 |
 |
|
June 30, 2020
|
|
Edited by Amy McCullough with Brian W. Everstine, Alyk Russell Kenlan and Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory
|
| View In Browser |
 RPA Training Next is slated to start small-group experiments this summer. Air Education and Training Command video screenshot. |
|
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory
Air Education and Training Command’s RPA Training Next effort wants to overhaul how the Air Force builds future RPA pilots and sensor operators. More specifically, it wants to give these Airmen more personalized journeys through the RPA training pipeline instead of making them adhere to a one-size-fits-all path to their careers.
|
|
|
By Brian W. Everstine
U.S. Air Forces in Europe will host its own Advanced Battle Management System experiment next spring. The exercise will bring in allies and take advantage of new Joint All-Domain Command and Control capabilities to speed up intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance targeting, USAFE boss Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian said at a virtual June 29 Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event. Harrigian said his goal with ABMS is to use “layered ISR capabilities” to “refine our timelines, to take data from different sensors, and provide those to shooters that would be available to us.” The Air Force has a series of the experiments planned, each hosted by different commands.
|
 |
|
By Brian W. Everstine
The unprecedented pace of bomber task force deployments to Europe recently has allowed USAF's strategic forces to train with allies they haven’t flown alongside before in areas generally unfamiliar to the bombers, the head of U.S. Air Forces in Europe said. The task force flights, which recently have been flown direct from the continental U.S., have ventured into the Black Sea, the Baltics, and even the Arctic to demonstrate how well U.S. Strategic Command and Air Force Global Strike Command are able to integrate with allies, USAFE boss Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian said June 29 at a virtual Mitchell Institute event. “We were able to generate these sorties and coordinate them from across Europe to facilitate training opportunities, demonstrate interoperability, and, at
the end of the day, ensure ... we continue to refine what I’ll call our muscle memory to operate across Europe,” Harrigian said.
|
|
|
By Alyk Russell Kenlan
The first operationally ready Negatively Pressurized Conex arrived in Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany, on June 24. The adapted shipping container can fit onto C-17 and C-5M aircraft, and can safely transport up to 23 COVID-19 patients without risking contamination of the aircrew or aircraft, according to a USAF release. The NPC has been in development since early April, when Air Mobility Command and Air Force Materiel Command leaders called for a method to move large numbers of COVID-19 patients, should the need arise. “The NPC allows us to perform those life-saving movements in only hours,” said Col. Timothy Mach, Air Mobility Command Requirements Division chief.
|
 |
|
By Alyk Russell Kenlan
Airmen from Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska recently finished the first bombs for the 354th Fighter Wing’s F-35A strike fighters. Eielson, which received its first two F-35s on April 21, is the first Pacific Air Forces base to host F-35s. The fighter delivery and munitions manufacturing are part of a shift for the 354th Fighter Wing as they start a combat mission alongside ongoing Red Flag-Alaska training exercises.
|
|
|
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory
On July 1, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein will appear in conversation with Brookings Institution Senior Fellows Michael E. O’Hanlon and Frank A. Rose where they're discuss the state of the service, innovation efforts, recruitment, the Space Force's development, and more. Learn more about the event or register for the webcast here.
|
 |
| |
| |
Radar Sweep
|
| |
Snapshot: DOD and COVID-19
Air Force Magazine
Here's a look at how the Defense Department is being impacted by and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
|
|
White House Briefs Republicans on Russian Bounties
POLITICO
The White House briefed eight House Republicans on intelligence that Russia offered bounties to Afghan militants who targeted U.S. troops for assassination, according to Trump administration officials and congressional sources. Noticeably absent from the briefing, which are traditionally bipartisan affairs, were any Democrats, despite controlling both House panels. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is expected to bring a group of Democratic members to the White House for a briefing Tuesday at 8 a.m. EDT.
