Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Feb. 7, 2020

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Edited by Amy McCullough with Brian W. Everstine and John A. Tirpak

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Kitay: Reducing Secrecy Critical to Space Force Success
By John A. Tirpak

Greater transparency about space budgets is needed to normalize Space Force as
the sixth military service, the Pentagon's space policy chief said Feb. 6. “We
… need to lower the classification of what we’re doing,” Stephen Kitay
told an AFA Mitchell Institute audience on Capitol Hill. Leaders like Joint
Chiefs Vice Chairman Gen. John Hyten have been “clear that this needs to be
updated” in order for the public and industry to “understand the threats
we’re facing.” Kitay also discussed why the services will need to retain
some space expertise as Space Force consolidates, as well as the role of the new
service, particularly in the context of actual kinetic conflict.

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DOD Review Finds $5.7 Billion in Savings to Shift to Priority Missions
By Brian W. Everstine

The Pentagon’s Defense-Wide Review would shift $5.7 billion from non-military
defense offices and agencies to higher priority missions such as nuclear
deterrence and technology investment. The review, released this week,
recommended “right-sizing” entities such as medical treatment facilities,
reducing the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, and reprioritizing missile
defense research. “These savings will be invested in cutting-edge innovation
and warfighting requirements of our core missions,” Defense Secretary Mark
Esper said Feb. 6 at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International
Studies.

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Empowering Disaster Response and Recovery From Space
When a natural disaster or emergency occur, an immediate and seamless response is necessary to
save lives. Operational and situational awareness becomes increasingly important to responders.
If critical infrastructure is down in the disaster zone, then the systems and networks required for
powering the relief efforts are compromised. Ground operations must look to space to solve their
communication needs. Read the full story.
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Van Ovost Tapped to be Air Mobility Command’s No. 2
By Brian W. Everstine

Lt. Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost has been nominated to be the second in command
at Air Mobility Command, the Pentagon announced Feb. 6. Van Ovost, currently the
director of staff at headquarters Air Force, will take over for Lt. Gen. Jon
Thomas if confirmed. The Pentagon has not announced Thomas's next position.

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Northrop Pitches Autonomous Battle Management Software for ABMS
By Amy McCullough

Northrop Grumman is pitching the Air Force a new battle management system, which
it hopes to incorporate into future Advanced Battle Management System
experiments. The system is designed to be completely heterogeneous with a
sliding scale of autonomy, so there is a network of capability immediately
available to operators that is capable of accommodating changes in the battle
space. "It is essentially a battle manager on steroids," said Bryan Lima,
Northrop's director of future battle management.

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More Bases Available To Host Coronavirus Evacuees
By Brian W. Everstine

The Pentagon on Feb. 6 outlined additional bases that would house people who
need to be quarantined as part of the outbreak of the new coronavirus, should
the Department of Health and Human Services request. The 11 bases are near major
international airports, with each able to provide housing support for up to 20
people. The installations will only be used if people are identified at the
airports and cannot be housed at existing HHS facilities. DOD personnel will not
be in direct contact with the evacuees.

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Esper Reminds Troops of Ethics Responsibilities During Election Season
By Brian W. Everstine

As the 2020 election season gears up, Pentagon leaders are urging military
personnel to be on their best behavior, and reminding troops of their ethics
requirements. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, in a Feb. 5 memo, writes that all
Pentagon personnel “must be steadfast in our commitment to defend the
Constitution and our Nation’s democratic principles.” He added, "As public
servants who have taken an oath to defend these principles, we uphold DOD’s
longstanding tradition of remaining apolitical as we carry out our official
responsibilities."

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Radar Sweep

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U.S. Halts Secretive Drone Program with Turkey over Syria Incursion

The United States has halted a secretive military intelligence cooperation
program with Turkey that for years helped Ankara target Kurdish PKK militants,
four U.S. officials told Reuters. The U.S. decision to indefinitely suspend the
program, which has not been previously reported, was made in response to
Turkey’s cross-border military incursion into Syria in October, the U.S.
officials said, revealing the extent of the damage to ties between the NATO
allies from the incident.

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Not a Break, but Fissures in U.S.-Iraqi Military Alliance

Iraq’s government told the Iraqi military not to seek U.S. help in operations
fighting the Islamic State group, two senior Iraqi military officials told The
Associated Press—a sign that authorities are serious about rethinking the
strategic relationship. At stake are vital U.S.-provided weapons, military
technologies, and aircraft that have been key in countering the threat of ISIS
militants trying to make a comeback in northern and western Iraq.

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Documents Reveal U.S. Military Is Tracking Russian Government News Agencies for Disinformation on Coronavirus

The U.S. military is bracing for possible Russian disinformation regarding the
spread of the coronavirus outbreak, according to Defense Department documents
obtained by Newsweek. Military planners are actively tracking disinformation
campaigns promulgated by accounts operated by—or attributable to—the Russian
government.

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Russia Voices Concern over New U.S. Nuclear Weapon

A senior Russian diplomat raised concern Feb. 5 about the United States
deploying a new submarine-launched nuclear weapon, saying the move signaled
Washington’s belief that it could wage a limited nuclear conflict.

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Air Force Gives Nod to L3Harris to Continue Development of NTS-3 Navigation Satellite

An experimental navigation satellite being developed by L3Harris for the U.S.
Air Force has passed a preliminary design review, clearing the way for the
program to move forward, the company announced Feb. 5. The Navigation Technology
Satellite-3 is an experiment to show that a layer of smaller satellites in
geosynchronous Earth orbit could improve the resiliency of the military’s
positioning, navigation, and timing capabilities.

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Enterprise Platform to Bridge the Technology Gap for the Air Force

The service is currently conducting risk reduction assessments for
enterprise-as-a-service investment meant to modernize.

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Federal Government of Somalia, AFRICOM Conduct Airstrike Against al-Shabab Terrorist

U.S. Africa Command conducted an airstrike targeting an al-Shabab terrorist in
the vicinity of Beer Xaani, Somalia, Feb. 4.

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Lawmakers Vow to Fix DOD Special Needs Program for Military Families

Military families are fighting their own battles to get the health care and
needed school services for their special needs children as required by law, they
told lawmakers—with spotty assistance from defense and service officials.

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Rapid Acquisition & Sustainment

The Air Force and U.S. defense establishment are breaking down barriers and
injecting speed, innovation, and creativity into the procurement system. Check
out our new page to learn more about these efforts.

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One More Thing...
Lab Life—Episode 21: Flu, Pandemic, and Novel Viruses

On this episode of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s “Lab Life” podcast,
experts from the Defense Department’s Global Respiratory Pathogen Surveillance
Program at the United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine’s
Epidemiology Lab discuss how the lab and the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention monitor influenza to provide the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
with critical data to facilitate the creation of the influenza vaccine each
season.

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