Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for May 15, 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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Inside Elmendorf’s Massive ‘Moose Walk’
By Brian W. Everstine

When rows and rows of aircraft, 35 in total, lined up for the largest display of
airpower in recent years at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, they had
two audiences in mind: the Airmen on the ground that made it happen, and most
importantly, those who would see the photographs from abroad. The May 5 “Moose
Walk” included 26 F-22s, two C-12s, two C-130s, two E-3 Sentrys, and three
C-17s, in addition to HH-60s and a C-17 already in the air. It was a massive
display of readiness by the 3rd and 176th Wings at the Alaska base. Airmen
worked in shifts leading up to the event, combining a full day’s worth of
takeoffs and landings into one onslaught of aircraft. “The message is that
we’re ready. We’ve always been ready,” 3rd Wing Commander Col. Robert
Davis told Air Force Magazine in an interview. “And the challenges associated
with COVID-19 have not prevented us from being ready to defend the nation in our
NORAD alert mission, or to be able to project airpower, to deliver airpower to
combatant commanders.”

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Roper Sees High-Low Mix for Hypersonic Missiles
By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force plans a high/low mix of rocket-boosted and air-breathing
hypersonic missiles to give adversaries a troublesome and expensive defense
problem, service acquisition executive Will Roper said May 14. While the ARRW
missile is on track for operational service at the end of fiscal 2022, a
smaller, air-breathing missile will also be developed, he said. The “worst
thing” the U.S. could do is “give that adversary the benefit of only having
to look up or down, or the benefit of only having to worry about bombers but not
fighters,” Roper said.

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New Arsenal Plane Still ‘Very Nascent,’ Roper Says
By John A. Tirpak

A potential “clean sheet” Arsenal Plane for Air Force Global Strike Command
could be done with the Digital Century Series approach, but the budget likely
won’t allow for such a new start in the near future, service acquisition chief
Will Roper said. Roper said he is working on a “variety of options” for Air
Force Global Strike Command, and one of them is potentially a new Arsenal Plane
concept, but it is in a “very nascent” form. “My job is to have options so
that the number of bombers can be achieved,” Roper said of the goal of 220
bombers USAF leaders have been voicing lately.

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Ramstein C-130 Delivers Supplies to Italy as a Part of New NATO Initiative
By Brian W. Everstine

A C-130J from the 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, delivered
more than 30,000 pounds of COVID-19 relief supplies to Italy as part of a new
NATO initiative to quickly transmit equipment. The C-130J carried KN-95 masks,
surgical gowns, and COVID-19 test kits to Italian logistics hubs in Milan and
Rome, according to a U.S. Air Forces in Europe release. The flight was the first
in a series of planned operations to Italy to redistribute supplies and was
coordinated as part of NATO’s Rapid Air Mobility initiative, which began in
March to simplify procedures for relief flights by using NATO call signs to
speed up air traffic control clearances across Europe.

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Eglin Gets Speedy COVID-19 Test-Processing Capability
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Eglin Air Force Base’s 96th Medical Group can now get the results of COVID-19
tests within about an hour, instead of waiting up to three days for a lab at
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, to process them. The group is using
recently acquired test kits in conjunction with a molecular diagnostic
analyzer—a system previously used to check for the pathological culprits
behind illnesses such as pneumonia—to detect the new coronavirus in patient
samples, a base release said.

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Nuclear Weapons Official Nominated to Run AFLCMC
By Rachel S. Cohen

Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center boss Maj. Gen. Shaun Morris is nominated for
the top spot at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center. Morris is also up
for a promotion to lieutenant general. His nomination was sent to the Senate on
May 11. If confirmed, he will replace Lt. Gen. Robert McMurry, who has run
AFLCMC since May 2017. The Air Force did not say where McMurry will go next.

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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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Pentagon Fires Its Point Person for Defense Production Act

Jennifer Santos, the Pentagon’s industrial policy chief who oversees efforts
to ramp up production of masks and other equipment to help fight Covid-19, was
fired from her job this week and will move to a position in the Navy, according
to two people familiar with the matter.

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OPINION: Why the Military Can Use Emergency Powers to Treat Service Members with Trial COVID-19 Drugs

“Because the COVID-19 virus is new, there are as yet no FDA approved
treatments,” writes Jennifer Bard, a visiting Professor of Law at the
University of Florida. “As a result, military physicians are turning to either
treatments approved for other conditions or seeking access to newly developed
treatments, such as the antiviral Remdesivir, which to date has received FDA
emergency use approval only for COVID-19 patients with severe conditions.

