Daily Report

Sept. 21, 2016

CSAF’s Way Forward

New Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein has three areas he wants to deeply study to revitalize the Air Force, and he has named three generals to lead a team charged with figuring out how to do that....

Look to the Past for Answers

The Air Force leadership should look to the near past when drawing up its plan to revitalize squadrons, former Secretary F. Whitten Peters said Tuesday at ASC16. Peters noted the service faced similar personnel management difficulties—half-deployed squadrons, tired airmen, stressed...

Jets May Fly With F-35 Fuel Issue

The Air Force will complete a “risk assessment” within a week to determine if the 15 fielded F-35A aircraft found to have a crumbling insulation problem are safe to fly while a fix is developed and implemented, F-35 System Program...

On to the Stealthy KC-Z

Air Mobility Command is dumping the 15-year-old strategy of replacing the KC-135 and KC-10 with the KC-X, KC-Y, and KC-Z, turning KC-Y into a “bridge” buy of KC-46s and shifting toward an advanced technology approach for the KC-Z, Gen. Carlton...

Hawk’s Shell Game

Air Combat Command flat “can’t meet” regional commanders’ demand for airpower, due to a chronic and growing shortage of capacity, ACC chief Gen. Hawk Carlisle told reporters at ASC16. The command has been using an approach called “dynamic presence,” wherein...

CMSAF Cody to Retire

CMSAF James Cody will retire at the beginning of next year, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein announced Tuesday. “I’ve watched Chief Cody in action,” Goldfein said at ASC16. “I have watched him fight for airmen at the...

A Worthy Cyber Adversary

ISIS is among one of the most adaptive and skilled cyber adversaries, Air Force Lt. Gen. Kevin McLaughlin, US Cyber Command’s deputy commander, said Tuesday at ASC16. The group’s members make robust use of commercially available capabilities, including secure communications,...

The Changing Cyber Threat

US Cyber Command is beginning to see adversaries attempt to attack and take control of networks, rather than just attempt cyber espionage, Air Force Lt. Gen. Kevin McLaughlin, CYBERCOM’s deputy commander, said Tuesday at ASC16. He said such attacks force...

Blue Suits Needed for Red Air

The Air Force will need to rely on private aircraft for “red air” opposition training, though it also needs to build up its own aggressor force to provide the best possible training, the head of Air Combat Command said at...

Pilot Shortage Hits Mobility, Too

The pilot shortage is not just hitting the fighter pilot community, the head of the Air Force’s mobility force said. Air Mobility Command is projecting to be short 420 fighters across the Total Force in the coming year, while Air...

Mobility Guardian is on the Calendar

Air Mobility Command has set a date for Mobility Guardian, its inaugural, large-scale exercise. For two weeks in August 2017, AMC tankers and air lifters will train like never before—focusing on all stages of a war, AMC Commander Gen. Carlton...

AMC Crews Setting Up Qayyarah Airfield

Air Mobility Command crews are deployed to the Qayyarah Airfield West in Iraq preparing the site for operations to take Mosul, much like the crews did last year to set up al Taqaddum, AMC commander Gen. Carlton Everhart said at...

The Base-Jumping ISR Fleet

The Air Force is planning to “cross deck” the capability of two EC-130H Compass Call aircraft onto a new airplane, Air Combat Command chief Gen. Hawk Carlisle told reporters at ASC16. The work will be awarded sole-source, he said, to...

Long Live the C-17

Though Air Mobility Command is already looking ahead to a stealthy penetrating tanker in the 2035 timeframe, a new airlifter to replace the C-17 will be longer in coming, AMC chief Gen. Carlton Everhart told reporters at ASC16. The C-17,...

No Shortage of Cyber Warriors

US Cyber Command hasn’t had difficulty recruiting the more than 6,000 members of its cyber mission force even though there was early attrition due to the difficulty of the training, CYBERCOM Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Kevin McLaughlin said Tuesday at...

What’s Cyber Warrior Even Mean?

Since USAF doesn’t have a common and agreed-upon definition of “cyber warrior,” it’s “hard to define” who is in the civilian cyber workforce, said Lt. Gen. Gina Grosso, USAF’s deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel, and services. Therefore, Grosso...

Strategic Stability at Risk

?“Major powers have not fought each other in over 70 years,” said Lt. Gen. Jack Weinstein Tuesday at ASC16, and “the nation’s nuclear capability is the primary factor in this refrain from massive conflict.” But Weinstein, Deputy Chief of Staff...

Fail More, Require Less

Requirements for new technology need to be grounded in experiment-driven reality instead of intuition, said Maj. Gen. Robert McMurry, the boss at the Air Force Research Laboratory. As it stands, “We drive requirements higher than we need to … This...

RPAs Must Prepare for Non-permissive Environments

The next frontier for RPAs is the capability to operate in non-permissive environments, according to a panel of industry and government experts who spoke at ASC16. “The last 25 years of war have been fought with a permissive comm environment,”...

Unmanned Systems, Unfulfilled Promise

Unmanned aircraft have yet to fulfill their initial promise of greater efficiency, according to Tom Clancy, CTO and vice president of Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation. At ASC16, Clancy said “unmanned systems take more people to operate than manned systems.” So,...

The Cyber Sandbox

Cybersecurity education is “not just about code” but about a “problem solving approach,” said Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson, superintendent of the Air Force Academy, at ASC16. The Academy is shifting toward an interdisciplinary model of cybersecurity education that borrows lessons...

Academy Stands up Leadership Center

The Air Force Academy opened a new Center for Character and Leadership Development (CCLD) in July, said Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson, superintendent of the Academy, at ASC16. The focal point of the center is a new building on the Academy...

Reserve Force Suited to Era of Budgetary Constraints

The Air Force Reserve is a 70,000-member force of “citizen-airmen” providing “an affordable, cost-effective option” for national defense in an era of budgetary constraints, Lt. Gen. Maryanne Miller, Chief of Air Force Reserve, said at ASC16. At a time when...