Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Oct. 22, 2020

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

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Space Force Launches New Operations Branch
By Rachel S. Cohen

The Space Force on Oct. 21 formally stood up its Space Operations Command, the
largest organization to run satellites, radars, and other combat assets for
regional military commanders around the world. Lt. Gen. Stephen N. Whiting will
run SpOC at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. He has held similar positions in the
Space Force and its predecessor, Air Force Space Command, for the last three
years. During a ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colo., Whiting laid out his three
top priorities: preparing combat-ready, cybersecure space forces driven by
intelligence data and building a diverse and healthy workforce culture;
partnering with other parts of the Space Force, U.S. Space Command, the U.S.
government, and private companies; and providing tech-savvy military power in,
from, and to space.

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Contentious Corona Debates Push Budget Decisions
By John A. Tirpak

Although the Air Force expected to finalize a lot of its budget and force-design
decisions at the top-level Corona meeting earlier this month, debate and
competition for resources will push decisions to a later time, Chief of Staff
Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr said Oct. 21. Brown said major commands and combatant
commanders are trying to preserve here-and-now capabilities, instead of taking a
longer-term view needed for future success. In addition, Brown said the Air
Force's “culture of consensus” is cutting senior leaders out of program
debate just when an overarching view is needed to move the force forward.

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Top Lawmakers Look to Start Talks on 2021 Defense Policy Bill
By Rachel S. Cohen

Leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees are tentatively
scheduling a “Big Four” meeting for Oct. 26 to begin hashing out an
agreement on the 2021 defense policy bill, House Armed Services Committee
Chairman Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) told reporters. The Big Four refers to the
top Democrats and Republicans on the two armed services panels: SASC Chairman
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Ranking Member Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and HASC
boss Smith and Ranking Member Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas). “We are in
discussion, certainly, on the staff level. We haven't moved forward as
aggressively as I would have liked, in terms of having more 'Big Four'
conversations,” Smith said on an Oct. 21 press call. “Sen. Inhofe has a
campaign, he's focused on that.”

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Russia Intercepts USAF B-1 Bombers Over Bering Sea
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Russian aircraft intercepted two B-1 bombers over the Bering Sea on Oct. 20, the
Russian Defense Ministry announced on Twitter. The USAF aircraft never entered
Russia's sovereign airspace, and the Russian planes followed “international
airspace rules,” the ministry added. Pacific Air Forces on Oct. 21 confirmed
that two of its B-1s were tasked in the area at the time of the alleged
interaction. The Oct. 20 intercept is at least the second time this year that
Russia intercepted U.S. military aircraft within a day of their own tails
crossing into the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone.

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Russia, China Push STRATCOM to Reconsider Strategic Deterrence
By Amy McCullough

Adversaries such as Russia and China have “blurred the lines” when it comes
to conventional and nuclear conflict, forcing the U.S. to rethink the way it
approaches strategic deterrence. U.S. Strategic Command boss Adm. Charles
“Chas” A. Richard said his command is conducting an “exhaustive
assessment” of the current threat environment, to include emerging
capabilities, changing norms, and potential unintended consequences of conflict.
“I recognize that great power competition doesn’t equal conflict, or that
we’re on a path to war, but as the commander in charge of employing strategic
deterrence capabilities for the nation, and our allies, I simply don’t have
the luxury of assuming a crisis, conflict, or war won’t happen,” Richard
said.

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Virtual Events: Sokolski on Mitchell’s Nuclear Deterrence Forum, and More
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

On Oct. 22, the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies
will host a Nuclear Deterrence Forum featuring Henry Sokolski, executive
director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. The think tank will
post event video on its <a
href="[link removed]">website</a>
and <a href="[link removed]">YouTube
page</a> after the live event. Register <a
href="[link removed]">here</a>.

