Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for March 4, 2020

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

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Goldfein: USAF Won’t Use KC-46 Unless It Has To
By Rachel S. Cohen

Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein told Senate legislators March 3 the service
will not use the new KC-46 tanker unless absolutely necessary to fight a
powerful adversary. The wide-ranging Senate Armed Services Committee
hearing—the first of multiple chances the Air Force has this week to argue for
its $169 billion budget request—continually circled back to the Pegasus
tanker’s most pressing issue: its subpar remote vision system, built by
Rockwell Collins. Boeing’s new Chief Executive Officer David Calhoun
“committed to me that the KC-46 was his top military priority and he was going
to do what was required to fix it,” Goldfein said. “I have seen a change in
the behavior of that company since he took over. That’s why we’re more
confident sitting here today that we have a serious fix on the table.”

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USAF Still 2,100 Pilots Short of Goal
By Rachel S. Cohen and Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The Air Force needs 2,100 more pilots to reach its goal of 21,000 aviators,
indicating that efforts to stem the pilot shortage have not yet been successful.
“Increasing production of new aviators remains the most significant lever we
have to arrest aircrew shortages,” service officials said in written testimony
submitted to the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee for a March 3
hearing. While the service is pushing to grow its pilot production pipeline to
turn out 1,480 aviators a year by fiscal 2024, it has fallen short of its
gradually increasing production goals for five straight years.

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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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CMSAF’s Parting Priorities
By Brian W. Everstine

In an interview with Air Force Magazine at AFA's Air Warfare Symposium, Chief
Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth Wright outlined his top four priorities
for the last six months of his tenure as the service’s top enlisted leader.
They are: Fixing the Enlisted Performance Reporting system, eliminating Weighted
Airman Promotion System tests, changing the bereavement leave policy, and create
a culture of fitness in the Air Force.

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Air Force Builds Up Information Warfare Ops
By Rachel S. Cohen

The Air Force is using its first information warfare cell to support cyber
operations, part of a new approach to digital, “gray zone” combat. The IW
cell brings together experts in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance;
electronic warfare; cyber; information operations; and public affairs, according
to 16th Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Timothy Haugh. It is helping tackle
overarching problems in the cyber realm including U.S. election security,
protecting air defenses, and rooting out malign influence on networks. The cell
will be a pivotal player in 16th AF’s evolving structure. Haugh said the
organization’s multiple operations centers will merge into a singular hub
under one commander on March 16.

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AC-130U Crew Receives 14 Medals for Afghanistan Mission
By Brian W. Everstine

An AC-130U Spooky crew provided more than nine hours of air support to special
operations forces, enabling the rescue of 15 patients during a mass casualty
evacuation in an April 2019 mission in Afghanistan. In a March 2 ceremony at
Hurlburt Field, Fla., the aircrew from the 4th Special Operations Squadron
received 14 medals for their role in the mission: two Distinguished Flying
Crosses with the “C” device, and 12 Single Event Air Medals with the “C”
device.

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Pentagon Widening Search for SPACECOM, Space Force Bases
By Rachel S. Cohen

Space Force Vice Commander Lt. Gen. David Thompson indicated the military will
add new locations to the list of bases under consideration for U.S. Space
Command headquarters, saying some unexpected places could become home to parts
of the new Space Force as well. “We’re now going to take a holistic look at
all of the potential options, all the potential locations,” Thompson said at a
March 3 House Armed Services readiness subcommittee hearing. “We’ve been
directed to go back, open up the aperture and look at all of them. That includes
bases, it includes perhaps some non-traditional locations.”

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No Space Force Reserve Yet, Scobee Says
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Details of how the Air Force Reserve will support the U.S. Space Force
“haven’t been fully fleshed out,” but for now, any backup it provides will
remain under the purview of Air Force Reserve Command, Reserve Chief Lt. Gen.
Richard Scobee told Air Force Magazine in a Feb. 27 interview. Scobee said “a
couple different” options exist, but the current plan is to "delay slightly"
while that is figured out. However, he said, Congress may make the ultimate
call.

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US Sends Message to Russia, China in Africa
By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force recently sent an unexpected aircraft over the village of Kismayo,
a rural town on the Somali coast that has been a hotbed of extremist activity by
groups such as al-Shabab. A nuclear-capable B-52, forward deployed to U.S.
Central Command, flew an unmistakable show of force over the region last month.
USAF leaders said the Feb. 15 flight was a direct message, not necessarily to
the violent extremist groups armed with AK-47s and pickup trucks, but to global
powers working to exert their influence on a continent that is becoming
increasingly important to the global power structure. “There’s a message
opportunity here, not just to al-Shabab and [violent extremist organizations] on
the ground, but more broadly to Russia and China that: 'Hey, we’re competing
with you down here,'" US Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa boss Gen.
Jeffrey Harrigian said.

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Radar Sweep

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The Air Force Is Calling Off Its 'Fly-Only' Track Experiment

Despite high hopes for a program aimed at retaining full-time pilots, there are
only two airmen currently utilizing Air Mobility Command's Aviator Technical
Track, also known as the "fly-only" track. There are no plans to expand the
program any further, the command's top general said Feb. 27.

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Court Considers Whether Men-Only Draft Is Constitutional

Weeks before a government commission weighs in on the subject, federal appeals
court judges will consider whether the military’s all-male draft system is
constitutional. A Texas-based federal judge ruled last year that it is not, in
response to a lawsuit brought by the National Coalition for Men. The government
appealed, leading to a March 3 hearing before a three-judge panel of the 5th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

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DARPA Launch Challenge Ends Without Winner

A DARPA responsive launch competition that started two years ago came to an end
March 2 without a winner as the sole remaining team was forced to scrub their
final launch attempt less than a minute before liftoff.

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Air Force BMT Integrates Tactical Combat Casualty Care Course for All Airmen

The Air Force will fully integrate tactical combat casualty care into Basic
Military Training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland on March 2.

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White House Withdraws Nomination of Defense Official Who Questioned Ukraine Aid Freeze

Elaine McCusker was nominated late last year to be the Pentagon's comptroller.
She has been the acting comptroller since the summer and was the public face of
the Pentagon's budget rollout last month, briefing reporters on the details of
the Defense Department's $741 billion military spending request.

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Trump Officially Sends the Senate His Navy Secretary Nomination

President Donald Trump on March 2 officially nominated Kenneth Braithwaite, his
current ambassador to Norway, to serve as Navy Secretary. Braithwaite's
nomination to replace Richard Spencer, who resigned in November, was sent to the
Senate along with a host of other nominations.

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First Instance of VA’s New Electronic Health Record System Now Scheduled for July

Department of Veterans Affairs officials said the initial deployment was delayed
after clinicians asked to be trained on a full system instead of a minimum
viable product.

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One More Thing...
Maps Show Drastic Drop in China’s Air Pollution after Coronavirus Quarantine

There’s been a dramatic drop in pollution across China as the country tries to
contain COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. New maps using
data collected from NASA and European Space Agency satellites show how nitrogen
dioxide, a dangerous gas released by burning fuel, has dissipated since the
outbreak.

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