Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Nov. 24, 2020

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

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Investigation Found Pilot Error Caused Fatal June F-15 Crash
By Brian W. Everstine

An F-15C pilot’s fixation on an intercept during training, and failure to
focus on the aircraft’s instruments as he encountered adverse weather, caused
the fatal June 15 crash in the North Sea near the United Kingdom, U.S. Air
Forces in Europe announced Nov. 23. First Lt. Kenneth “Kage” Allen, who was
assigned to the 493rd Fighter Squadron at RAF Lakenheath, U.K., was killed in
the crash. His F-15C was completely destroyed at a loss of about $45 million.

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F-35 Crash Corrective Measures Must Remain Secret, JPO Says
By John A. Tirpak

Secrecy prevents the F-35 Joint Program Office from revealing the corrective
measures being taken after hardware and software deficiencies contributed to a
May crash of an F-35 at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., the JPO said Nov. 23. It is
unusual for the government to withhold such information. The JPO also declined
to say whether the government or F-35 maker Lockheed Martin will bear the cost
of corrections.

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The US is Out of the Open Skies Treaty. What’s Next?
By Rachel S. Cohen

The United States is now officially out of the Open Skies Treaty, but questions
remain about the road ahead. “The U.S. withdrawal took effect on Nov. 22,
2020, and the United States is no longer a state party to the Treaty on Open
Skies,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Cale Brown said. Many details of
how the U.S. military will wind down its participation are still murky. The Wall
Street Journal reported Nov. 22 the government has started the process of
offering the Air Force's two OC-135B jets up to other countries.

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USAF Announces Grey Wolf, AC-130J Formal Training Unit Basing Plans
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett wants to base the service’s MH-139A Grey
Wolf Formal Training Unit at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., the Department of the
Air Force announced Nov. 20. The same day, USAF announced that it wants to move
its AC-130J Ghostrider Formal Training Unit from Hurlburt Field, Fla., to
Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. USAF can’t finalize the moves until it finishes
mandatory environmental impact analyses, the Department of the Air Force noted.
However, it said it expects to make its final Grey Wolf FTU basing decision next
winter, and to begin the process of moving the AC-130J FTU—including “seven
aircraft and 372 positions”—in summer 2022.

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Pentagon Increasing COVID-19 Restrictions as Cases Rise
By Brian W. Everstine

The Pentagon is again increasing its COVID-19-related restrictions amid a jump
in positive cases in the region and more positive test results inside the
building itself. Beginning Nov. 26, the Pentagon will limit the number of
workers inside the building and mandate face coverings if social distancing is
not possible, as part of a shift to Health Protection Condition Bravo-Plus,
Defense Department Chief Management Officer Lisa W. Hershman announced.

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Correction

The article, "B-1 Structural Fatigue Test to End Next Year After Simulated 73
Years of Flying" (Daily Report, Nov. 17), was incorrect, as a result of
information provided by the Air Force. The Air Force now reports the fatigue
test will not end next year. The incorrect article has been removed from our
website and a new story will be published when the Air Force can accurately
answer pending queries.

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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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Biden Makes Historic Picks in Naming Foreign Policy, National Security Teams

President-elect Joe Biden has named six leaders of his foreign policy and
national security teams, showing a continued push for historic firsts in his
administration.

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OPINION: Defense in Depth

“The world is not getting safer, for the United States or for U.S. interests.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the [2018] National Defense Strategy
described an international environment of increased global disorder, long-term
strategic competition, rapid dispersion of technologies, and eroding U.S.
military advantages. Protecting the United States requires a strategy of defense
in depth—that is, of identifying and dealing with global problems where they
occur rather than waiting for threats to reach American shores,” write
American Enterprise Institute Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies
Kori Schake; Stanford University Hoover Institution fellow, former Defense
Secretary, and retired Marine Corps Gen. Jim Mattis; Hoover Institution Fellow,
former U.S. Strategic Command boss, and retired Navy Adm. James O. Ellis Jr.;
and Hoover Institution Fellow Joe Felter.

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‘A Pivotal Moment’: Democracies Urged to Band Together to Resist China

At the 2020 Halifax International Security Forum, top national security, foreign
policy officials, and activists issued a call for democratic nations to
revitalize international institutions and pursue new, more flexible ways for
governments to band together to confront China’s economic and technological
warfare and aggressive military buildup.

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OPINION: Chinese Party Aims to Be ‘Mechanized & Informationized’ by 2027

“China has laid out the broad goals and objectives for its 14th Five Year Plan
(FYP), which will extend from 2021 to 2025, and one of the priorities is
‘elevating the level of national security,’” writes Dean Cheng, a senior
research fellow in the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation’s Davis
Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy.

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Joint Staff Developing Service-Wide Campaign Plan for Multi-Domain Operations

The Joint Chiefs of Staff are hoping to provide more clarity and structure to
the services’ individual efforts to develop combined joint all-domain command
and control with a new 60-page campaign plan, says one U.S. Air Force official.

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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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NATO Experiments With Deceptive Tactics to Lure Russian Hackers

This year, “We put [out] machines that are sacrificial, that are what we call
honeypots or honeynets,” said Alberto Domingo, a technical director for
Cyberspace at the NATO Supreme Allied Transform Command, on a call with
reporters and other observers Nov. 20. “The idea is that the adversary will
find it easier to attack these machines without knowing and they will do that
and we will be preserving the information for NATO and interacting with this
adversary.”

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Space Force Chief Pushes Back on Calls for Elimination of Service

Some progressive groups have recently called on President-Elect Joe Biden to
eliminate the Space Force after he takes control of the executive branch Jan.
20. However, Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond pushed
back on the notion Nov. 21.

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Falcon 9 Launch Ends Long Hiatus in Vandenberg Launches

Despite a lull in orbital launch activity at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.,
officials with the Space Force foresee a “very promising future” for both
commercial and government launches there. The Falcon 9 launch of the Sentinel-6
Michael Freilich ocean science satellite Nov. 21 was the first orbital launch
from Vandenberg since another Falcon 9 launched the Radarsat Constellation
Mission for Canada in June 2019.

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DOD IG Plans Four Oversight Projects Evaluating Space Enterprise

The Defense Department Office of Inspector General is planning several oversight
efforts involving space programs and operations, including a review of DOD's
space testing strategy and an audit of launch facility maintenance efforts. The
four projects are outlined in the IG's recently released, department-wide fiscal
year 2021 oversight plan.

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Navy Investigation of Pensacola Shooting Points to ‘Toxic’ Command Climate as Factor

A U.S. Navy investigation has determined that the Saudi pilot who killed three
people when he opened fire on Florida's Naval Air Station Pensacola last year
was self-radicalized. However, it also found that Navy leaders could have picked
up on a pattern of negative behaviors exacerbated by the "toxic" command climate
at the base.

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Pentagon Reports $5B in Improper Payments to Civilian Workforce

The Defense Department’s latest financial statement shows the Pentagon made
nearly $5 billion worth of improper payments in its civilian payroll accounts
last year, a massive increase from previous years in which the department
reported virtually none.

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Ready for Some Holiday Cheer? Check In with Your Pandemic-Ready Military Stores

This holiday season will look different in military stores, but the deals are
still there. Stores are taking extra COVID-19 precautions, such as limiting the
number of people inside, acrylic shields at cash registers, continuing the extra
sanitizing, and requiring masks.

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One More Thing...
Disney Security Guards Have Challenge Coins and We Have to Talk About It

At any given time Disneyland and Disney World have three to four officially
sanctioned coins, which are used in much the same way as they are in the
military, Disney confirmed to Task & Purpose.

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