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Trump Has Questions about the F-35′s Supply Chain. Here Are Some Answers.

During a May 14 cable news appearance, U.S. President Donald Trump blasted the
F-35’s global supply chain and hinted he might intercede to bring more work on
the Lockheed Martin-made jet back to the United States.

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OPINION: America Needs Spaceplanes Now, and Space-Based Missile Defenses As Soon as Possible

“Space planes would do much immediately, as well as in the coming decades, to
help America deter and defend against aggression in space,” write consultant
Norm Haller and Peter Vincent Pry, executive director of the Task Force on
National and Homeland Security. “A companion layer of space-based missile
defenses by the mid-2020s would initiate a robust American ability to deter and
defend against ballistic missile attacks.”

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FBI: China is Targeting U.S. Coronavirus Research through Cyberattacks

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the government’s top cybersecurity
agency warned that China is trying to hack American scientists and companies,
including those working on vaccines, which could jeopardize their work.

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In Remote Alaska, Changes Coming in How the Air Force Prepares for War

For decades, the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex has been used to prepare for
real-world missions, with pilots warned to watch out for bears and moose if they
must eject. But the range and its headquarters at Eielson Air Force Base are
taking on increasing importance as the Pentagon attempts to pivot to countering
China and Russia after years of focusing primarily on ground wars in the fight
against terrorism.

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Senator Pushes to Require National Cyber Director in Defense Authorization Bill

The head of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
wants to require a Senate-confirmed national cyber director in the coming annual
defense authorization bill.

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Space Force to Begin Specialized Warfare Training for New Officers

Starting this year, graduates of the Air Force undergraduate space training
school who transition to the Space Force will have the option to pursue
specialized career tracks such as orbital warfare, space electronic warfare,
space battle management, and space access and sustainment. Just like graduates
of Air Force pilot training choose a specialized career track flying fighters,
bombers, or large airlift planes, space professionals will have their own career
tracks focused on space missions.

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GAO Faults Pentagon Oversight of Sexual Offenses

Back in 2011, the Government Accountability Office urged the Pentagon to start
formally monitoring how military leaders were doing in combating sexual
harassment and assault, and the auditors also proposed establishing a Defense
Department system for tracking progress in the overall effort. At the time, a
top Pentagon official agreed fully in writing with the auditors’
recommendations and said both tasks would be done that year. But, more than
eight years later, neither job has been accomplished, GAO reported this week.

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U.S. Air Force Works Towards In-Flight Updates of F-16 Software

The service believes updating software on the fly will reduce fielding time to
its fleet by 50 percent, it said on May 12. USAF did not disclose how long it
currently takes to update the software of an F-16.

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‘Mass Breakout’ of Islamic State Group Fighters from Syrian Prisons Still a Risk, Pentagon Watchdog Says

Thousands of Islamic State group fighters held by the Syrian Democratic Forces
in Syria continue to pose a “high-impact risk of a mass breakout”—but
since the U.S. withdrawal from northeastern Syria, U.S. forces do not have
access to the prison facilities to assess the severity of that risk, the
Pentagon’s inspector general warned in a report released May 13.

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3D Mammograms Will Be Covered by TRICARE Starting This Month

Starting on May 29, TRICARE will cover Digital Breast Tomosynthesis—known as
3D mammography or DBT—under its provisional coverage program, according to
Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.). “This is a major victory for our female service
members and veterans covered under TRICARE,” McSally, a former A-10 pilot who
served in the Air Force for 26 years, said in a May 12 statement. “Breast
cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women, but when
detected early the overall chances of survival increase dramatically.”

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One More Thing...
Isolation Tips from a Former Astronaut and Retired USAF Colonel

Retired USAF Col. Greg Johnson, a former NASA astronaut, uses his experience in
space to give tips on how best to cope during isolation. It comes as many NATO
nations are asking people to stay at home to prevent the spread of COVID-19. He
was the pilot of STS-134, the final flight of the space shuttle Endeavour and
the penultimate flight of the Space Shuttle Program. He also flew F-15s
alongside NATO allies during operations in Iraq.

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