News from the Air Force

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Through Sickness and Health . . . and Southwest Asia Deployments:

Married service members assigned to Air Forces Central's area of responsibility are now allowed "limited visitation and cohabitation," under a newly updated order signed by AFCENT boss Lt. Gen. David Goldfein. The updated AFCENT general order number 1B allows "married personnel co-located in the AOR" to "visit their spouse's quarters if the spouse resides in a single-resident room." Under the new guidance, married service members may also be assigned to approved married quarters, though airmen are still required to follow local billeting rules when assigned to areas outside of AFCENT's control. "The idea is to try to get that family unit together more often over a time when the operations tempo is high," said Lt. Col. Douglas Crabtree, AFCENT deputy judge advocate forward. The installation commander must still authorize overnight visits for married couples. "However, commanders now have more freedom to grant permission as best they can," said Crabtree. If handled properly, Goldfein said, these changes will enhance morale and not affect good order and discipline.

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Marine General Tapped to Succeed Fraser at SOUTHCOM:

President Obama nominated Marine Corps Lt. Gen. John Kelly for promotion to the rank of general to assume command of US Southern Command. If the Senate approves this nomination, Kelly would replace Gen. Douglas Fraser, who has led SOUTHCOM since June 2009. Kelly has been the senior military advisor to the Defense Secretary since March 2011. Fraser has not yet announced his post-SOUTHCOM plans. Headquartered in Doral, Fla., near Miami, SOUTHCOM oversees US national security interests in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its engagement with allies and friends in that region includes countering illicit trafficking; humanitarian assistance and disaster relief; supporting peacekeeping operations; and training and exercises.

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No Air Force Nuclear Reductions in Fiscal 2013:

Cuts to the Air Force's nuclear-capable bomber and ICBM forces to meet the United States' commitments under the New START agreement with Russia will not begin next fiscal year, said Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz. Under the terms of the treaty, the United States must reduce its strategic nuclear arsenal to no more than 1,550 deployed warheads and 800 total launchers (i.e., long-range ballistic missiles and bombers) by February 2018; 700 of the launchers may be in deployed status at any given time. "The bottom line is that there are still decisions pending on how to go about reaching those New START central targets," Schwartz told reporters during a Pentagon briefing on Jan. 27. He continued, "I would expect that would unfold in the [Fiscal 2014] program." Schwartz reiterated what has been a consistent message from Air Force senior officials: maintaining a triad of bombers, ICBMs, and submarine-launched ballistic missiles becomes more important as the strategic deterrent becomes smaller in size because "the diversity, the variety, the attributes associated with each leg of the triad actually reinforce each other to a greater degree."

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Administrative Action Taken Against Airmen in Coffin Photo:

A group of airmen received administrative action for a graduation photo from last August deemed inappropriate, announced service training overseers at Lackland AFB, Tex., a part of Joint Base San Antonio. Their "conduct brought discredit to both the military and themselves," they stated in a release. The photo, dated Aug. 23, 2011, depicts airmen graduating from the 345th Training Squadron's air transportation course gathered around an open coffin with another airman inside the coffin acting dead. While an investigation "revealed no criminal conduct occurred," it determined that corrective action was appropriate, according to the release. "The photo was in poor judgment and it did not reflect the high standards and professionalism of the United States Air Force," said Col. Eric Axelbank, commander of Lackland's 37th Training Wing. The investigation found that the airmen intended the photo to be a reminder that they could be killed if they failed to pay attention while loading and unloading aircraft.

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Trading Size for Quality:

The Air Force aims to retire 102 A-10 ground-attack aircraft—about one third of its A-10 fleet—and more than 280 aircraft overall as part of the proposed force adjustments in its forthcoming Fiscal 2013-17 budget program, according to the service leadership's new white paper, issued Wednesday. "The Air Force has made the hard choices to closely align with the [Obama Administration's] new strategic guidance in our Fiscal 2013 budget submission by trading size for quality," wrote Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz in Air Force Priorities for a New Strategy with Constrained Budgets. Among the changes, some of which Pentagon officials touched upon last week, the Air Force will:



Eliminate 123 fighters (102 A-10s and 21 older F-16s), 133 mobility aircraft (27 C-5As, 21 C-27s, 65 C-130s, and 20 KC-135s), and 30 intelligence platforms (18 Global Hawk Block 30s, 11 RC-26s, and one E-8).
Trim the Total Force by 9,900 airmen, building upon the reductions of 48,000 personnel since 2004.
Terminate or restructure programs like the B-2 extremely high-frequency radio improvements and the family of advanced beyond line of sight terminals.
Replace "expensive programs" like the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program "with more affordable alternatives that still accomplish the mission."
Discontinue or defer programs including the common vertical lift support platform, light mobility aircraft, and light attack and armed reconnaissance airplane.

