Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for May 4, 2020

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

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Space Force Mulls New Opportunities for Enlisted Airmen
By Rachel S. Cohen

Enlisted Airmen who sign up for the Space Force can expect to see a broader
range of career opportunities than they had during their time in Air Force, the
service’s senior enlisted adviser told Air Force Magazine in an exclusive
interview. Chief Master Sgt. Roger Towberman, who formally joined the Space
Force April 3 to help chart the fledgling service’s direction, said enlisted
personnel could take on multiple specialties over the course of their career.
“I don't believe that we'll be able to bin and specialize like they do in the
Air Force, so that means their jobs will be different,” Towberman said April
30. “What you're being asked to do may change more than it does in the Air
Force just because our small numbers will require that.”

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Brown’s CSAF Confirmation Hearing Slated for May 7
By Rachel S. Cohen

Pacific Air Forces boss Gen. C.Q. Brown Jr. will get his shot at becoming the
Air Force’s next Chief of Staff at his Senate confirmation hearing scheduled
for May 7. The Senate Armed Services Committee plans to vet Brown, Navy
Secretary nominee Kenneth Braithwaite, and Deputy Under Secretary Of Defense For
Policy nominee James Anderson in its second in-person hearing since returning
from an extended recess due to the coronavirus pandemic. SASC will "follow
guidelines developed in consultation with the Office of the Attending Physician,
the Senate Sergeant at Arms, and the Senate Rules Committee to protect the
health of members, witnesses, staff, and the public,” the committee said.
“This includes maintaining 6-foot social distance spacing in the hearing
room.”

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Family Calls USAF Report on Fatal T-38 Crash ‘Grossly and Unjustly Incomplete’
By Brian W. Everstine

A T-38C instructor pilot failed to take control during a dangerous situation as
the student pilot made an incorrect input during a formation landing in November
2019 at Vance Air Force Base, Okla., causing the Talon to flip and skid to a
stop, killing both, according to an Air Force investigation. The Nov. 21, 2019,
crash at the training base killed instructor Col. John “Matt” Kincade, 47, a
highly regarded pilot with the reputation as one of the best T-38 instructors at
Vance, and 2nd Lt. Travis Wilkie, 23, a student with a “stellar reputation as
a hard worker,” according to an Air Education and Training Command Accident
Investigation Board report released May 1. Wilkie’s family, in a statement,
refuted the findings of the report as “grossly and unjustly incomplete,"
saying the Air Force is not "doing right by our Airmen and Airwomen by mandating
student pilots land in formation in a plane so old that it doesn’t perform as
responsively as needed to prevent loss of life.”

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Air Force Realigns PEOs to Give Bombers More Focus, Capture Mobility ‘Synergies’
By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force is reshuffling the oversight of its fighters, bombers, and
mobility aircraft, separating fighters and bombers and putting tankers and the
Open Skies recap program together with other airlift programs. The
reorganization is meant to put greater emphasis on bombers and extract the
efficiencies of putting all mobility types under one leader. The replacement of
Air Force One will retain a separate Program Executive Officer, the new B-21
bomber will still be run by the Rapid Capabilities Office, and the F-35 Joint
Strike Fighter will still be run by the Joint Program Office.

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Long-Standing Problem with F-16 Landing Gear Caused December 2019 Mishap at Kunsan
By Brian W. Everstine

A long-standing problem with F-16 landing gear caused the December 2019 crash of
a Viper upon landing at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea. The documented problems
with actuators and brackets on the main landing gear of F-16 Block 32 and Block
40 aircraft prompted an Air Force-wide time compliance technical order, which
had not yet been addressed on the 80th Fighter Squadron F-16 involved in the
mishap. The pilot was able to eject, and the F-16 was destroyed at a loss of
$19.4 million, according to an Air Force investigation released April 29. F-16
units have until March 2, 2022, to implement the order, but after the mishap,
the 8th Fighter Wing at Kunsan fixed its entire F-16 fleet, according to the Air
Force.

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Barksdale B-52 Loses Panel During New Orleans Flyover
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

A B-52 assigned to the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., lost an
access panel during a May 1 flyover to honor individuals on the frontlines of
the fight against the new coronavirus in New Orleans. The panel was recovered,
and no one was injured in the incident, but a safety investigation is planned,
wing spokesperson 2nd Lt. Aileen Lauer told Air Force Magazine later the same
day.

