Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Sept. 22, 2020

View in your Web Browser: [link removed]
Edited by Amy McCullough with Rachel S. Cohen, Brian W. Everstine, Jennifer Hlad and Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Advertisement ]
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Air Force to Test Weapons Swarming Software in October
By Rachel S. Cohen

Air Force researchers in October will test whether a software version of the
service’s developmental weapons swarm can make its way through a combat
mission and reroute itself as conditions change. The demonstration is part of
the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Golden Horde initiative, a high-profile
project to create munition swarms that autonomously work together when fired and
“think” on their own to attack targets that match criteria given to the
software. “We’re actually going to be demonstrating digital twin-enabled
operations ... where we’ll be using a software variant of a collaborative
weapon flying out in a swarm mission, encountering some issues along the way
that it did not expect, and collecting that data,” Craig Ewing of AFRL said
during a Sept. 21 presentation on digital systems engineering in the Air Force.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

USAF Wants Promotions to Be More Equitable, Brown Says
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

USAF is exploring ways to make promotions less biased based on Air Force
Specialty Codes and other demographics, Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Q.
Brown Jr. told reporters on Sept. 16. “We started to look at how we bring
folks in and open up the candidate pool in certain areas and look to see if
there are biases that we have in our promotion system, biases in our accession
systems, and biases in the testing that qualifies you for certain career fields
… because some of those haven't changed in a long time,” he told reporters
at AFA's virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Advertisement ]
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BMT Is Ending at Keesler—for Now
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., will welcome its final Basic Military Training
flight of 2020 in the last week of September, with graduation slated for before
Thanksgiving, 2nd Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Andrea D. Tullos told reporters
on Sept. 21. “We'll then take about 90 days to do an after-action and a
reassessment of how that operation went, and we will have plans, if asked and if
necessary, to resume BMT probably no earlier than February of next year,” she
told said during an Air Education and Training Command conference call. The
fiscal 2021 production targets that 2AF received from USAF aren't high enough to
merit the use of two BMT locations next year, Tullos said, though she noted that
“COVID gets a vote.”

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Space Force Focuses on Threat as It Builds Training
By Jennifer Hlad

The U.S. Space Force is leveraging what has been learned at Nellis Air Force
Base, Nev., and using the Air Force model as it works to determine how best to
train space professionals going forward, Maj. Gen. DeAnna M. Burt, director of
operations and communications for the Space Force, said during a panel
discussion as part of AFA's virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference. “We talk
about preparing for the future. I think it’s important that folks understand
as we stand up the United States Space Force, all of that preparation is really
steeped in training and culture, and foundationally, I think everyone
understands that warfighting is warfighting. The kinematics and the domain may
be different, but how we fight, and the doctrine, and the way we get offense and
defense … are no different from one domain to the other,” she said, adding
that what is needed to “fight and win” in space is a focus on the threat.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Advertisement ]
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How Social Distancing Helped the Air Force Fix Lackland’s Dorms
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

A tent city erected at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, on April 28 not
only gave Air Education and Training Command “swing space” to ensure its
Basic Military Training recruits and tech school students heeded COVID-19-era
social distancing mandates, but it also gave the command a chance to make
much-needed dorm repairs, AETC boss Lt. Gen. Marshall B. “Brad” Webb said
Sept. 16. The system, which is slated to deactivate on Oct. 1, is on loan from
Air Force Materiel Command and staffed by Airmen from the base's 433rd Airlift
Wing and the Texas Air National Guard's 149th Fighter Wing. Since May 1,
engineers from the 502nd Civil Engineer Squadron have performed “critical
maintenance” on 11 buildings at Lackland, finished over 2,500 work orders, and
resolved a maintenance backlog, Brig. Gen. Caroline M. Miller, commander of
Joint Base San Antonio and the 502nd Air Base Wing, told Air Force Magazine on
Sept. 18.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rolls-Royce, Air Force Nearing Deal on VR Engine Training for Some C-130Js
By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force and Rolls-Royce are finalizing a contract for new Virtual Reality
Maintenance Training Software for the C-130J’s AE 2100 engines, giving Airmen
the chance to virtually “break open” and train on power plants as opposed to
working on an aircraft’s real engine. The software system, combined with
off-the-shelf virtual reality headsets and computers, will first be provided to
the 58th Maintenance Group at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., which flies
HC-130Js and MC-130Js, according to a Rolls-Royce release. Currently, Airmen who
want to train extensively on the AE 2100 need to go to a Rolls-Royce facility in
Indianapolis and work with company representatives. A contract is expected to be
finalized within the next few weeks. “We must transform the way we learn,”
said Col. J.B. Baquet, commander of the 58th MXG, in a Rolls-Royce release.
“The VR maintenance system will enhance training efficiency, shorten the
learning curve, accelerate skill levels, and improve fleet readiness.”