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Roy Stresses Resiliency During Southwest Asia Tour:

On the first stop of his Southwest Asia tour, CMSAF James Roy emphasized to airmen of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing how maintaining professional standards and acting as good wingmen help reinforce resiliency. "Nobody's exempt from being a good wingman," said Roy during an enlisted all-call with more than 500 airmen at the wing's undisclosed operating base in the region. He continued, "We have to understand that being a good wingman doesn't end at the end of your duty shift, nor does it only apply to those of lower rank than you. Our airmen should be good wingmen to all who serve no matter the rank or the service." During his Jan. 31 talk, Roy cited the example of SrA. Sarah Mattausch, who came to the help of a female colleague in distress and got her help. "Human life matters," said Roy.

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Survival in the cold

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Details Revealed of Proposed Force Adjustments:

The Air Force's proposed force-structure changes will affect more than 60 installations in virtually every state and territory, though 33 states will be directly impacted, according to the service's newly released white paper detailing these plans. Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said during a Pentagon briefing on Feb. 3 the service has accepted a slightly higher than moderate risk by proposing such extensive changes, though he said he was confident the Air Force would still be able to fulfill surge requirements and meet continuing rotation demands. Among the changes, officials plan to retire or reclassify five A-10 squadrons, one F-16 squadron, and one training/support-coded F-15 aggressor squadron in order to get down to 54 combat-coded fighter squadrons. They seek to phase out 65 of the oldest C-130 transports, leaving a fleet of 134 C-130Js and 184 C-130Hs. They also plan to retire 20 KC-135s, maintaining a fleet of 453 tankers. Click here to continue reading on the aircraft reductions.

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Air Force May Get First Female Four-Star:

President Obama has nominated Lt. Gen. Janet Wolfenbarger to receive a fourth star for her next assignment as commander of Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, announced the Pentagon on Monday. With the Senate's nod, Wolfenbarger would become the Air Force's first-ever female four-star general, USAF officials confirmed to the Daily Report. She would replace Gen. Donald Hoffman, who has led AFMC since November 2008 and is expected to retire from the Air Force after some 38 years of service. Since September, Wolfenbarger has been the military deputy in the Air Force Secretariat's acquisition shop. She is no stranger to AFMC, having served at its vice commander from December 2009 to September 2011 and completed several senior assignments there, such as overseeing the B-2 System Program Office and commanding the C-17 Systems Group

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Helping out the Turkster!

Air Force Removes God From Logo

A Virginia lawmaker is calling on the Air Force to reverse a decision to remove a Latin reference to “God” from a logo after an atheist group complained.

Rep. Randy Forbes, (R-VA), said the Air Force removed the logo several weeks ago from the Rapid Capabilities Office. The patch included a line written in Latin that read, “Doing God’s Work with Other People’s Money.”

But after the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers complained, Forbes said the line was rewritten in Latin to read, “Doing Miracles with Other People’s Money.”

Forbes, along with a bi-partisan group of 35 lawmakers, sent a letter to Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Air Force Chief of Staff Norton Schwartz expressing concern over the decision to remove a non-religious reference to God.

“It is most egregious,” Forbes told Fox News. “The Air Force is taking the tone that you can’t even use the word ‘God.’”

Forbes said his office contacted the Air Force and officials there confirmed that the logo had been changed after the atheist group complained.

A spokesman for the Air Force told Fox News they had received the letter and would investigate the claims.

Forbes said the removal of “God” is a “bridge too far in terms of the rights of men and women who serve in our services and their ability to express their faith.”

“But the significance of this is what the Air Force is saying with this move – that the word ‘God’ – whether it has any reference to faith or not, can’t be used in the Air Force,” Forbes said.

He said the incident is one of several in recent months that have caused him to wonder if the military is cleansing itself of religious references.

“It’s a very dangerous course to take,” he said.

