New Chief, New Priorities 24 | Q&A: Space Force's Towberman 26 | A New Bomber Vision 14 AIR FORCE AIR MAGAZINE JUNE 2020 2020 AIR FORCE & SPACE FORCE ALMANAC 2020 FORCE AIR & SPACE Air Force & Space Force ALMANAC 2020 WWW.AIRFORCEMAG.COM June 2020 $18 Published by the Air Force Association GE IS B-52 READY Proven in the most demanding environments, GE is ready to power critical missions for the B-52. CF34-10 PASSPORT GE’s most reliable engine GE’s most advanced, digitally even while operating under capable engine built on proven the harshest conditions — technologies delivering game- from the highest altitudes in changing performance and the world to the sweltering fuel burn in the most severe heat of the Middle East. environments. ANY CONDITION ANY TEMPERATURE ANY MISSION B-52andGE.com STAFF Publisher Bruce A. Wright June 2020, Vol. 103, No. 6 Editor in Chief Tobias Naegele Airman 1st Class Erin Baxter Erin Class 1st Airman DEPARTMENTS 10 Q&A: Munitions and Platforms Evolution An F-22 Raptor. Managing Editor Juliette Kelsey 2 Editorial: By See “Almanac: A one-on-one conversation with Air Combat Command Chagnon the Numbers boss Gen. Mike Holmes. Equipment,” p. By Tobias 63. Editorial Director John A. Tirpak Naegele 40 Air Force & Space Force Almanac 2020 News Editor 4 Letters A comprehensive look at the Air Force and the Space Amy McCullough 4 Index to Force, including people, equipment, budget, weapons systems, and more. Assistant Advertisers Managing Editor 8 Verbatim 42 Structure Chequita Wood The command structure of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space 14 Strategy & Senior Designer Policy: USAF is Force; numbered air forces and centers. Dashton Parham slowly unveiling 43 People Pentagon Editor its plans for a Personnel by the numbers: total force; end strength and Brian W. Everstine new bomber manpower trends; breakdowns by gender, rank, region, Digital Platforms force. command, Air Force Specialty Codes, and more. Editor 18 Airframes 46 Pay Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory 24 World: Next Military basic pay; housing allowance; hazardous duty pay; CSAF Lays Out federal civilian pay. Senior Editor Priorities; USAF 54 Rank Insignia of the Armed Forces Rachel S. Cohen Looks at Racial 56 Awards and Decorations Production Bias Amid Civil Ribbons in order of precedence; devices; specialty berets. Manager Unrest; T-38 Eric Chang Lee Formation 58 Spending Photo Editor Landings Department of the Air Force spending trends; DOD and USAF Mike Tsukamoto Halted; Manned fiscal 2020 budget request; spending as a share of GDP; DOD Spaceflight is budget breakdown by service; pass-through funding; major Back; USAF procurement and RDT&E programs. Contributors Learns to Aaron M. U. Church Telework; and 63 Equipment John T. Correll, more ... Total aircraft inventory; aircraft inventory trends; ICBM and Robert S. Dudney, satellite inventory; aircraft age; tail codes. 39 Faces of the Amanda Miller Force 66 U.S. Space Force Command profile, equipment, wing equivalents, centers, and 160 Namesakes: major programs. Edwards 68 Major Commands and Reserve Components Command profiles, equipment, personnel, wings, and centers ADVERTISING: Kirk Brown 78 FOAs, DRUs, and Auxiliary ON THE COVER Brief descriptions of each; Active-duty personnel numbers. Director, Media 80 USAF & USSF Wings Solutions 703.247.5829 Emblems and Majcom affiliation. [email protected] 88 Leaders Principal USAF and major command leaders through the SUBSCRIBE years. & SAVE Subscribe to 95 USAF & USSF Installations Air Force Magazine A guide to Active duty, Reserve, and Air National Guard and save big off installations worldwide; locator maps for U.S. and overseas Publicdomainpictures/PIXABAY the cover price, installations and operating bases. Traditionally, the plus get a free Almanac cover 110 Weapons & Platforms features a single membership A detailed guide to the aircraft, aerial target systems, eagle. Now that the to the Air Force weapons systems, and satellite systems in USAF and USSF Space Force is a Association. inventory. separate service, 1-800-727-3337 two eagles fly in 152 Glossary of Acronyms & Abbreviations parallel. See “Air Acronyms and abbreviations. Force & Space Force Almanac 2020,” p. 40. 154 Japan’s Last Ditch Force Two eagles prepare By John T. Correll to land on a rocky outcrop. See “Air In the summer of 1945, the Japanese had almost 7 million Force & Space Force troops remaining and were not nearly ready to quit. Almanac 2020,” p. 40. Air Force Magazine (ISSN 0730-6784) June 2020 (Vol. 103, No. 6) is published monthly, except for two double issues in January/February and July/August, 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 offices. 