Sixth-gen fighter likely won’t be common across U.S. services, Air Force general says

In a departure from the dual-service F-35 effort, the Pentagon’s sixth-generation fighter likely won’t be common between the Air Force and the Navy, a top Air Force general said Friday.

The next generation of fighters will likely be designed as separate aircraft across the services because the Air Force and Navy will have unique mission requirements in future decades, said Lt. Gen. James “Mike” Holmes, deputy chief of staff for plans and requirements.

“We’ll have some different requirements for what we need based on the different things we are expected to provide for the joint force,” Holmes said Friday during a media roundtable at the Pentagon. “It’s not likely [it will be a common airplane]. We’ll use common technologies and maybe some common things, but at this point we think it will be a different enough mission that it won’t be the same airplane.”

It’s a departure from the fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II which will be used by the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. The F-35 was designed as a joint-service fighter, with three different variants built for the various services.

But it looks like the sixth gen fighter development will more closely resemble current aircraft, where the Air Force operates the F-15 and F-16, and the Navy flies the F-18.

Last year, the Navy and Air Force said they were set to begin a joint analysis of alternatives, or AOA, to explore solutions to ensure air superiority into the 2030s and beyond. While the Navy went ahead with its AOA, the Air Force decided to delay its own effort, Holmes said. Still, the two services are collaborating closely on the project, he stressed.

“We took a year out on purpose to try to bring in a broader picture,” Holmes said.

Instead of moving forward with the AOA, the Air Force stood up a Capability Collaboration Team (CCT) to study the possibilities for a sixth-generation fighter. The Air Force worked with industry, the other services, academia, scientists, and government research centers to narrow the options down to two possible development paths, Holmes said. The team will brief Air Force leadership on its findings in the spring, he said.

“We’re a multi-domain Air Force, we’re going to approach problems with multi-domain solutions,” Holmes said. “We wanted to open the aperture and take a look at what space, cyber and air capabilities can come to bear to try to regain that capability advantage we had in air-to-air against our potential threats.”

The Air Force has included money in various funding streams within its fiscal year 2017 budget request for experimentation and technology demonstration in order to minimize risk for the sixth-generation fighter in the long term, Holmes said. The service’s funding profile for next-generation air dominance – which is not limited to sixth gen -- includes $20.6 million in FY17, and about $13 million each in FY18 and FY19 for research and development, according to official budget documents. The Air Force also included $75 million in FY17 FY19 for “innovation and experimentation,” which could be used for sixth-gen fighters, according to a service spokeswoman.

The Air Force will decide this year exactly how to spend that cash, Holmes said.

Lara Seligman is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. She can be reached at lseligman@defensenews.com and you can follow her on Twitter at @laraseligman.

Phillip Swarts is the aircraft and space operations reporter for Air Force Times. He can be reached at pswarts@airforcetimes.com and you can follow him on Twitter at @PFSwarts.

Pentagon: Airstrike targets ISIS training camp, senior leader in Libya

WASHINGTON — American warplanes struck an Islamic State training camp in Libya near the Tunisian border Friday, and a Tunisian described as a key extremist operative was likely killed, the Pentagon announced. In Libya, local officials estimated that more than 40 people were killed with more wounded, some critically.

In a written statement, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the training camp was near the Libyan town of Sabratha and that the targeted extremist was Noureddine Chouchane, a Tunisian national whom Cook called "an ISIL senior facilitator in Libya associated with the training camp." ISIL is an alternative acronym for the Islamic State group.

Another U.S. official said up to 60 militants were present at the camp at the time of the strike by Air Force F-15E strike aircraft based in Europe.

Cook said Tunisian officials in May 2015 had named Chouchane as a suspect in a March 18, 2015, attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunis.

"He facilitated the movement of potential ISIL-affiliated foreign fighters from Tunisia to Libya and onward to other countries," Cook said. "Destruction of the camp and Chouchane's removal will eliminate an experienced facilitator and is expected to have an immediate impact on ISIL's ability to facilitate its activities in Libya, including recruiting new ISIL members, establishing bases in Libya, and potentially planning external attacks on U.S. interests in the region."

Another official said the U.S. believes that Chouchane was killed. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe details of the sensitive operation, said it did not herald the start of a sustained U.S. air campaign in Libya but rather was an example of opportunistic strikes targeting key ISIS operatives.

One U.S. official said Friday's airstrike was taken "with the knowledge of Libyan authorities," but the official would not be more specific about the coordination.

A witness in the city said he heard two explosions at 3:30 a.m. coming from the nearby village of Qasr Talel. He said the house that was targeted belongs to Abdel-Hakim al-Mashawat, known locally as an Islamic State militant. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared for his safety.

The official Facebook page of the Sabratha local city council also put the death toll at more than 40 with more wounded, some critically. "There are torn body parts buried under the rubble," it said in a posting. It noted that the victims were not all Libyans. The witness said he saw a hospital list that noted victims were from Tunisia, Algeria and Libya.

Sabratha is one of the main launching points for smugglers' boats heading to Europe. It also has been a transit point for Tunisians and North African jihadists before joining ISIS affiliates in their strongholds in the central city of Sirte and eastern cities such as Benghazi.

President Obama earlier this year directed his national security team to bolster counterterrorism efforts in Libya while also pursuing diplomatic possibilities for solving its political crisis and forming a government of national unity. While ISIS has emerged in other places, including Afghanistan, Libya is seen as its key focus outside of Syria and Iraq.

