Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Dec. 3, 2020

View in your Web Browser: [link removed]
Edited by Amy McCullough with Rachel S. Cohen and Brian W. Everstine

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

[ Advertisement ]
[link removed]

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

Milley: After ‘Modicum of Success’ in Afghanistan, Drawdown Underway
By Brian W. Everstine

The Pentagon has approved plans to draw down to 2,500 troops in Afghanistan,
focusing on a smaller number of bases and continuing the advising and training
role as well as the counterterrorism mission. “After 20 years, [and] two
decades of consistent effort there, we’ve achieved a modicum of success,"
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley said Dec. 2. Acting
Defense Secretary Christopher C. Miller recently approved recommendations from
U.S. Forces-Afghanistan and U.S. Central Command commanders, and efforts to
withdraw troops by the Jan. 15 deadline are underway, he added. Under an
agreement with the Taliban, NATO forces would leave Afghanistan by May if
conditions are met, but President Donald J. Trump last month ordered the U.S. to
pull thousands of troops out before the Jan. 20, 2021, inauguration.

[link removed]

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

Raymond: Air Support Coming to US Space Command
By Rachel S. Cohen

The Space Force’s top general this week indicated the Air Force will create an
organization to offer aircraft and other resources in support of U.S. Space
Command. “All the services will have a service component, because this isn't
space for space's sake,” Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay”
Raymond said Dec. 2 at RAND Corp.’s annual West Coast Aerospace Forum. “This
is a much broader view of joint warfighting and it's going to require the full
weight of the joint force to handle that.” The Air Force is the only military
service without a dedicated group tasked to SPACECOM.

[link removed]

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

[ Advertisement ]
[link removed]

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

JADC2 Spurring Changes to Fighter Jets, Ops Centers
By Rachel S. Cohen

Aerospace experts offered a peek into how joint all-domain command and control
might begin changing the Air Force over the next few years, during RAND
Corp.’s West Coast Aerospace Forum on Dec. 2. Expect the upcoming fiscal 2022
and 2023 budgets to majorly accelerate combat networking demonstrations and
related technology development, according to Lt. Gen. S. Clinton Hinote, the Air
Force’s deputy chief of staff for strategy, integration, and requirements.
“This is the most critical thing we are going to do as a joint force to make
ourselves more capable,” he said.

[link removed]

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

DOD Takes Hard Look at Bases, Deployments as Budgets Decline
By Brian W. Everstine

The Pentagon needs to take a look at the need for overseas bases, deployments,
and exercises as the country grapples with the fiscal impacts of the COVID-19
pandemic and other priorities, the military’s top officer said Dec. 2.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley, speaking at a
virtual Brookings Institution event, said the Defense Department’s budget,
after years of growth, will “start flattening out." and “could actually
decline significantly.” The Defense Department needs to adjust its priorities
to ensure it can optimize the money it does get, he said. “There’s a
considerable amount of money that the United States expends on overseas
deployments, or overseas bases and locations, etc. Is every one of those
absolutely positively necessary for the defense of the United States? Is every
one of them tied to a national security interest? Is every one of those
exercises that we do really, critically important?” asked Milley.

[link removed]

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

[ Advertisement ]
[link removed]

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

Early COVID-19 Response ‘Defining Moment’ of International C-17 Wing
By Brian W. Everstine

The Strategic Airlift Capability’s Heavy Airlift Wing sprung into action early
in the COVID-19 pandemic to deliver desperately needed protective equipment
within weeks in what became a “defining moment” for the program, the HAW’s
commander said. The 12-year-old SAC, which includes three Globemaster IIIs
jointly purchased and flown by the U.S. and 11 other nations out of Papa Air
Base, Hungary, is tasked with delivering materiel, especially humanitarian aid,
for its member nations. The wing’s expertise in international operations and
established diplomatic connections made it uniquely suited to provide quick and
effective airlift at a time when its member nations needed it most, HAW
Commander USAF Col. James Sparrow said during a virtual SMi Group conference on
international airlift on Dec. 2. “We have the capacity and capability to push
through logistics and diplomatic processes and in hours versus days we can get
our aircraft into the air very quickly,” Sparrow said.

