Ramstein Russia

Ramstein Air Base is Ready for a Russia Contingency, but Not a ‘Worst-Case Scenario’

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany—The two 10,000-foot runways at Ramstein Air Base were quiet and the flight line was calm under overcast skies and a blistering winter wind Feb. 4 as base commanders from three wings juggled priorities from two theaters and prepared for a Russia contingency. “That’s an ever changing, crazy chess match in a lot of ways,” Brig. Gen. Joshua Olson, commander of the 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein told Air Force Magazine when asked if the air base is prepared to support contingencies related to tensions in the east. “We are more than prepared for whatever Russia decides in Ukraine, and NATO decides to do,” he said.
Pentagon CRs

AFA Leaders Call on Congress to Break Cycle of CRs Funding Pentagon

Congressional leaders say they have made a significant breakthrough toward agreeing to a budget for fiscal year 2022—more than four months after the fiscal year began. But Air Force Association leaders are calling on lawmakers to break what has become a nearly-annual tradition of continuing resolutions to fund the Pentagon and other federal agencies.
B-52 bomber task force

B-52 Bomber Task Force Deploys to RAF Fairford

Four B-52s from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., deployed to RAF Fairford, U.K., on Feb. 10 for a notional three-week stay, during which they will exercise with NATO allies and partner nations. The long-planned mission is to enhance "readiness and interoperability for the controllers responsible for coordinating airstrikes to support ground forces,” according to a statement by U.S. Air Forces in Europe.
f-22s uae

Air Force Deploying F-22s to UAE, CENTCOM Boss Says

The Air Force is sending a squadron of F-22s to the United Arab Emirates “over the next week or so,” U.S. Central Command boss Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. told the official UAE news agency Feb. 8. The F-22 Raptors will be tasked with helping the UAE respond to recent drone and missile strikes by Iranian-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels that have killed several and threatened American personnel stationed in the Gulf nation.

Unclear Definitions Risk to Success in Fielding Autonomous Aircraft

Successfully introducing new, unmanned aircraft in the Air Force, with varying degrees of autonomy, is at risk as long as there’s widespread disagreement about what an “autonomous” aircraft actually is, according to an upcoming paper from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. The think-tank urges the Air Force to set common definitions so that requirements-setters and engineers don’t work at cross-purposes.
E-3

Replacing the E-3: USAF Asks Companies How They Could Build Prototypes in 5 Years

Replacing the Air Force’s “challenged” E-3 Sentry fleet came closer to reality with a request for information Feb. 8. The Air Force’s AWACS Advanced Capabilities Branch wants to know how companies can deliver prototypes of a replacement for the airborne warning and control system, or AWACS, airplane by fiscal 2028. The RFI doesn't guarantee the government will start a program of record, but Air Force officials have repeatedly lamented the aging aircraft's viability.

Radar Sweep

VA Hospital Warns Thousands of Vets of Possible Infection Risk from Improperly Cleaned Equipment

Military.com

Roughly 4,000 patients at a Georgia Veterans Affairs hospital have been advised to get tested for several blood-borne viruses following concerns over the facility's sterilization procedures for reusable medical devices. Veterans at the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center are being notified that they need to be tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV following a discovery that the durable medical equipment used during their procedures "may not have received all the necessary steps for complete and safe reprocessing," according to press release sent to WMAZ-TV of Macon, Georgia.

Russia’s Says Its New A-100 Jet Has Flown With Its Radar Turned On For The First Time

The Drive

Russia's prototype A-100 Premier next-generation airborne early warning and control plane has flown for the first time with its radar turned on, according to the state-owned companies responsible for the design. The announcement comes just under two weeks after a Russian newspaper published a story asserting that Western sanctions on the country were hampering the development of this aircraft.

The Latest on Missile Warning & Defense

Air Force Magazine

Recent Russian and Chinese missile launches raised the stakes in space. Find out the latest news on sensing, tracking, and defending against enemy missile strikes.

State Department Approves $13B F-15EX Sale to Indonesia, on Heels of Rafale Deal

Breaking Defense

The US State Department has cleared Indonesia to buy up to 36 Boeing F-15EX aircraft as part of an estimated $13.9 billion deal, just hours after Indonesia announced another major investment in the French-made Dassault Rafale. Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto had previously indicated that Indonesia was interested in buying both Rafales and the F-15EX, as part of a major defense spending increase planned for the coming decades.

Defense Innovation Unit Partners with Orbital Insight to Take on Satellite Spoofing

Defense News

The Pentagon’s innovation hub is working with industry to identify satellite spoofing operations using commercially available data. Through a new program called Harmonious Rook, the Defense Innovation Unit has partnered with geospatial intelligence company Orbital Insight to develop a platform that can detect Global Navigation Satellite System spoofing. The company announced the contract in a Feb. 10 news release.

Space Force Eager to Invest in Debris Removal Projects

SpaceNews

It’s not the job of the U.S. Space Force to clean up orbital debris. However, the military wants to partner with private companies that can perform that service and help cultivate that sector of the industry, vice chief of space operations Gen. David “DT” Thompson said Feb. 10. Speaking at an AFCEA information technology event, Thompson said he frequently is asked about the growing hazards in space caused by debris and his answer is that “it’s a hard problem.” That said, “right now the most important thing we and others can do is stop making the problem worse.”

Why Are There So Few African American Air Force Pilots?

FLYING Magazine

In 1941 and amid pressures of World War II, the U.S. military cracked open the door to Black pilots. During the war, Tuskegee Army Air Field turned out 650 single-engine pilots, 217 multiengine pilots, and 60 auxiliary pilots. Seven decades later, underrepresentation is still an issue for Black pilots in the service. Of the U.S. Air Force’s nearly 14,000 active-duty pilots, only 2 percent—fewer than 300—are Black, according to service data provided to FLYING.

Air Force Reserve Medics Mobilized a Second Time for COVID Response

Air Force release

As COVID-19 continues to impact the U.S. healthcare system in pockets of the country, the Air Force Reserve is once again mobilizing approximately 40 ground medical personnel to assist civilian hospitals in New York and California at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. For the past two years, active, Guard and Reserve medical forces have assisted FEMA by providing military medical personnel activations to U.S. Army North, under U.S. Northern Command's oversight.

'He's Making it Worse': Frustrations with Hawley's Pentagon Nominee Blockade Boil Over

POLITICO

Frustrations with Sen. Josh Hawley‘s monthslong slow-walking of Pentagon nominees boiled over on Feb. 10, as one top Democrat slammed the Missouri Republican for hamstringing the military as it responds to the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Hawley—who has blocked the quick confirmation on Pentagon nominees in recent months over how the Biden administration withdrew from Afghanistan—stymied an attempt from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) to approve three Pentagon nominees on Feb. 10.

US Military Camouflage: The Differences between Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Others

Task and Purpose

It seems like every few years one of the branches of the military changes its camouflage uniform. It seems this way because it is this way for every branch besides the Marine Corps which hasn’t changed its camouflage pattern since 2002. Keeping up with this can be difficult, especially since we are adding branches to the military—Shout out Space Force, which actually does exist.