Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for May 11, 2020

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

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HASC Members Press FCC on Ligado Approval
By Rachel S. Cohen

Nearly two dozen House Armed Services Committee members wrote to the Federal
Communications Commission on May 7 to jump into the spectrum dispute that pits
the FCC and Ligado Networks against several federal agencies and national
security stakeholders. “The national security community was unanimous in the
judgement that approval of the use of certain portions of the L-band spectrum
could pose an unacceptable risk to the use of the Global Positioning System
(GPS) in the United States,” the bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote. “Other
federal and nonfederal users of this spectrum have raised serious concerns,
including satellite communications providers and airlines."

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USAF Executes $126 Million Contract for In-Demand N95 Masks
By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force’s Acquisition COVID-19 Task Force recently executed a new, $126
million contract to 3M to ramp up production of N95 masks to increase the supply
chain for the in-demand masks and resupply the Strategic National Stockpile. The
contract uses funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security
Act to expand the supply chain to produce 26 million more masks per month
beginning in October, with about 312 million masks produced over the next 12
months, according to an Air Force release. “Our past initiatives to empower
our acquisition workforce and to accelerate programs have put us in a good
position to respond to the present crisis with speed and agility,” said Will
Roper, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, who established
the service’s COVID-19 Task Force, in the release. “We are proud to be an
important part of the solution.”

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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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Amazon Files New Protest in Ongoing JEDI Cloud Saga
By Rachel S. Cohen

Amazon Web Services filed another protest May 4 to again push back on the
Pentagon’s premiere cloud infrastructure competition. Amazon is appealing
directly to the Pentagon over a perceived lack of clarity as the Defense
Department amends its requirements for the commercial Joint Enterprise Defense
Infrastructure cloud. The company already pumped the brakes on the JEDI program
by protesting DOD’s October 2019 contract award to Microsoft, leading a
federal judge to order the Pentagon to make changes. The new protest is private.
Now, AWS says the proposed changes do not meaningfully address the problems it
raised in its protest.

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How the New Jersey Air National Guard is Getting the Job Done During a Pandemic
By Brian W. Everstine

The New Jersey Air National Guard’s 177th Fighter Wing has a “no fail”
mission and must keep F-16s on alert to respond to threats to the country’s
northeast, even though the local community has been hit hard by the new
coronavirus. COVID-19 has created a “biologically contested environment right
here, in our backyard” for the wing, which operates out of the Atlantic City
International Airport. The wing has shut down most access to the base, screening
all visitors, and even quarantining crews before they go on alert to ensure that
the wing’s F-16s and pilots are ready, the wing’s commander Col. Bradford
Everman said in an interview with Air Force Magazine. “The 177th Fighter Wing,
like really the rest of the Department of Defense, we don't have that
opportunity to take a knee, we can't just shut down for a week or for a
month,” Everman said. “We don't have that option. We have to continue
getting the job done, because we have to continue defending America, our states,
and our communities.”

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‘Letters to Lackland’ Encouraging BMT Trainees During COVID-19 Pandemic
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

One Airman’s grassroots initiative to lift up Air Force basic trainees during
an unprecedented moment in history has grown into a global movement. Airman 1st
Class Cailey Brislin, who works in the 434th Squadron Aviation Resource
Management at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, was inspired to start the
“Letters to Lackland” initiative last month after rediscovering encouraging
notes she’d received while completing Basic Military Training at Joint Base
San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, according to a 47th Flying Training Wing release.
Air Force Magazine reached out to the 37th Training Wing to find out how other
Airmen and civilians can get in on the letter-writing action and help encourage
potential future Airmen.

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Virtual Events: Space Force Vice Commander on Mitchell Institute’s ‘Aerospace Nation,’ & More
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

On May 12, U.S. Space Force Vice Commander Lt. Gen. David Thompson will appear
in conversation with retired USAF Lt. Gen. David Deptula, dean of AFA's Mitchell
Institute for Aerospace Studies, on the latest installment of its <a
href="[link removed]">"Aerospace
Nation"</a> series, and the COVID-19 Military Support Initiative will host a
virtual town hall entitled <a
href="[link removed]">"Healthcare
for Military Families During COVID-19"</a> featuring representatives from the
Defense Health Agency and National Military Family Association.

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Radar Sweep

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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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Pandemic Spending Won't Prevent the Next Military Pay Raise, Lawmaker Says

Service members can expect another pay raise next year, despite the pressure on
defense budgets from the trillions the government has already spent to combat
the novel coronavirus pandemic, the ranking member of the House Armed Services
Committee said May 7.

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VOX Space Signs Deal to Fly LauncherOne from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam

VOX Space, the Virgin Orbit subsidiary focused on the national security market,
has signed an agreement with the U.S. Air Force that allows the company’s
LauncherOne to fly missions from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

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Pentagon Wants Better Data for Its Predictive Aircraft Maintenance AI

The Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center is looking for ideas on
how to improve the way it can use artificial intelligence technologies to
predict when the Defense Department’s thousands of planes, helicopters, and
unmanned aerial vehicles need maintenance and repairs. The JAIC issued a request
for information May 7 indicating it has run into challenges in its pathfinder
project using AI to predict maintenance on H-60 helicopters and their T700
engines.

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Esper Orders SDA to Link C2 Networks for All-Domain Ops

Joint All-Domain Command and Control is a way for the individual service C2
networks to "all have the same networking infrastructure to talk to one
another," says Space Development Agency Director Derek Tournear.

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U.S. Defense Firms Hiring Thousands Amid Record Unemployment

As U.S. unemployment reached its highest level since the Great Depression amid
the coronavirus pandemic, some of America’s largest defense firms are hiring
thousands of workers to build fast-flying missiles, satellites, and nuclear
weapons.

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Peters Presses Air Force on Long-Promised Cleanup of Wurtsmith Contamination

Sen. Gary Peters is upset the Air Force says it's using $13.5 million allocated
for cleaning up drinking water contaminants at the former Wurtsmith Air Force
Base, Mich., to do further study, rather than "tangible" cleanup projects in the
area. The funding was part of $60 million that Congress provided last year to
the Defense Department to address contamination by certain perfluoroalkyl and
polyfluoroalkyl substances known as PFAS at decommissioned military bases.

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Air Force Academy Starts Lifting Some Coronavirus Restrictions

The Air Force Academy is starting to reopen some facilities and lift
restrictions that were imposed to try to slow the spread of coronavirus. The
Academy on May 11 will lift the “official business only” restriction, which
was put in place March 23 and only allowed access to people who work or live on
the installation or who needed medical services.

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One More Thing...
Sources: Trump Administration Drafting 'Artemis Accords' Pact for Moon Mining

The Trump administration is drafting a legal blueprint for mining on the moon
under a new U.S.-sponsored international agreement called the Artemis Accords,
people familiar with the proposed pact told Reuters. The agreement would be the
latest effort to cultivate allies around NASA’s plan to put humans and space
stations on the moon within the next decade, and comes as the civilian space
agency plays a growing role in implementing American foreign policy. The draft
pact has not been formally shared with U.S. allies yet.

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