The U.S. military has been closely monitoring ISIS movements in Libya, and small teams of U.S.military personnel have moved in and out of the country over a period of months. British, French and Italian special forces also have been in Libya helping with aerial surveillance, mapping and intelligence gathering in several cities, including Benghazi in the east and Zintan in the west, according to two Libyan military officials who are coordinating with them. The Libyan officials spoke on condition of anonymity recently with The Associated Press on this matter because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

U.S. officials predicted early this month that it would be weeks or longer before U.S. special forces would be sent, citing the need for more consultations with European allies. Additional intelligence would help refine targets for any sort of military strikes, but surveillance drones are in high demand elsewhere, including in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Adding to the concern in Washington and Europe is evidence that the number of Islamic State fighters in Libya is increasing — now believed to be up from about 2,000 to 5,000 — even as the group's numbers in Syria and Iraq are shrinking under more unrelenting U.S. and coalition airstrikes.

Obama discussed the situation when asked during a news conference Wednesday at the closing of a summit in California where he hosted leaders of several nation members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations group, or ASEAN.

"With respect to Libya," he said, "I have been clear from the outset that we will go after ISIS wherever it appears, the same way that we went after al-Qaida wherever they appeared."
"We will continue to take actions where we've got a clear operation and a clear target in mind," the president said. "And we are working with our other coalition partners to make sure that as we see opportunities to prevent ISIS from digging in, in Libya, we take them. At the same time, we're working diligently with the United Nations to try to get a government in place in Libya. And that's been a problem."
"The tragedy of Libya over the last several years is Libya has a relatively small population and a lot of oil wealth and could be really successful," he said. "They are divided by tribal lines and ethnic lines, power plays."
"There is now, I think, a recognition on the part of a broad middle among their political leadership that it makes sense to unify so that there is just some semblance of a state there, but extremes on either side are still making it difficult for that state to cohere," Obama told reporters.
Tunisia, Libya's neighbor which shares nearly 500 kilometers of border, has been worried for weeks about what they understood to be an "imminent" strike by the coalition. Tunisia fears terrorists, arms traffickers and a flux of refugees onto its territory, and recently built an approximately 200-kilometer-long wall of sand and trenches to fortify its border. Nearly a million Libyans crossed the border into Tunisia during the 2011 uprising against Libya's former leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi had asked that Tunisia be consulted before any decision to strike.

In a recent interview with AP, Prime Minister Habib Essid said ISIS stretched its tentacles to Sabrata.
Tunisians make up the largest number of ISIS foreign fighters — an estimated 5,000 in Syria, Iraq and Libya, according to Tunisian officials. Some reportedly joined Libya from Syria, others by crossing the Tunisian border.

Photo Release -- Northrop Grumman Developing XS-1 Experimental Spaceplane Design for DARPA

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) with Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic is developing a preliminary design and flight demonstration plan for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Experimental Spaceplane XS-1 program.

   .

XS-1 has a reusable booster that when coupled with an expendable upper stage provides affordable, available and responsive space lift for 3,000-pound class spacecraft into low Earth orbit. Reusable boosters with aircraft-like operations provide a breakthrough in space lift costs for this payload class, enabling new generations of lower cost, innovative and more resilient spacecraft.

 

The company is defining its concept for XS-1 under a 13-month, phase one contract valued at $3.9 million. In addition to low-cost launch, the XS-1 would serve as a test-bed for a new generation of hypersonic aircraft.

 

A key program goal is to fly 10 times in 10 days using a minimal ground crew and infrastructure. Reusable aircraft-like operations would help reduce military and commercial light spacecraft launch costs by a factor of 10 from current launch costs in this payload class.

 

To complement its aircraft, spacecraft and autonomous systems capabilities, Northrop Grumman has teamed with Scaled Composites of Mojave, which will lead fabrication and assembly, and Virgin Galactic, the privately-funded spaceline, which will head commercial spaceplane operations and transition.

 

"Our team is uniquely qualified to meet DARPA's XS-1 operational system goals, having built and transitioned many developmental systems to operational use, including our current work on the world's only commercial spaceline, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo," said Doug Young, vice president, missile defense and advanced missions, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems.

 

"We plan to bundle proven technologies into our concept that we developed during related projects for DARPA, NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, giving the government maximum return on those investments," Young added.

 

The design would be built around operability and affordability, emphasizing aircraft-like operations including:

– Clean pad launch using a transporter erector launcher, minimal infrastructure and ground crew;

– Highly autonomous flight operations that leverage Northrop Grumman's unmanned aircraft systems experience; and

– Aircraft-like horizontal landing and recovery on standard runways.

 

 

Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in air and space unmanned systems, cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.

F-15s, troops from 493rd deploy to Bulgaria

Troops and fighter aircraft from the 493rd Fighter Squadron have been sent to Bulgaria as tensions in Eastern Europe continue to run high.

 

A dozen F-15s and approximately 180 personnel from the 493rd, based at RAF Lakenheath, England, have deployed to Graf Ignatievo Air Base to participate in a two-week bilateral training exercise with the Bulgarian air force, Pentagon spokesmen Col. Steve Warren told reporters Monday.

 

The exercise began Monday and will continue through Sept. 1.

 

The purpose of the deployment is to “conduct training and focus on maintain joint readiness while building interoperability,” Warren said.

 

The move comes at a time when America’s Eastern European partners and allies are concerned about Russian military intervention in Ukraine. There are fears that Moscow might try to destabilize other countries in the region.

 

“This is a reflection of our steadfast commitment to enhancing regional security,” Warren said about the exercise.

 

Last week the Pentagon announced that approximately 600 soldiers from the Army’s 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas, will deploy to Poland and the Baltic states in October for a three-month series of land warfare training exercises.

 

The First Cavalry will bring M-1 Abrams tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and armored personnel carrier for the exercises, according to the Defense Department

Global Hawk Reaches New Milestone, Expands Operational Area

The U.S. Air Force's RQ-4 Global Hawk, a wide area surveillance unmanned aircraft system, has just completed its 100th operational mission in Southwest Asia and recently moved into the Pacific region.

