Editor’s Note

Air Force Magazine will not publish a Daily Report on Monday, Sept. 5, in observance of the Labor Day holiday. We will be back in your inboxes Tuesday, Sept. 6.

Air Force Looking for New Stand-off Attack Weapon

By John A. Tirpak
The Air Force is looking for a new, generic weapon, produced by multiple vendors, to affordably attack targets at standoff ranges, with a capability as soon as 2030, according to a service solicitation to the defense industry. The Air Force wants to assess the industrial base’s ability to “produce a material solution to this operational objective” with the idea of establishing “a single design for all concepts, with appropriate data rights for the government to potentially distribute the digital design to multiple vendors for production.”
F-22 software

F-22 Flies With Third-Party Apps, New Open Software Architecture

By Greg Hadley
F-22s at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., ran third-party software during a test flight, a first for the Air Force’s fifth-generation fighters and a key milestone in the service’s quest to acquire and rapidly deploy cutting-edge technologies. The announcement from Air Combat Command also noted that the test flight demonstrated the first in-flight use of “open-source container orchestration software” on any of its fighter aircraft. Container orchestration software helps automate the process by which apps can be configured, deployed, and run on different host operating systems.
Blake

Outstanding Airmen of the Year: Master Sgt. Brandon S. Blake

By Patrick Reardon
The Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2022 will be formally recognized at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference from Sept. 19 to 21 in National Harbor, Md. Air Force Magazine is highlighting one each weekday from now until the conference begins. Today, we honor Master Sgt. Brandon S. Blake, a detachment superintendent for the 720th Operations Support Squadron in Birmingham, Ala.

Radar Sweep

The Military’s Sexual Assault Problem Is Only Getting Worse

Military Times

More incidents, less reporting, plummeting confidence in the system to get justice―those are the takeaways from the Defense Department’s most recent annual sexual assault prevention and response report, released Sept. 1. For years, officials have couched increases in sexual assault reports by claiming that survivors are becoming more comfortable with reporting, but for 2021, that math doesn’t bear out.

VA Accelerates Toxic Exposure Claims, Urges Veterans to Apply Now

Military.com

Veterans who qualify for disability compensation under the recently signed landmark toxic exposures act should begin filing claims, Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough said. Speaking at the American Legion's national convention in Milwaukee, McDonough announced that the department has retroactively designated all health conditions listed in the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics, or PACT, Act as presumed to be related to military service effective Aug. 10.

Space Communications Node Offers DARPA Model for Rapid Acquisition

Defense News

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said it selected teams to help develop an on-orbit satellite communications translator within just eight days of releasing a formal solicitation. Now, the Pentagon agency charged with making investments in transformational technology wants to apply that quick approach to other programs.

A Guide to China’s Increasingly Impressive Air-to-Air Missile Inventory

The Drive

The rapid pace of development across China’s military aircraft scene has been well documented, with Western observers keenly awaiting new designs and variants of existing ones, while manufacturing plants keep up a seemingly relentless pace of deliveries. What’s been less well covered, however, is the domestic production of air-launched weapons to arm these aircraft. For many years, Chinese progress in air-to-air missiles, or AAMs, in particular, was overlooked or achievements downplayed.

Live, Virtual & Constructive Training

Air Force Magazine

The Air Force is transitioning to more virtual training to give pilots an edge, saying some higher-end maneuvers cannot be replicated in real-time training. Learn more on Air Force Magazine’s Live, Virtual & Constructive Training page.

Despite Cuts, HH-60W and F-15EX Not at Risk of ‘Critical’ Budgetary Breach, Cancellation

Breaking Defense

The Air Force announced huge cuts to the F-15EX and HH-60W Jolly Green II programs this year, but neither of those efforts is headed for a “critical” cost overrun that would trigger the programs to be rebaselined or canceled, the service confirmed. On June 28, the Air Force reported a “significant Nunn-McCurdy breach” for the HH-60W combat rescue helicopter after program acquisition unit costs for the HH-60W increased by 19 percent when compared to the current program baseline, exceeding the 15 percent threshold.

Navy Seeks to Up Space Game, Including via Space Force

Breaking Defense

With Navy interests in space capabilities on the rise, the service has been increasing spending on both research and developing space expertise among its Sailors, according to the Naval Research Laboratory’s top space official. “I would say the Navy has really invested a lot more in recent years in space,” said Steven Meier, director of NRL’s Naval Center for Space Technology (NCST), in a webinar sponsored by the National Security Space Association.

UK Releases Military ‘Space Power’ Doctrine

SpaceNews

The United Kingdom released “UK Space Power,” the military’s keystone doctrine publication focused on the space domain. The 91-page public document lays out in broad terms the role of the U.K. military in protecting space from foreign threats and provides “a basis for understanding the utility of the space domain in the military context,” the paper says. A central message is that space is a global domain; and military, civil, and commercial space activities are intertwined.

US, Denmark Like-Minded on Ukraine Aid

DOD release

During a Pentagon meeting, Denmark's Defense Minister Morten Bodskov thanked Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III for his leadership in the effort to aid Ukraine as it struggles against Russia. For his part, Austin noted that Denmark is in step with the United States in providing arms, supplies, and training to Ukraine.

One More Thing

We Salute the Airmen Who Got 300 Chick-fil-A Sandwiches Flown in to Feed Their Buddies

Task & Purpose

It’s a well known fact that chickens can’t fly, but anything is possible in the Air Force, where a few Airmen coordinated a plane full of 300 Chick-fil-A chicken sandwiches to fly onto the remote Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., to show appreciation for the junior enlisted Airmen working at the nuclear missile base. The Chick-fil-A flight took three months of planning.