[link removed]

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

[ Advertisement ]
[link removed]

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

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]

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

Details Revealed in Trump’s Lame-Duck Pentagon Budget Draft

Despite losing reelection, President Donald J. Trump is plowing ahead with plans
to release this month a detailed Pentagon budget for the next fiscal year,
plumping up proposed 2022 funding for its key defense priorities in what budget
analysts say is an obvious and unorthodox effort to box in President-elect Joe
Biden.

[link removed]

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

Trump Threatens Defense Veto Over Social Media Protections

President Donald J. Trump is threatening to veto a defense policy bill unless it
ends protections for internet companies that shield them from being held liable
for material posted by their users. On Twitter on Dec. 1, Trump took aim at
Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which protects companies
that can host trillions of messages from being sued into oblivion by anyone who
feels wronged by something someone else has posted—whether their complaint is
legitimate or not.

[link removed]

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

Hinote: JADC2 Requires New Requirements Process

The Defense Department and Congress must find new ways to work together on
acquisition of capabilities for future all-domain operations, says Lt. Gen. S.
Clinton Hinote, the Air Force’s requirements guru.

[link removed]

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

SPONSORED—Extending Human Performance Through Technology: The Promise of JADC2

The Air Force’s vision for the seamless, networked warfighting concept known
as Joint All-Domain Command and Control, or JADC2, is all about using
information to dominate the battlespace: By interconnecting systems across every
domain, U.S. forces would seek to increase the operational decision space for
all U.S. commanders, overwhelming adversary commanders and shortening
decision-making cycles for any opponent that must react.

[link removed]

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

What DOD’s Cyber Certification Program Reveals About Info-Sharing Challenges

As the new regime takes effect, the tech industry’s lead trade association
would rather higher level certifications be done by the department than
independent third parties.

[link removed]

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

Committee Picks Mike Rogers for Top GOP Spot on House Armed Services

The House Republican Steering Committee on Dec. 1 chose Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers
to be the top House Armed Services Republican, according to a source familiar
with the situation, beating out Reps. Mike Turner of Ohio and Rob Wittman of
Virginia.

[link removed]

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

[ Advertisement ]
[link removed]

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

Space Force Declares SBIRS GEO-5 Ready for 2021 Launch

The Space Force has declared the fifth geosynchronous-orbit Space Based Infrared
System satellite ready for launch in 2021, prime contractor Lockheed Martin
announced Dec. 2.

[link removed]

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

Space Policy Advice for Biden: Tone Down War Rhetoric, Fix Military Acquisitions

The Biden administration should not undo progress made in space policy during
the Trump presidency, experts suggest. But they urge incoming leaders to tone
down the militaristic rhetoric surrounding space and pay more attention to
practical matters like the procurement of next-generation technologies.

[link removed]

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

Dyess Airmen Return from Bomber Task Force Deployment

Approximately 200 U.S. Air Force Airmen and four U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancers
with the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron returned to Dyess Air Force Base,
Texas, as they concluded their Bomber Task Force deployment at Andersen AFB,
Guam, Nov. 22.

[link removed]

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

OPINION: We Truly Do Live in ‘America the Beautiful’

“Just as military members must contemplate and continuously re-evaluate their
individual reasons for serving, as U.S. citizens, we can personally consider our
capabilities and opportunities to serve our great nation,” writes Air Force
Lt. Col. Denny R. Davies, a national security affairs fellow at Stanford
University’s Hoover Institution.

[link removed]

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

Survey Provides Insights into Spouse Satisfaction with Military Life

Many key indicators of well-being among Active-duty military spouses have
improved or held steady since 2017, according to the newly released Survey of
Active Duty Spouses. The survey looked at spouse attitudes and experiences in
the areas of military support and benefits, deployment and reintegration,
education and employment, and spouse and child well-being.

[link removed]

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

Air Force to Build Alternate Airbase on Tinian Island in Case Guam Gets Knocked Out

According to reports, the Department of Defense is moving ahead with plans to
formally build a backup air base at Tinian Island, located just 100 miles to the
north of its giant and highly strategic U.S. military airbase on Guam, known as
Andersen Air Force Base. This comes as the Pentagon is working to expand its
existing airfields located deep in the Pacific and even create new ones that it
could use during a major peer-state clash, namely with China, in the vast
region.

[link removed]

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

One More Thing...
The Inside Story of the Deadliest Attack on a US Military Base During the Iraq War

“I still have nightmares about it,” said one survivor. “I don’t go out
in crowded places."

[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]

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