Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Dec. 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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USAF Chief Scientist: DOD Needs More Hypersonics Experts, Testing Facilities
By John A. Tirpak

The Pentagon has so many hypersonics projects underway there aren't enough
people to conduct them and not enough facilities to test them, Air Force chief
scientist Richard J. Joseph said during a Dec. 17 Mitchell Institute for
Aerospace Studies event. His comments came on the heels of Air Force Research
Laboratory's announcement that it had tested an air-breathing hypersonic engine
scaled up 10-times from the unit that powered the X-51 test vehicle.

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Dunlap Looks to the Future of ABMS
By Rachel S. Cohen

Nearly two years after he was named as the Air Force’s Advanced Battle
Management System czar, Preston Dunlap is offering more details on how the lofty
concept could become a reality that’s here to stay. He began the job of chief
architect with a wide-ranging review of the Air Force’s programs to see where
the breakdowns in communication, technology, and culture were happening. That
team then laid out a blueprint for the various tools and processes it needed to
better connect the force and shake up combat roles. After a year of tech
demonstrations across the country alongside the other military services, the
ABMS team now has a clearer vision of which tools the Department of the Air
Force can roll out the soonest that would immediately benefit troops.

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Milley Meets with Taliban Representatives as Fragile Negotiations Continue
By Brian W. Everstine

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley met with Taliban
negotiators on Dec. 15, before moving on to Afghanistan to speak with local
leaders regarding the ongoing and fragile peace process aimed at ending the
19-year-old war. The meeting marked the second time Milley met with
representatives of the group the U.S. has been fighting with in Afghanistan
since 2001. Milley previously met with the group in June, a meeting that was not
announced until Dec. 17. Milley met with Taliban representatives for about two
hours in Doha, Qatar, before flying to Afghanistan to meet with Afghan President
Ashraf Ghani and U.S. military leaders, according to The Associated Press.

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Yokota Makes Contact Tracing Mandatory for All Personnel
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Col. Andrew J. Campbell, commander of the 374th Airlift Wing, declared a public
health emergency at Yokota Air Base, Japan, on Dec. 16, and rolled out an
extensive set of mandatory COVID-19 mitigation measures for U.S. and host-nation
personnel—including mandatory contact-tracing for U.S. troops, DOD civilians,
and their families. Also on Dec. 16, Travis AFB raised its Health Protection
Condition Level to Charlie—the third-highest on the scale—and U.S.
Forces-Korea spokesperson Col. Lee Peters said the organization would do the
same at all of its installations as of 12:01 a.m. local time on Dec. 19.

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Hurricane Hunters Fly First Mission of Winter Storm Season
By Brian W. Everstine

The Hurricane Hunters of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron flew their
first sortie of the winter storm season, just weeks after wrapping their busiest
hurricane season on record. The WC-130Js are tasked by the National Centers for
Environmental Prediction, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, to collect data such as dew point, barometric pressure, and wind
speed to help with forecasts, the release states. “For winter storms we
don’t fly through the system; we fly in front of the system,” said Lt. Col.
Kaitlyn Woods, the chief aerial weather reconnaissance officer with the
squadron, in the release. “This particular one we are doing these next two
days is a storm they believe is going to generate off the Gulf Stream off the
East Coast, so we want to get ahead of the system to collect what the atmosphere
currently looks like and how it will affect the incoming system.”

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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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Nuclear Weapons Agency Breached Amid Massive Cyber Onslaught

Hackers accessed systems at the National Nuclear Security Administration, which
maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.

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Opinion: Buy America Doesn’t Work; We Need Allies: Rep. Thornberry

“The COVID-19 pandemic has brought even greater scrutiny to the security and
reliability of the defense industrial base. Digging deeper to understand the
source of components and subcomponents reveals the fragility of our access to
the products and services needed to defend the country. That examination also
highlights how few suppliers exist for certain things and how the lack of stable
and reliable defense funding from Congress has put many of them in jeopardy,”
writes Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services
Committee, in a Dec. 16 op-ed.

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Podcast: Balance of Power: U.S. Space Force 1 Year Anniversary

The U.S. Space Force is celebrating its one year anniversary on Dec. 20.
Bloomberg's David Westin spoke to its first commander, Chief of Space Operations
Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond to find out what they have accomplished this year
and what lies ahead.

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Free 3-Year Memberships!

The Air Force Association is your voice to elected officials to ensure you
receive the pay and benefits you deserve. Airmen and Space
Professional—Active, Guard, Reserve and civilian: Join AFA today for free and
receive a 3-year membership!

www.afa.org/12days

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Senator Urges Delay in Collecting Troops’ Deferred Taxes

Defense officials should delay collecting deferred payroll taxes from military
members until October, wrote Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) in a Dec. 17 letter to
acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller. Service members and their families “may
be about to face further financial strains” because of the collection of these
deferred taxes, which starts in January, she wrote, noting that the pandemic has
already presented many challenges for military families across the country.

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Congress Passes Sweeping End-of-Year Bill Impacting 'Every Corner' of the Veteran Community

Congress approved a bill on Dec. 16 that increases resources for homeless
veterans, creates a Department of Veterans Affairs advisory committee for Native
American veterans, and mandates that every VA hospital hire a dedicated women's
health provider, among dozens of other measures.

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Air Force Plans A ’21st Century IT Store’

“It should be more like an Apple Store experience," said Lauren Knausenberger,
Deputy CIO for the Air Force.

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Video: Nuclear and Missile Defense Forum

Retired Lt. Gen. Richard P. Formica, former commander of U.S. Army Space and
Missile Defense, and retired Brig. Gen. Kenneth E. Todorov, former deputy
director of the Missile Defense Agency, discuss the state of the U.S. missile
defense enterprise following last year’s Missile Defense Review as well as
projected U.S. missile defense capabilities in space, cyber, and systems
technologies during a Dec. 16 Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies virtual
event.

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2 Die in Small Civilian Airplane Crash at Barksdale Air Force Base

A small plane crash occurred early this morning on the East Reservation of
Barksdale Air Force Base. Two people died at the scene. Next-of-kin
notifications had not been completed as of Wednesday afternoon, according to
Barksdale authorities, so no further details on the victims have been released.

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Air Force to Host Advanced Manufacturing and Sustainment Technologies Virtual Collider Event

The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate
will hold a special Collider Event on Jan. 12, that seeks innovative advanced
manufacturing and sustainment technologies and processes to rapidly develop,
produce, and sustain weapon systems as well as significantly reduce overall
costs and/or increase availability while ensuring system safety.

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Army Black Knights-Air Force Falcons Football to be Played at Neutral Site in Texas Next Year

Army and Air Force will play at a neutral site for the first time in more than a
half-century when the rivalry game moves next year to the Texas Rangers baseball
stadium that hosted the last World Series.

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One More Thing...
Video: Happy Birthday, U.S. Space Force!

Sunday, Dec. 20 marks one year since the Space Force was officially formed.
Congratulations to Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond and
the entire U.S. Space Force family.

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