Force portfolio, such as nuclear forces. However, it hasn’t been cheap, and it certainly hasn’t been quick. “Over the last 10 to 15 years, there’s been a massive recapitalization of space assets,” said William A. LaPlante, former assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition and now a senior vice president at the MITRE Corporation. He told Air Force Magazine even successful programs required

“between one and two decades” to develop from start to nish. Photos: NASA; Scott Ash/USAF; SSgt. Ken Scar

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM  Technicians work on TacSat-2 at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia in 2006.

“We can’t do that,” in a contested 2015, LaPlante became convinced that The RCO is based at JB Anacos- space environment, he said. “We have the service needed “a Rapid Capabili- tia-Bolling, in Washington, D.C., and to change.” ties Oce ... that would be dedicated quick access to Department of Defense For the US to keep pace with its solely to space.” He had helped shep- and congressional leadership is crucial adversaries, the bar must be set high- herd the Long-Range Strike Bomber in making acquisition fast. “We could er than simply avoiding acquisition program (later dubbed the B-21 Raider) work the budget, the acquisition strate- nightmares like OCX. e Air Force also into the Air Force RCO and realized the gy, and requirements and get it done in needs to build greater urgency into the advantages of such an approach. a week,” LaPlante said. If an issue began programs that go according to plan. The RCO has been successful, to develop requiring program changes, “When we had unquestioned su- LaPlante said, because “it’s an acquisi- RCO leaders could go “right to the Hill periority, you could probably do the tion organization” unto itself. “It has all and sit down with the sta ers.” exquisite analysis for two or three years, the full aspects of a program executive Though it sounds like something development for ve to 10 years, and ocer,” he said. at means that RCO geared to quick-and-dirty projects for then put up your GPS or your AEHF sat- Director and Program Executive Ocer urgent needs, RCO is scaled to accom- ellites,” said LaPlante. “We don’t have Randall G. Walden has access to “a full modate major programs, LaPlante said. that superiority any more. e speed set of cost estimators, access to analyt- “It develops real capabilities: not one- of technology change and potential ics and scientists at places like MITRE o s, but in numbers,” he said. adversaries just means we’ve got do it and Lincoln Labs,” as well as “expert di erently.” contracting ocers themselves, people FROM ORS TO SPACE RCO who were experts in manufacturing.” Even so, Air Force attempts to speed THE RCO MODEL Just as important in maintaining the up space procurement have found suc- During his tenure in the USAF acqui- RCO’s efficiency is its “Washington cess to be elusive. In 2007, the service sition shop, which ended in November presence,” LaPlante said. stood up an Operationally Responsive

 APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM OCX Block 0, GPS III’s next generation operational ground control system, took so long the SMC commander called it “a historically troubled program.”

Space o ce at Kirtland AFB, N.M. ORS “I’d be worried,” LaPlante said, “that a name change,” Raymond said at specialized in producing “one-offs.” if you take an office like the RCO ... and an Air Force Association Mitchell Reporting to the Space and Missile Sys- you gave it more mission, you might Institute event in Washington, D.C., tems Center, it has worked to develop actually kill what’s good about it.” on Dec. 8. The move by Congress experimental satellites outside of the He thinks the best solution would represents “a change in capabilities major satellite constellation modern- be to spin off a seperate RCO for the and capacity to get after what we need ization programs. space enterprise. LaPlante said this to do, and that’s to go fast,” Raymond “e missions and the problems they was already evident during his time said. were given were sort of on the periphery in the Pentagon, that “we needed for LaPlante agrees. “It sounds like it’s of important national security space space a Rapid Capability Office ... that going more toward the beginnings of problems,” said LaPlante. e ORS of- would be dedicated solely to space,” what an RCO model is,” he said. The ce’s funding reects this. In Fiscal instead of adding space programs to reporting shift is most important, 2017, its total budget was only $17.9 the current RCO’s load. he noted, because “the owner of the million, said an SMC spokesman. Despite its limitations, LaPlante space requirements ... is the four-star “ere’s no way that an o ce the size thinks ORS is doing good work. Re- at Air Force Space Command.” This of an ORS ... would have the capabilities cently, he was “really impressed” with move could herald others that would to do a bomber or do the equivalent of a an ORS-developed space situational give SRC a set of acquisition capabil- bomber for space,” LaPlante said. “e awareness asset that was “built and ities that more closely emulate those ORS o ce had a very, very low prole, deployed within two-and-a-half years. of the RCO. and I think it still largely does,” he add- If you could do that at scale ... that “My goal,” said Raymond, “is to ed. “It really didn’t get the resourcing to would be great.” bring ORS capabilities more broadly do this job.” e ORS also “did not have In the 2018 National Defense Au- across Space and Missile Systems the full set of capabilities the RCO had,” thorization Act, Congress may have Center and not just use them for little LaPlante noted. Consequently, “that paved the way for the Air Force to do niche capabilities.” How far and how sort of put them on the back-burner.” exactly that. The bill changes the name fast the transformation goes—and If ORS is too small to handle ma- of the ORS office to the Space Rapid how much more funding the Space jor programs rapidly, then why not Capabilities program. The legislation Rapid Capabilities office will receive— run major space acquisition programs also establishes ORS/SRC responsibil- remains to be seen, but Raymond is through the Air Force RCO? It might ity directly to AFSPC, at Peterson AFB, making it clear that, when it comes actually work, LaPlante said, but the Colo., instead of SMC which is based to speeding up space procurement, service would have to be careful not at Los Angeles AFB, Calif. he means business. And for now,

to create an overload. The shift represents more than “just Congress is willing to help. Photos: USAF; Raytheon

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM  BOMBERS IN 

USAF plans to retire the B-1 and B-2 in the 2030s as B-21s are fielded, while the B-52 remains in service until 2050.

By John A. Tirpak, Editorial Director

ith the Fiscal 2019 budget request, versatile conventional payload, comparatively lower main- the Air Force is beginning an over- tenance needs, and the ability to carry the new Long-Range haul of its bomber fleet, starting Standoff cruise missile, or LRSO. with a plan to extend the B-52’s The B-1, meanwhile, is labor-intensive and treaty-prohib- life span to nearly a century. If ited from carrying cruise missiles. The B-2 fleet, at only 20 approved by Congress, the BUFF aircraft, is considered too expensive per airplane to retain would remain operational until beyond the early 2030s. 2050, some 88 years after extant The Fiscal 2019 budget includes the first monies neces- B-52Hs were delivered and 98 sary to begin equipping the B-52 fleet with new engines that years after the YB-52’s first flight. would reduce its maintenance needs, extend its range and As stealthy new B-21 aircraft become available in the late loiter time, and allow the aircraft to climb faster to cruising 2020sW and early 2030s, the Air Force would retire its B-1s and altitude. It would be retained into the 2050s. The Air Force B-2s, much earlier than previously planned. They would be is requesting $64.5 million in Fiscal 2019 to get the engine phased out because the Air Force believes it must live with replacement effort rolling. a bomber enterprise manpower footprint not much larger than it is now. That means the new B-21 must replace—and GETTING READY FOR RAIDERS not be additive to—much of the existing bomber fleet. The Air Force envisions retaining all existing bomber The Air Force had previously planned to operate the B-1 bases, swapping out B-1 and B-2 aircraft as B-21s become and B-52 until 2040 and the B-2 to 2058. available. Very substantial military construction funds will The service is eyeing an enduring bomber fleet of roughly be needed to accomodate the new aircraft, however. 175 aircraft overall, although service officials said that num- The revelations were contained in USAF’s “Bomber ber could go up with more generous budgets. Vector.” The Vector has been in development for several In judging which older bombers to retain, USAF chose the years and plans the phase-in of the B-21, the phase-out of B-52 over its younger stablemates because of the aircraft’s older aircraft, and the timing and scope of upgrades and

 APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM Minot AFB, N.D.-based B-52Hs fly over France during a European Reassurance Initiative deployment. B-52s may serve more than 30 more BOMBERS years. Photo: TSgt. Garcia Photo: Joshua

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM  USAF’s bombers—a B-1, B-2, and B-52—fly near Barksdale AFB, La.

new munitions needed for the bomber enterprise. A draft of the Bomber Vec- tor (a planning document previously known as the Bomber Roadmap) was obtained by Air Force Magazine. The Bomber Vector was to have been released last September at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference. It had been briefed to members of Con- gress by Global Strike Command Chief Gen. Robin Rand during the summer months, and Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein announced at an AFA event in July that it would soon be released publicly. However, service leaders decided to withhold it until after release of the Nuclear Posture Review and final decisions on the Fiscal 2019 budget request. e NPR was released in early Feb- ruary, validating the need for the LRSO and retaining the B-52 as its launch plat- form for the near future. e B-21 will also be able to carry the LRSO, and the Airmen load smart bombs on a B-52 at Al Udeid AB, Qatar, in 2017. B-52s have had NPR said the missile will ensure the US significantly higher availability rates over the past five years than B-1 and B-2 bombers. continues to have a means to strike any target on the globe even after adversary forms.” Even so, the service sees growth said, since it would require keeping all technological advances whittle down in the bomber eet from 157 aircraft four logistical trains in place, each with the B-21’s stealthiness in the decades today to at least 175, in order to provide its separate people, parts, and vendors. to come. the capability required by regional com- e bomber force today numbers 10,500 e draft version of the Vector said manders, and “some manpower growth operations and maintenance manpower the B-2 would be retired “no later than is inevitable.” authorizations. 2032” and the B-1 “no later than 2036,” Keeping all existing eets and adding “Enterprise-wide reallocation of although service ocials said those the B-21 to them—for a total of 257 money, facilities, and other resources dates may have shifted somewhat since. aircraft—“is neither scally realistic are necessary to facilitate B-21 fielding “Included in the decision calculus nor desirable,” USAF said in the Vector and ensure the Air Force has a capable to retire the B-1 and the B-2,” the ser- draft, adding that Global Strike Com- and effective future bomber force,” vice said in the draft, is the need to try mand “must pursue the optimal bomber USAF said in the paper. It pegged the to maintain a “force-neutral manning force mix.” cost of modernizing the B-1 and B-2 structure,” and to do it, it must “harvest Simply shaving down the numbers to keep them capable to 2050 as $38.5 manpower billets from the retiring plat- of each type isn’t eective, the paper billion, “which is enough money to

 APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM A B-1B takes o from Andersen AFB, Guam. The B-1’s struggles with reliability put it on the fast track to retirement.

fund modernization upgrades for a number of upgrades and improve- much-older B-52 was based largely the B-52 and help fund bomber base ments to keep them relevant in a on the maintenance track records of modernization and nuclear infra- world where they are too radar-re- the three aircraft. The B-1s and B-2s structure.” flective to get close to well-defended have lower mission capable rates than Upgrading the B-52 to last until enemy airspace. the B-52s. 2050 would cost $22 billion, USAF The B-52 extension depends in The Vector said the B-52’s aircraft said, but “this figure is offset by $10 large part on a plan to re-engine the availability has averaged nearly 80 billion cost savings from re-engining, aircraft with modern power plants. percent over the last five years, while which pays for itself in fuel, depot and With new engines, the B-52s would the B-1 and B-2 averaged about 50 maintenance costs, and maintenance never have to stand down for engine percent. In mission capable rates— manpower in the 2040s.” overhauls, as the time “on wing” of meaning the aircraft is able to exploit the new power plants would exceed its full range of capabilities, without NEW/OLD MIX the planned remaining service for the any non-working systems—the B-52 After the B-1 and B-2 retirements, old bombers. averaged about 60 percent, while the Air Force would field a fleet of at The B-52s would also be equipped the B-1 averaged around 40 percent least 100 B-21s and 75 B-52s. with new standoff weapons allowing and the B-2 about 35 percent. The e timing also suggests B-21 deliv- them to shoot into enemy territory B-2’s intensive stealth-maintenance eries will average less than one a month from well outside the range of enemy requirements drive their overall low during production. e Air Force has air defenses. Among these would be MC rate. said it plans to have a “usable” asset the LRSO, which the Vector identified The bomber’s MC rates are driven when the rst aircraft is delivered in the as the AGM-180/181, a possible ref- in large part by “vanishing vendor mid-2020s. Assuming that production erence to the two competing versions syndrome” situations where compo- of the new bomber continues until the being developed by Lockheed Martin nents—especially electronics—are last B-1B is retired, a production win- and Raytheon. no longer made. In the case of the dow of 2025-2036 is likely. Dividing 100 Goldfein, at the July event, said the B-2, the fleet is so small—only 20 bombers over 11 years suggests a rate new bomber force would be paired airplanes—that vendors don’t want of about nine aircraft annually. with intelligence, surveillance, and to tool up to provide parts in such Former Air Force ocials have hint- reconnaissance assets such as the low quantities. Other pieces of key ed at such low numbers, explaining the RQ-4 Global Hawk to shoot targets gear, such as gyroscopes on the B-2, service wasted a lot of money tooling at long range, yet with high accuracy. for example, “are obsolete,” the Vector up to produce B-2 bombers at a high The Bomber Vector draft made no reported, and maintainers are already rate but then built only 21 airplanes, mention of hypersonic missiles or making do by cannibalizing parts. instead of the planned 132. At less any other wonder weapons that could The B-1’s maintenance man hours than one B-21 a month, large savings enhance the B-52’s lethality, although per flying hour are the worst of the lot, can be reaped in facilitization, man- it did say the venerable aircraft would at 74, while the B-2’s performance in power, and tooling—although there be perfectly fine in operations where this metric is 45. (That figure does not would likely be oset costs in learning enemy air defenses either did not ex- count the hours needed to maintain curve and economic quantity materials ist or had already been beaten down its low-observable features, coatings, purchases. by other systems. and materials, which the Vector did Under the Air Force’s proposal, the The Air Force said the decision to not state.) The B-52’s MMH/FH rating

1961/1962-vintage B-52s will receive retire the B-1 and B-2 instead of the was 62. courtesy;Photos: Pathak/USAF; Sagar Willis A1C Gerald

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM  To make way for the B-21— shown here in an artist’s concept—USAF is looking to divest the B-1 and B-2 in the early 2030s.

