Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Feb. 10, 2020

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Edited by Amy McCullough with Rachel S. Cohen, Brian W. Everstine, Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory and Jennifer Hlad

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What to Look for in the 2021 Budget Request
By Amy McCullough

The Defense Department’s fiscal 2021 budget request will be released Feb. 10,
offering new insight into funding plans for the new U.S. Space Force, glimpses
into whether the Defense Department is changing its investment strategy for
great power competition, and projections of what future spending might look like
once the Budget Control Act expires in 2022, according to analysts at the Center
for Strategic and International Studies. Fiscal 2021 is the last year for
sequestration caps, so analysts are going to be paying close attention to the
Defense Department’s five-year plan to glean what the new normal might be.

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Wing Problem Holds Up JSTARS in Robins Depot
By Rachel S. Cohen

The Air Force is working through kinks in its in-house maintenance initiative
for the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System as it tries to save
money and time on tuning up the fleet. About a year and a half after Robins Air
Force Base, Georgia, started handling JSTARS maintenance itself, two of three
aircraft have successfully finished their in-depth sustainment work. The third,
however, has sat in depot since July 2018—nearly 600 days—and it’s unclear
when it might be able to leave.

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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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Experts: Transformative Command and Control Needed for Great Power Competition
By Brian W. Everstine

The service must continue to evolve its thinking on command and control in order
to effectively modernize and prepare for great power conflict, two leading Air
Force experts said Feb. 7. Increased investments in Joint All-Domain Command
and Control is “gutsy” because it isn’t as attention grabbing as buying a
new airplane, though it is necessary to counter Russia and China, said Thomas
Ehrhard, the vice president for defense strategy at the Long Term Strategy Group
and a former senior adviser in the Air Force. Service leaders, especially Chief
of Staff Gen. David Goldfein, have “put skin in the game” to improve command
and control—a top priority not only for the service, but the thing that Russia
and China say they will attack first, he said.

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Threat of War With Iran Low, Though Proxy Attacks are Back
By Brian W. Everstine

The threat of large-scale Iranian action against the United States has waned
following the Jan. 3 drone strike that killed that country’s top military
leader; however, small-scale attacks have returned, experts said Feb. 7. The
strike at the Baghdad International Airport, which killed Iranian Quds Force
Commander Qassem Soleimani and the leader of an Iranian-backed militia, prompted
the Jan. 7 ballistic missile attack on American forces inside Iraq. Since then,
the “chance of an all-out war” is not high because Tehran’s top priority
is survival and the Trump Administration doesn’t want another war in the
region, said retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute
for Airpower Studies, during an event at the Washington Institute.

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Puerto Rico MILCON in Limbo Despite Potential New Funding
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The House on Feb. 7 passed a bill that will provide an infusion of emergency
supplemental funding and tax credits to Puerto Rico, which is still recovering
from an ongoing string of earthquakes, even as other military construction
funding is diverted to pay for the wall along the southern U.S. border.
Approximately $555 million was approved for military construction projects in
the U.S. territory—whose military infrastructure was still recovering from
2017's Hurricane Maria when the earthquakes started on Dec. 28, Puerto Rico
National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Dahlen told Air Force Magazine via email.
However, $440 million of that was held back for potential use on the wall,
leaving the Guard with just $115 million to work with. “We raise our flag
because we need ... that money,” Maj. Gen. José Reyes, Puerto Rico adjutant
general, told Air Force Magazine in a Jan. 22 interview in San Juan.

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DOD Acquisition Boss Pulls Out of Singapore Airshow, USAF Presence Stays
By Brian W. Everstine

The Pentagon’s top weapons buyer and several aerospace corporations have
pulled out of the Singapore Air Show as concerns about the new coronavirus
spread, though U.S. Air Force demonstration teams, airmen, and other aircraft
will still attend. Multiple companies, including Gulfstream and Textron Aviation
from the U.S. and Bombardier from Canada, also have confirmed they will not
attend the yearly air show, according to a press release from the event.
However, the U.S. Air Force is sending a large contingent of aircraft and
personnel, including Air Combat Command’s F-22 aerial demonstration team from
Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia.

