Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Sept. 14, 2020

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Edited by Amy McCullough with Rachel S. Cohen, Brian W. Everstine and John A. Tirpak

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Barrett, Brown to Kick Off AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference Sept. 14
By Amy McCullough

The Air Force Association’s annual Air, Space & Cyber Conference will kick off
Sept. 14 with Air Force Secretary Barbara M. Barrett and Chief of Staff Gen.
Charles Q. Brown Jr. each addressing a live, virtual audience. This year’s
conference, which runs through Sept. 16, will be held virtually due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, but still brings together a packed lineup of U.S. Air Force,
U.S. Space Force, Defense Department, and industry experts, providing direct
insights into senior leaders' plans, policies, and vision while also
highlighting emerging trends.

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Space Force Looks at Readiness Through Fresh Eyes
By Rachel S. Cohen

The Space Force is figuring out how to measure military space readiness, an
analysis that will affect how the service trains its members and upgrades its
technology. “A lot of times, readiness is described as preparing to deploy or
preparing to accomplish your mission at some point in the future,” Lt. Gen. B.
Chance Saltzman, the Space Force’s chief operations officer, told Air Force
Magazine Sept. 11. “You do training, you perform maintenance activities, ...
so that, if called upon, you can do your mission at a high level. But if you
think about it, our space assets are largely doing their wartime mission on a
day-to-day basis, and so we have to perpetually be ready.” Identifying where
the service is struggling will shape the new service's fiscal 2022 budget
request.

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Space Force to Celebrate 1st Birthday with Personnel Picks, Promotion Plans
By Rachel S. Cohen

With its first birthday a few months away, the Space Force is preparing to
unveil a slew of personnel, policy, and culture decisions that will set it apart
from the other armed forces. The service plans to announce by its one-year
anniversary on Dec. 20 which Airmen in fields like cyber, intelligence, and
acquisition are accepted into the Space Force. Service officials want to get rid
of promotion tests for enlisted Airmen and instead use boards that focus on the
best career assignments for people to help them advance, rather than simply
raising their ranks or holding them back. And, yes—dress uniforms are coming.

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Soldier Receives Medal of Honor for Saving Dozens of Hostages in Daring Iraq Raid
By Brian W. Everstine

U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Thomas P. Payne received the Medal of Honor during a Sept.
11 ceremony at the White House for a 2015 mission during which he led a rescue
that liberated 75 captives facing execution at the hands of the Islamic State
group. Payne is the first service member to receive the Medal of Honor for
actions during the fight against ISIS. “Pat, you embody the righteous glory of
American valor,” President Donald J. Trump said during the ceremony. During
the Oct. 22, 2015, mission, Payne repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire,
running multiple times into a burning and collapsing building to save dozens of
hostages set to be executed by ISIS.

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Bomber Task Force Sends B-1s to the Arctic, Near Africa
By Brian W. Everstine

Three B-1Bs flew a long-range bomber task force mission on Sept. 10, starting
from Texas and transiting through the East Siberian Sea near the Arctic before
touching down at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, to prepare for more missions,
U.S. European Command announced. The three Lancers, from the Reserve's 345th
Bomb Squadron at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, flew the 14-hour,
4,300-nautical-mile mission into the easternmost section of EUCOM’s area of
responsibility, the command said in a release. Two days before the B-1 mission,
two of the B-52s deployed to RAF Fairford, U.S., flew south and trained
alongside Tunisian Air Force F-5s over the Mediterranean Sea.

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Three Nations, More than 50 Planes Train Together in ‘Point Blank’
By Brian W. Everstine

More than 50 aircraft, including four different fighter types from three
countries and two U.S. services, trained together in a large force exercise over
the North Sea on Sept. 10. Exercise Point Blank 20-04 included U.S. Air Force
F-16s from the 510th and 555th Fighter Squadrons from Aviano Air Base, Italy,
along with F-15s from the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath, England; KC-135s
from RAF Mildenhall, England; and B-52s deployed to RAF Fairford, England. The
USAF contingent linked up with U.S. Marine Corps, United Kingdom Royal Air
Force, and Royal Netherlands Air Force F-35s, plus RAF Eurofighter Typhoons,
RNAF F-16s, and a RAF Voyager refueling aircraft. The exercise centered on
fourth- and fifth-generation defensive counter air integration missions,
according to a 48th Fighter Wing release.

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Lockheed: New Demand for F-16s Could Push Type Past 5,000 Mark
By John A. Tirpak

Lockheed Martin is seeing a “resurgence” of demand for new F-16 fighters,
now up to the Block 70 configuration, according to company Executive Vice
President for Aeronautics Michele A. Evans. WIth a backlog of 130 jets, and
several countries on the cusp of making orders, Evans said it's possible the
Falcon could ultimately break the mark of 5,000 built. Some 4,600 have been
delivered so far. The company is now building F-16s in Greenville, S.C., after
moving production from Fort Worth, Texas, and it could open a second line in
India if it wins a competition there for a variant called the F-21.