NOT LIKE THE OLD DAYS aircraft. e Air Force said its bomber In a release accompanying the Cost per ying hour was another eet is also spoken for many times over, unveiling of the Fiscal 2019 budget factor weighing against the younger on tap to support many missions all at request, Air Force Secretary Heath- bombers in USAF’s thinking. Both the the same time. er Wilson said if Congress approves B-1 and B-52 averaged about $70,000 “In the last ve years, Air Force Glob- the bomber plan, “bases that have per ying hour (USAF did not call out al Strike Command has gone from sup- bombers now will have bombers in specic numbers, and its charts were porting one enduring COCOM [Com- the future.” not ne-grained)—while the B-2 costs batant Commander] requirement to an To help manage the manpower between $110,000 and $150,000 per average of 12 annually, a 1,100 percent transition among the four systems, ying hour to operate. Total ownership increase. To meet this level of demand, the report recommended a “hybrid costs followed similar curves. AFGSC’s operations and maintenance manpower approach” while elding As advanced air defenses prolifer- personnel and bomber airframes are the B-21, using personnel “from retir- ate, for the time being, only the B-2 managed at peak utilization rates,” ing platforms as well as a Total Force can penetrate them to hold targets at USAF said. These add-on missions (Guard and Reserve) and Contractor risk worldwide, USAF said. However, include nonstop bomber action in Logistics Support as necessary, to min- that aircraft will “see its technological the Middle East against ISIS targets imize manpower spikes and delays.” advantages diminish in the not-too- and an increasing tempo of bomber In the budget-day statement, Air distant future.” By contrast, the B-21 deployments to the Pacic, both as a Force Global Strike Command boss has been “designed to operate in this messaging device to China and North Gen. Robin Rand noted, “at the end of highly contested combat environment.” Korea and to conduct the now-routine Desert Storm in ’91, we had 290 bomb- e B-52, despite not having the ability forward bomber presence mission, out ers. ... Today that force has dropped to penetrate, oers a lot of capability of Guam. to 157 bombers at ve wings and 15 through “its high weapons carriage ca- e Vector said USAF’s preference Total Force bomb squadrons. at’s pacity and vast munitions diversity” to is that “bombers replace bombers” at a 46 percent decrease in our bomber be of value either as a stando platform existing locations, since these bases force,” while it has taken on “continu- or in “less challenging environments.” are operationally and geographically ous combat operations” in the Balkans, e LRSO will provide “a highly surviv- “best-suited” to the mission. Open- Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, “in able, stando nuclear weapon capabil- ing up new facilities or re-activating addition to continuous bomber rota- ity for the B-52 and B-21.” Some money dormant ones would bring a big cost tions” in US Central Command and can be saved by not tting the B-2 with penalty. Even so, the price tag will Pacic Command. the LRSO, as had been planned. be “several hundred million dollars If the Bomber Vector is implemented e Bomber Vector pointed out that per base” to properly modernize and as planned, in 2050 USAF will operate USAF’s bomber eet has never been so add new “classied work spaces” at at least 100 batwing B-21s and 75 small. Today’s eet of 157 bombers (76 current bomber bases to protect B-21 venerable B-52s. The B-1 and B-2, of which are B-52s) is only a tiny frac- technology and to accommodate new meanwhile, will have been relegated

tion of the 1960 bomber eet of 1,526 weapons. to airparks and the boneyard. Bush Christopher and SrA. Air Tsukamoto by Mike Force Magazine Illustration:

 APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM Verbatim [email protected] By Robert S. Dudney

Senatorial Courtesy ing our faces. We’re not a biker gang. We’re tion of our national security is nuclear de- “It appears ‘General’ Rand Paul is at it not a rock and roll band. ... You can get 70 terrence.”—Retired USAF Lt. Gen. Frank again. He just called for the immediate percent of your body covered with ink and G. Klotz, former head of Global Strike withdrawal of all forces from Afghanistan still be a Marine. Is that enough?”—Gen. Command and the National Nuclear as a way to give the US military a pay raise. Robert B. Neller, Commandant of the Security Administration, defensenews. Fortunately, only ‘General’ Paul—and the Marine Corps, on USMC tattoo policy, com, Jan. 24. Taliban—think that’s a good idea.”—Sen. military.com, Feb. 2. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), post on his Twitter account, after Kentucky Repub- Educated Beyond His Intelligence Sign Language lican Senator Paul spoke out against “We’ve got all our freakin’ night-vision “Many Americans aren’t in touch with continued US involvement, Feb. 9. goggles, all that kind of stu›, and we just how close we are to war. ... The warn - can’t freakin’ control these dudes wearing ing signs that the military has shifted to Jokes from a Trash Heap freakin’ robes and chanclas [flip-flops]. It’s a more aggressive posture are clear. We “The aerospace force will continue to because we’ve got a bunch of dumb shits recently sent the USS Michigan, a nuclear maintain the reliable protection of Russian over there. Think about the people who submarine, to South Korea. In October, airspace. Should American pilots, knowing you know over there—your freakin’ stupid we sent three US Navy nuclear-powered this fact, fall into depression or succumb Uncle Louie or whoever. They’re dumb Nimitz-class aircraft carriers ... to the to any phobias, we advise the US side to shits. They’re not, like, high-level thinkers. Western Pacific. B-52s have now joined exclude these flight routes near Russia’s They’re not academic people. They’re not our B-1 and B-2 bombers in Guam. ... borders in the future.”—Russian Ministry intellectual people. They’re the freakin’ Across the country, the Army is practic - of Defense, mocking US complaints lowest of our low.”—Gregory Salcido, a ing how to activate mobilization centers. of dangerous Russian fighter activity Pico Rivera, Calif., public high school ... The Army is buying more bridging over the Black Sea, oicial statement teacher, ranting to his class about equipment. ... It’s painfully clear ... that released Feb. 1. US troops in Afghanistan, recorded we shouldn’t ignore the signals these by a student on Jan. 19. Salcido was actions send.”—Sen. Tammy Duckworth Cognitive Dissonance suspended. (D-Ill.), address at Georgetown Uni- “I had been away from the national versity, Jan. 19. security world for a while. ... I was getting Shovel Ready briefed to be prepared for my [Senate “ISIS needs to understand that the Joint Too Many Damn Hornets confirmation] hearings, and I saw the first Force is on orders to annihilate them. So, “Right now, we’ve got too many [F/A-18] charts on readiness. I actually thought they have two [courses of action], should Hornets. We’ve got too many airplanes. We they had inverted the numbers. I was in they decide to come up against the United need to get rid of them, because we don’t the service during the Cold War, and the States, our allies, and partners: Surrender have time to fix them. You have just got to readiness numbers are far lower than or die! ... If they choose not to surrender, get rid of them. We need more airplanes any general o›icer would have accepted then we will kill them with extreme prej- that can fly.”—Gen. Robert B. Neller, during that time.”—Secretary of the Air udice, whether that be through security Commandant of the Marine Corps, Force Heather Wilson, Washington force assistance, dropping bombs on them, remarks at Center for Strategic and Examiner, Jan. 23. shooting them in the face, or beating them International Studies, Jan. 25. to death with our entrenching tools.”— Unacceptable or Irreversible Army Command Sgt. Maj. John Wayne What the Bundeswehr is About “North Korea acquired nuclear weapons Troxell, senior enlisted advisor to the “The hard currency in which the suc - to assure its regime’s survival. In its view, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Sta, cess of the [German] defense minister to give them up would be tantamount to post on Facebook, Jan. 9. is measured is the readiness of the suicide. An outcome that was widely con- Bundeswehr [German armed forces]. sidered unacceptable is now on the verge Foundational That has not really improved in the last of becoming irreversible.”—Former Sec- “I am very concerned ... that, while we four years but rather has become worse. retary of State Henry Kissinger, Senate have taken a pause in terms of recapital- While foreign missions with small contin- Armed Services Committee, Jan. 25. izing our nuclear forces, the Russians are gents [of German forces] went well, the continuing to invest in their nuclear forces, Bundeswehr as a whole cannot currently Great Moments in Policy both strategic and nonstrategic, and the be used in the collective [i.e., NATO] “I’m not allowing [tattoo] ‘sleeves’ [on Chinese have continued to steadily devel- defense. Incidentally, the average age of arms]. I’m not. My wife disagrees with me. op and diversify their nuclear capability. all new hires will tend to go up because She thinks I’m stupid. She says, ‘How can Other nations—India, Pakistan—continue the Bundeswehr is no longer just about you judge them [Marine Corps recruits] on to expand and diversify and increase the recruiting young people.”—Hans-Peter their ink?’ I said, ‘I don’t judge them; I just size of their nuclear forces. ... In this more Bartels, Germany’s parliamentary don’t want them being Marines.’ This is not challenging world, I go back to the first commissioner for the armed forces, an episode of ‘Vikings,’ where we’re tattoo- principle, and that is that the basic founda- quoted in militarytimes.com, Jan. 25.

APRIL / MAY  ★ WWW.AIRFORCEMAG.COM  THE TANKER’S TRYING TIME After a tough 2017, the KC-46 tanker is inching closer to reality.

By Brian W. Everstine, Pentagon Editor

he KC-46A Pegasus tank- er program ended 2017 on an upbeat note, as the first aircraft destined for operational service made its inaugural flight in early December.T During the three-and- a-half-hour mission, engines, flight controls, and environmental systems were checked out. Col. John New- berry, the KC-46 system program manager, lauded the flight as “another milestone” in the program, bringing the service one step closer to fielding sorely needed new aerial refueling tankers. The Pegasus program struggled through much of 2017, however, en- during continued delays, cost over- The first Pegasus tanker destined for USAF takes o from the Boeing facility in runs, and the discovery of a serious Everett, Wash., on its first flight. defect.

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM THE TANKER’S TRYING TIME

A KC-46 is loaded onto a rotating platform for testing at the Benefield Anechoic Facility at Edwards AFB, Calif.

e Air Force originally expected for Boeing. In January 2017 the com- Force, and Naval Air Systems Com- to accept delivery of its rst opera- pany received a $2.1 billion contract mand officials took the Pegasus tions-bound aircraft much sooner, for the third low-rate initial produc- through electromagnetic testing at under a deadline imposed by Boeing tion lot of 15 KC-46s. The award fol- NAS Patuxent River, Md., aimed at itself. Days before the ight, though, lowed the first two lots, announced in evaluating its ability to fly and operate the company ocially announced it August 2016, for seven and 12 aircraft, through electromagnetic fields under would not meet delivery goals for 2017. respectively, while the fourth lot is “mission conditions.” The jet sat on is did not come as a surprise—the Air slated to be awarded this year. radiation pads at the Navy base, where Force had already come to the same The 2017 contract came as the it endured pulses from an electric coil conclusion last summer. company was transitioning “from de- above it. e rst hangars for Pegasus tankers velopment to production” in the pro- At Edwards, a KC-46 was moved are open and ready, and USAF hopes the gram, Boeing CEO Dennis A. Muilen- into the base’s Benefield Anechoic new jets will arrive this spring. berg told investors in an earnings Facility, which is filled with polyure- “We will get the airplane in 2018, in call at the time and reflected no new thane pyramids designed to stop the my humble opinion,” Gen. Carlton D. “technical discoveries” in flight test. reflection of electromagnetic waves. Everhart III, commander of Air Mobility e program ramped up ying opera- The 772nd Test Squadron evaluated Command, said in September. “We will tions with the rst six test aircraft, ying the aircraft’s “critically sensitive” ra- have a good aircraft, I believe, when we test missions to evaluate the KC-46’s dio systems to make sure that they get the product. I don’t really need the refueling system while avionics under- would not be degraded in a real-world aircraft right now. I need the aircraft went ground testing at Boeing facilities mission. when it’s ready.” in Washington state and at USAF test Test flights continued to ensure the Last year began with a big an- facilities at Edwards AFB, Calif. new boom system’s compatibility with

nouncement—and a big paycheck— Last July, a team of Boeing, Air the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps Lockhart/Boeing Marian Okula/USAF; Photos: Christopher

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM  eets. By the end of 2017, the KC-46 had completed more than 2,000 ight An A-10 tanks up hours and 1,300 hundred contacts, from a KC-46 in a refueling aircraft including F-16s, F/A- 2016 test. 18s, AV-8Bs, C-17s, A-10s, and KC-10s. In October, two KC-46s ew together and refueled each other for the rst time, o-loading the maximum fuel rate of 1,200 gallons per minute. e tankers—the rst and second produced in the program—transferred a total of 38,100 pounds of fuel during the ight. In December, the Federal Aviation Administration determined that Boe- ing’s 767-2C—the core conguration freighter that represents the basis of the KC-46 variant—is “safe and reliable.” To receive this certication, Boeing yet attempted to refuel from the KC- end of the jet where refueling is tak- had to have completed a series of 46, during some refueling test ights ing place—may not recognize a boom tests, both on the ground and in the with other aircraft, USAF said it had scrape when it happens, and therefore air, to prove the aircraft’s avionics, observed “undetected contacts out- would not be able to inform the receiver auto- ight, fuel system, and environ- side the receptacle.” is means the pilot about a possible compromise of mental control systems are stable. boom had touched the receiving air- the receiving jet’s stealthiness. is is one of two FAA airworthiness craft beyond the area meant to absorb Newberry said at the time this sit- certications needed; another focuses the rubbing and scraping common to uation could pose “significant risk to on the tanker’s military systems. air refueling. If this happened with a aircrew.” e 767-2C certication is a “key low-observable aircraft, the scraping Of the other two deficiencies iden- building block for the KC-46 program could damage its special coatings, po- tified, one had to do with the high-fre- in that it retires risk and builds con- tentially ruining its stealth properties quency radios embedded in the wings dence as we continue our test eorts,” right before breaking away from the of the KC-46. To prevent potential Mike Gibbons, Boeing’s KC-46 tanker tanker to penetrate enemy airspace. arcing from static electricity, the KC- vice president and program manager, In the legacy refueling eet—KC- 46 cannot broadcast during refueling said in a statement announcing the 135s and KC-10s—the boom operator operations, but USAF testers could certication. is notied if the boom makes contact not tell if the radios remained turned outside the refueling receptacle, Brig. off, and whether this potentially in- SCRAPING THE SURFACE Gen. Donna D. Shipton, the USAF terfered with flight controls. USAF Amid all the apparent progress, the tanker program executive ocer, told in February said the aircraft was still Air Force oered startling news in Sep- reporters in September. She explained acceptable for delivery even with this tember, announcing it had identied that when there is such a contact, the deficiency, but insisted that Boeing three “deciencies.” One of these was boom operator is required to inform is still required to develop a long- considered serious, in that it could af- the receiver aircraft pilot, who then de- term fix. fect the tanker’s ability to refuel stealth cides whether the mission can proceed. The last deficiency involved an aircraft. With the KC-46, however, the boom “uncommanded” boom extension Although no stealth aircraft, such operator—who is positioned just behind while the KC-46 was on the ground. as the F-22 ghter or B-2 bomber, has the KC-46’s cockpit, and not at the back In one incident, after disconnecting,

 APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM McConnell AFB, Kan., boasts this three-aircraft hangar for KC-46s.

