Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Sept. 23, 2020

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

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Brown Talks Force Structure, NGAD Records, and the Looming CR
By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force still needs more than 300 combat squadrons, but the biggest
priority is not number of squadrons but capability, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles
Q. Brown Jr. said Sept. 22. He also suggested the records set by the Next
Generation Air Dominance prototype likely have more to do with speed of
prototyping than physical performance. The NGAD is one of many classified Air
Force programs under way, and Brown said the service must do a better job of
helping Congress understand those programs so it can make more informed
decisions about budgets.

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US Looks to Compete—and Collaborate—in Space
By Rachel S. Cohen

America’s civilian and military space agencies are walking a fine line with
Russia. On one hand, NASA wants to preserve the partnership with its Russian
counterpart Roscosmos that has spurred cultural and scientific exchange on the
International Space Station and other joint missions since the 1970s. On the
other hand, the Space Force was created to outpace Russian military activity in
orbit, and it often publicly chides Moscow for what the U.S. sees as threatening
behavior toward assets like satellites. The U.S. must manage that dynamic, as
well as its relationship with China, as the three countries vie for orbital
dominance, aim to establish a presence on the moon, and grow commerce in the
space between celestial bodies.

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Here’s How the Air Force Reserve Plans to Accelerate Change
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The Air Force Reserve will need to undertake both internal and external changes
in order to heed Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.'s Total
Force directive to “accelerate change, or lose,” AFRC boss Lt. Gen. Richard
W. Scobee said. “It's gonna be reforming the organization from internally, and
how we deal with our Airmen, but also externally in how we present forces to the
Joint Force,” he told reporters during a media roundtable at the Air Force
Association's virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference.

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Bass: Addressing Childcare Shortage Will Take a ‘Whole of Air Force Approach’
By Brian W. Everstine

Air Force child development centers can accommodate less than one-fifth of
eligible children, and top service leaders are looking at ways to address the
issue, particularly as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are still being
understood. “We have about an 18 percent capacity on base to take care of
children that are within the age of going to childcare or school,” Chief
Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass said during a
question-and-answer session as part of AFA’s virtual Air, Space & Cyber
Conference. “So, that’s a challenge right?” To get after the issue, Air
Force installations and their communities need to work together to “build a
network” of options to try to make up that gap, she said.

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Military Spouses Bond Over Shared Experiences
By Jennifer Hlad

Military spouses must support each other and reach out when they need help, the
spouses of top Air Force and Space Force leaders said during the Air Force
Association’s virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference. Military life can be
stressful, with all the moving, trying to find jobs and friends in new
locations, navigating TRICARE and other services, and now all the challenges
that come with a global pandemic. Sharene Brown, wife of Air Force Chief of
Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., said what has helped her most over the years
has been “connecting [with] and supporting others.”

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Baesystems.com/AFA

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Radar Sweep

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Full Coverage of AFA's Virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference

The conference has passed, but our coverage continues. For a comprehensive look
at everything that happened, visit our vASC landing page.

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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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Pentagon Used Taxpayer Money Meant for Masks and Swabs to Make Jet Engine Parts and Body Armor

A $1 billion fund Congress gave the Pentagon in March to build up the
country’s supplies of medical equipment has instead been mostly funneled to
defense contractors and used to make things such as jet engine parts, body armor
and dress uniforms.

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US Forces Are Ready for Iran's Response to New Sanctions, Esper Says

While U.S. forces in the Middle East have not raised their alert status, they
are prepared for any aggressive response from Iran to new sanctions ordered by
President Donald J. Trump, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said Sept. 21.

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OPINION: A Consensus-Driven Joint Concept for All-Domain Warfare Will Fall Short

“Given that dollars and time are short, the DOD must now get a concept for
all-domain warfare right,” writes retired USAF Col. Mark Gunzinger, director
for future concepts and capability assessments at AFA’s Mitchell Institute for
Aerospace Studies. “Like the National Defense Strategy, the concept must be
top-down driven, not a bottom-up, consensus-driven product that fails to make
trade-offs across the services and provides a rationale that supports what each
service desires to buy. Rather, its ultimate objective should be to seek
best-value capabilities and expand theater commander options to defeat peer
adversaries.”

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Air Force Collaborative Pushes AI Frontiers—Fast

The Air Force Research Lab has pioneered a unique industry collaboration to
speed solutions to the toughest artificial intelligence technical challenges.
Its most recent success is the just-finished Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency AlphaDogfight contest.

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Automatic Citizenship Has Been Restored for Some Troops’ Children Born Abroad

Last year, a federal policy update put citizenship in jeopardy for a handful of
military children born abroad every year. Lawmakers decried the move and worked
up legislation to fix the issue, and as of September, part of the policy has
been rescinded.

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The US Military’s Latest Wearables Can Detect Illness Two Days Before You Get Sick

Some 400 troops are testing the devices, trained on nearly a quarter million
cases to detect COVID-19 and a whole lot more.

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William A. LaPlante, Former MITRE Executive, to Lead Draper

The Board of Directors of The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc., has
announced that William A. LaPlante, a senior executive at The MITRE Corporation,
has been selected as Draper’s next president and chief executive officer.
LaPlante will assume his position on October 7 when Francis Kearney, interim
president and CEO, steps down and transitions his roles and responsibilities.

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One More Thing...
Washington Flyover to Commemorate 75th Anniversary of the End of WWII

On Sept. 25, approximately 70 vintage aircraft will take to the skies over
Washington to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. The
Arsenal of Democracy Flyover will feature historically sequenced formations
representing the war’s major battles—from the Battle of Britain through the
final air assault on Japan. More than 20 different types of vintage military
aircraft are scheduled to fly in formations beginning over the Lincoln Memorial.
The airshow is scheduled to begin at 11:30 EDT with planes flying in two-minute
intervals over the skies of the nation’s capital. Check out our link to view
the flight map.

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