Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Aug. 18, 2020

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

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Combat Controller Receives Silver Star for 2013 Battle
By Brian W. Everstine

Master Sgt. John Grimesey, the flight chief of the 21st Special Tactics Squadron
at Pope Field, N.C., on Aug. 14 received the military's Silver Star medal for
his actions during a 2013 firefight in Afghanistan. He saved the life of one
Soldier and killed more than 30 enemy fighters. Grimesey initially received the
Bronze Star medal for the battle, but the Air Force later upgraded the award as
part of a service review of valor medals. “I think about it every day. I even
dream about it,” Grimesey said of the battle, according to an Aug. 14 Air
Force release.

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F-15EX Headed to Oregon, Florida as USAF Decides on Fighter Bases
By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force will put its F-15EX schoolhouse in the location where the Air
National Guard now trains F-15C/D Eagle pilots, at Kingsley Field, Ore., the
service announced Aug. 14. Oregon will also receive the first operational
F-15EXs, but other Guard units giving up aging F-15C/Ds will either get F-15EX
or F-35As, USAF said. So far, the service hasn't announced any Active-duty units
that will receive the updated Eagles.

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DARPA’s AI Dogfighting Tournament Sets Stage for Future Autonomy
By Rachel S. Cohen

Pentagon researchers this week will pit man against machine in an aerial
dogfighting tournament to see if artificial intelligence algorithms can outsmart
each other and a human F-16 pilot in combat. The Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency’s AlphaDogfight Trials will host eight teams that have
developed advanced AI that can simulate up-close combat maneuvers in flight. The
program bolsters the technology needed for DARPA’s Air Combat Evolution (ACE)
program, which wants to automate air-to-air combat and build human trust in
machines that can act on their own. “Autonomy in air combat is certainly not
new,” ACE Program Manager Col. Daniel Javorsek said in a recent interview.
“The fact that it can be performed at human levels is something that's a bit
more new.”

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Silveria: More Work to Do to Curb Racism, Sexual Assault at USAFA
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The U.S. Air Force Academy must set a better example for students to discourage
sexual assault, harassment, and other forms of discrimination on campus, the
school's outgoing Superintendent Lt. Gen. Jay B. Silveria said on Aug. 17. His
remarks come at the beginning of the first school year after protests and
demonstrations calling for an end to systemic racism and police brutality roiled
America earlier this summer. The discussion also follows a January 2020 Pentagon
report that showed 40 sexual assaults were reported at USAFA during the
2018-2019 school year, up from 23 the year before.

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Puerto Rico ANG Gets Its Own Disaster Relief Beddown Systems
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The Puerto Rico Air National Guard recently received two of its own Disaster
Relief Beddown Systems, the 156th Wing announced in an Aug. 14 release. The
systems—which allow their owners to erect tent cities to house first
responders when responding to emergencies, such as the earthquakes that plagued
the territory beginning in December—were reallocated to the PRANG from the
North Carolina ANG’s 145th Airlift Wing and the North Dakota ANG’s 119th
Wing, according to the release. PRANG previously had to depend on other states
to lend out one of 20 systems that were scattered across the United States,
which made for expensive asks when natural disasters hit Puerto Rico—since
C-130s are normally required to haul the systems between locations—and slowed
the PRANG's response time to disasters.

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Virtual Events: Clark on Mitchell’s Nuclear Deterrence Forum, and More
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

On Aug. 19, the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies
will host a Nuclear Deterrence Forum featuring Lt. Gen. Richard M. Clark, the
Air Force's deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear
integration. 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> afterward.

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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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Esper Eyes $2.2 Billion Cut to Military Health Care

The proposed cut to the military health system over the next five years is part
of a sweeping effort Esper initiated last year to eliminate inefficiencies
within the Defense Department’s coffers. But two senior defense officials say
the effort has been rushed and driven by an arbitrary cost-savings goal, and
argue that the cuts to the system will imperil the health care of millions of
military personnel and their families as the nation grapples with COVID-19.

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US Forces-Korea Raises Its COVID-19 Alert Status as Cases Spike in Seoul

U.S. Forces-Korea, a relative success story in the battle against COVID-19, has
boosted its Health Protection Condition, or HPCON, level a notch for troops and
their families, following an outbreak of new cases in the metropolitan Seoul
area.

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‘No Lines on the Battlefield’: Pentagon’s New War-Fighting Concept Takes Shape

For most of this year, Pentagon planners have been developing a new joint
war-fighting concept, a document meant to guide how the Defense Department
fights in the coming decades. Now, with an end-of-year deadline fast
approaching, two top department officials believe the concept is coalescing
around a key idea—one that requires tossing decades of traditional thinking
out the window.

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U.S. Air Force Academy to Expand Space Education Curriculum

Cadets in the U.S. Air Force Academy’s space program learn how to build and
operate satellites. Starting this year, they will also take courses in space
law, strategy, and operations.

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Maj. Gen. Dunlop Created Toxic Environment in Top Secret Program Office, IG Finds

The two-star general who last year was fired from running the Pentagon’s
office that oversees some of the military’s most secret classified programs
repeatedly and publicly berated and belittled her subordinates, the Air Force
Office of Inspector General found. Maj. Gen. Dawn Dunlop also once grabbed a
subordinate’s hand without consent and scolded her over a “minor issue,”
the IG’s investigator said in a January 2020 report, obtained by Air Force
Times via the Freedom of Information Act.

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Air Force One Just Had a Near Miss with a Drone According to Reporter Onboard

Reports are emerging describing a potential near miss with an unmanned aircraft
system (UAS) while the C-32A that President Donald J. Trump was flying on was
making its final approach into Andrews Air Force base on the evening of Aug. 16.
POTUS was returning from Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., when the
reported near miss took place.

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Lockheed Wins F-16 FMS Deal Worth Up to $62 Billion

The Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a first-of-its-kind
indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract to sell foreign militaries
commoditized F-16 fighter jets off the latest Block 70 production line.

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AFRL Neurotechnology Partnership Aims to Accelerate Learning

The Individualized Neural Learning System, or iNeuraLS, is a new augmented
learning platform that will enable rapid learning by closed-loop modulation of
cognitive states during skill acquisition. Essentially, the Air Force Research
Laboratory team seeks to develop a capability that will give Airmen the ability
to rapidly acquire knowledge and skills on the fly through direct brain
interfaces with the help of neurotechnologies.

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New Policy Allows Privately Owned Firearms on Wright-Patt AFB for CCW Permit Holders

Base personnel will soon be able to request approval to transport licensed
firearms to and from the installation. Holders of a Federal Law Enforcement
Officer Safety Act permit, Ohio concealed carry permit, or another state’s
concealed carry permit that has a reciprocity with the state of Ohio, will be
authorized upon approval to transport secured, privately owned firearms in their
privately owned vehicles.

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One More Thing...
DARPA Trains AI to Understand Humans—in Minecraft

The popular game offers an arena for artificial intelligence to practice working
with humans in an environment where there's no real-world risk of casualties.

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