As of early January, the Air Force was still collecting flight test data to determine if the “deficiency rate and severity are within international air refueling standards,” Grabowski said. After this data is collected, the service will determine if it needs to make changes to the remote vision system—the 3-D camera used by the boom operator in the refueling pro- cess—or make other changes. Higher up in the Pentagon, the is- sues have caused Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to say he is unwilling to accept flawed tankers. Mattis told reporters last Decem- A Pegasus undergoing tests on the electromagnetic pulse pad at NAS Patuxent ber, “I reinforced that the Air Force River, Md., in July 2017. was not going to accept tankers that weren’t completely compliant with the contract.” However, Mattis called Boeing’s efforts “excellent,” despite missing its self-imposed delivery goals, and he noted the company is working with the Air Force to resolve the scraping issue. Costs are beginning to climb on the KC-46, along with delays, creat- ing an unusual situation. Under the fixed-price contract, the Air Force’s costs on the program are capped at $4.9 billion, with Boeing bearing any overages. During an October call with inves- tors, the company reported additional The first Pegasus with an air refueling boom installed on a test flight in June 2015. costs are coming “due to incorporat- Boeing is expected to deliver certified KC-46s by the end of 2018. ing changes into initial production aircraft as we progress through late- the boom struck a test stand. The ap- and expect it to be resolved by the end stage testing and the certification parent cause was a spike of pressure of May, Air Force spokeswoman Maj. process,” Muilenberg said. The total after fuel flow stopped, and such a Emily Grabowski said. for the third quarter of 2017 was $329 situation is common in refueling op- The scraping issue is deemed far million, bringing the company’s bill erations, Shipton said. more serious, however. for program overruns to more than The Air Force and Boeing are de- “We are concerned,” Shipton ac- $1.9 billion after taxes. Boeing hopes

veloping a software fix for this issue, knowledged. to make this money back through (2, USN McClellan;Photos: 4); Parker/Boeing A1C Erin John

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM  international KC-46 sales. Because of An artist’s concept of a KC-46 refueling a B-2 bomber. The program is working the fixed-price cost cap, US taxpayers to resolve a problem in which the tanker could unknowingly damage aircraft’s are not responsible for the overages. stealth coatings.

HANGAR TIME unit will stand up in New Hampshire, e Air Force’s requirement is for Although there are no airplanes and the first Air Force Reserve Peg- 479 tankers. e Air Force has said delivered yet, USAF is moving forward asus unit is planned for Seymour it plans to phase out the KC-10s in on its tanker plans. In mid-October, Johnson AFB, N.C. 2019, but that schedule could change this included a ribbon cutting for an In January, USAF announced JB depending on how fast the Air Force empty three-aircraft hangar at the KC- McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., and receives KC-46s. 46’s first operating base, McConnell Travis AFB, Calif., as the preferred “We built 700 [tankers] in seven Air Force Base in Kansas. locations for the next two Active Duty years in the ’60s,” McDew told lawmak- The hangar is one of 16 projects, at KC-46 units. The two bases are home ers. If the current rate doesn’t speed a cost of $267 million, for the new air- to the Air Force’s KC-10 Extender up, the “plan to retire the KC-10s may craft. The base will eventually house fleet, and each will receive 24 KC-46s. be revisited.” 36 of the planes. USAF plans to bring on 15 KC-46s e Air Force is thus walking the “The KC-46 will revolutionize air per year at an annual cost of about fence between getting an operational refueling,” Col. Joshua M. Olson, the $3 billion, according to its Fiscal capability elded as quickly as possi- 22nd Air Refueling Wing command- 2018 budget request, and this rate is ble, and getting the airplane in good er said at the ceremony. “It is only expected to continue through delivery working order from the outset, with appropriate that the home of air re- of the 179th KC-46 in about 2027. But all deciencies corrected. Even with fueling take the lead with this new for some senior officials this pace is schedules changing and costs still ris- airframe, and that started with these not fast enough. ing, Pentagon ocials are condent 16 construction projects. They reflect US Transportation Command boss in the fleet airmen will eventually years of hard work from individuals Gen. Darren W. McDew, testifying to operate. in our community who are literally Congress last March, said the current “We need the tankers, but I want the laying the foundation for the future operational tempo is so high that “if tankers done right,” Mattis said. “ e of the Air Force.” we had a thousand air refueling tank- Air Force needs tankers done right. The KC-46’s main training base, ers it might be enough. If you pick a e American taxpayer expects tankers Altus AFB, Okla., has been training spot in the world, and you bring up done right, and Boeing is committed to Pegasus aircrew members mainly with any kind of issue—a simultaneous or delivering tankers that are done right. simulators. The base also has a new even a competing regard anywhere So this is a team eort, and I’m very, flight training facility and fuselage else in the world—your tanker[usage] very comfortable that we’re on the right trainer for the aircraft. rate goes up to a place that I can’t track. We’ll get there. It’ll be the best

The first KC-46 Air National Guard even imagine.” tanker in the world.” CecilioIllustration:TSgt. Ricardo

 APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM THE WRIGHT DECISION CMSAF KALETH WRIGHT IS WORKING TO GET AIRMEN’S LIVES BACK IN BALANCE.

By Gideon Grudo, Digital Platforms Editor hief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth O. Wright knows the lives of enlisted airmen are out of balance, with too many demands on them at home station and tooC many demands for them in contin- gencies around the world. His charter from Chief of Sta Gen. David L. Gold- fein is to help put some “white space” back on the calendars of the enlisted force. He has his work cut out for him. Only one airman After a year on the job, he’s spent at a time wears considerable time visiting airmen this badge of around the world, asking for their rank—and right opinions, their gripes—and the things now, it’s Kaleth that give them satisfaction and keep Wright. them in uniform. “I don’t believe that I get 100 per- cent honesty back every time,” said Wright, a four-time command chief who came most recently from US Air Force in Europe and Air Forces Africa. Maybe junior airmen are “starstruck” by a visit from the top noncommis- sioned officer in the service, he said in a recent interview with Air Force Magazine. More often than not, though, he’ll get a direct answer starting with, “Hey Chief, this is what we’re dealing with CMSAF Kaleth Wright testifies before the House down here.” Appropriations Subcommittee on Miltary Construction and The standout thing he’s learned Veterans A airs in March 2017, just after taking USAF’s top from those countless conversations is enlisted position. “the amount of stuff they have on their plate, along with all of these additional from 27 lines to 16. Days into 2018, he things,” but “I still feel like we have a requirements … and how little time got evaluation performance reviews lot of work to do in removing some they actually have.” for airmen first class and below thrown of the barriers” keeping airmen from The feedback has driven him to out altogether—a long-awaited and concentrating on the mission. whittle away at some burdensome and widely lauded move. By June, he hopes to have cleared unpopular required online courses. “I feel like from the time that we away “many of the small things” so he Late last year, he got the requirements started until today, we made some can chisel away at the “bigger rocks” for annual airmen awards reduced progress,” Wright said. “We fixed some with senior leaders.

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM  “I don’t want to go through the next three years playing whack-a-mole,” he said. The Air Force’s manpower shortage is real. Too many people were let go in recent years, when service lead- ers were forced to choose between manpower and functional equipment. Despite the small size of the force, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson noted last October that today’s USAF is “much more active in combat” than during the Cold War. Consequently, airmen are stretched thin, and their time is ever more valu- able. Wright aims to refocus that ex- pensive time on the mission by mit- igating additional (and, some say, unnecessary) requirements. But he also wants to expand a few demands, such as ensuring that air- men are well-trained for operating under tough battle conditions. This is particularly applicable to those headed to the Korean Peninsula and elsewhere in the Pacific. The Air Force’s challenge is to deal with “global instability and insecurity,” Wright adjusts his new uniform hat during his appointment ceremony in February he said, adding, “I’m concerned with 2017 as his wife, retired MSgt. Tonya Wright, looks on. the risk” being put on airmen. With rising tensions, airmen find them- shortened considerably. One of the heavier load for a time. “We’re getting selves heavily tasked at home train- boxes to be checked off was that air- there,” Wright insisted. ing for real-world crises. Then, when men had to complete a “relatively deployed in the crisis zone, they must long” computer-based training course REWARDING VOLUNTEERISM work long hours to stay combat-sharp. on the Pashtun language, he noted. In recent years, many commanders The risk is that, with little downtime, “I met a commander who told me: and supervisors have strongly encour- they might get burned out. ‘This is actually not language training. aged airmen to add a lot of off-hours Despite the drumbeat of tensions You have to take it because it’s on the volunteer work to their resumés to in Korea, Wright was not losing sleep checklist, but no one learns how to enhance their chances for advance- over it. In a December interview, he speak Pashtun from this thing.’” So, ment. Most have complied, fearing said, “I sit here in the briefings. I hate “guess what? We’re not going to do it,” their promotions and careers hung to call it rhetoric, right, but what we said Wright. The wing commander was on volunteerism in addition to com- see on the news and what’s actually able to cut down the checklist from 14 petence at their assigned duties. It is closer to reality is totally different,” pages to three. a common critique. This belief—ac- he said. “Do I wake up and feel like, That’s a solid example, but Wright cording to anecdotal evidence—per- ‘Oh man, we’re really close?’ Not now. admits the process for similar reduc- sists despite top-level support for the Not yet.” tions is “still very much a work in “80/20” philosophy. For now, his method in reducing progress.” Additional duties assigned He asserted that “80 to 85 percent of excessive requirements on airmen force-wide are being looked at to de- what you’ll be evaluated on for promo- is incremental. There will be bigger termine whether they only apply to tion or various opportunities” should moves later, but in the meantime, certain communities. Commanders be job performance, but he knows the smaller steps can make a difference are getting more flexibility to decide message needs constant repetition. right away. what duties are actully necessary for Pointing at the specific guidance given Wright’s “approach to refocusing their airmen and are being allowed to to the members of promotion boards, airmen on their core duties isn’t one cut accordingly. Wright said, “There is no ‘additional large initiative,” he said, “but rather The drawback is that the reductions duties, off-duty education, volunteer’ small things that add up over time.” aren’t universal, and some duties taken formula. It’s actually the exact oppo- Shortening the evaluation form is an off the shoulders of individuals are be- site.” However, he pointed out, having example. So are checklists. ing transferred to commander support additional factors still account for 15 The predeployment checklist—a staffs, which are being reestablished to 20 percent of a promotion evalua- mission-specific suite of training and gradually, as part of Goldfein’s refocus tion is not straightforward enough for requirements—for airmen deploying on the squadron. However, “manning some airmen. from the 1st Special Operations Wing hasn’t yet fully caught up with the in- His specific advice? Establish career

at Hurlburt Field, Fla., was recently tent,” and so some airmen will bear a end-goals, Wright says firmly, and ScottPhoto: Ash/USAF

 APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM She told Air Force Magazine, “I think he’s the worst at texting his office.” Wright will “get a thought and shoot it off,” and his staff has no choice but to react. “They can’t relax.” In his defense, she said, his sched- ule leaves him little time to catch up. When he does, and ideas pop up, he wants to be sure he gets them to the staff. Such ideas may come when he works—after work—from his office at home or when he grabs his laptop and sits next to her in the living room, “keeping company.” It’s a hybrid of family and work time many Amer- icans—in the military or not—can relate to. Or he may work late into the night, never having been a “big sleep- Wright works out with airmen at Hurlburt Field, Fla. Daily fitness, meditation, and er,” he says, while she sleeps and the reading are important to USAF’s top enlisted airman. television drones with the day’s news or a Lakers game. choose volunteerism and personal “He goes and goes and goes until growth that makes you a more valuable THE “” PHILOSOPHY he’s exhausted,” said Tonya. “He stays airman. Yes, off-duty accomplishments up late. I wish he would get more Wright said he tries to hold himself are important for a career, but they sleep,” noting that one of the Wright’s to the same balance he touts for should also be relevant. resolutions for 2018 is to do just that. airmen: the “2-10-5-7” philosophy he For noncommissioned officers, he “I worry he’s going to crash,” she said. swiped from USAF’s Vice Chief of recommends getting involved with Wright says he does what he rec- Sta›, Gen. Stephen W. Wilson. on-base and local community organi- ommends all airmen with spouses do: The numbers translate to: zations to raise money, provide schol- Be present. at involves deliberately arships, or coordinate volunteer work. hours in the morning to get making time for the two of them, for For example, airmen can get involved prepared for the day—fit- example by exploring the D.C. area’s in setting up USAF’s annual awards ness, meditation, reading restaurants and cultural oerings. programs, he said, noting those pre- hours of work Wright tries to nd time for himself sented at AFA’s annual Air, Space &  during his daily commute, listening Cyber Conference. to music or podcasts. As out-of-the- Wright and other senior leaders are hours for the family, away workplace personal development is studying the “forced distribution” sys-  from work something Wright encourages in other tem of ranking one’s subordinates rel- airmen, he’s trying to “walk the walk” hours to sleep ative to each other. This acknowledges  himself. that not everyone can be “outstanding” e Air Force is looking at giving but compels supervisors to put some- airmen credit for what’s called “devel- one at the bottom—thus damaging opmental special experience,” which their advancement potential. ed should do their best to become will take note of places they’ve been and It’s a promotion system hailed by “well-balanced,” and that balance experiences they’ve had that may not some—Wright’s predecessor, CMSAF should include time out of uniform. be obviously job related. Biographies, James A. Cody was a fan. Others, such Wright said he tries to hold himself to Wright said, can be misleading and may as the Deloitte Corporation, said in the the same balance he touts for airmen: not tell the whole story about what an Wall Street Journal in 2014 this sort of the “2-10-5-7” philosophy he swiped airman can do. personnel system “crushed morale, from USAF’s Vice Chief of Sta, Gen. “You can make many false assump- sti ed innovation, and led to unscru- Stephen W. Wilson. tions based on—well, my bio.” pulous competition” among workers. e numbers translate to: two hours “ere is always room for improve- in the morning to get prepared for A BIO DOESN’T TELL THE STORY ment in any process,” Wright said, ex- the day—tness, meditation, reading. Wright was a server at a barbecue plaining that forced distribution was to en, 10 hours of work. Five hours for joint in Columbus, Ga., before enlisting. be scrutinized over a four-day review the family, away from work, and seven “I lacked guidance, direction, dis- of enlisted evaluation in January. Data hours to sleep. cipline, character,” he said. “I had a collected over the past three years of “I can somewhat get there,” Wright problem with authority, I enjoyed par- promotion cycles will be examined to said. “e part I struggle the most with tying and drinking like other 18- and see what—if any—adjustments need to is the ve hours of ‘unplugged’ and the 19-year-olds. I had trouble getting to be made. e review should give Wright seven hours of sleep.” work on time.” He was not a model a “more rm grasp” on the issue. He admits that his wife, retired MSgt. recruit, Wright said. As these measures advance, Wright Tonya Wright, would “wholeheartedly Once in the Air Force, he worked at said airmen who want to be promot- call BS on both of them.” a dental clinic at Pope AFB, N.C., and

