Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Jan. 14, 2021

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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, USSF Leaders: Capitol Insurrection an ‘Attack on the Foundation of Our Great Republic’
By Brian W. Everstine

The Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol in Washington, D.C., was an “attack on the
foundation of our great republic,” the top leaders of the Air Force and Space
Force said in a Jan. 13 letter to the department, reminding service members that
“our oath demands that we are unwavering in safeguarding American ideals.”
The letter was signed by Air Force Secretary Barbara M. Barrett, U.S. Space
Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond, Air Force Chief
of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., Space Force Senior Enlisted Adviser Chief
Master Sgt. Roger A. Towberman, and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force
JoAnne S. Bass. It was the latest in a series of messages to service members
following the insurrection by President Donald J. Trump's supporters as Congress
voted to certify the results of the 2020 election.

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SECARMY Clears Guard Troops at Capitol to Carry Weapons
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Army Secretary Ryan D. McCarthy has authorized Guard troops safeguarding the
U.S. Capitol in the wake of its Jan. 6 breach by violent supporters of President
Donald J. Trump to carry lethal weapons, the District of Columbia National Guard
said in a statement shared with Air Force Magazine. These personnel were armed
as of around 6 p.m. on Jan. 12, in response to a request from “federal
authorities” that was given the go-ahead by McCarthy, according to the
statement.

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Colorado Pushes Back on Decision to Base U.S. Space Command in Alabama
By Rachel S. Cohen

Alabama’s Redstone Arsenal is the preferred new home of U.S. Space Command,
the Air Force said Jan. 13, signaling a major move from the longtime center of
military space operations in Colorado Springs, Colo. After the Air Force vetted
several cities as prospective SPACECOM headquarters locations, it said
Huntsville scores highest on “factors related to mission, infrastructure
capacity, community support, and costs to the Department of Defense,” the
service said in a release. But critics are crying foul, saying President Donald
J. Trump intervened in the decision.

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Secret Pacific Strategy Called for Stronger India to Counter China
By John A. Tirpak

The White House declassified its Indo-Pacific strategy on Jan. 13, revealing its
hopes to bolster the military strength of India as a counter to China. It also
aims to strengthen a “quadrilateral” alliance with Australia, India, and
Japan to share advanced technology and protect democratic values in the region.
National Security Advisor Robert C. O'Brien said the release was meant to convey
the “transparency” of U.S. aims in the Indo-Pacific region.

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Boeing Gets $1.7 Billion for KC-46 Production Lot 6
By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force bought 12 more KC-46s under a Jan. 12 contract awarded to Boeing
for approximately $1.7 billion. The award modification, the sixth production lot
for the program, means Boeing is now on contract for 79 of the new tankers. So
far, the company has delivered 42 KC-46s to four U.S. Air Force bases. USAF
plans to buy 179 of the aircraft, though the program has been plagued by delays
and issues with the aircraft’s remote vision system—a suite of cameras and
sensors connecting the refueling boom with the operator inside the aircraft. The
Air Force and Boeing are finalizing the design of the “2.0” version of RVS,
which overhauls the system’s hardware and screens at the boom operator’s
station to fix image clarity issues that have limited the aircraft’s test and
evaluation process.

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Space Force Charts its Own Path for Electronic Warfare
By Rachel S. Cohen

Electronic warfare will be a priority of Space Force members looking to protect
military satellites and radars, but don’t expect it to look like the Air
Force’s EW units. Space Force Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. David D.
Thompson said Jan. 13 that—at least for now—electronic warfare officers
won’t have their own career field designated by a unique specialty code that
is associated with space EW crews. “Many [of] our capabilities have been
forward-deployed in the Middle East in support of [U.S. Central Command]
operations for well over a decade, in fact, approaching two decades,” Thompson
said. “We do also need to evolve our space warfare capabilities into other
areas."

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Virtual Events: Navy’s Wolfe on Mitchell’s Nuclear Deterrence Forum
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

On Jan. 14 at 9 a.m. EST, the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute for
Aerospace Studies will host a virtual Nuclear Deterrence Forum featuring Navy
Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe, director of the service's Strategic Systems Program. In
that role, Wolfe is a key leader in the management of the seaborne leg of the
U.S. triad. Leveraging his extensive experience, Wolfe will share his insights
into the modernization of the Navy’s Fleet Ballistic Missile Weapons Systems,
U.S.-U.K. nuclear deterrence cooperation, and the U.S. Navy-Army joint
hypersonic missile development program, among other topics. Advanced
registration is required. <a
href="[link removed]">Sign
up here.</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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National Guardsmen Briefed on IED Threat to Capitol

The briefing comes as the Guard plans a massive show of force to prevent
violence during President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration.

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States Begin Activating National Guard after FBI Warns of Armed Protests at Capitols

Governors around the country began ramping up security at their state capitols,
including activating their states’ National Guards, in preparation for what
the Federal Bureau of Investigation identified as massive armed protests planned
in every state capital in the country leading up to Inauguration Day.

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Mossad Head Briefs Biden Admin on Iranian Nukes, Missiles

The head of the Mossad is expected to serve as Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's main liaison with the new administration, because of his personal
acquaintance with the President-elect and many of his senior officials developed
while he was head of Israel's National Security Council.

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Pentagon Moves Quickly to Redistribute Duties of Now-Abolished Chief Management Officer

Less than two weeks after the position of the Defense Department’s chief
management officer officially ceased to exist, the Pentagon has already taken
major steps to replace the CMO’s functions elsewhere in its organizational
chart.

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Can Biden Solve the Space Force’s Public Relations Crisis?

President-elect Joe Biden, for his part, has given no indication that he will
seek to overturn the creation of the Space Force, said Todd Harrison, an
aerospace and budget expert with the Center for International and Strategic
Studies. “It’s fair to say that if the Space Force did not exist right now,
the Biden administration probably wouldn’t create it,” he said. “But now
that it does exist, I think that they’re going to work with it and try to
continue the implementation of it.”

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DOD Cancels Plans to Let Thousands of Civilian Employees Shop at Exchange

The Defense Department has dropped a plan to expand military exchange shopping
privileges to its civilian employees.

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One More Thing...
OPINION: The Air Force’s Secret New Fighter Jet Uses F1-Style Engineering

“The mysterious sixth-generation plane came to life in just one year,”
writes outgoing Air Force acquisition boss Will Roper. “This breakthrough tech
helps explain how.”

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