Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Jan. 16, 2020

View in your Web Browser: [link removed]
Edited by Rachel S. Cohen and Brian W. Everstine

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Advertisement ]
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Editor's Note

The Daily Report will not be published on Monday, Jan. 20, in observance of the
federal holiday. We'll return on Tuesday, Jan. 21.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Watchdog: Afghanistan Training, Reconstruction Hindered by Incentive to Lie
By Brian W. Everstine

The US effort in Afghanistan to reconstruct the country and train its military
has been undercut by the motivation to lie to supervisors and limited by the
amount of time American personnel have to directly work with Afghan forces, a
top watchdog told lawmakers Jan. 15. “We have created an incentive to almost
require people to lie,” Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction
John Sopko told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "There’s an odor of
mendacity throughout the Afghanistan issue.”

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Federal Agents Search Balfour Beatty Office at Tinker AFB
By Rachel S. Cohen

Federal investigators searched the office of military housing landlord Balfour
Beatty Communities at Tinker AFB, Okla., on Jan. 14, as part of an inquiry into
alleged Clean Air Act violations. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations
and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division
carried out the search warrant, according to Senate Armed Services Committee
Chairman Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.). Reuters reported Jan. 14 that law
enforcement seized computers and other materials in an asbestos contamination
probe.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Advertisement ]
Empowering Disaster Response and Recovery From Space
When a natural disaster or emergency occur, an immediate and seamless response is necessary to
save lives. Operational and situational awareness becomes increasingly important to responders.
If critical infrastructure is down in the disaster zone, then the systems and networks required for
powering the relief efforts are compromised. Ground operations must look to space to solve their
communication needs. Read the full story.
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Experts Urge US to Develop China Deterrence Strategy
By Rachel S. Cohen

The US government needs to take a closer look at what could deter a war with
China as the Pentagon shifts its focus to security in the Indo-Pacific region
and competition between world powers, defense experts told House lawmakers Jan.
15. Modern deterrence theory is largely modeled on ideas honed in the Cold War,
and are based on the threat a nuclear stockpile poses. But with China growing
dependent on cyber and space capabilities like the US, and with a different set
of motivations than Russia in play, some say America can’t take a
one-size-fits-all approach to discouraging aggression.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DOD AI Leader Wants Closer Collaboration With NATO
By Brian W. Everstine

NATO allies need to join the US in developing artificial intelligence
capabilities to gain an upper hand over China and Russia, which are working
together on AI in ways that threaten shared Western values, the military’s top
AI expert said Jan. 15. Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, the director of the Pentagon's
Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, said that while the US is moving forward
on AI as a military initiative, some NATO allies are progressing slower because
ethical debates have “immobilized” some countries.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Advertisement ]
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lackland Experimenting With Tablets, Adaptive Learning for Basic Training
By Brian W. Everstine

Air Force basic military trainers are experimenting with a new, high-tech way to
teach students: tablets filled with everything they need to learn, and that tell
trainees when to study a particular topic. In December, the 321st Training
Squadron at JB San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, provided tablets to about 100
trainees in two groups. The Microsoft Surface tablets are provided for free by
Cerego, a company that offers adaptive learning software, under a cooperative
research and development agreement to see if the tablets are helpful. If so, the
service could move forward with a full program to give the equipment to all
basic trainees.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Advertisement ]
SimpliSafe
Save on SimpliSafe Home Security.
Exclusive AFA Member Holiday Savings
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Radar Sweep

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pentagon to Talk Space Force Plans, Uniforms with Trump

Defense Department brass are expected to brief President Donald Trump on Jan. 15
on their plans for standing up a new military branch called the Space Force, and
a Pentagon official said they may even present several logo options for the new
armed service. The White House meeting is expected to include Defense Secretary
Mark Esper, Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett, and Air Force Gen. Jay Raymond,
who is on his second day of the job as the first-ever chief of space operations,
the top officer in the sixth US military service.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3 Who Brought Mortar Round to Gate at Pearl Harbor Released

A mortar round was found in a vehicle at a gate to the sprawling Pearl Harbor
military base, shutting down the base for hours and leading three people to be
taken into custody, military officials said Jan. 15. It’s not clear what the
trio planned to do or where they wanted to go when they were stopped late Jan.
14, base spokesman Charles Anthony said, but added, “I don’t think their
intention was to get on base.”

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Iran Missiles Battered Iraq Base, US Lost Eyes in Sky

Moments after volleys of Iranian missiles began to batter Iraq's Ain al-Asad
airbase, US soldiers at the desert facility lost contact with their
ultra-powerful—and expensive—eyes in the sky.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iran Warning Puts Thousands of European Troops in Spotlight

A warning by Iran’s president that European forces in the Middle East could be
at risk if their nations join the US pressure campaign against the Islamic
Republic puts a focus on thousands of foreign troops in the region.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meet the House Republicans Who Want to Rein in Trump on War

Amid a broad congressional push to limit President Donald Trump’s ability to
go to war with Iran, a handful of moderate House lawmakers are working to
“clarify” Congress’s war powers responsibilities, Republican lawmakers
leading the effort told Defense One on Jan. 14.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A New Artificial Intelligence Contract to Keep Planes Flying

The Pentagon’s Silicon Valley outpost awarded a California-based artificial
intelligence company a contract worth as much as $95 million for software that
predicts when military aircraft will need repairs, a tool that would make more
aircraft available for missions and could potentially save billions of dollars
in maintenance costs. The deal, announced Jan. 15, is between the Defense
Innovation Unit and C3.ai, and is expected to run for five years.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

F-35 Logistics System to Be Reinvented and Renamed, Official Says

The computer-based logistics system of the F-35 stealth fighter jet made by
Lockheed Martin, which has been plagued by delays, will be replaced by another
network made by the same company, a Pentagon official said Jan. 14.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

X-60A Program Conducts Integrated Vehicle Propulsion System Verification Test

The Air Force Research Laboratory’s X-60A program achieved a key developmental
milestone with the completion of integrated vehicle propulsion system
verification ground testing. The X-60A is an air-launched rocket designed for
hypersonic flight research.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Air Force Turns to Partners for Weather Forecasting Support

The US Air Force is turning increasingly to US government, industry, academia,
and international partners for help gathering and making sense of terrestrial
and space weather data, Air Force officials said Jan. 13 at the American
Meteorological Society annual meeting in Boston.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One More Thing...
US Air Force's New Ad Takes Cinematic View of Harrowing Battle

A US military convoy engages in an intense desert firefight that results in at
least one casualty before an Air Force strike knocks out the enemy's stronghold.
That harrowing scenario plays out in GSD&M's new minute-long USAF recruitment
spot, which takes a soberingly realistic approach to the life-and-death
struggles our nation's armed forces face during combat.

[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Advertisement ]
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Daily Report: [link removed]
- Contact Us: [link removed]
- Advertise With Us: [link removed]
- Purchase/Reprint: [link removed]

- Air Force Association: [link removed]
- Join AFA: [link removed]

- AF Mag on Facebook: [link removed]
- AF Mag on Twitter: [link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Published by the Air Force Association

All airforcemag.com material is under copyright of
the Air Force Association. All rights reserved.

The Air Force Association
1501 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA
22209-1198

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe or change your preferences, please visit the link below:
[link removed]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------