Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Jan. 22, 2021

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

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Congress Approves Waiver for Austin to Become SecDef
By Brian W. Everstine

Congress on Jan. 21 approved a waiver clearing the way for Lloyd Austin to be
the next Defense Secretary, with a confirmation vote expected as early as the
morning of Jan. 22. Austin, who retired from the Army in 2016 as the four-star
commander of U.S. Central Command, needed Congressional approval for a waiver to
the law requiring former uniformed military members to wait seven years before
leading the Pentagon. The Senate approved the waiver by a vote of 69-27,
immediately after the House approved it by a vote of 326-78, with 28 members not
voting. The approval is the second time in four years that Congress waived the
requirement. Retired Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis received a waiver in
2017, becoming former President Donald J. Trump's first Defense Secretary.

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USAF to Let Women Wear Longer Ponytails, Braids in Uniform
By Amy McCullough

Female Airmen and Guardians will soon be able to let their hair down—at least
a little. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. recently approved a
recommendation by the Air Force uniform board to allow women to wear their hair
in one or two braids, or a single ponytail, about as long as their shoulder
blades, according to a Jan. 21 release. The new grooming standards will go into
effect in February.

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Engine Failure, Aircrew Mistakes Caused Fatal E-11A Crash in Afghanistan
By Brian W. Everstine

E-11A aircrew shut down the wrong engine during an in-flight emergency and were
unable to restart the aircraft’s powerplants, causing the Jan. 27, 2020, crash
that killed both pilots in Afghanistan, an Air Force investigation found. The
crash killed Lt. Col. Paul K. Voss and Capt. Ryan S. Phaneuf, both assigned to
the 430th Expeditionary Combat Squadron at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. The
E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node, a modified Bombardier Global
Express business jet, serves as a “wi-fi in the sky,” connecting troops
using multiple communications platforms. “This tragic accident and the loss
of these two Airmen will not be forgotten,” said Air Combat Command boss Gen.
Mark D. Kelly in a release.

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Thousands of Guardsmen Remain in Capital Region After Inauguration
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The National Guard Bureau is working with states to drawdown “close to
15,000” of the nearly 26,000 troops still in the nation's capital following
President Joe Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration. Of that total, about 10,600 were
still on duty as of the evening of Jan. 21, NGB wrote in a release. The bureau
said it expects to finish mapping out and executing the force withdrawal within
5-10 days, but some 7,000 Guard members will remain in D.C. “through the end
of the month” to provide backup to agencies that have asked for “continuity
of operations, additional support, and recuperation time for their forces to
regroup.”

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More USAFA Cadets Headed for Space Force in 2021
By Rachel S. Cohen

The U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado plans to send more students to the Space
Force in 2021 than it did in the first cohort last year, the school’s
superintendent said Jan. 21. About 115 USAFA cadets will head to the Space Force
upon graduation in May, up from 86 last spring, according to Lt. Gen. Richard M.
Clark. The class of 2020 graduated the first group of USSF-bound second
lieutenants after the new service was created in December 2019.

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Boeing Receives $2.1 Billion for the Next KC-46 Production Lot
By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force on Jan. 20 awarded Boeing a $2.1 billion contract for the seventh
KC-46 production lot, covering 15 aircraft. The award means there are now 94
KC-46s on contract, and the Air Force plans to buy 179 of the aircraft. It comes
just eight days after Boeing received $1.7 billion for production lot six.
“Our KC-46 fleet is growing, and we’re ready to extend the reach of
next-generation air refueling to more of our Airmen,” said Col. Jason Lindsey,
U.S. Air Force KC-46 System program manager, in a Boeing release.

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DARPA Changing Directors Again in Third Recent Shuffle
By Rachel S. Cohen

The Biden administration is reportedly tapping Stefanie Tompkins to run the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, spurring the third leadership change
at the secretive Pentagon organization since January 2020. Defense One first
reported Tompkins’s “pre-decisional” appointment to the post on Jan. 19.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment by press time. Former
director Victoria Coleman's last day at the agency was Jan. 20, after four
months on the job.

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30 Years After Desert Storm: Jan. 22

In commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of Operation Desert Storm, Air Force
Magazine is posting daily recollections from the six-week war, which expelled
Iraq from occupied Kuwait.

