Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Sept. 9, 2020

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Edited by Amy McCullough with Rachel S. Cohen and Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

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Northrop Wins $13.3B Contract to Design New ICBMs
By Rachel S. Cohen

Northrop Grumman will officially move ahead as the sole company in the Air
Force’s competition to design a new intercontinental ballistic missile, under
a $13.3 billion contract, the service said Sept. 8. Northrop’s design for the
Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent will replace the 400 nuclear-tipped Minuteman
III missiles that are scattered in silos around Montana, North Dakota, and
Wyoming. The engineering and manufacturing development contract formally unseats
Boeing as the Air Force's future ICBM provider after more than 60 years as the
primary contractor.

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Joint Exercise Brings New Battle Management Ideas to Europe
By Rachel S. Cohen

U.S. and European military forces will try to push the boundaries of how the
alliance responds in the face of air and missile threats during the “Astral
Knight” exercise this month. The second annual Air Force-led exercise hopes to
mirror the Pentagon’s broader push to proactively connect conventional combat
forces with those in space and cyberspace, using more technology like artificial
intelligence and cutting bureaucratic hurdles. It’s an opportunity to more
closely integrate the U.S. military as well as the vehicles and weapons owned by
other countries. If all goes according to plan, the exercise could show whether
European countries could act on allied intelligence and early warnings to take
out a cruise missile or other threat—possibly fired by Russia or another
regional adversary—that is headed for U.S. assets or the homeland itself.

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USAF, Space Force Commanders May Approve Emergency Leave
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The Department of the Air Force has empowered unit commanders and civilian
directors to greenlight emergency leaves of absence for members of the Air and
Space Forces under certain circumstances, according to a Sept. 8 release. Prior
to this policy change, the Air Force Secretary had to sign off on such requests.
“This delegation gives commanders and civilian directors the flexibility to
assist their Airmen and Space Professionals directly and eliminates steps to get
this type of leave approved,” USAF’s Deputy Director of Military Force
Management Policy Lisa M. Truesdale said in the release. “Additionally, our
leaders can now aid their members faster and help prevent them from going into
an unfavorable leave status in such a difficult time.”

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California National Guard Using Satellites to Fight Wildfires
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The California National Guard is employing National Geospatial-Intelligence
Agency satellites in its fight against wildfires impacting the state. The
state’s National Guard has “pioneered the use of space-based systems” that
help it detect and map fires, as well as assess the damage they cause,
California Adjutant General Maj. Gen. David S. Baldwin told reporters Sept. 7.
The California Air National Guard worked with NGA “to be able to use the
systems in an unclassified mode to be able to share information ... primarily on
fire starts,” he said. The California National Guard is also collaborating
with the Defense Innovation Unit in hopes of leveraging Silicon Valley
artificial intelligence capabilities to speed the process of determining a
fire’s threat potential, he added. Baldwin said the CANG’s daily employment
of space-based systems—not only for wildfire response, but also for its
personnel’s wartime missions—demonstrates the need for a Space National
Guard.

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Virtual Events: Mitchell Institute Hosts Conversation with Patel, and More
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Today, the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies will
host a conversation with Israel Missile Defense Organization Director and
General Manager Moshe Patel. 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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In Stopgap Funding Bill, White House Wants Space Force Accounts Separated from Air Force

The White House submitted a list of items known as “anomalies” that it wants
Congress to address in a continuing resolution for fiscal 2021.

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USAF to Compete F-15EX Engine Production

A presolicitation notification posted on the beta.sam.gov government procurement
website on Sept. 3 said that a request for proposals for up to 461 engines to
cover Lots 2 to 8 of aircraft production will be issued in November. Deliveries
would begin in June 2023.

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Space Force Aims to Set Standard for Diversity, Inclusion

Some critics worry these public steps only serve to obscure larger systemic
problems the Space Force has inherited from the branch of the military it grew
out of, the U.S. Air Force.

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DOD Upholds JEDI Award to Microsoft

The Pentagon said Sept. 4 it’s sticking with its original decision to award
the multibillion dollar JEDI Cloud contract to Microsoft, six months after
telling a federal court it wanted to reconsider the original award to fix
alleged irregularities in the source selection process.

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White House Issues New Space Cybersecurity Policy Directive

The directive, SPD-5, is the government’s first comprehensive policy geared
toward space systems. Senior administration officials said the directive is not
meant to be prescriptive—and they don’t intend to ask agencies to mandate
its recommendations—but instead it provides principle-based best practices for
space operators and agencies that develop space systems.

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The JADC2 Revolution

U.S. forces are redefining joint operations to be more tightly integrated. Joint
all-domain command and control (JADC2) accelerates the speed and complexity of
warfare by tying forces together across the air, land, sea, space, and cyber
domains. For the latest on what this means to operators and the industry, check
out our JADC2 landing page.

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Air Force and Nano-Bio Materials Consortium Announce RFP, Pilot Program for AFRL-Industry Partnerships

The Air Force Research Laboratory, along with the governing council of the
Nano-Bio Materials Consortium, has approved a pilot program to enable AFRL
researchers to partner with industry collaborators to address key capability and
technology gaps in support of human performance monitoring and aeromedical
evacuation missions.

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Pentagon, Defense Contractors Are Out of Step on Tech Innovation, GAO Finds

The Pentagon wanted to fund ambitious research into future tech breakthroughs
but contractors spend most of their money on safer bets, the Government
Accountability Office has found.

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Boom to Explore Overture Configuration for USAF Executive Transport

Boom Supersonic has received a contract to partner with the US Air Force (USAF)
for government executive flight programme exploration.

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Sgt. Maj. Thomas Payne Will Be First Living Delta Force Member to Receive Medal of Honor

Seconds after U.S. military helicopters landed on their objective, Army
commandos knew their mission to rescue 70 Islamic State group-held hostages was
off to a chaotic start.

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One More Thing...
The Air Force Just Tested Robot Dogs as Backup for Security Forces

The robot dogs—developed by Ghost Robotics as part of an Air Force Research
Laboratory contract awarded back in April—were deployed last week to Nellis
Air Force Base in Nevada as part of an agile combat employment exercise during
which airmen scrambled to secure a simulated airfield against hostile attack.

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