 

Built by Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC), Global Hawk is operated largely out of the 69th Reconnaissance Group at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. The 69th Reconnaissance Group falls under the 9th Reconnaissance Wing, central station for the entire Global Hawk fleet based at Beale Air Force Base, California. Global Hawk is equipped with the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program sensor capable of detecting fixed and moving targets. It has been flying early operational capability (EOC) missions since September 2013, providing the high priority wide area surveillance ground moving target indicator (GMTI) capability in the U.S. Central and Africa Command regions. Full system capability will be demonstrated when the system enters initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) in the spring of next year.

 

Global Hawk GMTI EOC operations have proven the viability of the system, which expanded into the Pacific with two Global Hawk aircraft deployed to Guam to support U.S. Pacific Command peacetime surveillance requirements in the region.

 

"Global Hawk delivers tremendous capabilities," said Col. Lawrence Spinetta, commander of the 69th Reconnaissance Group. "It offers unmatched range and persistence. As a result, combatant commander demand for the RQ-4 continues to skyrocket. Operational success has led one theater after another to request support from this high-altitude, long-endurance aircraft."

 

Global Hawk has flown more than 115,000 flight hours supporting diverse global missions. Carrying a variety of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensor payloads, Global Hawk supports antiterrorism, antipiracy, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, airborne communications and information-sharing missions.

Orbital Blockade Imposed On Iran

This month most international suppliers of space satellite communications are blocking Iran from receiving or sending material (especially TV) via satellite. This is in compliance with more severe sanctions placed on Iran last year. The satellite providers are being pressured to ignore this shutdown because the sanctions do not cover media. But the satellite provider lawyers advised a shutdown because the United States appears ready to punish any firm that tries to keep transmissions going for Iran on “media” grounds.

 

Iran protests this denial of service, which is ironic as for years Iran has been actively trying to block satellite signals it does not like. Iran is not alone in this. Communications satellites operating in 36,000 kilometer high stationary (geosynchronous) orbits are increasingly victims of jamming and other forms of interference. There is a solution for military users, who can use existing anti-jamming technologies like frequency hopping and DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) on the sending and receiving end. But all users of civilian satellites cannot be equipped with these anti-jamming devices. The satellite operators can use this stuff for the control signals (going to and coming from the satellite) and that is increasingly becoming necessary. Another problem with this approach is that jamming protection reduces the amount of data that can be sent, which is a serious, and expensive, cost for commercial communications satellites.

 

Meanwhile, the jamming of civilian users grows, usually as part of a state censorship program. For example, late last year Syria and Iran were accused of jamming news service sent to Iran and Syria by BBC, France 24, Deutsche Welle, and the Voice of America, via radio and satellite. This jamming was apparently in retaliation for European communications satellite operators refusing to continue carrying 19 Iranian TV and radio channels (as part of the growing embargo on Iran) to audiences outside Iran. Syria and Iran denied they were jamming but there is ample evidence that the jamming is coming from those two countries. Over the last decade the U.S. has developed equipment and techniques for locating the source of jamming with considerable accuracy and that effort has most frequently caught Iran doing what it always denies.

 

Then there are the increasing number of incidents of space satellites being "hacked". It turned out that this was actually just an increase in the number of satellites up there and the number of ground stations broadcasting information up into the sky. Most of these "hacks" are just satellite signals interfering with one another. Same with cases where people believe their GPS or satellite communications signals are being jammed. On further investigation the real reasons tend to be less interesting and a lot more technical. All this usually has a large element of human error mixed in. But the recent problems with satellite reception problems in Iran and Syria appear to be jamming.

 

But all this accidental jamming only demonstrates how easy it is to do it on purpose, and there have been several examples of that. In response the U.S. Air Force, which has taken the lead in developing electronic tools for attacking and defending satellite communications, and the satellites themselves and has been training people to use these techniques. This effort involves figuring out new, or improved, ways to jam satellites. Then you keep that stuff secret, in case potential enemies have not figured this out themselves. Next, you work on ways to defeat the weapons developed. Most of this is playing around with the signals themselves. You can un-jam a jamming signal with another signal. 

However, a lot of trial and error is required and you want to get that done way in advance of any actual war. When you do have to use this stuff for real, you have to expect that the enemy may well have come up with some angle you missed. Thus, there will be some rapid improvisation, and you will have more time and resources for this if you have worked out ahead of time the details of disasters you have already anticipated. No one is releasing much information about this, for obvious reasons. There won't be much discussion from any government, unless there is a terrorist attack using these techniques. That's yet another thing to worry about. There have already been such attacks in China, by a banned religious group, and elsewhere. It can be done, it just isn't easy and it's not getting easier.

Morale - Missile Men Lose Their Mojo

The U.S. Air Force recently had still more serious problems with the troops who handle, and operate, its nuclear weapons. This time 17 officers were relieved from ICBM launch duty. This suspension is only supposed to last for two months or so, assuming that training and attitude problems can be fixed. There is some doubt that these problems can be fixed.

 

These 17 officers are among the ones who actually launch ICBMs. Two of them are in charge of ten silos, each containing an ICBM. The two officers monitor the readiness of those missiles and, if they receive orders, both have to agree to launch their missiles. Each pair of launch officers is in a separate underground bunker and five of these bunkers are in the same area, each with ten nearby ICBM silos. Each pair of launch officers can, if need be, take over control of another launch control team’s missiles if that launch team’s bunker is destroyed or put out of action. 

 

The 17 launch control officers were suspended because a surprise inspection revealed that they did not know all the details of their jobs they were supposed to know. There was apparently a breakdown in training and leadership in their squadron (which controls 50 silos) and wing (which controls three squadrons). Air force leaderships also believes that there is still an attitude problem among those who maintain and operate the ICBMs. 

