Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for June 4, 2020

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

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Goldfein and Wright: USAF Needs to Have ‘Difficult’ Conversations About Race
By Brian W. Everstine and Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The Air Force needs to have a sustained, uncomfortable, but important discussion
about different life experiences to begin to address racial disparities across
the service, the top uniformed Airmen said June 3. Chief of Staff Gen. David
Goldfein and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth Wright hosted a
two-hour virtual discussion June 3, taking a wide range of questions on racial
biases within the service and across the nation. The current civil unrest
sweeping the country is, to an extent, going on inside the Air Force and members
of the service need to start talking with each other to broaden their
perspectives, they said. “We’ve got to have the difficult conversations that
produce a greater understanding of each other inside our Air Force, where we are
a profession of arms, where everybody matters, everybody’s valued, and
everybody’s background is important,” Goldfein said.

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Esper Changes Course, Keeps Active-Duty Military in D.C. as Racial Tensions Flare
By Brian W. Everstine and Amy McCullough

Defense Secretary Mark Esper on June 3 abruptly reversed a plan made earlier in
the day to send home a portion of the Active-duty troops called to Washington to
quell civil unrest in the National Capital Region, following a meeting at the
White House. The Defense Department has deployed 1,600 Active-duty Soldiers to
D.C., flown in by several USAF mobility aircraft. The Associated Press reported
the Army was told earlier on June 3 to send 200 troops home, but the plan was
canceled hours later. Esper has come under increased scrutiny in recent days by
several high-ranking former military leaders, including former Defense Secretary
Jim Mattis and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen,
for allowing the military to be used as political pawns amidst the turmoil.

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USAF Identifies Airmen Killed in Grand Forks Shooting
By Amy McCullough

The Air Force identified the Airmen killed in a June 1 shooting inside a
dormitory at Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., as Airman 1st Class Natasha Raye
Aposhian, 21, and Airman 1st Class Julian Carlos Torres, 20. Both were assigned
to the 319th Reconnaissance Wing. Aposhian’s parents told Stars and Stripes
their daughter was a victim of domestic violence. The Air Force declined to
confirm details of the case, citing an ongoing investigation, but said Torres
was rushed to a local hospital where he died from his injuries.

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CBO Projects Space National Guard Price Tags
By Rachel S. Cohen

Creating a Space National Guard could cost nearly $500 million a year, plus
additional one-time costs, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found in
a new analysis. CBO studied two options: one based on an existing proposal for a
smaller Space National Guard, and another on a notional, larger proposal for a
Guard with up to 5,800 people. A smaller organization would cost about $100
million each year, while a larger model could need up to $490 million annually.
National Guard Bureau leaders want to repurpose existing Guardsmen who handle
space missions into the Space National Guard to keep costs down.

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Putin Nuclear Retaliation Statement Seen As Nothing New by Pentagon
By John A. Tirpak

A recent defense decree by Russian president Vladimir Putin says that country
can use nuclear weapons to retaliate against non-nuclear attacks—such as with
hypersonic weapons or massive cyber action—if the intent is to disable Russian
command and control. The statement, which laid out conditions for nuclear
response, came just after the Russian Defense Ministry discussed what it called
“provocative” actions by the U.S. and NATO, to include B-1 bomber flights
near Russia. But officials with the U.S. State Department and Department of
Defense, speaking on background, said the policy isn't actually new and doesn't
signal a change in the nuclear posture of either the U.S. or Russia.

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Why the U.S. Is Driving Allies to Buy Chinese UAVs
By Tobias Naegele

U.S. unmanned aerial vehicles are the best in the world, but allied nations are
barred from acquiring those systems under a 1987 voluntary non-proliferation
agreement that classifies them as equivalent to nuclear weapons. Now a new
report from the Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies argues the risks of
maintaining that policy are too high, and the rules must change or China will be
the beneficiary as U.S. allies are driven to Chinese arms.

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B-52s Train With Norwegian Fighters in the Arctic
By Brian W. Everstine

Four B-52s flew directly from North Dakota to the Arctic, integrating with
Norwegian F-35s and F-16s for a long-duration strategic bomber task force
mission on June 3. The mission is the latest in a series of bomber flights to
Europe, which have recently featured the non-nuclear-capable B-1. In this
flight, the four nuclear-capable B-52Hs flew from Minot Air Force Base and
refueled from KC-135s assigned to both the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF
Mildenhall, England, and the 168th Air Refueling Wing at Eielson Air Force Base,
Alaska, according to a U.S. Air Forces in Europe release. The bombers linked up
with the Norwegian aircraft for training over the Arctic Ocean and the Laptev
Sea.

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Virtual Events: Roper on the Dcode Virtual Series, and More
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Today, Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper will discuss topics including the
COVID-19 pandemic's national security and economic implications of the nation's
innovation ecosystem as part of the <a
href=""[link removed]">Dcode
Virtual series</a>, the Center for Strategy and International Studies will hold
a panel entitled <a
href-"[link removed]">"Covid-19
and the Military"</a> as part of its third-annual Future Strategy Forum, and the
COVID-19 Military Support Initiative will host an online town hall entitled <a
href="[link removed]">"Defense
Communities in Recovery."</a> Check out our <a
href="[link removed]">full calendar</a> to find
out how to register for these free events.

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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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Army Develops Model to Aid Epidemic Predictions

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Army researchers have developed a new
mathematical model that could improve future disease outbreak predictions based
on how information mutates as it is transmitted.

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GAO Flags Concerns about Procurement of DOD’s Early Warning Satellites

U.S. Space Force plans to deploy five missile-warning satellites by 2029 so far
is progressing on schedule but the service might be underestimating risks in the
program, the Government Accountability Office says in a new report.

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Artificial Intelligence at Core of Marine Officers’ ‘Big Ideas’ for Future of Force

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual reality, and other
technological advances are at the center of the “Big Ideas Exchange.” The
goal is moving the most promising idea from the theoretical to the practical as
quickly as possible.

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KBR to Provide Avionics Product and Lifecycle Analysis for USAF

KBR has won a $33.5 million task order to provide product and lifecycle analysis
of common avionics to the U.S. Air Force’s 638th Supply Chain Management Group
and the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center. All common avionics for the USAF
are managed by the SCMG and AFLCMC, including the Global Positioning System,
precision attack systems, ground radio communications, RQ-4 Global Hawk, B-52
Stratofortress, and the E-3 airborne warning and control systems.

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U.S. Air Force 3D Printing Partnership Reaches First Key Milestone

A collaboration between General Electric and the U.S. Air Force has reached its
first milestone as a sump cover for the F110 has been 3D-printed.

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Rapid Acquisition & Sustainment

The Air Force and U.S. defense establishment are breaking down barriers and
injecting speed, innovation, and creativity into the procurement system. Check
out our new page to learn more about these efforts.

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One More Thing...
Remembering Exercise Coronet Bat, 25 Years Later

Twenty-five years ago this week, a pair of B-1B Lancers took off from Dyess Air
Force Base, Texas, and circumnavigated the globe without stopping.

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