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Virtual Events: Bierbauer, Cooter, Marks on Mitchell’s ‘Aerospace Nation’
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

On Jan.22, The Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies
will host an installment of its “Aerospace Nation” series featuring the
authors of the new book “Never Mind, We'll Do It Ourselves: The Inside Story
of How a Team of Renegades Broke Rules, Shattered Barriers, and Launched a Drone
Warfare Revolution.” Former Central Intelligence Agency case officer Alec
Bierbauer, retired USAF Col. Mark Cooter, and co-author Michael Marks give us an
inside look into the story behind the armed Predator program and the dawn of
unmanned warfare. The think tank will post event video on its <a
href="[link removed]">website</a> and
<a href="[link removed]">YouTube
page</a> after the live event.

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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 Administration to Seek Five-Year Extension on Key Nuclear Arms Treaty in First Foray with Russia

President Biden is seeking a five-year extension with Russia on the only
remaining treaty limiting the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals just days
before it expires, said two senior U.S. officials. At the same time, his
administration is preparing to impose new costs on Russia pending a newly
requested intelligence assessment of its recent activities. The officials said
Biden is ruling out a “reset” in bilateral relations with Moscow as many new
U.S. presidents have done since the end of the Cold War.

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U.S. Air Force Talks New F-16 Orders In Latest Acquisition Shake-Up

U.S. Air Force officials are talking about ordering new Lockheed Martin F-16s
two decades after signing the last production contract.

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WeaponONE Demonstrates Digital Twin Technologies That Deliver Software-Defined Weapon Capabilities to the Battlefield

The Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate recently hosted a
demonstration of the Team Eglin Weapons Digital Enterprise WeaponONE (W1)
program at the Virtual Warfare Munitions Simulator, which highlighted the
significant progress made in the past year as well as the value of digital
engineering to warfighters. The demo was based on a model of the 24-hour Air
Tasking Order (ATO) cycle of a collaborative swarming weapons system prototype
called “Gray Wolf,” and showed how data is collected from weapons in-flight,
combined with data from the battlefield environment, and sent back through the
Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) to digital twins.

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SPONSORED—VIDEO: 4 Principles of Agile JADC2 Development

Innovation has always been a hallmark of the U.S. Air Force. But with the
accelerating pace of technology development, the service needs a new approach to
modern design to make the latest technologies profoundly more accessible.

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Air Force Rolls out Coaching Culture Facilitator Course Pilot for Mid-level Leaders

GS-11 supervisors with 10 years time-in-service along with O-3s and E-7s with
two years time-in-grade, can now apply for the online Air Force Coaching Culture
Facilitator Course Pilot scheduled to begin in April 2021.Coaching is a
voluntary process facilitating growth and development for both individuals and
groups. Through structured dialogue, coaches provide members with new
perspectives to help them achieve greater clarity and inspire them to achieve
their personal and professional potential.

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New Career Field Lets Officers Focus on Overseas Jobs

The Air Force has created a new career field specifically for foreign area
officers, who often work in embassies overseas and as attaches to foster
cooperation with other nations’ militaries. Col. Lawrence Pravecek, the chief
of the Air Force’s international airmen division, said in a Jan. 12 interview
that the new 16F Air Force specialty code will help foreign area officers
concentrate on those jobs, advance in their careers, and show the service’s
commitment to international cooperation.

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How the Air Force is Making Marine Recon Better

Recon Marines are working with Air Force pararescue jumpers, known as PJs, along
with combat controllers. “We noticed between force recon and the special
tactics squadron that we have a lot of mirror capabilities and we do a lot of
the same type of training,” Maj. Joshua Chambers, the 3rd Recon operations
officer, told Marine Corps Times. “We wanted to kind of share with each other
had to offer as far as, procedures, tactics and how can we make each other
stronger,” he added.

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British, French, and German Publics Give Biden High Marks After U.S. Election

Most are optimistic about U.S. policies and trans-Atlantic relations, according
to a new Pew Research Center survey in France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

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Space Force Receives Fifth SBIRS Satellite

The system is expected to launch in 2021 and the sixth satellite is slated for
launch in 2022 from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

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One More Thing...
VIDEO: National Museum of the U.S. Air Force Drone Fly Through

A video posted to a popular aviation channel on YouTube shows the view from a
drone as it flies through Building 4 of the United States Air Force Museum at
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

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