 

Problems with training, leadership and attitude among troops who handle and operate nuclear weapons were first noted in the 1990s, after the Cold War ended. The problems have been getting more and more attention in the last decade. Back in 2009 it became obvious that the situation was getting worse. That’s because twice that year the air force had to relieve the commander of a combat wing. One was a B-52 bomber wing while the other was a Minuteman ICBM wing.  In the case of the ICBM wing two other senior officers were also relieved (one of them the guy in charge of the Wing Maintenance Squadron.) In both cases, the reason was "loss of confidence in his ability to command". That's milspeak for "too many little things have gone wrong and you are making your bosses nervous."

 

In the case of the dismissed missile Wing commander there had been two accidents with the large trailers that move the missiles. A vehicle accident is normally not grounds for removing a Wing commander but in this case it was just one of many problems. Two missile wings also failed their Nuclear Safety Inspection. There were also incidents of misconduct by members of the Wing that lost its commander. Too many problems and the commander becomes a problem.

 

In 2009 many nuclear weapons units were having problems with the two week long Nuclear Safety Inspections that take place every 18 months. Because of the embarrassing problems with nuclear weapons security over the previous three years, these inspections had become stricter. Scary inspections have become fashionable again, and commanders who don't get with the program are headed for early retirement.

 

These inspections are not unique or a surprise. All of the Missile Wings have been based where they are for over four decades. The word comes down the chain of command about what is expected, and if anyone screws up, officers (or, more rarely, NCOs) are relieved and careers are ruined. Heads did not roll in 2009 just for specific inspection failures. The word from on-high was that the units handling nuclear weapons had to be over-the-top fanatic about nuclear safety and security. This was a switch from then current practices. By 2009 the attitude was that if there is a pattern of failure, the commander gets relieved and life goes on. But this alone was not fixing the problems. 

 

This persistent problem resulted in the return of the old SAC (Strategic Air Command) attitude. This is one of those rare cases where it is recognized that the Good Old Days were better, or in this case, meaner, tougher, more effective and safer. In 2009 that led to the establishment of the Global Strike Command (GSC). This outfit would, as SAC once did, control all air force nuclear weapons and delivery systems (ICBMs and heavy bombers.) This came sixteen years of trying to do without SAC.

In 1992 SAC, which had control of air force nuclear bombers and missiles since 1946, was disbanded and the ICBMs, and their crews, were transferred to the new Space Command. SAC had long been the butt of many jokes, for being uptight and fanatical about security, discipline and the myriad details for handling nukes. Everyone tolerated this because, after all, SAC had charge of all those nukes, heavy bombers and ICBMs. When Space Command took over, they eased up on the tight discipline and strictness about procedure that had been the hallmark of SAC for decades. The old timers complained, but many of the young troops liked the new, looser, attitudes.

 

Officers operating the ICBMs were no longer career "missileers", but Space Command people. Time that used to be spent on studying nuclear weapons security and missile maintenance issues, was now devoted to subjects of more concern to Space Command (satellites and communications, for example). Standards fell, efficiency slipped. Then in 2005, the missile crews lost their Missile Badge, and had it replaced with a generic Space Command badge. 

 

Then, in 2007, there was much angst when it was discovered that six nuclear cruise missiles had accidentally been mounted on a B-52 and flown halfway across the country. How could this happen? The old timers knew. While many of these older officers and NCOs were pleased when SAC went away early in their careers, they knew that it was that act, and the subsequent "loosening up", that led to the lax attitudes that put those six nukes on that B-52. All this was part of a major, post-Cold War reorganization of the USAF. It was the beginning of the end of a decades old tradition of handling nuclear weapons safely and securely.

 

In 2008, the air force brass reinstated the Missile Badge, for any missile crew member who belonged to a missile crew that was certified CMR (passed some strenuous inspections to be declared Combat Mission Ready). The badge had been used for decades, until 2005, when it was withdrawn and replaced by the generic "Space Wings" of the USAF Space Command, which took control of the ICBMs in 1993. SAC, it turns out, has been coming back quietly for quite some time, both for the bomber units, as well as the missile ones. 

 

But as the recent failures indicate, not everyone has gotten with the program. Among the new SAC people there were many who were still “Space Command” at heart. This is attributed to the fact that with the end of the Cold War in 1991 the strategic nuclear weapons were no longer as crucial as they had been since the late 1940s. For decades the United States and Russia (as the Soviet Union) each had thousands of nuclear armed ballistic missiles (and a few hundred bombers) aimed at each other. That got the attention of people in SAC and encouraged everyone to concentrate. After 1991, the incentive was no longer there and it is still not there. But when you are handling nukes, the old SAC fanaticism is still the best way to go.

Pentagon Upgrades 'Bunker Buster' Bomb

The Pentagon has redesigned its 15-ton "bunker buster" bomb to ensure that it can destroy Iran's most heavily fortified nuclear site from the air, a new report says.

The improvements are meant to assure Israel that the United States is capable of evading Iran’s air defenses in order to reach the Fordow underground nuclear enrichment complex, claims the Wall Street Journal.

American officials, seeking to demonstrate U.S. capabilities, recently showed Israeli military and civilian leaders a secret Air Force video of an earlier version of the bomb hitting its target in high-altitude testing, and explained what had been done to improve it, the Journal reported.

In the video, the weapon can be seen penetrating the ground within inches of its target, followed by a large underground detonation.

The newest version of what is the Pentagon’s largest conventional bomb, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, has adjusted fuses to maximize its burrowing power, upgraded guidance systems to improve its precision, and added high-tech equipment making it capable of reaching and destroying the Fordow facility, which is buried under a mountain near the Iranian city of Qom.

