Category: Defense

Source: United States Air Force

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii (AFNS) —  

Gen. Ken Wilsbach, Pacific Air Forces commander, released “PACAF Strategy 2030: Evolving Airpower” during a briefing at the Air and Space Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference, Sept. 11.

In lockstep with the 2022 National Defense Strategy, PACAF Strategy 2030 provides Airmen with strategic priorities to defend the homeland, deter aggression, and reinforce allies and partners in the complex and ever-changing Indo-Pacific strategic environment.

PACAF Strategy 2030 ensures the command’s 46,000 Airmen and civilians continue to evolve competence in areas such as agile combat employment, maritime strike, multi-capable Airmen, resilient basing, information and intelligence sharing, and contested logistics.

“PACAF is evolving airpower and setting the pace to preserve peace and if necessary, fight and win,” Wilsbach said. “We understand the challenges inherent to generating airpower in contested environments, recognizing it is fundamentally different than projecting power from safe-haven bases. Therefore, we embrace the acceleration of change, leveraging innovation to benefit the United States and our many allies and partners.”

The document outlines the strategic environment of the Indo-Pacific and expands on America’s strategic competitors and how they attempt to undermine the rule-based international order through coercive actions.

According to the PACAF Strategy 2030, “If deterrence fails, PACAF will be ready to fight. These operational priorities reflect the urgency to accelerate change to meet the challenges of this decisive decade. Informed by our finite resources, PACAF will focus on four priorities: (1) enhance warfighting advantage; (2) advance theater posture; (3) strengthen alliances and partnerships; and (4) shape the information environment.”

Over the course of three days, and with briefings such as “Building the Warfighting Mindset,” “Ready to Compete, Fight, and Win in the Indo-Pacific,” “Cyber Warfare,” “Partnering to Win in the Space Fight,” “Global Threats and Opportunities,” and “Air Dominance”, the theme of the 2023 AS&CC is “Defeating Multipolar Threats: A Strategic Imperative for Airmen and Guardians,” further reinforcing the PACAF Strategy 2030.

“As the United States continues to navigate this decisive decade of uncertainty, PACAF must anticipate and rapidly adapt to new social, economic, and security conditions that impact the role of airpower within the Indo-Pacific,” Wilsbach said. “With the combined strength and experience of our Allies and partners, PACAF’s steadfast resiliency will continue to propel us forward to meet the challenges of the future.”

PACAF will continue to evolve airpower to set the pace over the next decade. View the full PACAF 2030 Strategy, here.

Source: United States Air Force

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFNS) —  

Using the acquisition and fielding of the Air Force’s newest bomber as a backdrop, Gen. Duke Z. Richardson, Air Force Materiel Command Commander, emphasized the critical role the organization maintains in outpacing and deterring the People’s Republic of China in a high-profile address, Sept. 11 during the Air Force Association’s 2023 Air, Space and Cyber Conference.

“In the machine of our nation’s defense, we are the powerhouse,” Richardson said. “Outpacing and deterring the People’s Republic of China starts with AFMC. ‘Accelerate Change or Lose’ isn’t just a bumper sticker. It’s our call to action.”

During his address, Richardson highlighted AFMC’s vital role in the fielding and life cycle of every Air Force platform and capability, to include installations as power projection platforms for the service. Using the B-21 Raider as an example, he stressed the command’s reliance on integrated work across its six purpose-built centers and program executive offices, alongside the need for the materiel enterprise to accelerate pace to remain ahead of the PRC and other modern adversaries.

“The Air Force relies on creative AFMC Airmen to deliver capabilities faster by leveraging every available tool,” Richardson said. “We’re focused on enterprise solutions, digital materiel management, and collaboration with our warfighters across every MAJCOM for every weapon system. The B-21 program exemplifies our commitment to delivering integrated capabilities, covering all aspects of the life cycle, from research and development, through acquisition and testing, to long-term sustainment and support.”

The Department of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office is leading the development of the B-21 Raider, under the direction of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment and the Secretary of the Air Force. AFMC is partnering closely with the DAF RCO in the development of the platform and comprises nearly 70% of the Program Executive Office team.

