Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Aug. 13, 2020

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Edited by Amy McCullough with Rachel S. Cohen and Brian W. Everstine

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Andrews Huey Shot At, Makes Emergency Landing in Virginia
By Brian W. Everstine

An Air Force UH-1N Huey took small arms fire and conducted an emergency landing
during a training flight west of Washington, D.C., on Aug. 10. The Huey, part of
the 1st Helicopter Squadron at Joint Base Andrews, Md., was flying an instrument
approach to the Manassas, Va., airport when it was hit by a bullet about 10
miles northwest, near Middleburg, Va., in affluent Loudon County. An aircrew
member sustained a minor injury, but the helicopter, which was flying about
1,000 feet above ground level at the time, landed safely. The aircraft was
damaged by the bullet, according to the statement.

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Air Force Goes for the Gold with Advanced Manufacturing Olympics
By Rachel S. Cohen

The Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office and its partners want more than 60 teams
to channel the speed and precision of the world’s top athletes as they chase a
new standard in airworthy, 3D-printed plane parts. The “Advanced Manufacturing
Olympics,” which are already underway and will end with a online showcase in
October, will test the limits of innovative new manufacturing techniques that
can lead to faster maintenance turnaround, cheaper upkeep, and more flexible
flight operations. Sixty-four teams from industry, government, and academia are
vying for a $1 million pot of prize money spread across five challenges.

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TRANSCOM: Draft Defense Bills Keep Enough Tankers to Bridge the Gap to KC-46
By Brian W. Everstine

Draft versions of the 2021 defense policy bill in both the House and Senate will
keep enough legacy tankers in the Air Force to “bridge” the fleet to the
point where the KC-46 will become fully operational without extensive stress on
the military’s refueling backbone, the head of U.S. Transportation Command
said. While the Air Force called for cutting 29 KC-135s and KC-10s, House and
Senate versions of the 2021 defense policy bill block most of those retirements
at a time when TRANSCOM boss Gen. Stephen R. Lyons says refueling is the most
stressed part of his command. “We were about to reduce the active component
tanker capacity by 30 percent or more against a force that’s already pressing
deploy-to-dwell ratios,” Lyons said during a Foundation for the Defense of
Democracies online event. “The leadership, the members on the Hill, were very
attuned to the issue.”

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B-2s Deploy to Diego Garcia
By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force’s stealth bombers have returned to the Pacific. Three B-2s
arrived Aug. 12 at Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia from Whiteman Air Force
Base, Mo., for the first Spirit bomber task force since a January 2019
deployment to Hawaii. The deployment marks the first time B-2s have deployed to
the Pacific since the service’s continuous bomber presence ended in April.
“This Bomber Task Force is our National Defense Strategy in action,” Lt.
Col. Christopher Conant, task force commander, said in a release. “We are
sharpening our lethality while strengthening relationships with key allies,
partners, and our sister-service teammates.”

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Combat Hammer Underway at Hill
By Brian W. Everstine

Bomb builders at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, this week are testing weapons for
F-35As, B-1s, and MQ-9s as part of an in-depth combat evaluation exercise
looking at the effectiveness of the bombs from separate aircraft. The 86th
Fighter Weapons Squadron, the military’s sole group tasked with testing the
effectiveness of precision weapons, conducts the regular Combat Hammer
evaluation at the Utah Test and Training Range. This year’s event includes
F-35s from both Hill and Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., along with B-1s from
Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., and MQ-9s from Creech Air Force Base, Nev.

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Virtual Events: RCO Directors on Mitchell’s Space Power Forum, and More
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

On Aug. 13, the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies
will host its “Space Power Forum: DAFRCO/SpRCO | The Need for Specialized
Acquisition Offices” event, featuring Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office
Director and Program Executive Officer Randall G. Walden and Space Force Rapid
Capabilities Office Director and Program Executive Officer Michael W. Roberts.
Event video will tentatively be posted to the think tank's <a
href="[link removed]">website</a>
and <a href="[link removed]">YouTube
page</a> afterwards.

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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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U-2 Makes Mildenhall Emergency Landing

A Lockheed Martin U-2S Dragon Lady, tail number 68-10337, made an emergency
landing at RAF Mildenhall, U.K., gliding in after engine failure on Aug. 10.

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Iran Is Our Top Priority, Says Senior US Commander In Middle East

Countering the threat from Iran is the U.S. military’s top priority in the
Middle East, America’s top commander in the region said Aug. 12, blaming
rocket attacks from Shiite militia groups in Iraq for hampering U.S. efforts to
defeat ISIS in the region.

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Russia Makes Open Skies Treaty Flight over US Military Bases in Germany

A Russian surveillance plane flew over Ramstein Air Base on Aug. 11 during its
second Open Skies treaty flight this year through German airspace, military
officials said. The Russian Air Force Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft also had a look at
Spangdahlem Air Base and flew near U.S. Army bases in Bavaria, officials said.

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DOD Drafts Guidelines For Laser Design

As the military rushes to deploy new laser and microwave weapons, it doesn’t
want to end up buying a welter of incompatible systems that don’t work well
together, as happened so often in Afghanistan and Iraq. So the Pentagon’s
directed energy office has tapped a veteran of Navy laser programs, Christopher
Behre, to draft technical guidelines for all the programs to follow.

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Combat Controller’s Valor Award to Be Upgraded to Silver Star

The Air Force on Aug. 14 will award Master Sgt. John Grimesey, the flight chief
of the 21st Special Tactics Squadron at Pope Field, North Carolina, the Silver
Star for his heroism during a 2013 battle in Afghanistan.

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Air Force Announces Second Set of New Scholarships for HBCU Students

The Department of the Air Force announced this week it has extended more than
100 scholarship offers to new students attending Historically Black Colleges and
Universities in the fall of 2020, as part of its efforts to increase diversity
in its officer ranks. The Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps coordinated
with leadership within Junior ROTC and its aviation program, the AFJROTC Flight
Academy, to find rising college freshmen that had demonstrated leadership
ability, aviation competencies, a propensity to serve in the U.S. military, and
an interest in attending an HBCU.

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Six Months into VA's 5G-Enabled Hospital Project

The pandemic emerged early in its existence, but the infrastructure is already
providing a foundation for health care innovation, an official said.

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OPINION: Infertility Was Distressing. The Military Made It Even More Complicated.

“For service members like me, Tricare health insurance and the limited number
of military medical facilities offering fertility treatments add more stress to
an already emotional process,” writes Victoria Chamberlain, a U.S. Army
veteran who now works as a reporter for the Guns and America public media
collaborative at WAMU.

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One More Thing...
Take a Look at These Incredible Shots of Russia’s Sole Completed Lun-Class Ekranoplan

Known as Ekranoplan in Russia, the ground effect vehicle or WIG (short for
wing-in-ground-effect) plane is a vehicle that is designed to attain sustained
flight over a level surface (usually over the sea) by making use of ground
effect, the aerodynamic interaction between the wings and the surface. The
cushion of air reduces drag allowing the WIG to carry significant payload over
long distances, very fast and very low: this makes a WIG equipped with missiles
difficult to detect and a significant threat to any enemy warship.

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