|
|
Iran Issues Arrest Warrant for Trump Over Killing of Top Commander Qasem Soleimani
CNBC
Iran’s government has issued an arrest warrant for U.S. President Donald Trump over the killing of its top commander, Gen. Qasem Soleimani, in January, the country’s semiofficial Fars news agency reported June 29.
|
|
Testing More, the Air Force is Seeing a Coronavirus Spike Among Basic Trainees in San Antonio
San Antonio Express-News (Subscription Required)
Coronavirus cases have accelerated among Air Force recruits in San Antonio since the service ramped up testing five weeks ago, including a recent spike of 13 cases in one week.
|
|
L3Harris Wins $900M Air Force IDIQ to Build Simulator Architecture, Security Ops Center
GovCon Wire
L3Harris Technologies has secured a 10-year, $900M contract to help the U.S. Air Force design, produce, deploy, and sustain a common architecture for training simulators.
|
|
Air Force, Navy Sign Memo Establishing Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling Service-Lead Transfer
USAF release
Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Stephen W. Wilson and Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. William K. Lescher signed a Memorandum of Agreement June 24 transferring the lead responsibility of Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Washington, D.C., from the Navy to the Air Force. While the base will remain under Navy authority until the new fiscal year in October, the memorandum signature signifies the next milestone in the transfer process. “More than half of the mission sets on JBAB fall under the Air Force, so it made sense for us to assume the responsibility for prioritizing installation and mission-support resourcing at the base,” Wilson said.
|
|
New Iranian Missile Could Strike Central Europe: Analysis
Breaking Defense
So far, Iran says it officially limits the maximum range of its ballistic missiles to 2,000 km; sufficient to reach Israel and Saudi Arabia, the stated foes of the Iranian regime. The U.S. government maintains that Iran’s Satellite Launch Vehicle development is a cover for building long-range ballistic missiles and this analysis does not contradict that assertion.
|
|
The Surge Nobody’s Talking About: The U.S. War in Somalia
The War Horse
For the better part of two decades, U.S. military operations in Somalia have been shrouded in secrecy. In 2002 or 2003, President George W. Bush sent Special Forces and CIA officers to Somalia to capture or kill members of al-Qaeda believed to be responsible for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. In January 2007, the Bush administration carried out its first airstrike against suspected members of al-Qaeda in Somalia using an AC-130 gunship. Four and a half years later, the United States, under President Obama, launched its first publicly acknowledged drone strike in Somalia. From 2012 to the end of the Obama administration, the U.S. Africa Command, which oversees operations in Somalia, publicly declared it had conducted a grand
total of 33 airstrikes in Somalia (15 more strikes have also been alleged, though not confirmed).
|
|
National Guard Says F-16s Circled Madison Airport After Warning Light Malfunction; Jet Landed Safely
Wisconsin State Journal
Two F-16 fighter jets circled the Madison airport at low altitude Tuesday after a faulty warning light led a Wisconsin Air National Guard pilot to cancel his planned mission. According to a statement from the Wisconsin Air National Guard, the pilot landed safely after a caution light went on during a routine flight from Truax Field.
|
|
Former Air Force Civilian Allegedly Swiped $1 Million Cash Advance on Government Credit Card
Task and Purpose
From March 2014 to Sept. 2017, Johnson, a travel coordinator in the Office of the Air Force Secretary, allegedly used a government-issued Citibank card to obtain over $1.1 million in cash advances at Bank of America branches in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., wrote U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur.
|
| |
One More Thing
More Fragments from 1952 Air Force Plane Crash Found in Alaska Glacier
The Associated Press
A lucky Buddha figurine, a flight suit, several 3-cent stamps, a crumpled 1952 Mass schedule for St. Patrick’s Church in Washington, D.C., and 480 bags containing individual human remains. Those were among the items recovered this month from Alaska’s Colony Glacier, where an annual somber search continues for human remains and debris after a military plane crashed 67 years ago, officials said Friday.
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 
|
|
