Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Sept. 15, 2020

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Edited by Jennifer Hlad with Rachel S. Cohen, Brian W. Everstine, Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory and John A. Tirpak

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The Air and Space Forces Want to Break the Mold. Here’s How They’re Starting.
By Rachel S. Cohen

The Department of the Air Force’s top officers are beginning to lay the
groundwork for changes to how they manage and provide air and space forces to
commanders around the world. In his first month as Air Force Chief of Staff,
Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. has warned that the service needs to overhaul its
inventory and quicken the pace of warfare, or risk falling to other global
powers. “We want to make our force generation and force presentation model
easy for us to understand and to articulate inside our Air Force, [and] easy to
understand in our joint force,” Brown said. The Space Force is rethinking how
it organizes, trains, and equips its own people as well.

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Air Force Introduces e-Planes for the Digital Era
By Rachel S. Cohen

The Air Force and Space Force will begin adding “e” to the names of
aircraft, weapons, and satellites that are designed and tested using digital
engineering, Air Force Secretary Barbara M. Barrett said Sept. 14 at the Air
Force Association’s virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference. “For 73 years,
the entire history of the Air Force, X-planes have represented technological
innovation,” Barrett said. “Today, the e-plane and e-sat will join them in
making history and ensuring Airmen and space professionals have modern tools to
protect our nation.” Boeing’s Red Hawk trainer jet is the first plane to
earn an “e” designation, as the eT-7A.

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AMC to Evaluate ‘Interim’ KC-46 Fix While Pressing for Permanent New Remote Vision System
By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force in the coming weeks will evaluate an interim fix to the KC-46’s
troubled remote vision system to see if there would be any value gained, while
still holding Boeing to its requirement to provide a broad, permanent fix to the
system by 2023. In April, Boeing and the Air Force announced an agreement on
fixing the remote vision system—a collection of cameras and sensors linking
the boom operator in the front of the aircraft to the boom system to refuel
aircraft. The system has long been troubled by unclear and skewed images, in
turn causing the boom to strike outside of a receiving aircraft’s receptacle.
Air Mobility Command boss Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost said the Air Force is
holding Boeing to the plan to deliver 12 “aircraft kits” in 2023. The
company has proposed an interim software fix, and Van Ovost said the service is
determining whether it wants to proceed on this installation, under the
requirement that it does not delay the permanent fix. “There’s nothing that
we would do that would slow down getting to 2.0 and getting it on our
airplane,” she said. “That’s the most important thing, to get to the full
requirements that we agreed to onto the airplane,” she said.

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USAFE: Move of Airmen, F-16s From Germany Still in Planning Stages
By Brian W. Everstine

About two months after the Pentagon announced the plan to pull thousands of
troops from Germany, including the F-16 presence at Spangdahlem Air Base, the
head of U.S. Air Forces in Europe said the move is still in the planning stages,
with the goal to avoid mitigating current operations. The Pentagon and U.S.
European Command on July 29 announced the military would move 11,900 personnel
out of Germany, including moving the 52nd Fighter Wing F-16s to Aviano Air Base,
Italy, and would cancel the planned move of KC-135s and a special operations
wing from RAF Mildenhall, U.K., to Spangdahlem. USAFE boss Gen. Jeffrey L.
Harrigian said his command “has a fair amount of work in front of us” to
understand the details of the move to Aviano, and to ensure that the
infrastructure is ready to take in the jets.

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Donovan: DOD Must Revamp Talent Management to Recruit, Retain ‘Digital Natives’
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

If the Defense Department wants to recruit and retain younger Americans who
speak technology and innovation as a first language, it must significantly
change its approach to talent management, Under Secretary of Defense for
Personnel and Readiness Matthew P. Donovan said during a Sept. 14 session of the
Air Force Association’s virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference. Namely, he
said, DOD must figure how to differentiate its offerings from those of the
corporate world when marketing itself, give personnel more career flexibility,
and embrace “digital modernization across the entire department.”

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Air Force Recruiting Service Institutes Diversity Targets for USAF
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The Air Force Recruiting Service is implementing diversity targets for USAF
recruiting efforts and will gauge its progress once a month beginning in fiscal
2021, AFRS Commander Maj. Gen. Edward W. Thomas Jr. announced Sept. 14. The
Space Force will also adopt these targets, he added. “The targets are based on
the qualified pool of potential recruits in the country,” he explained. By
monitoring how it measures up against these targets, USAF will be able to
evaluate the effectiveness of its marketing efforts and tweak them as needed to
maximize their reach, he said.

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Kelly: Most Appealing Part of ABMS Demo Was AI; Opportunity to Free Up PED Airmen
By John A. Tirpak

The recent ABMS experiment demonstrated great value in artificial intelligence,
Air Combat Command boss Gen. Mark D. Kelly said in a September 14 press
conference at AFA's virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference. The value it offers
is in potentially bringing more information into decision-making while freeing
up Airmen for undermanned mission areas. He also discussed his priorities in his
new position, the value of the F-15EX, how he views the Digital Century Series,
and hypersonic weapons.

