Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Nov. 18, 2020

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

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B-1B Structural Fatigue Test to End Next Year After Simulated 73 Years of Flying
By John A. Tirpak

The structural fatigue test of the B-1B bomber, which began in 2012 and was
initially expected to take five years, will wrap up in 2021, an Air Force
Materiel Command spokesman told Air Force Magazine. The test will stress the B-1
to 28,000 hours on the wing and 27,000 hours on the fuselage. It also will
inform the Air Force about whether it can get the B-1 to its planned 2032
retirement, and whether it's cost-effective to repair some of the fleet with
heavy structural damage.

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It’s Official: Thousands of Troops Returning from Afghanistan, Iraq
By Brian W. Everstine

The Pentagon on Nov. 17 formally announced the plan to withdraw thousands of
forces from Afghanistan and Iraq, just two months before President Donald J.
Trump is expected to leave office. The drawdown is set to be complete by Jan.
15, 2021, but some leaders caution it might be too much too soon.


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Acting SecDef Issues Vision for the Pentagon
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Acting Defense Secretary Christopher C. Miller on Nov. 16 issued a three-pronged
set of priorities for his time leading the Pentagon, intended as an annex to his
Nov. 13 message to U.S. troops that called for a U.S. withdrawal from
Afghanistan. “Building on the message and vision I set forth on Friday, I am
now providing a more finite and precise statement of my goals while leading this
organization,” Miller wrote.

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Thornberry: Georgia Senate Runoffs Could Derail Bipartisan NDAA
By Rachel S. Cohen

The drama of the twin Georgia Senate runoff elections looming in January could
seep into negotiations over the 2021 defense policy bill, a key GOP lawmaker
warned Nov. 17. Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), who is retiring this term as
ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, is one of the “Big
Four” lawmakers tasked with cobbling together a compromise on defense issues
from nuclear weapons development to troop deployments. But a gridlocked Congress
has been slow to advance its policy and spending bills during a heated election
season that will now stretch two months longer.

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Brown: Diversity Push Changing Personnel Decision Process
By Brian W. Everstine

Diversity and inclusion are now focal points in Air Force personnel decisions,
Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr said on Nov. 17. In the aftermath of
race-related protests and discussions across the country, the Air Force
implemented a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force, received hundreds of thousands
of responses to a survey on diversity, launched an Inspector General review of
racial inequality in military justice and promotion, among other efforts. These
steps, combined with the climate across the nation, have changed how the service
talks about race. “As an institution, and as a nation, we are more apt to talk
about diversity, more so than we have in the past. Now, we’ve got to get past
talk. … It’s what we do. It’s how we actually bring in ... individuals and
give them the opportunity,” he said.

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COVID-19 Won’t Keep Wreaths Across America Away from Arlington National Cemetery
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Arlington National Cemetery’s decision to forbid the nonprofit Wreaths Across
America from placing holiday wreaths on the graves of the fallen veterans laid
to rest on its hallowed grounds—as well as at the United States Soldiers' and
Airmen's Home National Cemetery in Washington—this year due to the COVID-19
pandemic has been reversed. “I am very pleased to report that today we were
able to have these discussions with the cemetery's leadership team, and they
have informed us of their willingness to work with us to develop other options
to allow the safe placement of veterans' wreaths this December,” Wreaths
Across America Executive Director Karen Worcester told reporters on a Nov. 17
press call.

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Evans Takes Medical Leave from Lockheed Aeronautics
By John A. Tirpak

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Vice President Michele A. Evans is taking extended
medical leave, the company said Nov. 17. In her absence, F-35 vice president and
general manager Greg Ulmer will serve in both capacities, pending her return. A
company spokesperson said Evans was “diagnosed last year with a non-COVID
related medical issue and continues to undergo treatment.”

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Virtual Events: Nuclear Deterrence Forum, and More
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

On Nov. 18, the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies
will host retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz, a senior fellow at the RAND
Corporation and former under secretary of energy for nuclear security, on the
latest installment of its Nuclear Deterrence Forum. The think tank will
tentatively post event video on its <a
href="[link removed]">website</a>
and <a href="[link removed]">YouTube
page.</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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Trump Sought Options for Attacking Iran to Stop Its Growing Nuclear Program

President Trump asked senior advisers in an Oval Office meeting on Nov. 12
whether he had options to take action against Iran’s main nuclear site in the
coming weeks. The meeting occurred a day after international inspectors reported
a significant increase in the country’s stockpile of nuclear material, four
current and former U.S. officials said on Nov. 16.

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The Pentagon Failed Its Audit Again, but Sees Progress

The results of the Pentagon’s third-ever audit added another clean
organization to its list, which represents a clear win, according to Thomas
Harker, the acting Defense Department comptroller. But he also stressed that it
would be years before the Pentagon can truly say it has passed its audit
cleanly.

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US Successfully Intercepts ICBM with Ship-Launched Missile in Historic Test

In a first-of-its-kind test, the United States has successfully used a small
ship-fired missile to intercept a target intercontinental ballistic missile,
according to the Missile Defense Agency. The successful test shows the U.S.
military now has another missile defense system capable of defending against
North Korean ICBMs aimed at the U.S.

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MDA Pushes New Boundary in Releasing Flight Test Animation Video

The Missile Defense Agency, which spends more than $1 billion annually on
testing, did something completely new today as part of announcing the most
significant flight test on its 2020 calendar: it made public a two-minute
animation of the event to help explain what goes into a complex ballistic
missile defense scenario such as this week's Flight Test Aegis Weapon System-44
(FTM-44) that stretched across multiple time zones and military test ranges.

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Pentagon Expands Hypersonics Transition Office

The Defense Department’s joint hypersonics transition office is working with
the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division to expand its engineering
expertise, according to the group’s director.

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Report: ‘The Coming 5G Evolution in Network Centric Warfare: The Sensor Saturation Theory’

5G technology will transform intelligence collection and provide a new
perspective on battlespace data. This new paper from the Air Force
Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies explains how the
thousands of miniature interconnected sensors in the architecture could provide
new fidelity on the battlespace.

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Navy Makes Major JADC2 Push, Linking Sensors & Shooters

After two years of relative silence about all-domain operations, the Navy is
throwing more weight behind the Pentagon’s effort to link everything from
submarines to drones flying high overhead on one shared network, assigning a
group of admirals and a team from the defense industry to tackle the problem and
find ways to link into the joint all-domain command and control initiative.

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Journey to JADC2

Joint all-domain command and control is driving change throughout the Air and
Space Forces. Check out our latest on the quest for greater interconnectedness
across the battlefield.

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Study: As Space Industry Offers More Services, Government Missing Out on Opportunities

Commercial companies in the space industry are offering increasingly
sophisticated services that previously only governments could provide. That
shift has been apparent for years but many U.S. defense and intelligence
agencies are still not seriously considering using these services as
alternatives to traditional government programs, says a new study by the
Aerospace Corporation.

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NSA Spied On Denmark as It Chose Its Future Fighter Aircraft: Report

Reports in the Danish media allege that the United States spied on the
country’s government and its defense industry, as well as other European
defense contractors, in an attempt to gain information on its fighter
acquisition program. The revelations, published online by DR, Denmark’s Danish
public-service broadcaster, concern the run-up to the fighter competition that
was eventually won by the U.S.-made Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter.

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One More Thing...
Navy Cmdr. Victor Glover Is the First Black Astronaut on the International Space Station

Glover was selected as an astronaut in 2013 while serving as a legislative
fellow in the United States Senate. He served as pilot and second-in-command on
the Crew-1 SpaceX Crew Dragon, named Resilience, which launched Nov. 15.

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