The Air Force is crafting new policy that envisions more fluidity between conventional and nuclear weapons, as well as a broader range of options to keep others from using their own nuclear weapons. The U.S. has long treated conventional and nuclear warfare as separate concepts, but that’s beginning to change, said Lt. Gen. Richard M. Clark, the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration. Over the past year and a half, nuclear experts on the Air Staff have crafted an overview of “conventional and nuclear integration,” in which American service members must be able to survive a conflict that involves a nuclear weapon.
The Air Force is pursuing a speedy program for a new air-breathing hypersonic missile, equipped with a modular payload bay that apparently will be used for something other than submunitions, according to a service solicitation. USAF solicited Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon for the work, saying they alone have the expertise to perform. A 15-month program is envisioned, and the Air Force wants the companies to consider teaming arrangements on the propulsion system, air vehicle, and payload integration. The new system still has to fit on fighters and bombers.
U.S. Air Force Academy cadets are starting a fall semester unlike any other, as the school tries to prove on-campus classes can work amid the coronavirus pandemic. About 4,400 students are back in class at USAFA in Colorado Springs, Colo., after the academy cut short the spring 2020 semester and sent all but the seniors home ahead of an early graduation. Positive COVID-19 cases turned up over the Aug. 15 weekend, the first weekend after classes began Aug. 12. Academy spokesman Lt. Col. Michael Andrews declined to say how many people have tested positive so far.
Two of the Air Force’s three bombers recently flew simultaneous long-range missions across the Indo-Pacific, with two different sets of B-1s training alongside Japanese fighters and Navy ships, while stealth B-2s flew their own training mission in the Indian Ocean. Two bomber task forces are deployed to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, with B-1s at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, and B-2s at Navy Support Facility Diego Garcia. On Aug. 17, two B-1s took off from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., and flew to the East Sea, where they linked up with two B-1s from Andersen and four F-15Cs from Kadena Air Base, Japan, as well as Japan Air Self Defense Force F-15Js, Marine Corps F-35Bs from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, and the USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group for a large force exercise. At Diego Garcia, two B-2s deployed to the Indian Ocean base from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., flew “joint interoperability tactics training” and returned to the base, according to Pacific Air Forces.
Non-essential personnel and their families evacuated from Travis Air Force Base on Aug. 19 because of the threat of the LNU Lightning Complex Fire, 60th Air Mobility Wing spokesperson Capt. Amanda M. Farr confirmed to Air Force Magazine. The base also began evacuating its aircraft around 8:30 the same night, with the wing's C-17s headed to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., its C-5s to Kelly Field at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, and its KC-10s to Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., Farr said.
Specially equipped C-130s are supporting fire responses across California, where numerous blazes have destroyed dozens of homes and prompted evacuations throughout the state. Four C-130s from the California Air National Guard’s 146th, the Wyoming Air National Guard’s 153rd, and Nevada Air National Guard’s 152nd Airlift Wings are activated and flying sorties, dropping fire retardant with the aircraft’s Modular Airborne Firefighting System. The four aircraft conducted 15 sorties on Aug. 18, conducting 12 drops on the Lake Fire north of Santa Clarita, the Salt Fire near Stockton, and the LNU Lightning Complex Fire west of Sacramento, according to 1st Air Force-Air Forces Northern. “The aircraft are working at a quick pace,” said Col. Gregory Berry, commander of the 302nd Air Expeditionary Group, in a statement. “The C-130 crews are flying an average of six drops a day and about five hours a day depending on the fire.”