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Satellite Delivered for Space Force’s First GPS III Launch
By Jennifer Hlad

The Space Force has received its first GPS III satellite, with a launch slated
for April. The Lockheed Martin-built next-generation satellite, which was
shipped to Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a C-17 from Buckley Air Force Base,
Colorado, is the third GPS III to be delivered. The first launched in December
2018 and was set “healthy and active” by the 2nd Space Operations Squadron
on Jan. 13, making it available for military and civilian GPS users. The second
launched in August, has finished on-orbit testing, and is waiting its turn to be
integrated into the constellation, Lockheed Martin said in a press release.

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Radar Sweep

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Trump Announces Death of Al-Qaeda Leader in Yemen after U.S. Strike

President Donald Trump on Feb. 6 confirmed the death of an al-Qaeda leader in a
U.S. drone strike in Yemen. Trump said the U.S. carried out a successful
counterterrorism operation that killed Qasim al-Rimi, the founder and leader of
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), an affiliate of the terrorist group.

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Pentagon's Lethality Task Force Is 'Dead' if Army Put in Charge, Top Adviser Says

Defense Secretary Mark Esper put forward a plan Feb. 6 to place the Army in
charge of the Close Combat Lethality Task Force, a move that drew immediate
opposition from a top adviser to the task force. Esper's proposal drew fire from
retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Scales, a member of the task force advisory board
who worked closely with Mattis in setting up the group.

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AETC Partners with UTSA to Refine Pilot Candidate Selection

More effectively targeting pilot candidates may help the Air Force solve its
pilot manning shortage. Air Education and Training Command has turned to the
data analytics program at the University of Texas-San Antonio to help them
refine and validate the Pilot Candidate Selection Method as part of an
Educational Partnership Agreement.

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Pentagon Withholding Funds from Army’s Top Medical Bio and Chem Labs

The Defense Department has withheld $104 million from research labs at Fort
Detrick and Aberdeen Proving Ground, a decision that has Maryland lawmakers
scratching their heads, given the expanding threat of the Wuhan coronavirus.

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OPINION: As Coronavirus Spreads, China’s Military Is Largely MIA

“As the 2019 novel coronavirus spread into a full-fledged epidemic, China’s
government took an extraordinary series of responses, effectively quarantining
some 50 million people in the Wuhan area,” write New America strategist Peter
Singer and BluePath Labs analysts Peter Woods and Alex Stone. “But even as the
government [somewhat belatedly] sprung into action, its limited mobilization of
Chinese military assets and personnel has been notable—both because militaries
traditionally play significant roles in battling pandemics and Beijing has in
recent years been at pains to trumpet its burgeoning military capability.”

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Navy Issues New Rules on Foreign Military Students and Firearms

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly released new guidance late last week that
will prohibit foreign military students training in the United States from
owning personal firearms.

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Veterans Affairs Launches Its First 5G-Enabled Hospital

The Veterans Affairs Department’s health care facility in Palo Alto,
California, is poised to become the agency’s first 5G-enabled hospital—and
one of the first in the world. During a “State of the VA” speech in
Washington, Feb. 5, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie unveiled the agency’s plans to
tap into fifth-generation wireless technology to provide veterans with
ultramodern medical care.

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Airman Receives Remedial Training after RAF Mildenhall’s Twitter Account ‘Likes’ Pro-Trump Political Tweets

The 100th Air Refueling Wing has taken "immediate corrective action" after its
official Twitter page for RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom "liked" a tweet
from President Donald Trump's re-election campaign and another tweet from the
President himself attacking one of his political rivals, a spokeswoman said.

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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...
Watch Six A-10 Warthogs Execute a Glorious Mass Flare Release Over the Persian Gulf

The wall of Warthogs put on quite the fireworks show off the coast of Dubai.

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