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM 

0418_Grudo_CMSAF_REV29.indd 29 4/20/18 10:21 AM Wright (r) speaks with A1C Jeremy Daniels, an aerospace propulsion journeyman, at Misawa AB, Japan, during his Pacific Air Forces immersion tour last summer. his approach didn’t markedly improve yet again for work, Winbush, then a one is lucky enough to have a Winbush, until a personal tragedy began a series technical sergeant, pulled him in and and not everyone like Winbush would of events that changed his outlook. informed him that their relationship have the patience to stay invested in a Deployed during the Gulf War, Wright would end if the young airman didn’t troubled airman. got a call in March 1991 from the Red pull himself together and get his life Wright said he believes rmly that Cross informing him that his father had in order. To Wright, the relationship airmen should be allowed to make mis- su ered a stroke. He had a strained re- was extremely important, and he saw takes—not crimes—and recover from lationship with his father and shrugged Winbush as a father gure. them. The more senior the airman, the news o . Hours later, though, anoth- Winbush dropped an application for though, the less patience USAF should er call came: e previous message had the base Honor Guard in front of Wright have. been a mistake, it wasn’t his father but with the implied ultimatum that he step “Tolerance for mistakes narrows as his mother that had sustained the stroke. up or lose their friendship. rank grows. Senior NCOs should not Wright dropped everything. He ob- Wright applied and was accepted. make airman mistakes. … Correcting tained leave and rushed home, calling “e funerals were really what turned and learning from mistakes is a measure his sister at every stop to update his my life around,” he said. e Honor of character,” said Wright. progress, as email was in its infancy and Guard march in funerals, bear ries or With mentors in short supply, Wright social media did not yet exist. the ag, and perform rituals like folding says it falls on supervisors to take that “I made it all the way back to my last the casket ag. During one funeral, it special interest. stop before getting home to Georgia,” was Wright’s task to present the ag to He advises them to “First, listen with at Dover AFB, Del., Wright recalled. the deceased’s spouse. both ears and a shut mouth. If you create Calling from Dover, his sister informed “I looked this lady in the eye—which I a culture of respect and trust where your him that he was too late—his mother never did—and she cried, of course, the airmen can own up to a mistake, you had died. grieving widow. And I cried. And that are on the right path.” e next step is Wright became “very, very angry,” very second, I thought, ‘Hey man, you “you need to help them correct it and he said. gotta get your life together. What you’re learn from it—without taking them out “I drank more. … I was having such doing has meaning and you gotta do it at the knees.” a hard time dealing with my mother’s seriously.’” Wright still regards Winbush as a passing, I was showing up late to work— From then on, it was classes, degrees, mentor, and Winbush said Wright is like, really late, two to three hours,” he awards, and promotions. like family to his own children. He said noted. He credits Winbush. Without him, “I the Chief’s greatest aw is getting too Wright had a mentor, retired MSgt. Jo- would have been out of the military,” concerned over some things. seph Winbush, who’d earlier taken him Wright insisted. Not only did Wright turn “He has a tendency to grab things and under his wing. He was having trouble things around, he earned a Bronze Star, not let go,” Winbush said. And while “de- justifying putting even more e ort into four Meritorious Service Medals, and is termination is good,” Wright’s lifelong an airman who was “very raw,” Winbush now the highest ranking enlisted airman teacher concluded, the most important said in an interview. in the United States Air Force. goal in an airman’s—or in anyone’s—life

When Wright showed up hours late Wright acknowledges that not every- is “nding the balance.” ScottPhoto: Ash/USAF; A1C Joseph Pick

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 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER  ★ WWW.AIRFORCEMAG.COM 02.09.2018

An F-35 on the flight line at Yokota AB, Japan, during Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to the Asia Pacific region. The F-35 is part of PACOM’s Theater Security Package program. Photo: Osakabe/USAF Yasuo Photo:

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER  ★ WWW.AIRFORCEMAG.COM RED AIR FOR HIRE THE AIR FORCE NEEDS EVERY FIGHTER IT CAN SPARE FOR REALWORLD MISSIONS. ARE PRIVATE AGGRESSORS THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE?

By Amy McCullough, News Editor temporarily ll the gap left by the loss the Arizona Air National Guard’s 162nd of the 65th’s F-15s, but this wasn’t a Fighter Wing, which also participated udget cuts in recent sustainable long-term approach: e in the exercise. years have compelled ghters were needed for real-world After Northern Lightning, the Air the Air Force to shrink missions elsewhere. Force began to think industry might be its aggressor air ca- In June 2015, USAF tried something able to help it solve its Red Air problem. pability, the in-house new. Four Air National Guard F-16 units Air Combat Command asked Draken to adversaries who serve squared o against Douglas A-4K Sky- provide similar training for the USAF Bas aerial sparring partners for front- hawk “aggressors for hire” and realistic Weapons School at Nellis. line aircrews. After the 65th Aggressor surface-to-air threats during the large- “It was only supposed to be a couple Squadron (AGRS)—which ew F-15s— force employment exercise Northern of weeks, but we never left,” said John shut down in 2014, only the 64th AGRS Lightning at Volk Field, Wis. Baum, Draken’s vice president of stra- at Nellis AFB, Nev., and the 18th AGRS e Skyhawks, provided by Draken tegic projects and security. at Eielson AFB, Alaska—each ying International, provided “top-notch” By September 2015, Draken was of- F-16s—were left. training and were “ve times” cheaper cially awarded a contract to provide Within months, the service was forced to y than organic assets, said Lt. Col. adversary support to augment the Air to pull aircraft from operational units to Richard Wigle, a pilot at the time with Force’s existing F-16 eet at Nellis. eir

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM Aggressor F-15s and an F-16 head to the fight during Red Flag 07-3 at Nellis AFB, Nev., in August 2007. The 65th Aggressor Squadron was shut down in 2014, leaving only the 64th and 18th AGRS to perform aggressor missions. They are supplemented with civilian contractor aircraft. RED AIR FOR HIRE

contract was recently extended another A pilot carries a flight year. bag with a distinctive In the period since the original con- aggressor patch during tract award, Draken has virtually taken Red Flag 17-4. over the role of the now-inactivated 65th AGRS, said Baum. “Our role is to augment the 64th [AGRS] in capability and capacity to support primarily the Weapons School [and] Red Flag,” he said, though the company also supports the 422nd Training and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis. It has also supported Air Educa- tion and Training Command by mock dog ghting with F-35s from Luke AFB, Ariz., in the airspace between the two

bases. Photos: MSgt. Kevin Kevin SrA. Gruenwald; Tanenbaum

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM Top Aces’ Dornier Alpha aircraft have been modified to meet the aggressor role.

“We’re essentially like … having two squadrons on base,” Baum said. “We operate like any other ghter squadron, … we have hangar space and operate out of the 64th Aggressor Squadron as a combined unit.” Even with Draken’s support, USAF still can’t meet all of its requirements for adversary air, said Lt. Col. Zach Manning, 64th AGRS commander. “During Red Flag, oftentimes blue units will augment us and will y on the red side for some missions. at’s less than ideal, and there is still a need for additional capacity,” said Manning, who arrived at Nellis shortly after the 65th shut down. “We haven’t slowed down at all because Draken is here.” e average 64th aggressor pilot ies Capt. David Hickle, an 18th Aggressor Squadron pilot, reviews an F-16 two to three times a week. “e schedule maintenance log at Eielson AFB, Alaska. can be fairly harrowing on personnel. In general we’ll have a day mission ward with plans to contract out up e contract—known as Nellis ADAIR and then have a night mission,” said to an additional 5,600 ying hours of II—will be worth a maximum of $280 Manning. realistic advanced adversary air at Nel- million for one base year, with four For night missions, pilots may show lis. Industry leaders said the service is option years, according to documents up to work at 4 p.m. but won’t nish leaning toward a single provider, though posted on a federal website. It is part debrie ng until 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. “Some it is open to multiple contract awards. of the service’s overall eort to free up of the challenges I see as a commander Ideally, Nellis would have the winning aircraft and blue-suiters for operational involve making sure I give my people provider or providers ying on Oct. 1, missions while meeting the growing appropriate time o,” he noted. so there is no gap in capability from demand for Red Air. when Draken’s current contract ends In 2019, the service plans to award AN INSATIABLE DEMAND on Sept. 30 and when the follow-on multiple contracts—known as the CAF So now the Air Force is moving for- contract begins. ADAIR—totaling nearly 37,000 hours

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM Draken was originally awarded a contract to provide adversary support in 2015; the contract expires Sept. 30, 2018. of Red Air at 11 bases, including Sey- mour Johnson AFB, N.C.; JB Pearl Har- bor-Hickam, Hawaii; Holloman AFB, N.M.; Eglin AFB, Fla.; JB Langley-Eustis, Va.; Tyndall AFB, Fla.; Kingsley Field, Ore.; Luke AFB, Ariz.; Hill AFB, Utah; and Tucson Arpt., Ariz., according to industry o cials briefed on the plan. Over the past few years, industry has been aggressively building up its eets of potential adversary aircraft in antic- ipation of the contract. Once fully im- plemented, USAF will have the world’s largest contracted adversary air force. In December, Draken announced it had bought 12 South African Atlas-made Cheetah supersonic ghters (converted ex-French Mirage IIIs), bringing its to- F-16 maintainers replace the landing gear on an Aggressor F-16 at Nellis in 2015. tal eet to 110 jets. e rest of its eet comprised nine Aermacchi MB-339s, 27 the Air National Guard had contracted it time, but physically the airplanes are MiG-21s, 21 Aero Vodochody L-159s, 22 to provide adversary air support at Volk less complex. … We have third genera- Dassault Mirage F1s, 13 A-4s, ve Aero Field, Wis.; Alpena, Mich.; Gulfport, La.; tion airplane reliability but all our jets L-39s, and one Lockheed T-33. Savannah, Ga.; Klamath Falls, Ore.; and have been upgraded from an avionics e Cheetahs—nine C-model sin- Oahu, Hawaii, in addition to the roughly standpoint to where they have fourth gle-seat and three D-model two-seat- 4,300 annual hours it currently ies at gen capability.” ers—can y at speeds exceeding Mach Nellis. Textron Airborne Solutions an- 2 and have an average of 500 hours on If Draken provided “this bit of Red Air, nounced in September it had acquired each airframe, making them consider- I did the math, you could generate three 63 Dassault Mirage F1 aircraft previ- ably younger than many of the USAF, more full classes and create another 30 ously owned by the French air force, Marine Corps, or Navy aircraft they F-16 pilots a year,” Baum said. “You can making it the “world’s largest private could potentially challenge in a Red get ve Draken sorties for the cost of supersonic air force,” said Jerey Parker, Air capacity. one USAF F-16 sortie. It’s because we chief executive o cer of the Airborne

A month earlier, Draken announced have airplanes that have been tried over Tactical Advantage Company. Textron SSgt. Aces; Siuta Intl.; Ika SSgt. Draken Jerilyn Quintanilla; Photos: Top

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM A Jordanian F-5E is unloaded from a transport. TacAir has purchased more than 20 such Jordanian aircraft, intending to support US Navy and USAF adversary contracts.

bought ATAC last year in anticipation tition, company ocials say they’re not “ey are essentially our airplanes. We of a rapidly growing contracted Red going after quantity but quality. TacAir have money down on them, and we can Air market. is hoping to capitalize on its experi- bring them into the country as soon as ATAC has own nearly 50,000 hours enced cadre of pilots and maintainers— we get a contract.” of contracted adversary air since the as well as its ghter ethos. e company Philman said the aircraft are being 1990s—mostly for the US Navy—and employs 52 weapons school graduates maintained and though they are not is hoping that experience and its most and 17 former weapons school instruc- currently ying, they are “functional” recent procurement will give it an ad- tors, including some with more than and are considered in “ yaway condi- vantage in USAF’s competition. 2,000 hours in the F-5. e fact that the tion.” He said he could not release the “Industry is going to be working really F-5 is a US-built aircraft still own by the name of the country where the aircraft hard to address the full requirement for US Navy and Marine Corps is a bonus, currently reside, but noted that all have the Air Force,” Parker said in an inter- ocials say. either undergone the Falcon Star up- view last fall. “We could go out and get the sexiest grade, or the kit has been purchased. “It’s a massive requirement, and it thing we could nd” built by a foreign e Falcon Star upgrade extends the requires a whole lot of airplanes,” he manufacturer, said Scott Gallagher, Tac- service life of the jets to 10,800 hours, said. “I think the calculations we ran Air chief revenue ocer, but if you and Philman said they have about 3,400 [concluded]…140 to 150 aircraft will be “have to go to an international service hours of commercial service left before required to satisfy the Air Force require- provider to maintain [the eet] that’s they reach that point. at translates to ment. And aircraft are a limiting factor going to be a big problem” over time, between 10 and 15 years of commercial when standing up and responding to he asserted. viability. these requirements because there is “That’s why we’re in St. Augus- “It’s American built and will be ying a nite number of them available and tine [Fla.] shoulder-to-shoulder with around the world for decades to come, supportable in the world.” Northrop Grumman,” Gallagher said. so it’s very sustainable from a logistics ough the third generation Mirage “When we have diculties we can go standpoint,” he said. “We also have a eet was built in the 1980s, Parker said right to the [original equipment man- lot of maintainers and aviators that the aircraft have “a lot of life left and are ufacturer] and say, ‘We need help.’ ” have very high experience in the F-16, highly upgradable, which is key.” Top Aces says it’s the only company so it’s a way to recapture the literally Tactical Air Support, Inc. (TacAir) is with a true fourth generation capability. millions of dollars the Air Force or Navy also looking to break into the emerging e company, a subsidiary of Discovery spends on pilots and maintainers … market. It announced the acquisition of Air Defense, has a “guaranteed purchase with our eet.” 21 ex-Jordanian Northrop F-5s last year, agreement for 29 early block F-16s.” A Most of the companies say they plan bringing its total eet to 26. and B models sold to a partner country to upgrade their aircraft to specically ough the company’s eet is much through a foreign military sale, said Da- meet USAF requirements, which were smaller than those own by its compe- vid L. Philman, Top Aces vice president. released for Nellis phase two in January.

 APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM spokeswoman for the 99th Air Base Wing at Nellis. “ us, there may be dif- ferences in the requirements in Nellis ADAIR II and CAF ADAIR,” though she said “the government is considering feedback received from industry to more closely align” the requirements for both contracts.

IT’S NOT A PERFECT WORLD “In a perfect world we’d have enough resources to maintain the aggressor squadrons we used to have and bring [this training] in house,” Air Combat Command boss Gen. James M. “Mike” Holmes told reporters in September. However, “in the world we’re living in now, I don’t want to have to trade an actual ghter squadron for an aggres- sor squadron because of limits on my budget. e next best thing is to see if An aggressor F-16 we can contract some portion of that during a Red Flag Red Air out. … Why spend valuable exercise. Organic training sorties being a training aid for aggressors, combined somebody else if we can bring on con- with contract support, tract Red Air and not only get dedicated have allowed the US people to train against but also reduce to keep up its Red Air the amount of time for our guys?” added despite retiring its Holmes. adversary F-15s. Since 2015, Draken has successfully done just that. On a typical day, USAF and Draken will y side-by-side, with one of the 64th aggressors serving as the WHAT USAF WANTS aircraft, pilots, aircraft maintenance, lead air-to-air commander. However, e Air Force has said it’s purposely required support equipment, and qual- service leaders say there are still some avoiding specifying a specic platform ity assurance/quality control, while things industry simply can’t provide. for the job, but ideally it wants an air- the Air Force will provide parking and For example, USAF works closely craft capable of ying at Mach 1.5, with hangar space. with the Intelligence Community to a service ceiling of 35,000 feet, and a 45 e Air Force hasn’t publically re- accurately replicate tactics used by to 60 minute ght endurance. Aircraft leased the requirements for the larg- foreign air forces. Manning said when must be equipped with fire-control er CAF ADAIR contract, but industry he showed up at Nellis from his previ- radar capable of detecting, tracking, sources said the draft requirements ous assignment at Kunsan AB, South and simulating “ordnance employment they’ve seen are about 50 pages long, Korea, he was a qualied F-16 pilot, against an opposing aircraft,” and have a signicant departure from those re- yet when he started aggressor training the ability to “replicate semi-active mis- leased by Nellis. he was “blown away, because I was not siles out to a range of 20 [nautical miles] During a January industry day at prepared for the level of expertise that and active missiles out to a range of 45 Nellis, both prime and subcontractors was needed … in this assignment.” [nautical miles],” according to require- urged the service to merge the require- He said being an aggressor has “made ments document posted online. Aircraft ments so they can upgrade their eet me a better pilot,” and that is some- also must be congured to carry training in a more ecient and cost-eect way, thing he will take with him to his next and electronic attack pods provided by rather than piecemealing the work to assignment. the government. meet varying contracts. Capt. Justin Bellamy, an aggressor Within a month of contract award, the “By nature, the Nellis ADAIR II and pilot with the 64th AGRS, said he and service wants the contractor to be able CAF ADAIR requirements are dier- his fellow USAF pilots are the subject to y as many as 22 sorties a day, with ent—one looks to provide capabilities matter experts on how US adversaries each sortie averaging about 90 minutes. at one base for a single customer as operate in the air. “Tactical proles may include, be- early as fall of 2018 and another intends “We’re focused on teaching about yond-visual-range engagements, oper- to provide various levels of capabil- our adversaries and then replicating ational test support, dissimilar air com- ities at multiple bases with services what they do,” he said. “Replication is bat maneuvers, oensive and defensive starting a few years in the future. Both only one portion of what we do. us far, within-visual-range maneuvers, multi- acquisitions are attempting to balance contract Red Air has only been focused ship tactics, and merges and ight,” the [Air Force’s] needs and time lines on the replication. We don’t really refer according to the document. with current and future industry ca- to contract Red Air as an aggressor

Contractors will provide their own pabilities,” said 2nd Lt. Marie Ortiz, a because they don’t have that mission,” Air Support, USAF Photos: Tactical

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM Textron’s MK-58 Hawker Hunter, F-21 Kfir, and L-39 Albatross cruise over the Pacific.

meaning the additional duties of teach- Draken bought ing adversary tactics, techniques, and 12 South African procedures. air force Cheetah For these reasons, Holmes calls con- aircraft. The tract Red Air a “temporary measure,” but Mirage variants he allowed that, given projected bud- are young, with gets, “temporary” could mean several an average of 500 years. e Air Force’s preference is still flight hours per to have Red Air as an organic mission, airframe and can he said—but industry is hoping to show fly Mach 2. the Air Force that it doesn’t have to be. “All the folks in this initial tranche who are getting into this market need to provide quality service, because any one of us who stumbles will reect on the rest of the market,” said TacAir’s Gallagher. He readily acknowledged of options, but the free market is a e F-35 pilots also aren’t allowed that USAF will look for an alternative if self-cleaning oven … there will be more to turn on all their fifth-generation the service doesn’t believe it’s getting choices,” said Gallagher. “ e govern- sensors, keeping them from ying the what it needs from industry. ment will be well served by that compe- aircraft the way it was intended and the ough the US Navy has contracted tition. We’ve literally built our company way they would ght a real battle. some of its adversary air for years, the with that value proposition in mind.” “We’re not trying to come in and say Air Force is leading the push in this Draken’s Baum, a former Viper pi- the Air Force shouldn’t do any Red Air. emerging market, which Gallagher said lot, said it just makes sense to contract at’s not our message at all,” he said. he expects to be “fairly mature” in about out at least a portion of USAF’s Red But, if USAF is going to “burn up hours” ve years. Air requirements. He noted the Air for adversary air, the service should “do “Between now and then we’ll learn Force “literally has to bolt panels on it on our jets. ey’re never going to a lot, and government will learn a lot” the outside of the F-35 to let it be seen war. Don’t do it on the brand new jets about potential versus performance. by radar” if the F-35 is to play the role [the US] just spent billions of dollars …

“Right now there really aren’t a lot of “bad guy.” procuring.” Solutions; Airborne Intl. Draken Textron via Carlson Photos: Ted

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01_29646_001_BIB.indd 1 2/13/18 1:33 PM SENIOR(As of Feb. 16, 2018) LEADERSHIP Compiled by ChequitaDOD Wood, Assistant Managing Editor

Chief Management General Counsel Dir., Cost Assessment & O icer William S. Castle Program Evaluation John H. Gibson II (ptdo) Robert Daigle Secretary of Defense Deputy Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis Patrick M. Shanahan

Inspector General Dir., Operational Chief Information O icer ASD, Legislative ATSD, Public A airs Glenn A. Fine Test & Evaluation Essye B. Miller A airs Dana W. White (ptdo) Robert F. Behler (acting) Robert R. Hood

Dir., Net Assessment Executive Secretary Senior Intelligence Dir., Strategic Capabili- Dir., Administration James H. Baker Capt. Hallock N. Oversight O icial ties O ice Michael L. Rhodes Mohler Jr. Michael T. Mahar William Roper (ptdo)

 APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM SENIOR LEADERSHIP

Acquisition, Technology, & Logistics

ASD, Acquisition Dir., Small Business Programs ASD, Research & Technology Kevin Fahey James Galvin (acting) Mary Miller (ptdo) ASD, Sustainment Dir., Special Programs ASD, Strategic Intelligence Vacant Maj. Gen. John P. Horner Analysis Cell ASD, Nuclear, Chemical, & Dir., International Cooperation Vacant Biological Weapons Keith B. Webster ASD, Advanced Capabilities Arthur T. Hopkins (acting) Vacant Dir., Joint Rapid Acquisition Dir., Defense Science Board Cell Karen D. H. Saunders Chris C. O’Donnell (acting) USD, Acquisition USD, Research & & Sustainment Engineering Ellen M. Lord Michael D. Griin

Note: As of Feb. 1, the Pentagon’s Acquisition system oicially split into two. There will be a 120-day working period within which the major changes will take place, and it will be two years before reorganization is complete.

Comptroller

Deputy Comptroller, Program/ Assistant Deputy Chief Finan- Budget cial Oicer Vacant Alaleh Jenkins Deputy Chief Financial Oicer Dir., Human Capital & Resource Mark E. Easton Management Glenda H. Scheiner

USD, Comptroller & PDUSD, Comptroller Chief Financial Oicer Elaine A. McCusker David L. Norquist

Intelligence

DDI, Intelligence & Security DDI, Technical Collection & DDI, Warfighter Support Garry P. Reid Special Programs Lt. Gen. John N. T. Shanahan, DDI, Intelligence Strategy, Neill T. Tipton (acting) USAF Programs, & Resources Robert Hegstrom

USD, Intelligence PDUSD, Intelligence Joseph D. Kernan Kari A. Bingen

Key ASD Assistant Secretary of Defense DDI Director for Defense Intelligence PDUSD Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense PTDO Performing the Duties of USD Undersecretary of Defense

An aerial view of the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. Photo: SrA. Perry Aston Perry SrA. Photo:

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM  Personnel & Readiness Policy

ASD, Health Aairs ASD, Asian & Pacific Security Aairs Thomas McCa‡ery (acting) Randall G. Schriver ASD, Readiness ASD, International Security Aairs Veronica B. Daigle Robert S. Karem ASD, Homeland Defense & Global ASD, Manpower & Reserve Aairs Security Stephanie Barna (ptdo) Kenneth P. Rapuano Dir., Defense Human Resources Activity ASD, Special Operations/Low-Intensity William H. Booth USD, Personnel USD, Policy PDUSD, Policy Conflict & Readiness John C. Rood David J. Trachten- Owen West Robert L. Wilkie berg ASD, Strategy, Plans, & Capabilities Thomas H. Harvey III (ptdo)

Military Departments

Secretary of the Army Secretary of the Navy Secretary of the Air Force Mark T. Esper Richard V. Spencer Heather A. Wilson

Undersecretary Undersecretary Undersecretary Ryan D. McCarthy Thomas B. Modly Mathew P. Donovan

Defense Agencies

Defense Advanced Research Defense Finance & Accounting Defense Logistics Agency Missile Defense Agency Projects Agency Service Lt. Gen. Darrell K. Williams, USA Lt. Gen Samuel A. Greaves, USAF Steven H. Walker Teresa McKay Defense POW/MIA Accounting National Geospatial-Intelligence Defense Commissary Agency Defense Health Agency Agency Agency Robert J. Bianchi Vice Adm. Raquel C. Bono Kelly K. McKeague Robert Cardillo Defense Contract Audit Agency Defense Information Systems Defense Security Cooperation National Reconnaissance Oice Anita F. Bales Agency Agency Betty J. Sapp Defense Contract Management Lt. Gen. Alan R. Lynn, USA Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper National Security Agency/Central Agency Defense Intelligence Agency Defense Security Service Security Service Vice Adm. David H. Lewis Lt. Gen. Robert P. Ashley Jr., USA Daniel E. Payne Adm. Michael S. Rogers Defense Legal Services Agency Defense Threat Reduction Agency Pentagon Force Protection Agency William S. Castle Vayl S. Oxford Jonathan H. Co‡er

The National Pentagon 9/11 Memorial.

—— APRIL / MAY “”•– ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM The Joint Sta O ice of the Joint Chiefs of Sta Dir., Joint Sta Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., USA J-1 Manpower & Personnel Brig. Gen. Kyle J. Kremer, USAF J-2 Intelligence Maj. Gen. Michael S. Groen, USMC J-3 Operations Lt. Gen. John L. Dolan, USAF Army Chief of Sta Chief of Naval Operations J-4 Logistics Gen. Mark A. Milley Adm. John M. Richardson Lt. Gen. Stephen R. Lyons, USA Chairman of the JCS Vice Chairman of the JCS J-5 Strategic Plans & Policy Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., Gen. Paul J. Selva, USAF Lt. Gen. Richard D. Clark., USA USMC J-6 Command, Control, Communi- cations, & Computers/Cyber Assistant to the Chairman of the JCS Vice Adm. Marshall B. Lytle III Vice Adm. Christopher W. Grady (nominated 1/12/18) J-7 Joint Force Development Vice Adm. Kevin D. Scott J-8 Force Structure, Resources, & Assessment Lt. Gen. Anthony R. Ierardi, USA

Air Force Chief of Sta Commandant of the Chief of National Guard Bureau Gen. David L. Goldfein Marine Corps Gen. Joseph L. Lengyel, USAF Gen. Robert B. Neller Combatant Commanders, Unified Commands

US Africa Command US Central Command US European Command US Northern Command US Pacific Command Gen. Thomas D. Waldenhauser, Gen. Joseph L. Votel, Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, Gen. Lori J. Robinson, Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr. USA USA USA USAF

The National Pentagon 9/11 Memorial.

