Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for April 28, 2020

View in your Web Browser: [link removed]
Edited by Amy McCullough with Rachel S. Cohen, Brian W. Everstine, Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory and Shaun Waterman

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Advertisement ]
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Air Force Kicks Off Its Search for a Flying Car
By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force on April 27 kicked off Agility Prime, a new effort to help
industry create a “flying car” for both commercial and military use.
“There is a path for the military market to accelerate domestic use,” said
Will Roper, the Air Force’s assistant secretary for acquisition. This new type
of aircraft “represent[s] a truly transformative leap ahead in
transportation,” he added. For the Air Force, small commercially produced
aircraft can help with special operations missions, search and rescue,
point-to-point logistics, and defense support to civil authorities missions. The
weeklong Agility Prime virtual conference includes speakers from the U.S. Air
Force, the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration,
Defense Innovation Unit, individual companies, and lawmakers.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Air Force Extends Study on Feasibility of Private Aerial Refueling
By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force is extending its feasibility study into the use of privately owned
aerial refueling tankers after an initial report determined further research is
needed to understand legal and financial challenges. Last week, the Air Force
delivered a Commercial Air Refueling Report to the House Armed Services
Committee, which Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett reviewed and then asked for
60 more days to further study the issue. “AMC is actively exploring a
commercial contract air refueling option to complement our current tanker fleet
for use in low-threat, non-combat environments such as testing and limited
training,” AMC said. “After reviewing the initial report, the Secretary of
the Air Force directed Air Mobility Command to further study the potential use
of commercial aerial refueling services to meet requirements before moving
towards initiating any contractual arrangements with service providers.”

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Advertisement ]
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.
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pandemic Brings Changes to Drone Operations
By Rachel S. Cohen

Drone pilots and their sensor operator partners are used to life in enclosed
spaces. They sit side-by-side in ground control stations, or cockpits, that
measure less than 200 square feet, but those close quarters make social
distancing in the age of coronavirus a challenge. Still, there's no less demand
for remotely piloted aircraft and the intelligence and airstrikes they provide,
so the 432nd Wing/Air Expeditionary Wing at Creech Air Force Base, Nev., and
319th Reconnaissance Wing at Grand Forks Air Force Base, S.D., have had to adapt
to new crew assignments and more flying hours.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Experts: Don’t Use Coronavirus Bills to Fund DOD Wish Lists
By Rachel S. Cohen

Defense experts on April 27 warned the Pentagon not to seek money for its
program wish lists as part of future spending legislation meant to deal with the
coronavirus pandemic. The Department of the Air Force’s fiscal 2021 unfunded
priorities list spans $3.2 billion for the Air Force and $1 billion for the
Space Force. Those lists aim to secure extra money for important programs on top
of the regular budget request. Turning to UPLs might not “scratch the itch”
of what Congress wants to fund for DOD as it looks to bolster the economy in a
fourth, and possibly fifth, stimulus package, said Todd Harrison, a defense
budget analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Advertisement ]
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here’s How USAF Plans to Cope with the Ventilator Shortage
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The new coronavirus crisis and America's subsequent ventilator shortage have
forced hard conversations about how to prioritize these life-sustaining pieces
in civilian medical centers across the country. Even though states, hospitals,
and medical professionals are establishing rules for deciding who most deserves
a ventilator if scarcity demands, Air Force Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Dorothy
Hogg says the service has a different game plan. “I am gonna do everything in
my power to get the ventilators that I need, where I need them, when I need
them, and I am not going to … be the person to say who gets one or who
doesn’t get one,” she told Air Force Magazine.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AFRICOM Review Confirms Civilians Killed in 2019 Somalia Airstrike
By Brian W. Everstine

A U.S. strike on al Shabaab militants in February 2019 killed two civilians in
addition to the intended targets, according to a new review of all U.S. Africa
Command strikes on violent extremist organizations in two theaters. The command
is now conducting quarterly reviews of allegations of civilian casualties in an
effort to increase the transparency of its operations in Libya and Somalia. The
first review, released April 27, focused on 91 airstrikes in the two countries
between Feb. 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020. “It is important that our partners
and the public understand our commitment to minimizing collateral damage while
conducting military operations,” AFRICOM boss Gen. Stephen Townsend said in a
release. “Where we come up short, we will admit it openly.”