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B-1s Deploy to Guam for First Time Since Continuous Bomber Presence Ends
By Brian W. Everstine

Four B-1B Lancers and about 200 airmen deployed to Andersen Air Force Base,
Guam, on May 1 as a short “bomber task force” rotation, just two weeks after
the service ended its Continuous Bomber Presence mission in the Pacific. The
B-1s, from the 9th Bomb Squadron at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, will train with
other USAF and allied units, and conduct “strategic deterrence missions to
reinforce the rules-based international order” in the region. It is the third
time within nine days that B-1s have flown in the theater. Two B-1s from the
37th Bomb Squadron at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., flew directly to train
near Japan on April 22 and two B-1Bs also from Ellsworth flew directly to the
South China Sea.

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Watchdog: Afghan Air Force Faces Drop in Flying Hours, Available Aircraft
By Brian W. Everstine

The Afghan Air Force lost 12 aircraft in the first quarter of 2020, an 8 percent
drop of its flying fleet. The service also decreased its flying hours by a
quarter, according to a new watchdog report. The Special Inspector General for
Afghanistan Reconstruction states that the USAF-led Train, Advise, Assist
Command-Air mission reported a drop of 12 available Afghan Air Force aircraft in
the beginning of this year, including six Russian-made Mi-17s that “expired”
or were damaged, plus a new MD-530 attack helicopter lost in combat. SIGAR also
notes that the U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan is no longer reporting the number
of Taliban-initiated attacks, as part of negotiations toward a peace process.

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Virtual Events: O’Shaughnessy on the Mitchell Institute’s ‘Aerospace Nation,’ and more
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Today, Air Force Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy, commander of U.S. Northern Command
and North American Aerospace Defense Command, will appear in virtual
conversation with retired USAF Lt. Gen. David Deptula, dean of AFA's Mitchell
Institute for Aerospace Studies, in the next installment of the think tank's
"Aerospace Nation" series. The event will tentatively be posted on Mitchell's <a
href="[link removed]">website</a> later
in the day.

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Radar Sweep

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Legendary Special Operations Aviator Reveals Bin Laden Mission Details for the First Time

It was just 30 seconds into the mission to kill Osama bin Laden in May 2011
when special operations Chinook pilot Chief Warrant Officer 5 Douglas Englen
heard the call of “Black Hawk down” come over his radio. Black Hawk 2′s
pilot alerted Englen—the pilot in charge of the air operation that
night—that Black Hawk-1 had just crashed inside the 9/11 mastermind’s
Abbottabad compound.

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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.

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Russian Arms Production Slowed by Coronavirus, Analysts Find

A report drawing on anonymized phone data, and other open-source information
belies Vladimir Putin’s everything’s-under-control message.

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Months After Deadly Accidents, AFSOC Resumes Parachute, Dive Training

After a five months hiatus, Air Force Special Operations Command has reinstated
parachute, dive, and mountaineering training.

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USAF Releases M7.2+ Upgrade to More Than 600 F-16s

The U.S. Air Force has released the latest software and hardware upgrade planned
for more than 600 of its Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon combat aircraft,
the service disclosed on April 28.

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SEALs Tried to Locate U.S. Citizen Taken by Afghan Militants

In the days following the January capture of an American contractor in
Afghanistan, Navy SEAL commandos raided a village and detained suspected members
of a Taliban-linked militant network, The Associated Press has learned.

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Trump Authorizes Activation of More Troops to Fight Drug Trafficking

The Commander in Chief authorized the activation of up to 200 members of the
Selected Reserve onto Active duty to support counter-narcotic operations in the
Western Hemisphere.

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Space Executive: Government Can’t Save Every Startup but Can Do a Lot

As space investors become more conservative during the current economic
downturn, they are less inclined to fund long-shot ventures and more likely to
support companies that have a government contract. Even in today’s environment
“there are still investors out there with capital that they’re looking to
deploy toward great ideas,” said Josh Brost, vice president of business
development and government affairs at Relativity Space.

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Army Defends West Point Graduation Plans; Trump to Speak

Cadets must return to campus anyway for medical evaluations before they can
become officers, the Army Secretary said, and all will be tested for the
coronavirus.

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Edwards Expands Test Capabilities with T-7A Distributed Test Operations

During this time of continued Air Force Innovation, the T-7A Test Team of the
Air Force’s new pilot trainer, the T-7A Red Hawk, has developed innovative
ways to maintain the Air Force Test Center’s level of excellence in support of
the T-7A Test Program.

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MetaVR to Assist USAF Reaper Training

The Air Force’s Joint Systems Integration Lab ordered an additional 171 MetaVR
Virtual Reality Scene Generator licenses for the MALET-JSIL Aircrew Trainer.

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One More Thing...
Astronaut Jessica Meir Returns Home to a 'Completely Different Planet'

After nearly seven months at the International Space Station, the Maine native
is grateful for salads—but still processing the gravity of a world in
quarantine.

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