The MOP would be even more effective against North Korea – where bunkers are not as heavily fortified as Iran’s. The North is among the most tunneled nations in the world, Michaela Dodge, research associate for strategic issues at the Heritage Foundation, tells Newsmax.

"The bomb is designed to take out deeply buried nuclear targets, but there are other examples like command-and-control centers where leadership would go if they wanted to hide themselves," Dodge said.

In March, Pentagon officials spoke publicly about the bombs, which were produced by Boeing and designed to fit exclusively with the B-2 and B-52 bombers, according to Fox News.

"It gives us a far greater capability to reach and destroy an enemy's weapons of mass destruction that are located in well-protected underground facilities … to a magnitude far greater than we have now," Pentagon Spokesman Capt. John Kirby said at the time.

U.S. military refuelling plane crashes in Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyz and U.S. officials on Friday announced an American military refueling plane took off and crashed in Kyrgyzstan on Friday.

An official in Kyrgyz Emergencies Ministry, Bolot Sharshenaliev said at least three people were on board however another official earlier said that there were five people.

The C-130 American refuelling plane fell in the northern Chuy province at around 2:55 pm local time (0855 GMT), the emergency ministry said. There was no immediate word on any casualties.

Kyrgyzstan hosts a U.S. base that is used for flying troops into and out of Afghanistan and for KC-135 tanker planes that refuel warplanes in flight.

The emergency situations minister Kubatbek Boronov quoted by AFP said, “The plane definitely belongs to the US transit centre. On board were three crew members. Their fate is unknown.”

“I cannot exclude that the three American pilots could have died, being burnt up alive in the explosion,” he said, adding that the search operation would continue at least until nightfall.

The Manas airbase is key to US military operations in Afghanistan, used to ferry troops into the country, refuel warplanes and evacuate wounded soldiers.

First woman instructor pleads guilty in Air Force sex scandal

he first woman Air Force training instructor to face a court martial in a scandal involving sex with recruits at a Texas military base has entered a guilty plea, and faces up to a year in prison.

Staff Sergeant Emily Allen admitted to having a sexual relationship with a male technical trainee, attempting to have a sexual relationship with another man, and having or trying to develop social relationships with two female and one male technical trainees.

 "She pleaded guilty to having a relationships with all four of the technical school Airmen," Lackland spokesman Brent Boller said.

Technical training is the course immediately after basic training where new Air Force recruits learn the skills needed to enter their military work assignment.

It is a violation of military law for Military Training Instructors to have any kind of personal relationship with trainees under their command.

Allen faces up to one year in prison. The offenses took place in 2011.

More than two dozen Air Force training sergeants have been investigated for engaging in improper sexual activities, from flirting to rape, with both male and female recruits. Some 62 current and former Air Force members have come forward to claim they were victims of abuse while undergoing training at Lackland.

The scandal has prompted some members of Congress to criticize the Pentagon and hold hearings on what they said was a failure of top military leaders to deal with a culture of sexual harassment and abuse.

Allen is the 18th Air Force instructor to face court martial in what has become the largest sex scandal in the U.S. military in nearly 20 years. Seventeen have faced trial at Lackland, which is the home of all Air Force basic training, and the other faced court martial at Keesler Air Force base in Mississippi.

Allen's defense lawyer, Major Willie Babor, argued that it is precisely because the scandal has grown so large that his client has been charged.

"The only reason she's in court is that commanders are being bullied by the Judge Advocate General's office," he said.

Babor said that senior commanders are being pressured to bring charges against as many instructors as possible to show that the Air Force is serious about dealing with the high profile scandal.

"If you don't play ball, they are going to fire you, and for any senior officer, that is a serious repercussion," he said.

He submitted reports indicating that several senior Air Force leaders have been reprimanded for failing to properly report sexual misconduct in basic training.

Allen entered the guilty pleas after the military judge declined to throw out the charges against her.

She is now a military dental school training instructor.

In addition to prison time, she could be handed a bad conduct discharge.

The Military's New Flying Gas Station Will Be Open 24/7 Worldwide

KC-135 Stratotanker planes have been refueling fighter craft in-flight for more than 60 years. While such longevity is commendable, the US military’s fleet of mid-air refuellers is in desperate need of an update. And that’s where this new flying gas station comes in.

The Boeing KC-46A is a derivative of the Boeing 767-200 built at Boeing’s Everett, WA facility and converted to military use at another Boeing facility in Puget Sound. The KC-46 program has been a long time coming. Congress and the military have wrangled over funding for the project for more than a decade, finally agreeing to an initial investment of $3.5 billion in 2011 for Boeing’s design. 

The aerospace company has until 2017 to deliver the first 18 tankers with the remaining 161 due in 2028. In all, explains Maj. Gen. John Thompson, program executive officer and program director for the KC-46, the deal is "worth about $32 billion in then-year dollars, goes from about two years ago out into the 2020s and is something that they will be able to leverage into a very important weapon system for the United States Air Force for decades to come. Absolutely, it is a win-win."

The KC-46A will offer greatly-improved performance and capabilities than its sexagenarian predecessor. The new plane measures 165 feet in length with a 157 foot wingspan. It’s powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney PW4062 turbofan engines, each providing 63,300 lbf of thrust to get the plane—and the 212,299 pounds of fuel it carries—off the ground and keep it aloft for a range of more than 6,000 nautical miles.