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 2020 by Air Force Association. JUNE 2020 AIRFORCEMAG.COM 1 EDITORIAL By Tobias Naegele By the Numbers acts matter. Facts in context matter more. They tell a side: The overall rate is propped up by the stellar 89 percent story, deliver meaning, prompt action. The numbers in MC rate for MQ-9s. MC rates change continuously, so any giv - Fthis issue, by themselves, are reference points. It’s what en rate is just a snapshot in time. Still, when the numbers of you do with them that counts. available aircraft are few and the MC rates are low, the gaps in Journalists are not typically numbers people. There’s an old our national security strategy are exacerbated. This should be joke that blames the plague of math-phobic journalists on uni - a cause of national concern. versities. The punchline suggests that journalists chose their ■ $38.19 billion, or 5.4 percent: The portion of the Depart- major because there was no math requirement. The joke ends ment of the Air Force 2021 budget request that never will be up on them, of course. Numbers figure in almost any story of touched by the Air Force or Space Force. This figure dwarfs substance. Numbers are essential for context, to quantify a the $15 billion request to fund a whole new military service and problem or concern. How many is frequently just as important distorts our understanding of how defense funds are invested, and often more so than who, what, when, where, and why. but this silent fraud on the American taxpayer persists. The The annual Almanac edition of Air Force Magazine presents issue is not whether the nation gets value for those billions, myriad facts and figures that can help tell the Air Force sto - but what effect hiding intelligence funding inside the Air Force ry. The charts reveal trends and turning points and, through budget has on the larger debate on national security investment. examination, insights. More important, they When intelligence funding is understated and provide the community with factual answers Air Force spending is overstated, the picture is to questions, historic data, and the ammu - The numbers in this distorted for multiple congressional commit- nition to make effective arguments when issue are reference tees and federal agencies, not to mention the seeking policy changes or more effective use points. It’s what you do taxpaying public. This benefits no one, but it of taxpayers’ treasure. with them that matters. actually harms the Air Force and Space Force, Here are some numbers that seem espe - perpetuating a myth that the Air Force is equally cially noteworthy at this juncture in Air Force funded to the Army and Navy. It is not. Without history: the pass-through and Space Force, the Army’s 2021 budget 158: The number of bombers in the Air Force inventory on request is 15.8 percent greater than the Air Force’s; the Navy’s Sept. 30, 2019. Air Force leaders cite a need for 220 or more request is 4.8 percent greater. There is no rule that these must bombers to meet the National Security Strategy, yet the Air be equal, but policymakers and legislators owe it to the public Force plans to retire 17 B-1Bs next year to help pay for future to be transparent about their priorities. capabilities. The bomber gap will therefore grow before it ■ 0.5 percent: The net increase in the 2021 budget request shrinks, and the lessons of the past two decades suggest the for combined Air Force and Space Force funding. That works planned-for number of B-21s intended to close that gap may out to $856 million or just $2,565.18 per Active-duty member. never be built. Under current plans, the Air Force will enter 2022 This figure will have to grow substantially in future years if the with just 141 bombers, or less than a third of its bomber force new Space Force is to become a mature, independent, and in 1990. Today’s bombers are better. But so are adversaries’ air effective military service, and not just a piece of a disjointed Air defenses. This is a security risk. Force. Without large increases, the separation will diminish both ■ 29.18: The average age of USAF fighter jets. The good news services’ capacity and capability to fund a new bureaucracy. is that the average USAF fighter is still more than a decade ■ 6.16: The percentage of the USAF oicer corps identified as younger than its bombers, which are now more than 42 years African American.