Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Dec. 9, 2020

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Edited by Amy McCullough with Rachel S. Cohen, John A. Tirpak and Shaun Waterman

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Former CENTCOM Boss Lloyd Austin to be Nominated for SECDEF
By Rachel S. Cohen

President-elect Joe Biden will nominate retired Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III to
be his Defense Secretary, the transition team announced Dec. 8. Austin, who left
the military in 2016 as the four-star head of U.S. Central Command, would be the
first-ever Black man to hold the Pentagon’s top civilian job if confirmed by
the Senate. The milestone comes shortly after Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. took
over as the first Black Air Force Chief of Staff, amid a reckoning on racial
inequality in the military and society at large. “With a distinguished record
of military service spanning four decades, Secretary-designate Austin is a
deeply experienced and highly decorated commander who has served with
distinction in several of the Pentagon’s most crucial positions,” the
transition team said in a release.

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Guastella: Base Defense is the ‘Tax’ Other Services Should Pay for Airpower
By John A. Tirpak

The other military services should defend USAF's air bases as the “tax” to
enjoy the many benefits the Air Force provides them in terms of communications,
mobility, and protection, Deputy Chief of Staff for operations Lt. Gen. Joseph
T. Guastella Jr. said Dec. 8. The Air Force is more engaged than the other
services because its roles are in play whether there are hostilities or not, and
other branches should help enable the benefits they derive from USAF. Guastella
also argued that while the other branches' push for long-range fires could be
helpful, they may not be cost-effective in the long run.

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Mach-Buster and World War II Ace, Chuck Yeager: 1923-2020
By John A. Tirpak

Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager died Dec. 7, at age
97. Yeager was a World War II fighter ace and most widely remembered as the
first man to fly through Mach 1—the speed of sound—in 1947. He tested
numerous research aircraft in the 1940s through the 1960s, and is regarded as
one of the most accomplished test pilots of all time.

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Draft NDAA Offers More Money, Oversight to Air Force Tech Priorities
By Rachel S. Cohen

Lawmakers weighed in on three of the Air Force’s top-priority technology
development efforts in the final draft of the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill,
offering more money and more oversight as the programs mature. The Low-Cost
Attritable Aircraft Technology initiative, hypersonic weapons, and the
Next-Generation Air Dominance program all got a closer look this year. The
National Defense Authorization Act passed the House 335-78 on Dec. 8, and is
expected to pass in the Senate as well. President Donald J. Trump must still
approve the bill for it to become law, but has promised a veto over priorities
that did not land in the final version.

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Three Companies Win New Skyborg Prototyping Contracts
By Rachel S. Cohen

Three companies will move on to flight experiments as part of the Air Force’s
Skyborg drone program, the service said Dec. 7. Kratos earned $37.8 million,
Boeing earned $25.7 million, and General Atomics earned $14.3 million to
continue on in the program, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center said.
Each contract will last two years. The announcement indicates Northrop Grumman
did not make the cut after receiving a contract to become part of the vendor
pool in July.

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Space Force: Convergence of New Tech is the Real Disruptor
By Shaun Waterman

Disruption is generally thought of as the result of technological change. But
the really disruptive changes happen when several new technologies converge.
Welcome to the world of Space Force acquisition, where officials are trying to
figure out how to change the game.

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How the Air Force’s Tiny Tech Shop Ended Up Being at the Heart of the Nation’s COVID-19 Response
By Shaun Waterman

AFWERX’s contribution to the national Covid-19 pandemic response seems
destined to enter the annals of heroic procurement tales. But, it almost
didn’t happen.

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Virtual Events: Mitchell Institute Hosts EMS/EW Roundtable, and More
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Today at 10 a.m. EST, the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute for
Aerospace Studies will host a special Electronic Warfare/Electromagnetic
Spectrum Superiority Roundtable as part of its “Aerospace Nation” series.
The event will feature Ken Dworkin, Booz Allen Hamilton’s executive advisor
for EW/EMS; David Tremper, the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s electronic
warfare director; Brig. Gen. AnnMarie K. Anthony, deputy director of operations
for joint electromagnetic spectrum operations and mobilization assistant to the
director of operations at U.S. Strategic Command; Col. William Young, the
incoming commander of USAF’s 355th Spectrum Warfare Wing; Ilya Lipkin,
technical lead at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Sensor Open
Systems Architecture (SOSA); and Brig. Gen. David Abba, director of the USAF
F-35 Integration Office. Advanced registration is required. <a
href="[link removed]">Click
here to sign up for the live event.</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: Why I Chose Lloyd Austin as Secretary of Defense

“The fact is, Austin’s many strengths and his intimate knowledge of the
Department of Defense and our government are uniquely matched to the challenges
and crises we face,” President-elect Joe Biden writes. “He is the person we
need in this moment.”

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OPINION: The Problem With the SECDEF Purity Test

“You don’t want a general, a man, a war veteran—and everyone in the
defense industry is evil?” writes Defense One Executive Editor Kevin Baron.

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Biden National Security Adviser Sees US Rejoining Iran Nuclear Deal

President-elect Joe Biden’s national security adviser said the incoming
administration wants to put Iran “back into the box” by rejoining the
nuclear deal and forcing Tehran to comply with the terms of the original
agreement. In return, the U.S. would be prepared to honor the terms of the 2015
deal, said Jake Sullivan, Biden’s choice for national security adviser, at The
Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit on Dec. 7.

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DOD’s $11B Contract to Consolidate Fourth Estate Networks Is Out for Bid

The Defense Enclave Services contract will bring agencies under a common network
architecture.

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Space Development Agency’s Missile-Tracking Satellites on Hold as Raytheon Files New Protest

The Space Development Agency agreed to reevaluate the original proposals but
will not allow the companies to resubmit new bids.

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Air Force’s Next Hack of the Federal Procurement System: One-Year Funding

Air Force acquisition boss Will Roper said he’s writing a new memo with the
general counsel and financial management offices to bring more flexibility into
one-year O&M funding-known as 3400 money.

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OPINION—Instructors Wanted, Apply Within: Why the Air Force Is Failing to Change Its Culture and What to Do About It

“Squadron Officer School has an instructor recruitment problem that is not
going away, in spite of the attempted cultural change,” write Bradley
Podliska, an assistant professor of military and security studies at Air
University’s Air Command and Staff College, and Donnie Hodges, an instructor
in the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Department of Military and Strategic Studies.
“The survey data we conducted confirms and explains why officers do not want
to work there—for many officers, working at the Maxwell Air Force Base is not
an attractive option. But it does not need to be this way.”

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Former Trump Adviser Kellyanne Conway Appointed to Air Force Academy Advisory Body

Kellyanne Conway, a former senior advisor to President Donald Trump, has been
appointed to the Air Force Academy's advisory body, according to the White
House. Conway's appointment to the academy's Board of Visitors—which reports
to the president and the Pentagon—was one of nearly 30 appointments to "key
positions" on various boards announced Dec. 8 in a White House press release,
and the most prominent.

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14 Fort Hood Leaders Fired or Suspended in Fallout Over Spc. Vanessa Guillén’s Death

Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy is cleaning house at Fort Hood.

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One More Thing...
Chasing Soviet Missiles in the Cobra Ball from a Desolate Rock in the Aleutian Islands

During the Cold War, RC-135 Cobra Ball missile test tracking jet crews sat alert
at one of the most remote and inhospitable places on Earth.

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