“I am concerned that the RCO capitulated to pressure from an outside group that consistently seeks to remove references to God and faith in our military,” he said. ‘The RCO’s action to modify the logo sets a dangerous precedent that all references to God, regardless of context, must be removed from the military

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F-35 Concurrency was "Acquisition Malpractice":

In retrospect, hurrying the F-35 strike fighter into production was, to say the least, a big mistake, according to the Pentagon's acquisition executive nominee. "Putting the F-35 into production years before the first test flight was acquisition malpractice. It should not have been done. But we did it," said Frank Kendall, acting acquisition czar, during a Center for Security and International Studies-sponsored address in Washington, D.C., on Monday. Kendall said the department made "optimistic predictions" when it started production that it had good-enough design tools and simulations and modeling such that it wouldn't have to worry about discovering problems with the aircraft in testing. That "was wrong and now we're paying the price," he said. The F-35 program "is probably an extreme example" of transitioning from development to production too early, said Kendall. On the bright side, all three F-35 variants "are making progress," he noted. "We're committed to that program. It is the future of tactical air for the Department of Defense." Further, "we don't, at this point, see anything that would preclude continuing production at a reasonable rate," he said.

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Strike Eagle Conservation Society:

Craftsmen at Robins AFB, Ga., completed the painstaking rebuild of an F-15E Strike Eagle that was severely damaged in an in-flight fire on a training sortie from Shaw AFB, S.C., almost 18 months ago. The Robins technicians had to completely replace the aircraft's aft fuselage, modifying the structure to accept the standard engine type used on F-15s at Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C.—the aircraft's home base. "The actual scope of what we did to this aircraft is tremendous," said Ed Fuller, Robins' 561st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron project manager. "It was an incredible effort by a lot of people," he added. "We saved the Air Force from the loss of an aircraft." The aircraft, which first came to Robins on a flat-bed truck, lifted off for Seymour Johnson under its own power on Feb. 3, a Robins spokeswoman told the Daily Report.

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Gone to Guam:

A contingent of 18 F-15s, two E-3 AWACS, and two KC-135s departed Kadena AB, Japan this week, forward deploying to Andersen AFB, Guam. The three-week aviation training relocation is part of the Pacific Air Forces' bilateral Cope North air defense exercise with the Japan Air Self Defense Force, reports Guam's Pacific News Center. This ATR to Guam is a first for Kadena's combined fighters, tankers, and AWACS. It will "enhance our combined capability to provide for the defense of Japan," said Col. David Nahom, 18th Operations Group commander and ATR boss. He added that the deployment "will allow us to practice operations as a deployed unit" without the noise limitations near Kadena. Roughly 500 Kadena aircrew, maintainers, and support personnel deployed to Guam for this air-to-air training with the Japanese, which runs through Feb. 27.

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Last Air Force Rescue Personnel Who Served in Iraq Return Home:

Airmen from the 66th Rescue Squadron and 763rd Maintenance Squadron returned home to Nellis AFB, Nevada. Arriving via commercial charter on Wednesday, they were the last USAF rescue units to come home from duty in Iraq, a Nellis spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Report. Many of these airmen deployed constantly on four- to eight-month rotations since Operation Iraqi Freedom kicked off in March 2003. "It's almost like Christmas, coming home every time," said HH-60 Pave Hawk pilot Capt. Ben Buchta, reported the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "I honestly thought I would probably be out of the Air Force before we'd be out of Iraq," he added. Some of the most heavily deployed career fields in the Air Force over the last decade, these pararescue jumpers, rescue crews, and maintainers have rotated constantly between Iraq, Afghanistan, home station, and other trouble spots in Southwest Asia.

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F-22 Putting on Airs:

The Air Force Scientific Advisory Board has completed its review of the F-22's on-board oxygen-generating system, and the Air Force will release the public version of the board's report "shortly," said Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz Thursday. However, "we have not identified a specific engineering fault" with the OBOGS, said Schwartz following his Center for Strategic and International Studies-sponsored speech in Washington, D.C. Despite no identification of a smoking gun, "we can ensure that adequate oxygen" will be available to F-22 pilots at all altitudes and under the most demanding maneuvers, said Schwartz. The OBOGS won't impede pilots' "physiological capability to rock and roll" in the fighter, he said. The oxygen system came under scrutiny after Raptor pilots experienced symptoms in flight akin to insufficient oxygen supply in numerous incidents that led to a five-month grounding of the Raptor fleet last year.