 The plane’s crew of three (two pilots and a boom operator) operate within a large glass cockpit augmented with banks of monitors providing critical mission information. The pilots use a bank of 15-inch displays to check flight and weather data while the refueling operator will be afforded a set of 24-inch 3D displays giving him a panoramic 185 degree field of view.

 esigned to support and refuel any fixed-wing receiver capable aircraft for the Air Force, Navy, and Marines, the plane is typically equipped with either a 1,200 gallon-per-minute center-line boom or 400 gallon-per-minute Centerline Drogue System. It can also carry a pair of 400 gallon-per-minute Wing Air Refueling Pods to pull crazy stunts like this. What’s more, the KC-46A can itself receive in-flight refueling, allowing it to remain aloft practically indefinitely.

 In addition to fuel, the KC-46A can carry up to 114 people, 18 standard military cargo pallets, or 58 patients (24 litters, 34 ambulatory). Across the board—fuel, passengers, and cargo— the KC-46A carries more than the plane it will eventually recapitalize

Warplanes - F-16s Step Up For Tardy F-35

The U.S. Air Force has increased the number of F-16s it wants to refurbish to 1,018. Last year the plan was to refurbish a few hundred of its 22 ton F-16 fighters because their replacement, the 31 ton F-35 was not arriving in time. So far 11 F-35s have been built and another 19 are to be built this year. 

That’s too slow to deal with number of F-16s that are growing too old to fly. The air force is doing a similar refurb on 175 F-15C interceptors. It may take a decade or more for F-35 production to get to the point where most F-16s can be replaced. Until then the F-16s must be ready to get the jobs done.

 

This is one of several reasons why many nations upgrade their F-16s. Some of these nations are holding off on ordering F-35s (or cancelling existing orders), either because of the high price or doubts about how good it will be. Aircraft manufacturing and maintenance companies see a huge market for such upgrades. Half or more of the 3,000 F-16s currently in service could be refurbished and upgraded to one degree or another. That’s over $25 billion in business over the next decade or so.

The F-35 began development in the 1990s, and was supposed to enter service in 2011. That has since slipped to 2017, or the end of the decade, depending on who you believe. Whichever date proves accurate, many F-16 users have a problem. Their F-16s are old and year by year more of them become too old to operate. 

 

No matter how late the F-35 is, the U.S. Air Force now plans to refurbish at least a thousand Block 40 and 50 F-16s. The work will concentrate on extending the life of the airframe, plus some electronics upgrades. The air force does this sort of thing frequently to all aircraft models. It's called SLEP (Service Life Extension Program), and this one is special only because it concentrates on very old aircraft and is intended to keep these birds viable for another 8-10 years.

 

Many air forces are finding that it’s more cost-effective to upgrade via new electronics and missiles and, as needed, refurbishing engines and airframes on elderly existing fighters, rather than buying new aircraft. This is especially the case if the new electronics enable the use of smart bombs or more capable air-to-air missiles. One of the more frequently upgraded older fighters is the American F-16. Even the U.S. Air Force, the first and still largest user of F-16s had always planned to do this with some of its F-16s.

 

The F-16C was originally designed for a service life of 4,000 hours in the air. But advances in engineering, materials, and maintenance techniques have extended that to over 8,000 hours. Because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, F-16s sent to those areas have flown over a thousand hours a year more than what they would in peacetime. The current planned SLEP will extend F-16C flight hours to 10,000 or more.

 

The F-16 has proved to be remarkably adaptable and is one of the most modified jet fighters in service. The most numerous F-16 is the C model. The first version of this, the F-16C Block 25, entered service in 1984. The original F-16, as the F-16A Block 1, entered service in 1978. While most F-16s still in service are the F-16C, there are actually six major mods, identified by block number (32, 40, 42, 50, 52, 60) plus the Israeli F-16I, which is a major modification of the Block 52. Another special version (the Block 60) for the UAE (United Arab Emirates) is called the F-16E. The F-16D is a two seat trainer version of F-16Cs. The various block mods included a large variety of new components (five engines, four sets of avionics, five generations of electronic warfare gear, five radars, and many other mechanical, software, cockpit, and electrical mods).

 

The F-16 is the most numerous post-Cold War jet fighter, with over 4,200 built and still in production. During The Cold War Russia built over 10,000 MiG-21s and the U.S over 5,000 F-4s, but since 1991 warplane production has plummeted about 90 percent. Since the end of the Cold War the F-16 has been popular enough to keep the production lines going.

 

The F-16 can also function as a bomber and ground attack aircraft (although not as effectively as the air force experts would have you believe, especially compared to the A-10). It can carry four tons of bombs and has been very effective using smart bombs. In air-to-air combat F-16s have shot down 69 aircraft so far, without losing anything to enemy warplanes. Not bad for an aircraft that was originally designed as a cheaper alternative to the heavier and more expensive F-15.

 

Although the F-35 is designed to replace the F-16, many current users will probably keep their F-16s in service for a decade or more. The F-16 gets the job done, reliably and inexpensively. Why pay more for new F-35s if your potential enemies can be deterred with F-16s. This becomes even more likely as the F-35 is delayed again and again. Finally, the upgrade is a lot cheaper, costing less than $20 million per aircraft, compared to over $100 million for a new F-35. If your potential enemies aren’t upgrading to something like that, a refurbed F-16 will do.

Hungary-based Airmen write new chapter in mulitinational operations

At this small, bare-bones, communist-era airfield located in the Hungarian countryside, midpoint between Budapest and Vienna, American Airmen are writing a dynamic new chapter in multinational cooperation and flight operations.

Airmen assigned to the Heavy Airlift Wing at Papa Air Base, Hungary, work side by side with military personnel from 12 nations to provide critical cargo capability around the world with a fleet of three C-17 Globemaster IIIs. While a flying unit comprised of 12 militaries may seem infinitely complex, according to the wing commander, it allows them to combine resources and share operational experiences between partners.

