Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Feb. 9, 2021

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Edited by Amy McCullough with Rachel S. Cohen, Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory and John A. Tirpak

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Report: USAF Can Relocate Fighter Squadrons, Go Virtual to Improve Training
By Rachel S. Cohen

Air Force fighter jets will lose out on the benefits of upgraded training ranges
unless the service also decides to relocate certain squadrons, according to a
new RAND Corp. report. The Air Force contends its crumbling, outdated training
infrastructure doesn’t offer what Airmen need to learn how to fly against
adversary pilots and threats like surface-to-air missiles or communications
jammers. Improving those ranges is one aspect of a multibillion-dollar push to
modernize air bases and adopt better virtual training tools. But the service
risks shortchanging its most advanced fighter fleets—the F-22 and F-35—if it
moves forward with range updates alone, RAND experts argue.

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B-1B Makes First US Bomber Visit to India Since 1945
By John A. Tirpak

A B-1B bomber from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., landed in Bengaluru, India,
on Feb. 3 as part of the Aero India trade show, marking the first time a U.S.
bomber has landed in India since 1945. The Lancer, there for a Bomber Task Force
mission and to underscore warming military ties between Washington and New
Delhi, conducted a flyby and went on static display at the show.

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Design Gets Underway on DARPA’s ‘LongShot’ Drone
By Rachel S. Cohen

Development of a new breed of unmanned aircraft is now underway, as three major
defense companies earned contracts to start designing a future system known as
“LongShot.” The LongShot program wants to create an unmanned weapons porter
that can be shot from another plane before firing multiple air-to-air missiles
itself, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which runs
the effort. DARPA announced Feb. 8 it has funded General Atomics, Lockheed
Martin, and Northrop Grumman to start design work in the project’s first
phase, but did not disclose how much money is part of those contracts.

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DOD Shipping Moderna COVID-19 Vaccines Overseas for Military Families
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The military is shipping the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine overseas for
administration to adult military dependents, and shots will be rolled out in a
parallel manner to what's happening stateside, Defense Health Agency Director
Army Lt. Gen. Ronald J. Place said. “We're shipping vaccine overseas right now
and moving through a phase model, [the] same phase model we're using here in the
United States,” he explained during a virtual town hall co-hosted by the
nonprofit Blue Star Families and the American Red Cross. “For the most part,
we've not yet reached healthy family members.”

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ANG Deployments to D.C. Expected to Cost $62M
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The Defense Department estimates that National Guard deployments to Washington,
D.C., that began in the wake of the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol and
expanded to provide security before, during, and after President Joe Biden’s
inauguration, will cost a total of $483 million by March 15, Pentagon Press
Secretary John Kirby said at a Feb. 8 press briefing. Air National Guard
deployments are slated to account for $62 million of that total, he added.

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30 Years After Desert Storm: Feb. 9

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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Radar Sweep

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Mitchell Institute’s ‘Aerospace Advantage’ Podcast, Ep. 9: ‘Unmanned Wingmen? The Future of Air Combat’

Episode 9 of the Mitchell Institute’s “Aerospace Advantage” podcast
explores the future of manned-unmanned aircraft teaming—one of the biggest
developments that will shape the future of air combat. Thanks to advancements in
autonomy, machine learning, computer processing power, and the ability to
connect and share information, unmanned aerial vehicles and traditional crewed
aircraft will partner in incredibly complementary ways. Host retired Air Force
Lt. Col. John Baum speaks with combat pilot Col. Don “Stryker” Haley, one of
the Air Force’s top experts on the subject, retired USAF Col. Mark Gunzinger
of the Mitchell team, as well as two of the leading aerospace industry experts
in this realm: Steve Fendley, president of the unmanned systems division at
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, and Mike Atwood, senior director for
advanced programs at General Atomics.

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JADC2 Strategy to Hit Milley’s Desk in Days

The top-level, classified strategy laying out the US military’s new approach
to decision-making in any future conflict with peer adversaries—Joint
All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2)—is about to hit the desk of Joint
Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Mark Milley, says Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Dennis Crall,
who leads the effort as the head of the J6.

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Journey to JADC2

Joint all-domain command and control is driving change throughout the Air and
Space Forces. Check out our latest on the quest for greater interconnectedness
across the battlefield.

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DARPA to Survey Private Sector Capabilities to Build Factories on the Moon

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants to hear from the space
industry about their capabilities to manufacture large structures on the moon.
This is a new project that DARPA announced Feb. 5 called “Novel Orbital and
Moon Manufacturing, Materials, and Mass-efficient Design.”

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US Goes One Year Without a Combat Death in Afghanistan as Taliban Warn Against Reneging on Peace Deal

No U.S. troops have died in combat in Afghanistan for a year as of Feb. 8, but
the Taliban have threatened to target them again if Washington opts to keep
international forces in the country after a May withdrawal deadline.

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After Reshuffling, Israel Could Create ‘Opportunities’ for Regional Military Cooperation

The Trump administration’s decision to move military responsibility for Israel
from U.S. European Command to U.S. Central Command will help work toward a
collective approach to security in a region where America’s main allies have
traditionally been in conflict. That’s the read from Marine Gen. Kenneth
McKenzie, the head of CENTCOM, who said Feb. 8 that “bureaucratically, it’s
just the thing that makes it a little easier to work those relationships.”

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302 Fairfield Housing Units Sit Vacant. Why? Air Force Won't Turn the Water On

For all its promise as an idyllic family oasis, a 52-acre property adjacent to
Travis Air Force Base, Calif., in Solano County sits vacant. After 20 years
housing hundreds of Air Force families, for the last decade the community’s
302 units have been unoccupied, a victim of the military’s decision to shut
off the water and sewer lines that serve the property.

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Air Force Doubles Down on E-11A BACN Communications Jets with Plans to Triple Fleet Size

The E-11As are in high demand, but there are so few of them, pilots may not have
even seen one before jumping into the cockpit of one downrange

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One More Thing...
NSC Memo May Spell End Of National Space Council

A new White House executive order appears to route all future national security
space policy decisions through the National Security Council (NSC), in a move
numerous experts and former officials say may signal a Biden administration
decision to abandon the National Space Council.

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