Richardson’s keynote address detailed the specific types of support each of the six AFMC centers provide to the B-21 program office and short videos by subject matter experts from each AFMC organization offered first-hand accounts of the ongoing work.

He spoke about the Air Force Research Laboratory’s role in creating novel technologies for improved aircraft performance, operational efficiency and enhanced mission execution, highlighting the center’s role in B-21 material certification and evaluative testing, environmental assessments, technology maturation and more.

“AFRL’s innovations translate to improved aircraft performance, operational efficiency and enhanced mission success rates,” he said.

Richardson then spoke of the acquisition and fielding role led by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center.

More than 237 AFLCMC personnel currently support the B-21 program in areas ranging from financial management and contracting to digital acquisition, systems engineering, airworthiness certification and production planning. The overall goal is to ensure that the platform is safe, secure, effective, available and sustainable over the long term.

“Our team at LCMC provides warfighting capabilities at the speed of relevance, and the B-21 is no exception,” he said.

Richardson then highlighted the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center’s role in the B-21’s nuclear certification, safe escape distance analysis, hardness assessment, and Nuclear Command, Control and Communications planning. With the platform designed to be a dual-capable penetrating strike stealth bomber capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions, AFNWC expertise is critical to ensuring safety and viability over the long term.

First-hand accounts of an Air Force test pilot and maintainer showcased the Air Force Test Center’s responsibility for B-21 flight test planning and operations and related support in areas such as systems engineering, maintenance, business operations and information technology. Richardson discussed the center’s role in putting the B-21 through a combination of realistic simulations, intensive exercises, and carefully designed evaluations.

“This process goes beyond routine testing and dives deep into understanding the capabilities. The test center stresses our systems to determine failure modes and maintenance challenges in a controlled environment, vice during war,” he said.

As the B-21 moves towards operational capability, Richardson talked about how the Air Force Sustainment Center is working to ensure readiness for depot maintenance and sustainment activity. AFSC teams currently aligned to the B-21 program provide organic software development and testing, composite and propulsion support, depot activation, facility planning and more, ensuring the organic capability to maintain the platform’s lethality into the future.

“Transitioning from developing, acquiring, and testing to heavy maintenance, our sustainers showcase real-world, wrench turning stories,” he said.

With the B-21 slated to operate out of Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, with Whiteman AFB, Missouri, and Dyess AFB, Texas, also identified as preferred operating locations the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center is planning for mission bed-down through installation assessments and planning, including any required infrastructure construction or upgrades.

“IMSC’s approach to installation management optimizes the Air Force’s ability to rapidly deploy and sustain operations,” he said.

Richardson concluded his keynote address by reemphasizing the critical role of AFMC in ensuring the Air Force is postured to maintain a strategic advantage over the PRC and all other adversaries through the delivery of integrated capabilities across the mission set. The ability of the Air Force to fly, fight and win in all domains depends on AFMC.

“As with the B-21, if our Airmen fly it, shoot it, fuel it, move it, drive it, wear it, communicate with it, or work in it…AFMC powers every weapon system, every installation, for every command and every Airman,” he said. “Together, our power is unmatched. Our work in the B-21 program embodies Air Force Materiel Command’s core principle: Every individual capability, every piece of technology we develop, must maximize readiness and lethality, not just on its own, but as part of an integrated whole.”

To view the full recording of Richardson’s keynote address, visit the 2023 Air, Space & Cyber Conference website.

Source: United States Air Force

ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) —  

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III was joined by Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in marking the 22nd anniversary of the terrorist attack at a ceremony honoring the 184 lives lost at the Pentagon.

“I know that being here today is hard,” Austin said as he extended his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives. “I know that it aches to remember this milestone year after year. And I know that nothing can make it right. 

“And, as the years go by, it may feel that the world is moving on or even forgetting what happened here on Sept. 11, 2001,” he said. “But please know this: The men and women of the Department of Defense will always remember.” 