"Our mission is to fly strategic airlift for the 12 nations that are members of the Strategic Airlift Capability Program," said Col. Keith Boone, Heavy Airlift Wing commander. "Our reason for being here is really to help enable some of the other nations that otherwise couldn't have this capability. So building partnership capability is our mission ... and we get a byproduct of 1,000 hours of C-17 missions and we learn a lot as well."

Established in 2009 as the first non-NATO multinational flying unit in the world, Papa AB is home to 40 U.S. Airmen. The concept of a multinational flying unit actually spans more than 30 years, pioneered by the E-3A Component (NATO AWACS) at Geilenkirchen Air Base, Germany. In more recent years, several NATO members and non-NATO partners recognized a shortfall in cargo capability and a new framework was developed to fill the gap.

Twelve countries pooled resources to buy and share C-17 aircraft over a period of 30 years. NATO members include Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, the United States and non-NATO partner nations include Finland and Sweden. In the end, the arrangement works much like a timeshare where nations are allocated flight hours in accordance with the amount of money they pay into program.

Since C-17 operations began in 2009, the wing has flown more than 500 missions, transported more than 29,000 passengers and delivered more than 22,000 tons of cargo and supplies, with 80 percent of the cargo going to Afghanistan in support of the International Security Assistance Force.

Additionally, the wing participated in cargo missions to Iraq, Haiti, Uganda and also repatriated the remains of Polish President Lech Kaczyinski and other officials who died in a 2010 airplane crash in Russia. They also support troop rotations and sustainment operations and the capability will become even more critical in the months and years ahead as nations begin to withdraw from Afghanistan.

According to Boone, the need for strategic airlift goes beyond Afghanistan operations to include unforeseen requirements in the future in locations like Africa and other places that are quickly reached from Central Europe.

"As militaries reduce their forces in Afghanistan it will be important for nations to have an organic, reachable and affordable strategic airlift option that is theirs," said Boone. "The need for airlift will transcend Afghanistan. I've been in airlift my entire career and there's always more demand than capability."

The U.S. Air Force presence at Papa AB represents approximately one-third of the more than 130 multinational military personnel assigned to the wing. Some Airmen bring their families for a multi-year tour and others come for a one-year unaccompanied assignment and leave their families at Aviano or other home bases.

Papa AB is not like Ramstein or Aviano: there is no base exchange, no commissary, no gas station, no gas cards and no American restaurants. The only U.S. specific services available at the base are a U.S. post office and a U.S.-led flight medicine clinic for routine health exams.

"I extended here because there is so much more to do. My purpose here is to be a provider, to be an NCOIC and also to be a change agent," said Tech. Sgt. Jason McElvaine, NCOIC of the flight medicine clinic. McElvaine explained that upon arrival, he realized there was no ability to track and access medical files digitally.

To improve healthcare for patients, McElvaine worked for more than a year to provide the wing clinic with access to both the Composite Health Care System and Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application, which are the systems required to access and maintain electronic health records.

In addition to mission demands and the need to build-up newly established programs and services at the HAW, there is also an abundance of additional duties that need to be managed by the small U.S. Air Force contingent. For McElvaine, this means he is not only the clinic NCOIC and an Independent Duty Medical technician that provides medical care to patients, but he is also in charge of base water testing, health inspections of the dining hall and gym facilities, drug testing for the Air Force Demand Reduction Program and serves as the wing unit fitness program manager.

But despite the workload, McElvaine enjoys his assignment at Papa and the opportunity to work in a multinational environment, "Working here involves community relations and nation relations ... we're always building relationships and making sure we do the right thing each time. The wing to me is one big family: it's not just the Americans, it's everybody together."

When it comes to C-17 operations, the small size of the wing, combined with flying aircraft with crewmembers from different nations, can be a big culture shock for Airmen. For Capt. Mike Boyer, a pilot who has been at the wing for four months, the small size was a big change from his previous assignment at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C.

"You don't have the huge support structure that you would have with Air Mobility Command. Here it's on your shoulders to help other people," he said. "I feel there's a lot more ownership of the mission here ... you're not just a part of a big machine but you're an integral part of the mission and literally making it happen."

The multinational composition of the wing provides a unique operating environment that gives new perspective on C-17 operations and the challenges of being an instructor to pilots who are new to the C-17 aircraft and speak English as a second language.

"We get to see 12 different opinions and ideas about the same thing. It's fun and interesting ... I like it," said Boyer. "I'm used to working with C-17 homegrown pilots and these guys come from all kinds of different backgrounds ... single seat fighters, Russian made aircraft and all sorts of strange aircraft that we aren't used to seeing in the U.S. Air Force. As an instructor you have to choose your words to be clearly understood and you have to express complex thoughts on a more basic level," he said.

From the perspective of a multinational crewmember, working at the wing is an interesting challenge that gives insight into the U.S. Air Force and the way we do things in America.

"It's quite interesting and together it's a good mix I think," said 1st Lt. Frederik Nilsson, a Swedish airman who previously worked as a crew chief and loadmaster on a 32-passenger aircraft that operated at a base located near the Arctic Circle.

"It's a give and take also. The Americans have their regulations and we have our regulations (in Sweden) and together we have to create something that works for us here at the Heavy Airlift Wing. That's a challenge but very interesting."

One thing that everybody at the wing seems to agree upon is that the multinational experience Airmen get at Papa AB is more than just a novelty; it's a career changing event that has both personal and professional rewards.

"Coming here and experiencing something outside the mainstream Air Force is so valuable to your career. You become a more well-rounded person and you bring a lot more value back to the Air Force," said Boyer.

B-52 turns 60, but has lots of life left

The B-52 is celebrating a big birthday this year — 60 — but unlike humans who feel the aches and pains of aging, the aircraft remains a premiere bombing machine that is expected to continue giving bad guys a real bad day through the 2040s, thanks to yet another upgrade.