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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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OPINION: The Air Force Pilot Retention Crisis Is Not Over

“Some in the Air Force may assume that the service’s pilot manning problems
may be over due to the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” writes
Tobias Switzer, a Special Operations Airman who currently works as a military
fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “During
recessions, Air Force pilots are less likely to leave the service for jobs with
commercial airlines. As expected, airline pilot hiring went to almost zero when
the pandemic began, and Air Force pilot separations and airline hiring are
strongly correlated. This time is different, though, as demographic and
licensing trends for airline pilots will significantly shorten the period before
companies start recruiting military pilots again.”

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The Air Force Plans to Retrain Weapons System Officers to Be B-21 Bomber Pilots

Though the service has not announced exactly how many B-21 Raiders it expects to
purchase, it will no longer need as many WSOs—commonly referred to as
"wizzos"—the aircrew who manage the delivery of bombs as well as
intelligence-gathering sensors. It plans to retrain them to become pilots in the
years ahead, according to Maj. Gen. Mark E. Weatherington, 8th Air Force
commander.

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OPINION: What We Don’t Know About Military Innovation

“It’s time to take stock of the Pentagon’s various rapid-acquisition
efforts,” write Jamie Morin, executive director of The Aerospace
Corporation’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy, and Bill LaPlante, a
former assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition who now serves as
president and CEO of the nonprofit Draper Laboratory.

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Pentagon Will Move Primary Biometrics Systems to Amazon Cloud

The Defense Department wants to make major improvements to its biometric
surveillance capabilities, starting with moving its databases and entire
operational system to a cloud environment hosted by Amazon Web Services.

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DOD’s CMMC Remains Stuck in Drama, Confusion, and Concern

Industry experts continue to raise serious concerns about the way forward for
the Defense Department’s cybersecurity maturity model certification (CMMC)
program. A technology industry representative told reporters on Oct. 20 that the
interim rule the Defense Department published in September didn’t offer enough
clarity about the certification process, the costs to become certified, and
whether there will be reciprocity with other cyber standards. Comments on the
interim rule are due Nov. 30 and so far more than two dozen people or
organizations have submitted analysis.

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Democratic Senators Introduce Bill to Constrain F-35 Sales to UAE

A pair of Democratic senators has introduced a bill aimed at constraining the
Trump Administration’s effort to sell F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab
Emirates. The bill, introduced Oct. 20, would require the administration to
certify that Israel’s military advantage in the region would not be
jeopardized before it can move forward with selling the United States’ most
advanced military aircraft to other Middle Eastern countries.

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OPINION: Space Force Should Break the Mold in Recruiting and Retaining Talent

“The Space Force’s Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. ‘Ray’ Raymond
is taking a ‘clean sheet approach’ to building a new service,” writes
Aerospace Industries Association President and CEO Eric Fanning. “One of his
most important tasks is recruiting and developing the workforce required to meet
the challenges of this ultra-modern domain.”

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F-117s Make Surprise Visit to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar

The F-117s have become highly active as of late, but they've never staged out of
a base like Miramar since their retirement.

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F/A-18E Super Hornet Fighter Jet Stationed in Lemoore Crashes Near China Lake

Naval Air Station Lemoore confirmed an F/A-18E Super Hornet experienced a mishap
during a routine training flight in the Superior Valley, just south of Naval Air
Weapons Station China Lake, Calif.

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General Officer Announcement

Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper announced Oct. 21 that President Donald J. Trump
has nominated Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael T. Plehn to receive a third star and
serve as president of National Defense University.

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House Lawmakers Announce New Space Force Caucus

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers today announced the creation of the Space
Force Caucus, which will be focused on advocating for the new service and
educating lawmakers and staffers about the military service on its objectives
and priorities.

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Here Are the 181 Veterans Running for Congress This Year

This year, 181 veterans are running for Congress in 162 House and Senate races
spread around the country. That number is a slight increase from the 173 veteran
candidates who won major political party primaries in 2018.

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One More Thing...
A Timeline of the International Space Station

On Nov. 2, NASA and its 14 international partners will mark 20 years of
continuous human presence aboard the International Space Station. Here are some
of the key milestones along the way.

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