US Southern Command US Special Operations US Strategic Command US Transportation Command Adm. Kurt W. Tidd Command Gen. John E. Hyten, USAF Gen. Darren W. McDew, USAF Gen. Raymond A. Thomas III, USA

Top Subunified Commands

US Cyber Command US Forces-Afghanistan US Forces-Korea (Reports to STRATCOM) (Reports to CENTCOM) (Reports to PACOM) Adm. Michael S. Rogers Gen. John W. Nicholson Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, Jr., USA USA Photo: PO2 Patrick Kelley/USCG PO2Photo: Patrick APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM  THE AIR FORCE MAKES MILITARY SPACE LOOK EASY. IT IS NOT. By Gideon Grudo, Digital Platforms Editor

he Air Force’s space launch enterprise has done the seemingly impossible across the last 20 years or so: made rocket science look easy. United Launch Alliance, the joint rocket venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, logged its 125th successful space launch in late January, when it lofted the fourth Space- Based Infrared System (SBIRS) missile warn- ing satellite into geosynchronous orbit. Not all 125 launches Twere national security launches, and other companies, notably SpaceX, also have successfully orbited satellites and other payloads. But the number of failures—once the stuff of constant headlines—has dwindled while the box score of successes continues to grow. The string of effective launches belies the fact that get- ting to orbit is a tough business, and one that continues to evolve. The latest SBIRS deployment came at a time when USAF’s ability to monitor the world for strategic missile launches was critical. North Korea’s string of long-range missile tests suggested it could soon make good on threats to attack the US directly. “We have a constellation of satellites that detects the IR [infrared] signature of a launch. And they can tell us where the launch is coming from and characterize what kind of rocket it is, based on the launch,” said USAF Gen. Paul J. Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, when describing SBIRS to reporters on Jan. 30. The Jan. 19 SBIRS launch was made on a ULA Atlas V rocket. Three previous SBIRS satellites were launched on ULA rockets in 2011, 2012, and 2017. ULA has had a majority of the Air Force’s space launch business in recent years. The Challenger Space Shuttle di-

A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket boosts a National Reconnaissance Oice satellite payload into orbit in 2010.

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM SCIENCE ROCKET ROCKET APRIL /MAY 2018 H AIRFORCEMAG.COM Fla., onJan. 19. Canaveral AFS, Capefrom Atlas Vrocket into an by space satellite is lofted Infrared System Space Based The GEO-4 47

Photos: Patrick Corkery/ULA; ULA The SBIRS An NRO GEO-4 satellite payload awaits stands ready for mounting on encapsulation a booster at at Cape Vandenberg Canaveral AFS, AFB, Calif., in Fla. 2010.

saster in 1986 compelled the service to develop alternative ways to orbit. The “Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle” program led to the modern day Lockheed Martin Atlas and Boeing Delta rockets. At first they competed with one another, but as the need for launch services dipped in the early 2000s, the companies joined forces to create ULA in 2006. Orbital ATK (formerly Orbital Sciences, and now a part of Northrop Grumman), founded in 1982, also lofts lighter payloads to low orbits. Despite the downturn in space, Amazon founder Jeff A SpaceX Falcon 9 Bezos started up Blue Origin in 2000, with the idea of offer- reusable booster rocket ing lower cost, reliable launch services. Fellow entrepeneur lands after the launch of Elon Musk, who founded PayPal and later Tesla, launched a classified satellite in SpaceX in 2002, with similar goals. Today Blue Origin offers early January. the Shepard and Glenn rockets, while SpaceX has had a string of successes with the Falcon 9 and, in February, the Falcon Heavy vehicle. SpaceX has demonstrated the ability to soft-land its booster rockets, which it then refurbishes for re-use, significantly reducing its costs. The Falcon Heavy inaugural launch on Feb. 6 carried one of Musk’s Tesla roadsters into space, where it was boosted into a solar orbit that will take it out to the asteroid belt. Musk was aiming for Mars. Musk has had a relationship with NASA as far back as 2008, but had to fight in court to win the right to compete for Air Force launch services work. SpaceX won that right in 2015 and began winning USAF launches in May 2017. Last September, Brig. Gen. Wayne R. Monteith, com- mander of the 45th Space Wing, commended SpaceX for injecting a culture of speed into the launch enterprise, which allowed USAF to launch more rockets last year than The ULA Atlas Russia or China. V rocket ready SpaceX “has forced us to become better at what we do,” to launch SBIRS Monteith said. “We are adopting commercial business GEO-4 into practices, we are becoming more efficient, more effective, space on Jan. 18. more affordable.” Monteith’s remarks came just a few weeks after SpaceX’s successful launch of the secretive Air Force X-37B. Built by Boeing and managed by the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office, the X-37B is a mini-spaceplane which conducts classified experimental activities in orbit. ULA handled the last X-37B launch in 2015. This was one of two national se- curity launches SpaceX had notched on its belt before 2018;

 APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM orbit. The spacecraft 674 spent 2014. days in landing at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., in is after made safe spaceplanes, reusable unmanned, two USAF’s of The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle-3, one APRIL /MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM 4 inorbit. the GEO- SBIRS put in January CanaveralCape an Atlas Vfrom This launch of

Photos: Jim Dowdall/Lockheed Martin; ULA (2,4,5); SpaceX; Boeing Technicians prepare for the encapsulation of SBIRS GEO-4 at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., on Jan. 9. the other was a National Reconnaissance Office payload. Things don’t always go well. Underscoring the hazards of getting to orbit, something went wrong after a Falcon 9 put a secret payload called Zuma—built by Northrop Grum- man—into space on Jan. 7. SpaceX insisted it had fulfilled its part of the job, while Northrop Grumman was silent. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center commander Lt. Gen. John Thompson said through a spokeswoman that the rocket was an “FAA-licensed, commercially procured launch service,” and that USAF had not identified “any in- formation that would change SpaceX’s Falcon 9 certification status” due to whatever happened to Zuma. There are other space launch startups in the wings, A cherry red Tesla readying rockets and spacecraft they hope will compete convertible with a for the next stage of military and civil space access. They, dummy driver dubbed too, may become an indispensible part of USAF’s quest to Starman is now in reach orbit reliably and inexpensively, even as the service space, launched Feb. becomes evermore dependent on space capabilities. 6 by SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket.

Here, the Tesla is prepared for launch into space.

 APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM Feb. 6. landing pads on ontheir Earth touch down to gentlyrocket Falcon Heavy thefrom SpaceX The boosters two APRIL /MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM 

Photos: Jim Dowdall/Lockheed Martin; SpaceX (2,3); ULA INTERCEPTING

An F-4 pilot takes a self-portrait with a Tu-95 Bear bomber over the North Atlantic in 1980.

52 APRIL / MAY 2018 H AIRFORCEMAG.COM THE BEAR INTERCEPTING DEFENSES AROUND THE PERIMETER OF NORTH AMERICA. OFNORTH DEFENSES THEPERIMETER AROUND THE TU BEAR IS STILL BEAR FLYING ANDTHE TU STILL AIR TESTING T of North airspace. American reconnaissance aircraft ontheperiphery engage long-range Soviet bombers and ghtersdian airdefense scrambled to andCana 1961and1991asUS between was playedritual out thousands oftimes imagesenduring oftheCold War. e intercepthe Bear is among the most In the beginning, thefighters were usually F-102s USAF orF-106s. Later were they F-4s and F-15s. - such potentially lethal proximity. ey Soviet combat forces comeregularly into buer zone. pictures. sides took Both tion until theSoviets lefttheairdefense would pull alongside close and y forma etc., are by names allcode used NATO.) was theTu-95 Bear. (Bear, Badger, Bison, intercepted thegreatest with frequency M-4 Bison. By far, however, theintruder was aTu-16 Badger, oronoccasion an theaircraftSometimes intercepted they In nootherCold War and setting didUS In atypical encounter, theinterceptors ee aeu t aod provocative avoid to careful were actions. APRIL /MAY  By John T. Correll ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM - 

Photo: MSgt. Richard Diaz In the 1980s, an F-106 from the Massachusetts Air National Guard intercepts a Tu-95 Bear bomber o the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada.

Most—but not all—of the challenges were in the far north, over the Bering Sea around Alaska or in the “GIUK gap,” the open areas between land masses of Greenland, Iceland, and the United Kingdom. Navy pilots intercepted Soviet intelligence-gathering aircraft that over- ew US carriers at sea, and Air Defense Command squadrons made intercepts as far south as Florida. In response to the increasing threat from Soviet bombers across the polar routes, the United States and Canada in 1958 formed the North American Air Defense Command, A DEW Line station near Point Lay, Alaska, in 1987. The line of radar stations with the mission of de- ran more than 3,000 miles. fending the continental United States, Canada, and Alaska against air attack. Separately, the Iceland Defense Force was organized under the auspices of NATO. It included USAF interceptors to respond to incursions Vladimir Putin, the challenges resumed polar region. of the Iceland Air Defense Interception in August 2007 and continue today.  e  ese facts of geography took on Zone. aircraft intercepted by US  ghters is still strategic significance as the Soviets  e  rst recorded intercept was Dec. the Tu-95 Bear, which has been in oper-  elded bombers with enough range 5, 1961. Two F-102s from the Alas- ation for more than 60 years in various to reach the continental United States, kan Air Command’s forward operating models and con gurations. beginning with the M-4 Bison in 1955 base at Galena intercepted two Soviet and the Tu-16 Badger in 1954.  e best bombers—Tu-16 Badgers rather than OVER THE TOP of them was the Tu-95 Bear, introduced Bears—o the northwest coast in the In 1946, the Army Air Forces stated in 1956. It had an unrefueled combat Bering Sea. a “polar concept,” which put air de- radius of more than 5,000 miles and The records are fuzzy about how fense priority on the “polar approaches, long-endurance turboprop engines that many intercepts took place, but it is namely the North Atlantic and Alaska.” gave it a top speed of 575 mph. reasonably clear that they numbered in In 1949, the Joint Chiefs of Sta declared US air defense expanded rapidly in the thousands. Intercepts following the that all nations capable of waging war response.  e Air Force developed the  rst one in 1961 continued regularly to on the United States lay north of the “Century series” of  ghter-interceptors. the end of the Cold War, then stopped 45th parallel—de ning, in e ect, the  e F-102 in 1956 was a stopgap solution for a while. Soviet Union as the threat—and that until the superb F-106 became opera- On orders from Russian President the shortest attack route was across the tional in 1959. Work began in 1957 on

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line Instances of visual contact between reported in 1961 that production of of radars that eventually stretched from US and Soviet aircraft date back to the Bisons and Bears had probably ended Alaska to Greenland. With the comput- early 1950s, but the serious incursions and that the Soviets were unlikely to erized Semi-Automatic Ground Envi- began in 1958 when radar detected develop any new bombers. ronment (SAGE) system, air defense Soviet bombers  ying in the vicinity o A follow-on USAF interceptor, the commanders could direct hundreds of the coast of Alaska. F-102 interceptors F-108, was canceled. (See “F-108 Ra- interceptors against hundreds of tar- were scrambled but could not catch the pier,” September 2014, p. 114.) In the gets from huge command- and-control intruders. Sixteen similar incidents oc- 1960s, more than half of the interceptor centers. curred before Alaskan Air Command’s squadrons were deactivated. Active Sovereign US airspace extends only  rst successful intercept in 1961. Duty units were concentrated around 14 miles from the coastline, but it was However, by the time of that intercept, the edge of the Arctic Circle while the obviously imprudent to allow intruders the air defense buildup had peaked. e Air National Guard,  ying F-102s and to get that close before they were chal- bomber threat was seen as disappearing F-101s rather than the more capable lenged. us “air defense identi cation or insigni cant in the context of the F-106, took over much of the Air De- zones” were established, reaching out more dangerous ICBM threat, which fense Command alert duty in the lower into international airspace for more had emerged in the late 1950s. 48 states. than 200 miles. Within those zones, air- e National Security Council in US planners had no inkling that the craft would be identi ed, tracked, and 1960 predicted “a gradual transition bomber incursions were not nearly monitored—and if need be, intercepted from a largely bomber threat to one over or that the Tu-95 Bear would still and escorted. mainly composed of ICBMs.” e CIA be going strong six decades later.

ALASKA AND ICELAND Over the top Intercept activity was mainly in the Typical Soviet Cold War bomber routes polar region, where distances between the Western and Eastern hemispheres are compressed. At the Bering Strait, the US and the USSR were separated by only 50 miles. Alaska was directly across the Bering Sea from forward “jump” air elds in the Soviet Far East. For bombers at Murmansk on the Bar- ents Sea, it was almost a straight shot along the rim of the Arctic Circle to Iceland. e organization for air de- fense, which had evolved in pieces over time, was awkward. Alaskan Air Command was not part of Air Defense Com- mand. It reported in- stead to US Alaskan Command. However, the commander of the uni ed Alaskan Command was also commander of the Alaskan NORAD re- gion, so it worked out. Almost 90 percent of the intercepts from Alaska were accom- plished by  ghters de- ployed to the Galena and King Salmon forward op- erating bases. According to the o cial tally, Alaska units  ew 306 successful intercept missions and intercepted a to- tal of 473 Soviet aircraft between December 1961 and the end of the Cold War in 1991. In 1963, two Soviet aircraft eluded

F-102s from King Salmon and pene- Archives; National Photos: TSgt. via Wetterman USAF Donald

