Air Force Materiel Command is beginning to think about how depots and sustainment will evolve now that USAF is embracing the "eSeries" approach to digitally creating future platforms. AFMC commander Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr. said he's also working to build the IT infrastructure needed to make the e-series work, and has set up a new Transformational Capabilities Office to help propel innovative technologies from successful prototypes to programs of record, bringing together portfolio managers, end users, and other stakeholders to choose future "Vanguard" projects.
Despite its diversity, the U.S. Air Force has an inclusion problem, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass said Sept. 16. “Diversity [means] you ask somebody to the dance. Inclusion is you actually ask them to dance,” she explained in a post-keynote Q&A at AFA's virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference. “We need to have people who are actually asking people to dance and be part of that culture, that organization, that mission, and that sense of belonging.”
The bomber fleet is turning in exceptional readiness and performance since it turned away from the continuous bomber presence and close air support mission, Air Force Global Strike Command chief Gen. Timothy M. Ray reported. In its new dynamic force employment role, the bomber is emblematic of how the U.S. plans to project power, he said. Ray also discussed equipping the fleet with hypersonic weapons and upgrades to the B-52 bomber.
Air Mobility Command is testing how its workhorse strategic airlifter can not only carry in combat weapons systems, but also directly contribute to a fight by dropping bombs and providing targeting data for artillery. As part of the high-tech Advanced Battle Management System “onramp” evaluations earlier this month, AMC C-17s tested dropping joint direct attack munitions, meaning the lumbering mobility jets effectively served as bombers, AMC boss Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost said Sept. 14 during the Air Force Association’s virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference. “This concept, once fully mature, is for the munitions to behave just as if they were dropped from a bomber aircraft,” Van Ovost told reporters.
Air Force installations along the Gulf Coast are starting to resume operations after Hurricane Sally made landfall early Sept. 16 over Gulf Shores, Ala., as a Category 2 storm. Early announcements indicate the bases weathered harsh winds and rain but avoided widespread damage, though nearby residential and commercial areas were battered. The National Hurricane Center cautioned of “catastrophic and life-threatening flooding” in the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama.
Military space budgets will need to grow to adequately support air, land, sea, and cyber operations as global warfighting grows increasingly intertwined, and as the Pentagon solidifies its plans for offense and defense in the cosmos, a top Space Force official argued this week. "If I was [U.S. Space Command boss Army Gen. James H. Dickinson], I would certainly argue for a budget based on size of [the area of responsibility], because he's got a huge one to defend," Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, the Space Force's deputy chief of space, cyber, and nuclear operations, said during the Air Force Association's virtual Air, Space, and Cyber Conference. Saltzman's comment underscores the central role space operations promise to play in future joint operations, and foreshadows how the military space enterprise could negotiate with Capitol Hill to let it grow.
COVID-19’s impacts on Air Mobility Command operations, which increased as the pandemic spread, have provided several lessons learned that mobility forces can use for potential ops in degraded conditions, the command’s boss said. AMC Commander Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost, speaking during AFA’s virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference, said the pandemic is the first “thorough contested environment” that mobility forces have faced. It forced aircrews and commanders to think differently about how to get their mission accomplished. “From our personal front door all the way to the foxhole, we had unforeseen limitations on things that, frankly, we had taken for granted,” Van Ovost said.
The first of 19 engines that will power test models of the new Boeing F-15EX has been delivered, according to GE Aviation. The new fighters enter combined developmental and operational test at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., early next year. The Air Force awarded the first batch of F-15EX engines to GE as a sole source to speed the test process, but has opened the door for Pratt & Whitney to offer a competitive powerplant for the Eagle as well.
United Launch Alliance Chief Executive Officer Tory Bruno supports the idea of sending space industry employees for stints in the Space Force, suggesting it could be modeled on an existing Air Force program that lets service members try out private sector jobs. The Space Force wants to bolster its talent pool—particularly for high-demand careers like software development—and help its workforce think outside the box by rotating people between industry and government more often. Bruno pointed to the Air Force’s competitive Education with Industry (EWI) program as a good model for the Space Force’s vision.
