Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for March 16, 2020
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Edited by Amy McCullough with Rachel S. Cohen, Brian W. Everstine, Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory and Shaun Waterman
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The Latest Coronavirus News Across the Department
By Rachel S. Cohen and Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory
The Air Force authorized telework for most Pentagon-based personnel, canceled
all outreach activities and events through May 15, put a hold on most official
travel, and sent cadets home from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado
Springs, Colo., in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. President Donald Trump
declared a national emergency. “Department of Air Force personnel who work on
the Pentagon reservation have been authorized to telework when the mission
allows in order to disperse the workforce during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis,”
an Air Force spokeswoman told Air Force Magazine. “The Department of the Air
Force will continue to do our part to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 as we
protect the health of our personnel while ensuring complete readiness to defend
our nation.”
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U.S. Forces in Korea Brace for Coronavirus Effects
By Rachel S. Cohen
Nine people affiliated with U.S. Forces Korea have tested positive for the
COVID-19 virus, including one service member and two dependents of Active-duty
personnel, the organization’s commander said March 13. The two latest cases
include a Burger King worker and a contractor working on new family housing. All
nine people live off base, according to USFK boss Army Gen. Abe Abrams. USFK has
been monitoring COVID-19 around the clock with a full operations team since Jan.
27. Abrams praised the organization’s ability to suppress the virus’s spread
even as it continues to infect others across the globe. More than 125,000 people
had confirmed cases as of March 12, according to the World Health Organization.
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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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Two Attacks in Two Days Target U.S., Coalition Forces in Iraq
By Brian W. Everstine and Amy McCullough
Two attacks on U.S. and coalition forces at Camp Taji, about 20 miles north of
Baghdad in Iraq, show tensions in the region continue to rise. A member of the
Oklahoma Air National Guard and a U.S. soldier were killed in the March 11
rocket attack and many more were wounded, the Defense Department announced. U.S.
officials say the Iranian-backed group Kataib Hezbollah fired a total of 30
rockets, 12 of which impacted the base. USAF Staff Sergeant Marshal D. Roberts,
28, of Owasso, Oklahoma, was killed in the attack, as was U.S. Army Spc. Juan
Miguel Mendez Covarrubias, 27, of Hanford, California, and a British medic. Two
days later three more service members were wounded in a second attack on Camp
Taji. Two of those troops were "seriously" wounded and are being treated at a
U.S. military hospital at the Baghdad International Airport.
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Digital Twins Proliferate as Smart Way to Test Tech
By Shaun Waterman
Faced with a congressional mandate to test its GPS system for cyber
vulnerabilities, the Air Force commissioned a digital replica of the satellites
and then asked contractors to hack the system. The use of "digital twins" is
expanding from modelling in conventional simulators to include testing of
emerging technologies and systems, predicting engine performance, or training
automated systems to fly a plane.
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Radar Sweep
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Space Force Just Received Its First New Offensive Weapon
U.S. Space Force has begun operating a new offensive weapon system, an upgraded
version of a ground-based satellite communications jamming system, for the first
time in its short history. The first iteration of the Counter Communications
System entered U.S. Air Force service in 2004 and the program has now gotten
transferred to the newest branch of the American military.
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U.S. Space Force Awards $655M Ground Systems Contract to SAIC Following Legal Battle
SAIC was re-awarded a $655 million contract for satellite ground systems
services that it originally won in January 2019 and was successfully protested
by Peraton. The contract awarded by the U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile
Systems Center is for the program known as EDIS (Engineering, Development,
Integration and Sustainment). The contractor will modernize satellite ground
systems at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., and Schriever Air Force Base, Colo.
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GAO Sides with AFRL in Protest of Spaceflight R&D Contract
The Government Accountability Office has sided with the Air Force Research
Laboratory in a protest over its award of a space innovation contract last
November. ATA Aerospace filed an initial protest last year after AFRL's space
vehicles directorate awarded Millennium Engineering and Integration a task order
under its Research and Development Integrated Space Experiments program. GAO
sustained the protest in July, and the Air Force re-evaluated proposals,
ultimately choosing MEI again. ATAA protested the second award in November,
challenging the service's "cost realism" evaluation.
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General Officer Assignments
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein announced the new assignments for
three general officers.
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Bill Would Allow Companies to Use Military Logos on Religious Jewelry
A Florida congressman introduced legislation to change a Defense Department
policy that prohibits licensees of its trademarked logos from using them
alongside religious symbols.
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One More Thing...
VIDEO: Watch Two B-2 Spirit Arrive at RAF Fairford
Three B-2A Spirit bombers arrived at RAF Fairford on March 12 for a Bomber Task
Force Europe deployment. The first aircraft, 82-1068 “Spirit of New York”
arrived in the morning as “MISTY11”, followed, in the afternoon, by 88-0332
“Spirit of Washington” “MISTY 12,” and 82-1070 “Spirit of Ohio”
“MISTY 13”. Ben Ramsay of UK Aviation Movies was there and filmed the cool
footage that shows the two “black triangles” coming to landing on runway 27.
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