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM A photo of the tail section of a Tu-95 Bear showing two crew members inside taken from a USAF F-4 scrambled for an intercept from Keflavik, Iceland. The USAF crew observed the Russian bombers over international waters in the North Atlantic. The USAF squadron at Keflavik intercepted more Soviet aircraft than any other unit. trated 30 miles into American airspace Canadians replaced it with the CF-101 Notable among these was a mari- over southwestern Alaska. In the en- Voodoo. ey upgraded again in 1984 time patrol aircraft for the Soviet navy, suing furor, Air Defense Command to the CF-18 Hornet. designated the Tu-142 although it was sent F-106s on a temporary basis, still called the Bear. e latest air force but Alaska soon got F-106s of its own THE MIGHTY BEAR variant is the Tu-95MS Bear H, which to replace the F-102s. Later upgrades e Tu-95 was the Tupolev Design carries up to 10 cruise missiles. were to the F-4E in 1970 and the F-15 Bureau’s masterpiece. To achieve the in 1982. range desired, it used powerful turbo- CAT AND MOUSE In 1974, two Alaskan F-4s intercepted prop engines instead of fuel-guzzling Tu-95 incursions were not actual at- an An-24 Coke transport in distress in turbojets. Each of the eight engines tempts to break through the defenses to severe headwinds and fog and without drove contrarotating propellers—two of attack the United States or Canada. ey enough fuel to get home. e Soviets them on each shaft, turning in opposite were cat-and-mouse-style intelligence landed on St. Lawrence Island and were directions. operations of a kind that both sides had sent safely on their way after a C-130 e result was a big airplane with conducted since the 1950s. from Elmendorf delivered them fuel. more than enough range for a round- e US and the USSR routinely ew Alaska was not the busiest air de- trip mission to the continental United on the edges of each other’s territory fense sector. e majority of Cold War States. It was only a little slower than a to collect electronic intelligence, help- intercepts by far—about 3,000 of them turbojet. ing to crack codes, discover command between 1962 and 1991—were mostly The Bear was notoriously noisy. and control procedures and prepara- around Iceland, and most were Tu-95 The blade tips of the large-diameter tions, and gather all sorts of valuable Bears ying out of Murmansk and from propellers, churning supersonically, information. It also enabled them to the Kola Peninsula. made so much racket that the listening test and time the response of the inter- Iceland had no armed forces of its devices on submerged submarines ceptors and determine the accuracy of own except for a coast guard. e Ice- could hear the Tu-95 flying overhead. the radars. ey did not get maximum land Defense Force was a subordinate The Bear also reflected a large image value from the mission unless the de- unied command of US European Com- on the radar return so its approach fenses were activated, so they had to mand. e interceptor component of was seldom a surprise, especially go close enough to induce the ghters Air Forces Iceland was the USAF 57th when the E-3 Airborne Warning and to scramble. Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Kea- Control System (AWACS) deployed to US overights of the USSR ended vik, which intercepted more Soviet air- Alaska and Iceland in the 1980s to aid in disaster in 1960 when the Soviets craft than any other unit. e squadron in detection and tracking. brought down a U-2 over Sverdlovsk began with F-89 ghters in 1954, then e Tu-95 remained the mainstay and captured the CIA pilot. After that, transitioned to F-102s in 1962, F-4s in of Soviet strategic aviation, even after the United States conducted its recon- 1973, and F-15s in 1985. introduction of the much faster Tu-22 naissance missions on the periphery, The Canadians initially operated Backre and the Mach 2 Tu-160 Black- using RB-47 “ferret” aircraft at rst and the CF-100 “Canuck” as their prima- jack. e Soviets reopened the Tu-95 later the RC-135. ry interceptor. Its cruising speed was production line in 1981 and brought out When in 1983 the Soviets shot down slightly less than that of the Bear, so the a series of new models and variations. Korean Airlines Flight 007—which had

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM An F-22 Raptor intercepts a Russian Tu-95MS bomber in November 2007. This was the first intercept for a Raptor.

wandered far o course and twice over- ducted regularly and on the strategic bombers were intercepted by F-15s ew Soviet territory—they thought it scale,” Putin said. “Our pilots have been off the Alaskan north slope. This time was an American RC-135, which had grounded for too long.” the Bears were not alone. They were been working in the vicinity a few hours e same day, Tu-95 Bears and Tu- accompanied by a pair of Su-35S previously. 160 Blackjacks, escorted by supporting Flankers, Russia’s best fighter aircraft. Bear incursions and intercepts airplanes, ew missions over the Atlan- In August 2017, Tu-95MS Bears and continued with increasing frequency tic, the Pacic, and the North Pole. e their Flanker escorts ew routes over through the 1980s. In 1985-1986 alone, ocial Russian term for such ights is the Pacic, the Sea of Japan, the Yellow the interceptor squadron at Keavik “combat patrol.” Sea, and the East China Sea, generat- conducted 340 intercepts. Typically, Flights have continued sporadically ing scrambles by the Japanese and the the Soviet aircraft were Tu-95s from ever since. e Canadian minister of South Koreans. Last year, F-15s, F-22s, Murmansk, discovered and reported defense said in 2014 that the Canadian and CF-18s began to practice and hone by Norwegian radar as they passed the air force was intercepting between 12 their identication and intercept pro- North Cape, then picked up and tracked and 18 Russian bombers a year o the cedures by ying against US B-2 and by the defenses in Iceland. Arctic coast. B-52 bombers. As the Cold War came to an en, US e organization for air defense has “The point of this exercise is for President George H. W. Bush and Soviet changed repeatedly. Following the ter- the United States to take it [Russia] President Mikhail Gorbachev mutually rorist attacks of 9/11, US homeland seriously as a strategic adversary,” Mi- called a halt to the strategic confron- defense was grouped under the unied chael Ko man, an analyst at the Wood- tation. e era of Bear intercepts was Northern Command, whose command- row Wilson Center, explained in 2015. presumed to be history. er also heads NORAD. Today, however, “Moscow’s objective is to change the ere were scattered incidents. F-15s the focus is again on Russia. perception of Russia, which is currently intercepted two Tu-95s o the shore Pacific Air Forces 11th Air Force, seen as a regional power in structural of Iceland in 1999 but US spokesmen formerly Alaskan Air Command, pro- decline.” dismissed “two propeller bombers” as vides interceptor forces in Alaska Resumption of the combat patrols not being “a particularly big deal.” under NORAD control. Air defense of added to Putin’s political popularity at Air defenses, allowed to deteriorate, Iceland is by NATO squadrons, rotat- home, Ko man said. “Russia’s leaders were reinvigorated after hijacked airlin- ing in and out of Keflavik. Air Combat want to be considered as the existential ers crashed into the World Trade Center Command’s 1st Air Force, with 10 Air threat the USSR was, a country the Unit- and the Pentagon in 2001 but the focus National Guard wings, performs air ed States negotiated and compromised was on terrorists, not the Russians. defense of the continental United with, instead of chiding, sanctioning, States. and ignoring.” THE PUTIN ROUND For whatever reason, there was a In what was interpreted as a show surge of Bear incursions in the spring John T. Correll was the editor-in-chief of force, Putin announced Aug. 17, of 2017. In April, Tu-95s approached of Air Force Magazine for 18 years and is 2007, that Russian bombers would re- the coast of Alaska four days in a row now a contributor. His most recent arti- sume the long-distance patrol ights. and were met by USAF F-22s and Ca- cle, “Targeting the Lutwae,” appeared

“Starting today, such tours will be con- nadian CF-18s. In May, two Tu-95M in the March issue. Photos: Diaz; MSgt. Richard USAF

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM DOC’S SAGA Getting the B-29 Doc flying again took decades of perseverance.

By Frederick A. Johnsen

n the skies over Oshkosh, Wis., in July of 2017, two World War II-era B-29 Superfortress bomb- ers joined formation for the rst time in six decades. It was an improbable tableau that many thoughtI would never take place. at historic formation was as much about perseverance as it was about the chang- ing landscape of warbird restorations. e historical aircraft community celebrated when the then-Confeder- ate Air Force (CAF) resurrected a B-29 Superfortress from a Mojave Desert boneyard at the Navy’s China Lake Naval Weapons Center in California in 1971 and ew it to Texas to begin a long second career as a ying legend. At least three other B-29s made some ights in Tony Mazzolini and Doc at the Navy’s China Lake boneyard in California, as the the 1970s and 1980s before retiring to venerable bomber is removed from the target range. museums, but the longevity of the CAF B-29, nicknamed FIFI made it the only Victor Neils Agather was that spark- IT WAS JUST THE BEGINNING ying Superfortress in the world. plug for FIFI. A World War II veteran Tony Mazzolini was the indefat- Until Doc entered the skies, that is. who worked on developing and per- igable visionary for Doc. After Air Doc is another China Lake survivor, part fecting the B-29, Agather enjoyed Force service in the 1950s, Mazzolini’s of a gaggle of B-29s that made one-way postwar success as an internation- managerial acumen served him well ights to the Navy test facility in the al business leader. When the CAF in positions with General Electric and mid-1950s to serve as ground targets was able to secure one of the desert Continental Airlines. Mazzolini had a to help testers measure the ecacy of B-29s at China Lake, advocate Agath- bit of a soft spot for the B-29 Superfor- new ordnance. er pitched in more than $100,000 to tress. He remembered encountering Doc and FIFI were refurbished in make it possible to ferry the bomber a special Air Force radar squadron dierent locations and dierent de- from China Lake to the CAF’s home, with nine B-29s nicknamed for Snow cades with dierent sponsors. What which in 1971 was Harlingen, in south White, the Seven Dwarfs, and the made both of these B-29 resurrections Texas. Agather clearly had skin in the wicked witch who plagued them. Each possible was the tenacity of a patron and game. of the bombers carried the likeness of steward with the vision to look beyond Naming the B-29 FIFI was a tip of the one of the characters in that story. In sandblown B-29 hulks in the Mojave hat to Agather’s wife. Her namesake the last half of the 1980s he pondered Desert and into the future. bomber continues to y. the possibility of finding a second

 APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM World War II bombers FIFI (left) and Doc fly together at an air show in Oshkosh, Wis., in July 2017.

to be Doc, one of the named B-29s he had encountered so many years earlier at Griffiss AFB, N.Y. The Navy was initially reluctant to sign over an essentially intact Su- perfortress, no matter how outdated its technologies, to Mazzolini four decades after the B-29 was built. The bomber would have to be demilita- rized to render it unflyable, Mazzolini was told in early discussions. He went through the proper steps, creating a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization to help support his endeavor to acquire the B-29. Negotiations to get the Navy to release the desert B-29 without de- militarizing it moved at a glacial pace. Back in 1987, little did he know it would take more than 11 years before he could lay claim to the B-29 called Doc. Doc, showing its age, is towed out of the desert at China Lake. QUID PRO QUO B-29 to restore to flightworthiness to one China Lake B-29 remained, isolat- In the 1980s, branches of the mili- complement FIFI. The prospect was ed on a distant bombing range in the tary occasionally dipped into surplus at once intriguing and improbable. desert. Mazzolini’s Herculean labors aircraft resources to trade for historic Soon he was the tip of the spear for were only beginning. aircraft needed by the services’ muse- this quixotic notion. He had heard sto- Mazzolini finally received permis- ums. The Navy’s quid pro quo for Doc ries about more than 200 of the big Su- sion to visit the range in 1987. As the seemed straightforward enough; the

perfortresses making their last flights truck carrying the inspection party historical Naval aviation collection in Inc. (2,3) Friends, to the Aberdeen Proving Ground and rumbled over worn desert ruts, he Pensacola, Fla., needed a B-25 Mitch- China Lake Naval Weapons Center for could see a largely intact Superfor- ell twin-engine bomber in restored Doc’s use as test targets. tress looming in the distance. This condition. If Mazzolini would furnish His early inquiries to the Navy at was ample validation for Mazzolini, that, the Navy would release Doc. China Lake were met with replies that who almost leaped from the truck as By that time, B-25s were enjoying a would discourage someone with lesser it was still moving in on the bomber, renaissance of interest in the Ameri- determination. No, he was told, the so eager was he to inspect the aircraft. can warbird community, fueled in part China Lake Superforts were all gone. His joy at once again beholding a by the massive collection of 18 of the Finding that hard to accept, Mazzolini Superfortress was multiplied when bombers resurrected by Tallmantz kept at it until his perseverance was the identity of this airframe—Air Force Aviation for the movie “Catch-22” rewarded with the confirmation that serial number 44-69972—turned out years earlier. The American country- Photo: Chad Horwedel; Chad Photo: Dan Wimberly/

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM  Doc and restoration volunteers in the repair bay at the Wichita, Kan., facility in 2014. side was not littered with unwanted in the desert, although earmarked left the desert under their own power? B-25s. for Mazzolini, was occasionally the The dry desert generally favored the Mazzolini finally located an avail- object of unwanted suitors. He had preservation of aluminum airframe able Mitchell airframe in Venezuela to keep an eye on his prize to make structure, even as the relentless sun at a price he could live with, had it sure interlopers did not get it before made the replacement of soft parts dismantled and shipped to Florida, he could complete the deal. —rubber, fabric, and plastics—man- and then moved by rail to Cleveland By 1998 all was in order. The Mitch- datory. for static restoration. ell bomber was restored for the Navy, But decades had elapsed since What Mazzolini charted as a six- and Doc was released intact to Maz- the last B-29 flew from China Lake. month refurbishment program on zolini, its title transferred to enable the And there’s a big difference between the Mitchell stretched into a six-year bomber’s extraction from the desert abandoning an aircraft and storing effort. range to be readied for restoration. it properly for possible reuse at a First, restorers lost access to the Fresh tires put Doc in position to roll site like the Aerospace Maintenance building in Cleveland and the bomber as the bomber was gingerly towed and Regeneration Group (AMARG) had to be bundled up and shipped to miles from its range location to the at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. At AM- Pennsylvania, where the Air Heritage civilian airport at Inyokern, Calif. ARG, experience and experiments Museum completed the restoration. in preservation have led to ways of Then the Navy—initially request- RESTORATION minimizing intrusion of the elements ing to have the Mitchell restored and Mazzolini and his small crew sa- into the vitals of stored aircraft. Not configured as a representation of one vored the idea of preparing their B-29 so on the China Lake range; no such of Doolittle’s Raiders—changed their for its first flight in decades from In- requirement was anticipated when mind and requested that it be fin- yokern, back to a more populous avi- Doc was towed out to the desert. ished as a naval PBJ variant. Mazzolini ation center where further restoration Tony’s crew at Inyokern perceived a obliged. would be accomplished. After all, confluence of problems as they looked Meanwhile, the lone Superfortress hadn’t three other China Lake B-29s into their Superfortress on the open- B-29 Doc Flies Again After 29 Years of E ort

1980 1990 2000

1987: Tony Mazzolini discovers the 1998: After delivering a restored B-25 Mitchell bomber B-29 Doc at the Naval Ordnance Test in a trade, Mazzolini takes possession of Doc Station, China Lake, California. and moves it to an airport at Inyokern, Calif.

 APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM air ramp. Volunteers, in adequate A B-29 at the numbers and with desirable skills, Navy’s China were harder to find than they would Lake, Calif., be in an aviation metropolis. And Doc, Boneyard is unprepared for long-term exposure viewed through to the elements, had aluminum cor- the nosepiece rosion requiring remediation beyond of another in what the available crew could pru- 1978. Both Doc dently accomplish on the windswept and FIFI were tarmac at Inyokern. dumped at China It was another setback—but not a Lake for use as showstopper. Mazzolini had asked static targets Boeing’s specialists on aging aircraft before being to conduct a structural inspection on painstakingly the B-29. If Doc could not fly out from restored to flying Inyokern, it could truck out. He called condition. Boeing’s Wichita plant, where Doc had first seen the light of day in 1945 and where Boeing had ongoing aircraft construction programs at that time. Jeff Turner, then a Boeing vice presi- dent in Wichita, green-lighted the plan to truck Doc back to its home plant for repair and restoration by volunteers. There’s an elite corps of big rig truckers who specialize in relocating aircraft for museums. How do you move a B-29 Superfortress over the road? In many sections, separated with care, to enable them to be re- cally joined in the middle of the fu- during the almost 1,500-mile jour- joined later. Another two years had selage, but a monster to disassemble. ney over the road to Wichita in seven elapsed; it was now 2000 and Doc “Doc had the four-piece wing,” he said. truckloads. needed to relocate. “Two outer wing panels and two What showed up at the Wichita inner wing panels that split in the gates in May 2000 is a matter of opin- ON THE MOVE center. There is a top fuselage cap that ion. Mazzolini saw his dream B-29; Tony called Ben Nattrass, whose is removed, and the wing is lifted out others saw trailer loads of derelict Worldwide Aircraft Recovery company the top of the fuselage. Because Doc bomber bones, filled with vestiges has carefully dismantled and trucked was going to fly, we did not split the of desert sand and the desiccated dozens of aircraft, including outsized inner wing and we transported it as a remains of a few critters who sought Boeing behemoths like B-29s, B-50s, complete 99-foot-long load,” Nattrass refuge in the aircraft to no avail. and KC-97s, which bear some funda- continued. Dan Wimberly was one of the Boe- mental structural similarities to Doc. That B-29 bullet fuselage is just a ing craftsmen who saw the trailers car- Nattrass knows how to study an air- foot shy of 100 feet from nose to tail rying Mazzolini’s hopes and dreams. frame and disassemble it in ways that gun position. Nattrass had moved He remembers Doc’s first impression: will make reconstituting the pieces as B-29s before, and he knew just what “It was in sections and pieces on seven a whole aircraft feasible and without to do: “A production split just behind semi-truck flatbeds. It was rolled in scarring. This is especially important the wing breaks the fuselage into two ceremonial fashion ... like a war hero for an artifact like Doc, intended to transportable pieces,” he recounted. returning from the front line battle- fly again. If that was straightforward for ex- field. The piles of broken wires, tubing, “B-50s and KC-97s have a five-piece perienced aircraft truckers—it still glass shattered or missing altogether wing and the inner panels come off wasn’t easy. Cranes needed to be was quite a discouraging sight!” the sides of the fuselage,” Nattrass scheduled onsite at Inyokern. Crib- The broken glass, dirt, and detri- explains. Some B-29s had a five-piece bing and jigging had to be finessed to tus in the B-29 was a far cry from the wing, others a four-piece wing that support the precious bomber without pristine 737 fuselages he helps to craft carried through the fuselage, techni- imparting damage to its structure on a daily basis. “I’m not touching it,”

2000 2010 2020

2000: Mazzolini contacts the Boeing plant in Wichita for help. Jeff 2016: After 300,000 restoration hours by hundreds of Turner, vice president at the plant, approves, and Doc is disassembled, volunteers, Doc flies again. The B-29 bomber fired up her

placed on seven flatbed trailers, and moved from California to Kansas. engines and took off from McConnell AFB, Kan., on July 17. Photos: Linzmeier; A1C John Johnsen Frederick

APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM  Doc gleams on the flight line at McConnell.

Wimberly decided. A toolmaker, Wim- berly had a skill set the B-29 restorers needed. He made a special tool at the request of the bomber team, and soon “I was hooked,” he admitted. Not surprisingly, the initial rush of volunteers to work on Doc’s restoration gave way to a smaller core, Wimberly remembers, as the “not really what I had in mind” people left the e ort. Volunteers ranged from retirees who probably drove rivets on Doc in 1945 to current aerospace employ- ees, to some supporters who brought more enthusiasm than experience. The team leaders managed to meld this varied crew into a workable force for restoration of the 37-ton bomber entrusted to their care. If the overall restoration of Doc looked daunting back then, the Gord- ian knot was the corrosion discovered Doc at the Oshkosh air show in 2017. Doc joined FIFI as one of the only two flying at Inyokern. Ultimately, the wing’s Superfortresses extant. lower right spar, an inverted T-section 27 feet long, had to be replaced with the former Boeing regulars es in computer capabilities new metal. Nobody had manufactured including Jeff Turner, em- have meshed with an in- a B-29 wing spar in many decades. braced Doc’s restoration. creased sense of pride and With copies of wartime Superfortress During the 16-year res- urgency about restoring blueprints, a new piece was crafted, toration, occasionally new the famed aircraft of World but not without some learning-curve materials and methods War II, leading to evermore issues along the way. were better than old ones, ambitious restorations that and all of this was folded would have been dismissed WORTH THE WAIT into Doc’s dossier to facil- as too audacious years ago. Wimberly remembers the outcome: itate the path to FAA air- And now there are two “About eight years into the restoration worthiness certification. ying B-29 Superfortresses project, we reinstalled the center wing State-of-the-art processes, in the world. Even as they section into the fuselage. I still re- including computerized Dan Wimberly at Doc’s bear witness to the wartime member the roar of cheers and ap- design and machining, left long-awaited first flight generation who original- plause from those gathered when we no room for shade-tree me- in 2016 at McConnell ly animated them, these drove home the final wing bolt pins.” chanics. AFB, Kan. mechanical marvels both Five years into the B-29 restoration, Doc’s rebirth as a pristine tell another story of deter- Boeing sold off its Wichita manufac- ying machine is emblematic of the mination and optimism that is the very turing operations. Spirit AeroSystems evolving warbird movement around reason they still exist at all. became the new vendor of fuselages the world. Decades ago, a sole owner/ and structures for a number of Boe- operator might restore and y a P-51 or Frederick A. Johnsen is a contributor to ing aircraft, and now Spirit was the similar project, but a bomber as big as a Air Force Magazine. His most recent arti- landlord for Doc’s shop space. Spirit B-29 was too much for most individuals cle, “The Goering Interrogation,” appeared

management, peopled by many of or groups to contemplate. But advanc- in the August 2015 issue. Johnsen Fadenrecht; Frederick Tara SSgt. SrA. Photo: Rachel Waller;

 APRIL / MAY  ★ AIRFORCEMAG.COM AFA Emerging Leaders

By Rachel Cox

MSGT. DUSTIN LAWRENCE Dustin Home State: California Lawrence Chapter: Ramstein (Germany) in Germany. Joined AFA: 2007 Lawrence is AFA Office: Europe Special Assistant; Membership Commit - focused on tee; former President, Leadership Development Mentor, and growing AFA’s Communications Chairman, Ramstein Chapter reach toward Military Service: 1998-present, Active Duty younger airmen. Occupation: First Sergeant Education: B.A., General Studies, Grantham University What do you enjoy most about your AFA membership? I enjoy AFA because I see the passion in our association’s How did you first hear about AFA? heritage. I get to meet airmen from all walks of life who have I was invited by a friend to a lunch meeting when I was stationed inspiring stories and who have built a true legacy, and that in - in New Mexico (Holloman AFB.) spires me to help as much as I can. I also get to inspire others through our partnerships with CAP, JROTC, and local retirees. What prompted you to join? At first, I became an annual member because a friend was a What should AFA do to draw in more members? member, but I didn’t do much with it at the time. Then I was I think we need to find ways to educate our BMT trainees about stationed at Ramstein and within six months, a meeting mes - the legacy of AFA and offer membership that early. Then, if we sage was sent out. To my surprise it was for a chapter startup focus on our CGOs and tier-two enlisted to educate them on the meeting. I was inspired to get smart on all things AFA, be an contributions AFA has made to cement our airmen’s history and effective communications committee chairman, and help get the encourage them to take on committee roles, we may encourage chapter off the ground, which led me to become a member for Airmen for Life. Finally, we need to stay with the times, telling life. We grew the Ramstein chapter to more than 250 members AFA legacy stories on social media and making membership as in the first year, and we have grown steadily since. easy to sign up for as a Facebook or LinkedIn account.

MARC STEWART Rob Reiner Home State: Oklahoma (l) and Marc Chapter: Gerrity Chapter (Oklahoma) Stewart at the Joined AFA: 1999 Gerrity Chapter AFA Oice: President, Gerrity Chapter; former Vice President of Flyers Breakfast Awards, Montgomery Chapter in May 2017. Military Service: 1999-2014, Retired Stewart looks to Occupation: Real Estate Investor increase USAF- Education: B.S., Communications, East Carolina University; AFA buy-in. Masters, Human Relations, University of Oklahoma; Masters, Military Operational Art and Science, Air University speak for our men and women in uniform. AFA has a great and important mission: We serve our airmen before, during, and after How did you first hear of AFA? they serve. And that is just awesome. I heard about AFA in college: AFROTC, Det 600, East Carolina University! Go Pirates! How do we build awareness about AFA? We exist for the Air Force, and we need 100 percent support and What compelled you to join? a buy-in relationship with the Air Force. The hurdle is that our My father. I was scared he would disown me if I didn’t join. (Just value is measured by what we have done and accomplished. It kidding.) My father is a retired chief master sergeant and a retired is di›icult to see the value of what we do now and what we can Air Force civil servant with 40-plus years of service to our Air do in the future to shape our Air Force, especially when USAF Force. He impressed upon me the importance of AFA to the Air must deal with the pressing business of defending our country Force, so I joined. with less and less. It is our job to relay our value to the Air Force. We must find a way to consistently and intimately integrate with What do you enjoy most about your AFA membership? USAF, without burdening an already overtasked force, so that I enjoy continuing to serve. I am no longer Active Duty, so I en - I should not have to explain to any airman what AFA is or why joy using the freedom to say and do what I wish as a civilian to we are here.

AFA began an Emerging Leaders Program in 2013 as an avenue to secure AFA’s future. The purpose of the program is to identify, motivate, develop, and encourage emerging leaders to serve actively in AFA by providing hands-on experience and unique insights into how AFA operates and is governed. Emerging Leaders volunteer for a year. With guidance from a mentor, they participate on a national-level council, attend national leader orientations, and serve as National Convention delegates. Photos: Stewart courtesy and Marc of Lawrence MSgt. Dustin

APRIL / MAY  ★ WWW.AIRFORCEMAG.COM Namesakes

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1/ Brig. Gen. Robert Travis. 2/ The wreckage from the crash that killed Travis. 3/ A C-5 takes off from Travis TRAVIS 2 AFB, Calif.

The Rocket ROBERT FALLIGANT TRAVIS At first, the California airfield went by an in- took over the First Bomber Command at El Born: Dec. 26, 1904, Savannah, Ga. elegant name—Fairfield-Suisun. Then came Paso, Texas. Died: Aug. 5, 1950, near Fairfield, Calif. the horrific aircraft accident. That is how it With the US at war, Travis soon joined Colleges: University of Georgia (1922-24); United got the name “Travis.” Eighth Air Force in England, heading up States Miliary Academy, West Point, N.Y. The base was rechristened in honor of 41st Combat Bombardment Wing at RAF Services: Army, Infantry (1928); Army Air Corps Brig. Gen. Robert Falligant Travis, a true Molesworth, RAF Kimbolton, and RAF Graf- (1928-41); Army Air Forces (1941-47); United States World War II combat hero who died Aug. 5, ton Underwood. Air Force (1947-50) 1950, when his B-29 bomber crashed just Travis personally led his aircrews on 35 Occupation: US military oŠ icer after takeoff at Fairfield-Suisun. It marked missions over Nazi-occupied Europe in Main Era: World War II the end of the meteoric rise of a command- 1944. He tended to fly on missions known Years Active: 1928-1950 er. to all as the most dangerous. Travis was Combat: European Theater Travis was born on Dec. 26, 1904, in only 39 when he was promoted to brigadier Final Grade: Brigadier General Savannah, Ga., into a military family. Rel- general. Honors: Distinguished Service Cross; Silver Star atives included Lt. Col. William Barrett After the war, Travis returned to Hickam (3); Distinguished Flying Cross (4); Purple Heart; “Buck” Travis, commander of Texas regu- as 7th Air Force chief of staff and then as Air Medal (4); Legion of Honor (France); Croix de lars who died at the Alamo in 1836. His its commander. In September 1948, he was Guerre with Palm (France); DFC (Britain); Croix de father, Robert J. Travis, was a decorated appointed commanding general of Pacific Guerre (Belgium) World War I officer and later a major gen- Air Command. TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE eral in the National Guard. On June 17, 1949, Travis arrived in Califor- State: California In 1928, Travis graduated from West Point nia to take charge of Fairfield-Suisun Air Nearest City: Fairfield and received a commission in artillery. The Force Base and Strategic Air Command’s Area of Main Base: 9.95 sq mi/6,368 acres new second lieutenant immediately sought 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, which Status: Open, operational and received a transfer into aviation. He en- within the year would be recast as 9th Bom- Opened as Fairfield-Suisun AAF: May 17, 1943 tered Primary Flying School at Brooks Field, bardment Wing. Renamed Fairfield-Suisun AFB: Jan. 13, 1948 Texas. In September 1929, he graduated as a On the night of Aug. 5, 1950, Travis board- Renamed Travis AFB: Oct. 20, 1950 pilot from the Advanced School, Kelly Field, ed a B-29 on a mission to carry an atomic Current Owner: Air Mobility Command Texas. bomb casing to Guam. On takeoff, the No. 2 Former Owners: Air Transport Command, Military Tall, handsome, and athletic—and an ex- propeller malfunctioned and the main gear Air Transport Command, Strategic Air Command, pert poker player—Travis was a classic fast failed to retract, leading to a crash. Travis Military Airlift Command burner. Steady advancement propelled the died on the way to the hospital. He was one youthful airman into command of 72nd of 19 crew and ground personnel who per- Bombardment Squadron at Hickam Field, ished. host unit, the 60th Air Mobility Wing, is the Hawaii, in July 1939. He was there a year Today, Travis Air Force Base handles more largest wing in Air Mobility Command, with before he was assigned as materiel officer cargo and passenger traffic than any other a versatile fleet of C-5 and C-17 airlifters and

of 5th Bombardment Group. In mid-1943, he military air terminal in the US. The base’s KC-10 tankers. 2) MSgt. Joseph Swatford Photos: (1, USAF

APRIL / MAY  ★ WWW.AIRFORCEMAG.COM Become a FLIGHT LEADER in AFA’s Operation Enduring Support!

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