Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Feb. 12, 2020

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Edited by Amy McCullough with Rachel S. Cohen, Brian W. Everstine and John A. Tirpak

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Budget Elicits Confusion Over Fate of U-2
By Rachel S. Cohen

The Air Force says it will not divest its fleet of U-2 Dragon Lady planes in
fiscal 2025, despite language to the contrary in the service’s 2021 budget
request. Air Force Magazine first reported that the budget submission, unveiled
Feb. 10, planned to start retiring the Cold War-era Dragon Ladies in five years,
though the service would continue to update the fleet through 2024. But the
service said that mentions of divestment in the budget proposal were incorrect.
“The Air Force FY ‘21 budget position is to fully fund the U-2 through FY
‘25,” service spokeswoman Laura McAndrews said Feb. 11. U-2 manufacturer
Lockheed Martin is looking into the confusion as well.

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Power Malfunction, Poor Weather Caused Spangdahlem F-16 Crash
By Brian W. Everstine

The combination of an electrical failure and bad weather caused a pilot to eject
and an F-16 to crash shortly after taking off from Spangdahlem Air Base,
Germany, in October 2019, the Air Force announced. The pilot survived, but the
F-16 was destroyed at a loss of $25.5 million, according to a U.S. Air Forces in
Europe-Air Forces Africa Accident Investigation Board report released Feb. 11.
About 45 seconds after takeoff, the F-16’s power loss caused the jet’s
instruments to malfunction, causing “the [pilot] to become spatially
disoriented and unable to maintain aircraft control in the weather and at low
altitude,” the report states.

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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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Air Force Bets on ABMS Success in Fiscal 2021
By Rachel S. Cohen

The Air Force wants to boost its investment in the Advanced Battle Management
System for fiscal 2021, more than doubling funding for the effort to $302.3
million. The uptick reflects the progress researchers are starting to make and
leaders’ optimism that the idea will bear increasingly more fruit over the
next few years. In 2021, the Air Force hopes to be able to move from
demonstrations to concrete lines of effort that deliver the most promising
technologies to Airmen.

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Pentagon’s European Deterrence Initiative Takes a Hit in Budget Request
By Brian W. Everstine

The European Deterrence Initiative—funding dedicated to building up the U.S.
military presence in Europe and improving readiness across the continent—will
take a large hit in fiscal 2021 if Pentagon planners get their way. The Defense
Department’s budget requests includes $4.5 billion for the EDI, a drop from
the $6 billion Congress put in place for fiscal 2020 and the $6.5 billion in
2019. The Air Force has used the fund for base improvements, rotations of
theater security packages, training deployments, and positioning materiel in the
theater.


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More Money for Secret Intelligence Programs
By John A. Tirpak

The Pentagon is asking $23.1 billion for its military intelligence program in
fiscal 2021. That level is nearly flat from its 2020 request, but still the
highest since the Pentagon began releasing its MIP topline in 2013. Prior years'
toplines show funding has ebbed and waxed, but is now only about 10 percent
higher than eight years ago.

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Radar Sweep

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Opinion: Putting The 2021 Defense Budget In Perspective

Will the 2021 federal budget allow the Department of Defense (DOD) to satisfy
the directives of the National Defense Strategy? The short answer is no—it is
too small to pay for the necessary capabilities and capacity to deter and if
necessary, defeat, challenges by major-power rivals China and Russia, as well as
deal with those posed by Iran, North Korea, and global terrorism, writes retired
Lt. Gen. David Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute.

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Sorry, Sierra Nevada Corp. and Textron: The U.S. Air Force Isn’t Buying Light Attack Planes

At long last, the U.S. Air Force has definitively stated it will not procure
light attack planes, putting to bed a three-year-long debate about whether to
buy upward of 300 low-cost aircraft for the counterterrorism fight.

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OPINION: The Complicated Combat Future of the U.S. Air Force

“While the Air Force is headed in the right direction with the adoption and
implementation of the Agile Combat Employment concept, it’s not enough,”
writes Maj. Gen. Brian M. Killough, deputy commander of Pacific Air Forces.
“To compete in this era of great-power competition, it must rapidly advance
these efforts on an operational scale in order to effectively win before
fighting and to fight as a joint force if required.”

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Pentagon Budget Shows What New Air Force One Paint Job Will Look Like

The Pentagon on Feb. 10 revealed the final paint job plans for the revamped Air
Force One presidential aircraft, a red, white, and blue style reminiscent of the
planes in President Trump's former airline.

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HIV-Positive Airmen Fighting to Stay in the Air Force in First-of-its-Kind Case

LGBTQ advocates are preparing to go to trial against the U.S. government over
its policies on HIV-positive service members. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of
two young Air Force members who said they were discharged after being diagnosed
with HIV in contravention with military rules that do not call for automatic
dismissal due to the medical condition.

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Trump Visits Dover Air Force Base, Pays Tribute to Two Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan

President Donald Trump traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Feb. 10
to pay respects to two U.S. soldiers killed Feb. 8 in Afghanistan when a soldier
dressed in an Afghan army uniform opened fire with a machine gun.

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Faster Acquisition

The Air Force is leveraging emerging technologies and new legislation to
accelerate acquisition decisions and streamline sustainment. Read more here.

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Colorado Air Force Veteran's Funeral Draws Hundreds of Strangers in Snowstorm

Hundreds of people refused to let a snowstorm keep them from laying to rest a
Colorado veteran who would have had no mourners. Clyde Baldwin served in the Air
Force for 20 years from 1950 to 1970—a period that included the Korean and
Vietnam wars, according to reports. He was 91. The large crowd answered a call
from a local VFW post requesting their attendance because Baldwin's only
relative was unable to make it.

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One More Thing...
Conor Daly's Indycar Looks like an Air Force Fighter Plane

The 2020 Indycars feature a new Aeroscreen windshield that makes them resemble a
military jet, and one is going all-in. Conor Daly’s U.S. Air Force-sponsored
Chevrolet features the tiger shark teeth often seen on World War II P-40
Warhawks and A-10 Warthog fighter-bombers, the Air Force Academy’s lightning
bolt logo, and red and white stripes that harken back to the aircraft flown by
the U.S. Army Air Corps prior to the establishment of the U.S. Air Force.

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