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How COVID-19 Is Impacting Air National Guard Drilling
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Air National Guard wings have slashed the number of citizen Airmen who drill
in-person on the same weekend and scheduled multiple drills per month to
maintain readiness while mitigating COVID-19 risk, Chief Master Sgt. Tony L.
Whitehead, senior enlisted adviser to National Guard Bureau Chief Army Gen.
Daniel R. Hokanson, said Sept. 14. The change allows ANG to accomplish necessary
training while still implementing social distancing, he said. ANG also is
employing virtual communication methods wherever possible, he said. Air National
Guard Director Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh said ANG made this training flexibility
possible by empowering wing leaders to make planning-related calls, and praised
units for taking creative approaches to training, maintenance, and teaming amid
the coronavirus challenge.

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Keeping Innovators, After Attracting Them, Means Crossing the “Valley of Death”
By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force is seeing results in attracting small and medium businesses and
startups by using targeted investments and putting them together with commercial
investors, panelists said in an acquisition panel at AFA's virtual Air, Space &
Cyber Conference. But once the small businesses are in the system, they won't
stay unless everyone can see there's a path to production and profitability. The
Air Force must get that next phase right, the panelists said.

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Keesler at HURCON 3 as Hurricane Sally Moves on Gulf Coast
By John A. Tirpak

As Hurricane Sally strengthens to a Category 2 storm, Keesler Air Force Base,
Miss., near the storm's expected landfall, has elevated its hurricane
preparedness level, alerting base personnel to secure loose objects outside and
prepare for potential evacuation. The storm is expected to make landfall as a
Category 2 hurricane on the morning of Sept. 16, bringing as much as 24 inches
of rain to some areas.

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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 continues
through Sept. 16. Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond
speaks today. 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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WATCH: Virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference Day One Highlights

Air Force Magazine Editor-in-Chief Tobias Naegele and News Editor Amy McCullough
highlight some of the key takeaways from the first day of AFA's virtual Air,
Space & Cyber Conference, including clips from Secretary Barbara M. Barrett and
Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.'s keynote addresses.

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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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Active-Duty Accessions Dropped by 7,000 after COVID Hit—and Closed Schools Could Make Next Year Even Harder

The Air Force is on track to access as many as 7,000 fewer active-duty airmen in
fiscal 2020 than it did last year, after the coronavirus upended the Air
Force’s personnel plans.

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U.S. Commander: Intel Still Hasn't Established Russia Paid Taliban ‘Bounties’ to Kill U.S. Troops

“It just has not been proved to a level of certainty that satisfies me,”
Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, commander of the U.S. Central Command,
told NBC News. McKenzie oversees U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. continues
to hunt for new information on the matter, he said.

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Reaper Replacement Reveals Bold New GA-ASI Vision

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) released exclusively to Aviation
Week a concept rendering of a next-generation unmanned aircraft system (UAS)
that reflects the characteristics the company’s designers view as essential
for the class of aircraft that could replace the MQ-9 by the early 2030s.

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19 Years into War on Terror, Overstretched AFSOC at a Crossroads

Air Force Special Operations Command is once again at a turning point, its
commander, Lt. Gen. Jim Slife, said in an interview Sept. 11.

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STRATCOM Admiral Dodges Questions on Alleged Trump Claim of Secret New Nuke

The head of U.S. Strategic Command, who is in charge of the nation’s nuclear
triad, declined to back up President Donald Trump’s alleged claim in the Bob
Woodward book “Rage” that the U.S. has a secret new nuclear weapons system
to deter Russia and China.

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‘This All Could Have Been Prevented’—Inside the Disappearance and Death of Vanessa Guillén

Vanessa’s family knew something was wrong on the night of April 22. But Army
Criminal Investigation Command (CID) officials first learned of her
disappearance one day after it happened, according to court records.

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46,000 Veterans’ Data Exposed In Financial Services Center Breach

Hackers attempting to steal money the Veterans Affairs Department was sending to
private sector health care providers also scooped up the personal information of
some 46,000 veterans.

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Air Force Football Will Honor African American Air Pioneers Tuskegee Airmen with Special Uniforms

Air Force will honor the Tuskegee Airmen with special football uniforms this
season in a gesture that, while timely, was more coincidence than a reaction to
current events. The design for the latest Airpower Legacy Series uniform will be
unveiled Sept. 21, but athletic director Nathan Pine announced the theme in a
public letter on Sept. 14.

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One More Thing...
Mysterious Drone Incursions Have Occurred over U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery In Guam

It’s yet another reminder of just how vulnerable highly strategic assets, even
air defense systems, are to low-end drones.

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