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Virtual Events: Bridenstine and Raymond on Mitchell’s Space Power Forum
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Today, the Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute will host a Space Power
Forum about NASA and U.S. Space Force Partnership in Space featuring NASA
Administrator Jim Bridenstine and USSF Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W.
“Jay” Raymond. 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.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Advertisement ]
Baesystems.com/AFA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Radar Sweep

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Move Over COVID, IC Says Influence Operations Will Be Next Big Disrupter

Disruption is usually spoken of in positive terms: Breaking through stagnation,
forcing a reevaluation of assumptions, and promoting innovation. But for the
Intelligence Community, it also means new challenges in gathering and analyzing
data that could have profound national security implications.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Russian Military Says US Flights near Crimea Fuel Tensions

The Russian military on Sept. 18 accused the U.S. and its allies of provoking
tensions in the Black Sea region with a sharp increase in the number of bomber
patrols and intelligence flights. Col.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoi, head of the Russian
General Staff’s main operational department, charged that the U.S. and other
members of NATO have significantly increased the scope of their military
activities in the region.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Russia Rejects US Terms, Sees 'Minimal' Chance to Extend New START Nuclear Pact

Russia sees minimal chances of extending the New START treaty with the United
States—their last major nuclear arms pact—as it does not accept conditions
set out by Washington, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as
saying on Sept. 21.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mitchell Institute Nuclear Deterrence Forum Featuring Brad Roberts

Drawing on a five-year effort to understand Russian and Chinese strategic
thought, their approaches to conflict with the United States and its allies, and
the requirements of integrated strategic deterrence, Brad Roberts, director of
the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory, joins AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies to discuss
the U.S. and its allies’ need for a coherent and robust theory of victory
against great power competitors, the obstacles that have hindered past progress,
and where the U.S. should go from here.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chinese Air Force Video Shows Simulated Bomber Attack on Pacific Island Resembling Guam

A promotional video the Chinese air force released on Sept. 19 appears to depict
a simulated strike on a Pacific island some media outlets identified as Guam.

[link removed]
(Subscription Required)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Advertisement ]
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guam Becomes a Living Laboratory for Pentagon’s ‘Connect-Everything’ Experiments

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and the Air Force are testing new networked warfare
solutions in the region right now.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pentagon Considers Operating Independent 5G Networks under New Dynamic Spectrum-Sharing Effort

The Pentagon is considering owning and operating its own fifth-generation
wireless networks to support its domestic operations under a new dynamic
spectrum-sharing effort. In a Sept. 18 request for information, the Defense
Department asks for responses on "innovative solutions and alternative
approaches to enable [dynamic spectrum sharing] within the department's
currently allocated spectrum with the goal of accelerating spectrum-sharing
decisions and 5G deployment."

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Air Force Recruiting Service Develops Electronic Officer Qualifying Test

In conjunction with the Air Force Personnel Center, an electronic version of the
Air Force Officer Qualifying Test is now available for the first time ever. The
eAFOQT is not replacing current testing but is another tool for recruiters to
use when processing officer applicants.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Be Buried at Arlington National Cemetery

According to her wishes, the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be buried at
Arlington National Cemetery, the Supreme Court said in an announcement following
her death Sept. 18 at age 87.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One More Thing...
VA-Made ‘Smart Bandage’ Can Track Chronic Wounds—and Treat Them

A team of researchers led by a Veterans Affairs Department biomedical engineer
produced a high-tech “smart bandage” that uses electrical stimulation to
treat chronic wounds and can provide information about how they are healing. The
bandage, now named “Exciflex," is equipped with a chip, sensors, and more,
incorporating electrotherapeutic technology developed by Dr. Kath Bogie and her
research colleagues in Cleveland, Ohio, at the VA Advanced Platform Technology
Center and Case Western Reserve University.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Advertisement ]
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Daily Report: [link removed]
- Contact Us: [link removed]
- Advertise With Us: [link removed]
- Purchase/Reprint: [link removed]

- Air Force Association: [link removed]
- Join AFA: [link removed]

- AF Mag on Facebook: [link removed]
- AF Mag on Twitter: [link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Published by the Air Force Association

All airforcemag.com material is under copyright of
the Air Force Association. All rights reserved.

The Air Force Association
1501 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA
22209-1198

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe or change your preferences, please visit the link below:
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------