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Virtual Events: AFA’s Virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The Air Force Association’s virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference kicks off
Sept. 14 with Air Force Secretary Barbara M. Barrett and Chief of Staff Gen.
Charles Q. Brown Jr. The annual conference, which will be held virtually this
year for the first time, runs through Sept. 16. Chief of Space Operations Gen.
John W. “Jay” Raymond speaks on Tuesday, Sept. 15. Conference attendance is
free for military members and defense civilians, and rates for industry
participants are discounted for AFA members (and from traditional rates for
in-person participants). <a
href="[link removed]">Registration is open
now</a> and space is limited, so early sign-ups are encouraged.

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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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5 Takeaways From the New Air Force Chief’s Vision ‘Accelerate Change, or Lose’

“The Air Force’s new Chief didn’t waste time or mince words in his vision
document, aptly entitled “Accelerate Change, or Lose.” General Charles
Brown, Jr., is sending up flares, and policymakers should pay attention. The
time is ripe, he asserts, while still in the early years of a new defense
strategy, having just stood up a new service in the Space Force, and during a
pandemic,” writes Mackenzie Eaglen, a resident fellow at the American
Enterprise Institute.

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The Latest on JADC2

Joint all-domain command and control is redefining how the U.S. military will
operate in the future joint fight—and how systems must be designed today. For
the latest on all things JADC2 and to stay tuned to the latest developments,
check out our JADC2 landing page.

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The New US Air Force Chief has a Reputation of Only Asking for What He Needs. He’s Going to Need a Lot.

In September 2016, when the U.S. Air Force’s new chief of staff, Gen. David L.
Goldfein, took the stage at the service’s largest conference, he spoke of the
heavy responsibility of leading the service. He said the portraits of former
chiefs had eyes that followed him like “a Harry Potter movie,” and he
recounted his own experience as a young F-16 pilot in combat for the first time
during Desert Storm. Then he used the speech, like his predecessors had, to lay
out his goals for the Air Force. For his successor, Gen. Charles “C.Q.”
Brown Jr., who will make his first address to the service during the Air Force
Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference on Sept. 14, coming in “guns
blazing” might be the only option.

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Everyone Wants a Space Force—but Why?

As perceived security threats mount in Earth's orbit, countries around the world
are following the example of the United States and creating their own "space
forces." Nine months ago, in December 2019, the U.S. Space Force was born. The
new military branch was created with a focus to protect the nation's satellites
and other space assets, which are vital to everything from national security to
day-to-day communications. Now, countries including France, Canada, and Japan
are following suit, as leaders from those countries' "space force" analogs said
Sept. 10 during the 2nd Summit for Space Sustainability, an online event hosted
by the nonprofit Secure World Foundation.

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General Officer Nomination

President Donald J. Trump nominated Maj. Gen. Robert J. Skinner for appointment
to the grade of lieutenant general with assignment as director, Defense
Information Systems Agency/commander, Joint Forces Headquarters-Department of
Defense Information Network, Fort George G. Meade, Md.

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DOD Identifies Air Force Casualty

Senior Airman Jason Khai Phan, 26, of Anaheim, Calif., died Sept. 12 in a
single-vehicle non-combat related accident while conducting a routine patrol
outside the perimeter of Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait. The cause of the
accident is under investigation.

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This Air Force Unit Has Been Fighting Alongside Army Rangers Since 9/11

The Air Force typically doesn't get a lot of credit for close-range ground
combat missions, but there is one unit that has fought alongside Army Rangers
almost every day since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Since its
initial deployment in October 2001, elements of the 17th Special Tactics
Squadron have deployed with units of the 75th Ranger Regiment for more than
6,900 days and counting. The headquarters and two operational detachments of the
17th have been in a continuous rotation of combat deployments in the 19 years
since 9/11, according to an Air Force news release.

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The Boom Overture Jet Is Vying to Become the First Supersonic Air Force One—Here's an Early Look

Aerospace company Boom Supersonic this week announced a contract with the U.S.
Air Force to develop a supersonic plane for transporting diplomats and
high-ranking government officials. The contract will fund research into building
new, mission-appropriate configurations of its conceptual supersonic passenger
plane, called Overture. Boom has designed the Overture, which is still in
development, as a single-aisle business class plane, with seats laid out in a
1-1 configuration. With the new funding from the Air Force, Boom plans to
explore ways to customize the plane—both inside and out—for government work.

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Air Force, Navy Accelerate Quantum Research with International Virtual Event

The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Information Directorate is spearheading an
international alliance of principal investigators across government, academia
and industry to accelerate quantum enabling technologies. The 18 research teams
from around the world who have qualified for awards for their potentially
game-changing quantum research and innovations were announced as part of the
live, virtual “Million Dollar International Quantum U Tech Accelerator.”

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One More Thing...
Air Force Remains Tight-Lipped on Details Even as It Begins Promoting Possible Two-Game Football Season

Behind guarded gates, Air Force is preparing for a possible two-game football
season in ways it is opting not to share. The Falcons kept Navy (Oct. 3) and
Army (Nov. 7) on the football schedule even as the Mountain West’s
postponement of fall sports took away the other games on the 2020 slate. This
past week, Air Force began promoting the home game against Navy and the series
for the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy on social media. The team is also
practicing at regular-season levels (20 hours a week) and has held at least one
scrimmage. So, it would seem all signs point toward a two-game season this fall.
But the Falcons aren’t ready to talk about it.

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