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Larger Avenger Flies for First Time:

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems announced the inaugural flight of its second jet-powered Predator C Avenger remotely piloted aircraft. "The first flight of our second Avenger aircraft is a significant achievement as it refines the first prototype design to an operational capability," said Frank Pace, president of the company's Aircraft Systems Group. The flight took place at the company's facility in Palmdale, Calif., in mid January, meeting all performance objectives, according to the company. This airframe, Tail 2, features a fuselage that is four feet longer than the one on the first Avenger aircraft to accommodate larger payloads and fuel. General Atomics has matured Avenger on its own dime, believing that its performance attributes would meet the Air Force's emerging requirements for a next-generation, multi-mission RPA. The first Avenger aircraft made its maiden flight in April 2009. In December, the Air Force disclosed that it was acquiring an Avenger air vehicle for use as a test asset. The company said production of the third and fourth Avenger air vehicles is underway.

[BubbleGumTiger]

Happy B-Day!: It's budget-release day. The Obama Administration on Monday morning will submit its $614 billion defense spending request for Fiscal 2013 to Congress. The Defense Department's embargo on publicly releasing the budget details is scheduled to lift by noon East Coast time. Stay tuned for updates after that occurs. Here's what we already know:


DOD's seeks $525 billion in its base budget and $88 billion for overseas contingency operations including the war in Afghanistan in Fiscal 2013. (See Pentagon budget fact sheet.)
Those totals are $6 billion less and $27 billion less, respectively, than the $531 billion and $115 billion in enacted appropriations for the base budget and OCO in Fiscal 2012.
At this time last year, DOD projected that it would request $571 billion for its base budget in Fiscal 2013, $46 billion more than the actual Fiscal 2013 request.
The $46 reduction reflects the first installment of the $259 billion in cuts that DOD must absorb between Fiscal 2013 and Fiscal 2017 under the 2011 Budget Control Act.
Overall, DOD must shed a total of $487 billion between Fiscal 2012 and Fiscal 2021 under the BCA.
If the BCA's sequestration clause takes effect next year, DOD would stand to lose nearly $1 trillion in total between Fiscal 2012 and Fiscal 2021.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey on Tuesday morning are scheduled to testify on the budget request before the Senate Armed Services Committee. They will then go before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday morning to do the same

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Shadowing History:

The A-10 Thunderbolt II, QF-4 Phantom, F-16 Falcon, and F-22 Raptor will fly the airshow circuit in close formation with World War II aircraft again this summer. The Air Combat Command Heritage Flight will perform with warbirds, including the A-36 Apache, F-86 Sabre, P-40 Warhawk, and P-47 Thunderbolt, said ACC officials. The 355th Fighter Wing at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., plans to host two days of training early next month to certify that both civilian and ACC pilots are prepared to safely perform at shows across the United States and Canada. Formed in 1997, the heritage flight aims to fly at 40 to 60 formation performances with World War II-, Korean War-, and Vietnam War-era aircraft, preserving the service's link with its history. In 2010, the Air Force Heritage Flight Foundation was formed as a benevolent funding stream to perpetuate the flight's mission.

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Air Force Investigators Nab Cyber Crook:

Air Force Office of Special Investigations agents in California and Texas worked closely with the US Postal Inspection Service to catch a cyber criminal who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of goods, mostly from the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, by stealing people's identities online. A US district court sentenced Rene Quimby, who appears to be connected to the Mexican mafia, to more than six years in a federal prison and ordered Quimby to pay restitution to AAFES. Quimby opened bogus lines of credit using the victims' identities to place hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent orders on the AAFES website and other retail websites. Special Agent David Gilmer of OSI's Det. 810 at Los Angeles AFB, Calif., called the successful effort to bring Quimby to justice "truly a team event."

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The U-2 Story:

The Fiscal 2013 budget decision to retain the U-2 for longer and retire the Global Hawk Block 30 variant was pretty much a no-brainer, according to Lt. Gen. Larry James, the Air Staff's intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance chief. USAF thinks the U-2 has plenty of airframe life left in it, potentially carrying it "another 40 years," he said Wednesday during an Aviation Week conference in Arlington, Va. Its sensors are superior to those of the Block 30, and, recently, "the Joint Staff changed the high-altitude requirement set," he told reporters after his speech. The nature of this change is classified, but means that the U-2 "is now able to meet that requirement set," and it negates any advantages to retaining the Block 30, which had less capability and higher operating cost, said James. The U-2 "is better at" electro-optical and infrared surveillance, he said, and "the capacity off the bird is better," meaning it can store and transmit comparatively larger volumes of data. The Air Force will retain the U-2's optical bar camera, noted James. The service will operate the Block 30s through the end of the fiscal year, but it hasn't decided yet what will happen to the infrastructure at Sigonella, Italy, or on Guam meant to support them, he said. It's possible the Block 30s could be made available for foreign military sales, he acknowledged, but that, too, is "still to be worked."