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New App Lets Users Visualize Satellite Constellations
By Shaun Waterman

For all those who believe that they could do better than Blue Origin boss Jeff
Bezos or Space Development Agency chief Derek Tournear at designing
communications satellite constellations—there’s now an app for that.
Constellations, a new app from Lockheed Martin Space, lets users simply and
quickly visualize a globe-spanning network of satellites and shows easily how
changing one parameter, like the orbital altitude, impacts others, like the
number of satellites or ground stations needed.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Virtual Events Calendar: Donovan on “Aerospace Nation” & CMSI Town Hall
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Today, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Matthew Donovan
will appear in conversation with retired USAF Lt. Gen. David Deptula, dean of
AFA's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, as part of the think tank's
"Aerospace Nation" series (video of which will be posted on its <a
href="[link removed]">website</a> later
in the day), and the COVID-19 Military Support Initiative will host a <a
href="[link removed]">virtual
town hall</a> entitled “Self Care and Resiliency for Military Families during
COVID-19” from 3 p.m. - 4 p.m. EDT.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Advertisement ]
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Radar Sweep

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Snapshot: DOD and COVID-19

Here's a look at how the Defense Department is being impacted by and responding
to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Air Force Was Wrong to Force Out 14-Year Officer, Appeals Court Finds

Writing for the court, Circuit Judge Kathleen M. O'Malley found that then-Air
Force Secretary Michael Donley's policy change violated the existing Defense
Department instruction, which said that an officer who was less than six years
from retirement should be presumptively retained. She also said the guidance
failed to indicate how retention board members should interpret "the best
interests of the Air Force," making it confusing and unhelpful.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Pentagon Will Have to Live with Limits on F-35’s Supersonic Flights

An issue that risks damage to the F-35’s tail section if the aircraft needs to
maintain supersonic speeds is not worth fixing and will instead be addressed by
changing the operating parameters, the F-35 Joint Program Office told Defense
News in an April 24 statement. The deficiency, first reported by Defense News in
2019, means that at extremely high altitudes, the U.S. Navy’s and Marine
Corps’ versions of the F-35 jet can only fly at supersonic speeds for short
bursts of time before there is a risk of structural damage and loss of stealth
capability.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pompeo Condemns Iran's Launch of Military Satellite

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hammered Iran over its recent launch of a
military satellite, dismissing claims from Tehran that its space program is
intended for peaceful purposes.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Advertisement ]
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VA Health Chief Acknowledges a Shortage of Protective Gear for Its Hospital Workers

For weeks, nurses and other employees at Veterans Affairs hospitals have said
they were working with inadequate protective gear. Veterans Affairs Department
officials denied it. But in an interview, the physician in charge of the
country’s largest health-care system acknowledged the shortage—and said
masks and other supplies are being diverted for the national stockpile.

[link removed]
(Subscription Required)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Army Using IVAS Prototype in COVID-19 Efforts

The Army last week started using a prototype of the Integrated Visual
Augmentation System to detect fever in soldiers at Fort Benning, Ga., to combat
the COVID-19 pandemic. An adapted version of the digital thermal sensor in the
augmented reality battlefield heads-up display is being used to "rapidly assess
the temperature of hundreds of soldiers each day as they prepare for training on
an installation that hosts thousands of soldiers in dozens of courses, including
basic training and ranger school," according to an Army press release.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nigerien Air Force’s First Female Pilot Trains at Little Rock AFB

Capt. Ouma Laouali, the Nigerien air force’s first female pilot, accomplished
the next step in her pilot career April 22, by completing her training to become
a C-130 Hercules pilot in the C-130 Formal Training Unit’s six-month
international pilot training program at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One More Thing...
Russian Commandos Jump from 33,000 Feet over the Arctic in Unprecedented Exercise

The exercise highlighted Russia's ability to rapidly deploy special operations
forces in the inhospitable Arctic and pretty much anywhere else.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Advertisement ]
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Daily Report: [link removed]
- Contact Us: [link removed]
- Advertise With Us: [link removed]
- Purchase/Reprint: [link removed]

- Air Force Association: [link removed]
- Join AFA: [link removed]

- AF Mag on Facebook: [link removed]
- AF Mag on Twitter: [link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Published by the Air Force Association

All airforcemag.com material is under copyright of
the Air Force Association. All rights reserved.

The Air Force Association
1501 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA
22209-1198

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe or change your preferences, please visit the link below:
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------