“It’s a purely awesome machine,” said Senior Master Sgt. Daniel Dutton, B-52 command fleet manager for Global Strike Command. “It’s hard to put into words how well this aircraft was built and how well it’s been maintained over the last 50 or 60 years by our guys — out here on the flight line or deployed, it doesn’t matter.”

The bomber can carry nukes or provide close-air support by obliterating anyone shooting at U.S. troops, as it has in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

“When people ask, ‘What kind of armament, what kind of weapons can this thing carry?’ we basically say, ‘Well, pretty much the U.S. arsenal’ — granted the air-to-air role isn’t quite there yet,” said Col. Russell Hart, chief of the bomber operations division at Global Strike Command.

Going forward, the B-52 will get an upgrade to its bomb bay allowing it to carry 40 percent more precision-guided bombs and new radar that can go more than 1,000 hours before it needs to be repaired, versus the current radar, which needs to be worked on after 30 to 50 hours, Global Strike Command officials said.

The B-52’s upgrades will also allow smart bombs to receive new targets while the bomber is in flight — a critical capability given the U.S. military’s focus on the Pacific region, which requires planes to travel long distances, said Jim Noetzel of Global Strike Command’s bomber requirements division.

In fiscal 2012, the mission-capable rate for the B-52H was 78.3 percent even though the bomber’s average age is 50.8 years — blowing the doors off the B-1B’s 56.8 percent mission-capable and the B-2A’s 51.3 percent mission-capable rate.

Officials credit well-trained B-52 maintainers for the bomber’s longevity and its high mission-capable rate.

“There’s 1,000 people every day that are monitoring fleet health from the airmen on the line to folks here at the program office to the engineers at Tinker [Air Force Base, Okla.] and the program office,” said Lt. Col. Mark Riselli, branch chief of the weapons system team at Global Strike Command.

Since it first entered service in April 1952, the B-52 has been updated numerous times, replacing much of the original technology that is now obsolete, such as vacuum tubes, Riselli said.

“We’ve had … years to learn the aircraft and get it right, and the key is to refurbish it at depot every four years,” he said.

Seven airmen sue military over sexual assaults

Nineteen former and active-duty service members, including seven airmen, accuse Air Force and Army leadership of subjecting them to sexual assaults by fostering an environment that tolerated such crimes, according to a lawsuit filed Sept. 28 in U.S. District Court.

The claim is the fifth of its kind filed by Washington, D.C., attorney Susan Burke and the first that targets the Air Force. All but one of the cases is pending; a federal judge dismissed a similar lawsuit against former Defense Secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates in December.

The most recent case, filed in the court in the Northern District of California, names as defendants Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, among others. A “pattern and practice of ignoring and failing to prosecute rape and sexual assault” has led to a series of scandals, the lawsuit states, including more than a dozen military training instructors coming under investigation at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

The MTIs have been accused of crimes ranging from rape and aggravated sexual assault to improper relationships via social media.

The airmen who have filed suit include five women and two men who said they were denied due process, equal protection, free speech and the right to a jury trial after they were sexually assaulted by a fellow service member.

Most of the airmen immediately reported the attacks; some sought medical treatment, according to the suit. The airmen were then ostracized and retaliated against, the claim states, while their alleged assailants escaped criminal prosecution — and in some instances were promoted. All seven airmen in the suit say they continue to experience anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Four have left the service.

The suit includes the following allegations:

• A former staff sergeant said she was harassed and accused of being a liar after reporting she was sexually assaulted by a classmate at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., in 2005. Two other women had accused her alleged attacker of rape. She learned in 2010 that the commander chose not to pursue any of the allegations.

• A master sergeant who reported to the military that he was struck on the head and sexually assaulted by an officer in September 2010 was in turn charged with a series of crimes for his “participation” in the attack. The master sergeant, who said he was ostracized and retaliated against by his superiors, was cleared of all the charges. He suffers from a traumatic brain injury and PTSD. The officer was never charged with sexual assault.

• A female senior airman suffered escalating sexual harassment and assault while at Hurlburt Air Force Base, Fla., in 2004. Though she reported it to her supervisor, the case was never investigated. She ultimately submitted a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Office, which backed up her allegations. Her assailant received a letter of reprimand and remained in the service.

• A captain said he was drugged and sexually assaulted by a fellow serviceman at a party while at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. He reported the assault and sought medical attention. The captain was ordered to attend an alcohol abuse evaluation.

Burke, whose father was career Army, said she began filing the lawsuits in 2010 after she was approached by a military wife who said she was raped by a friend of her husband.

“When I looked into it, I was appalled and shocked by the state of affairs. I simply held myself out as willing to” take on these cases, she said in an interview. “I was inundated with calls. It’s a national disgrace.”

Burke assumed the military “had fixed everything” after the 1991 Navy Tailhook scandal, she said, referring to the dozens of officers accused of “improper and indecent” conduct at a Las Vegas hotel. “I was really upset and disappointed” to learn otherwise, she said.

Burke has appealed the lawsuit that was dismissed. “We think we can win,” she said.

A spokesman for Donley, Lt. Col. Samuel Highley, said the Air Force cannot comment on ongoing lawsuits.

“However, I can tell you that Air Force leadership is personally committed to maintaining a safe and professional working environment for all our airmen,” Highley said in an email statement. “The crime of sexual assault is incompatible with our Air Force core values, harmful to our people, and ultimately makes us a less effective fighting force. We continue to take aggressive steps to eliminate sexual assault from our workplace by creating a culture of prevention.”

Defense Department spokeswoman Cynthia O. Smith said in an email that Panetta has taken multiple steps to try to prevent sexual assault in the military, support victims and hold perpetrators accountable, including establishing a “special victims unit” within each service so that “specially trained investigators and prosecutors assist when necessary.”