Austin and Milley highlighted the outpouring of service and selflessness by the defense community and ordinary Americans in the immediate aftermath of the attacks and the years to follow.  

The response by Americans at the Pentagon, the World Trade Center and aboard United Airlines flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, offered proof that “terror would never destroy us,” Milley said. 

“Those terrorists hated America,” he said. “They hated our Constitution and the values that bind us together as a nation. 

“Those terrorists wanted to destroy our country,” he said. “But, on that day and every day since, the United States has demonstrated that we would never bow to fear and hatred.” 

Austin noted that in the month following the attack on the Pentagon, more than 2,500 people volunteered to provide assistance to the grieving families of those who died in the attack.  

Years after the attack, that same courage and compassion continued to shine, he said. 

That call to service has echoed throughout the decades, propelling thousands of young people to answer the call to serve in the military, Milley said.  

“Sept. 11 reminds us that the American spirit still shines in times of testing,” Austin said. “After the attacks, amid the horror and the grief, many Americans felt a deeper sense of duty to their communities and to their country. And all around the country with hearts breaking for the slain and the suffering, Americans looked within themselves and felt called to give back.” 

Austin vowed to maintain that legacy of service and honor those who lost their lives in the attacks.  

“It is our duty to live up to the goodness that they embodied,” he said. “And it is our duty to defend the democracy that they loved so much. So, we will always seek to meet that challenge.” 

“We will always work to keep America safe, and we will always, always remember,” he said. 

Source: United States Air Force

BATTLE MOUNTAIN, Nev. (AFNS) —  

The Common Air Route Surveillance Radar, or CARSR, at Battle Mountain, suffered a catastrophic failure on Dec. 27, 2022, when snow accumulation caused the protective dome to collapse onto the antennas within. This radar supports several agencies and feeds into the overall National Airspace System, or NAS, picture used by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, executing a part of their vital mission.

When the outage occurred, a team of about 100 people was formed to develop a strategy for reconstruction and reintegration into the NAS. Experts from the Federal Aviation Administration, NAS Defense Programs, the Department of Defense Joint Program Office, the Salt Lake City Air Traffic Control Center, AJW-L900 FAA Logistics Site Services, and the 84th Radar Evaluation Squadron at Hill Air Force Base, Utah comprised this team.

This 100-person team had to accomplish several significant milestones to restore radar services including clearing and restoring road access to the top of a 10,000-foot mountaintop; removing the destroyed equipment; locating and refurbishing a replacement antenna; and transporting and constructing a 60′ wide x 45′ tall replacement radome weighing 5.5 tons to the top of a 10,000-foot mountaintop.

All this activity culminated in the radar being brought online for testing and optimization prior to its return to the NAS. The 84th RADES’s CARSR experts were called in to complete the final stage of the restoration by optimizing and evaluating the radar prior to its return to service.

“Darrell McFarland, 84th RADES Radar Evaluation flight chief, oversaw the team’s efforts, ensuring that the RADES team members were staged and prepared to optimize the moment the radar was mounted,” said Lt. Col. Ryan Smith, 84th RADES director of operations.

John Birchfield led the 84th RADES optimization team, which included Staff Sgt. Quinton Montgomery, Staff Sgt. Joshua Palileo and Craig Lewis. A comprehensive radar optimization typically requires three weeks of onsite labor. The RADES team worked overtime and accomplished the task in two weeks to return Battle Mountain’s CARSR to full service.

“We wanted to get the data back into the National Airspace System as quickly as possible due to the air traffic routing commercial traffic differently than normal, air safety for the traveling public and air defense for NORAD since this radar covers all of northern Nevada and southern Idaho,” McFarland said.

The FAA recognized the hard work of everyone involved through a coining and recognition ceremony at the Air Route Traffic Control Center, or ARTCC, in Salt Lake City on July 23.

“This was a monumental collaborative effort involving multiple federal entities,” said Lt. Col. Douglas Boytim, 84th RADES commander. “On July 19, the Battle Mountain CARSR was restored to the NAS, thereby closing a critical gap in radar coverage for both the FAA and NORAD.”