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<ul class="summary-list"><li>With an eye on <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>'s growing missiles, the <keyword id="6404246" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="us-air-force">US Air Force</keyword> is training to spread its forces out.</li><li>Dispersed operations means airmen will be spread thin, so the Air Force is training them to do more.</li></ul><p>The US Air Force's efforts to disperse its forces have gained new urgency as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-pentagon-maps-show-chinas-increasing-military-power-and-reach-2020-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Chinese military grows in size and reach</a>, but operating from far-flung, often austere airfields creates new logistical challenges. To overcome them, the service is asking its airmen to take on new tasks.</p><p>Expeditionary operations aren't new for the Air Force, but <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-studying-different-austere-bases-to-fight-in-pacific-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">they're getting special attention in the Pacific</a>, where important facilities, like Anderson Air Force Base on <keyword id="236698" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Guam">Guam</keyword>, are within range of Chinese missiles.</p><p>The Air Force has spent more time refining <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-practicing-operating-fighter-jets-at-remote-pacific-bases-2021-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a concept known as Agile Combat Employment</a>, which pairs bases like Anderson, or hubs, with remote airfields, called spokes. To support operations at those spokes, the service is looking to "multi-capable airmen," who have been trained do tasks outside their assigned specialties.</p><p>Both concepts were on display during Cope North 21, an exercise conducted with Japanese and Australian forces in the Pacific between February 3 and February 19.</p><p>"Every year, we try to expand the envelope of what we can do," Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, head of US <keyword id="4828938" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="pacific-air-forces">Pacific Air Forces</keyword>, said of Cope North during the Air Force Association air-warfare symposium last week.</p><div type="image" title="Air Force F-35 C-130J Guam" height="1319" width="2000" msid="81284645" hostid="261"></div><p>During the exercise, F-35s from Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska flew to Guam. During the drills, the F-35s landed in the island nation of Palau, refueled without shutting down their engines, and, after less than an hour, took off again to continue training, Wilsbach said.</p><p>That demonstrated "the ability to get back and forth to Palau, which is a very long distance, and the ability to refuel on the ground," which requires multi-capable airmen, Wilsbach added.</p><p>"One of the things that we were doing at Cope North was expanding this notion of <keyword id="10852218" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="multi-capable-airman">multi-capable airman</keyword>," Wilsbach said. "We train airman in generally one specific area, like, for example, a security forces member ... but what if a security forces member could also refuel an aircraft or reload an aircraft or work on communications gear at those outstations?"</p><p>In addition to airfields on Palau, US and Japanese airmen conducted training <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-practicing-operating-fighter-jets-at-remote-pacific-bases-2021-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">at the rugged Northwest Field</a> on Guam.</p><p>Pacific Air Forces is implementing a syllabus to teach airmen skills outside their assigned career fields, Wilsbach said. "This gets us more capability with fewer people, which reduces the logistics requirements at some of those spoke locations."</p><h2>Able to pick up a weapon</h2><div type="image" title="Air Force C-130J Palau" height="1125" width="2000" msid="81284646" hostid="261"></div><p>Air Force personnel around the world, including in the US and Europe, are practicing ACE and related concepts, and Pacific Air Forces <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-studying-different-austere-bases-to-fight-in-pacific-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">includes an ACE component in most exercises</a>, Wilsbach has said.</p><p>Days after Cope North, the 18th Wing, the host unit at Kadena Air Force Base in Japan, held its first multi-capable airman training course.</p><p>"Prior to this - or even historically - some airmen made it through their whole career without really touching an aircraft," Senior Master Sgt. Frank Uecker, ACE superintendent for the 18th Wing, said in <a href="https://www.pacaf.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2518090/multi-capable-airmen-course-innovates-airpower-capabilities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a release</a>.</p><p>The service's Advanced Maintenance and Munitions Operations School, based at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, is also trying to spread lessons from airmen who have led development of ACE among the maintenance, munitions, and logistics experts it trains.</p><p>What the school "is really trying to codify is what is the supply chain, what's the logistics look like for that, what capabilities do you need in a multi-capable airman to be able to minimize the footprint and stay agile," 57th Wing commander Brig. Gen. Michael Drowley, who oversees the school, <a href="https://youtu.be/2RoyRqnuCX4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said last month</a>.</p><div type="image" title="Air Force airman fuel F-16 Guam" height="1352" width="2000" msid="81284647" hostid="261"></div><p>"Right now, they're really in the tabletop exercise, red-teaming aspect of looking at some of those operations and what the requirements would be and then what do they need to train their instructors to be able to do, so that way [instructors] can go back out to the units and now provide that training," Drowley added.</p><p>The new tasks for airmen aren't limited to the maintenance and logistical support. They may also have to help defend the base from missiles, enemy aircraft, and other incoming threats.</p><p>"We're looking at acquiring some additional light capability to go out primarily to the spokes, because our hubs are pretty well protected with things like" Patriot missiles and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense weapon system, Wilsbach said.</p><p>"Who's at the base and what they can do to help you defend the base goes back to that multi-capable airman," Wilsbach added. "There will be expectations that they will be able to add to the defense of the base, regardless of whether they're a security forces member or not. They've got to be able to pick up a weapon that can help defend that location until you leave or until such time as the threat has been abated."</p>

The US Air Force's plan to dodge Chinese missiles means new jobs for airmen who keep fighters flying

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Maintainers from the 730th Air Mobility Squadron at <keyword id="1650936" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Yokota-Air-Base">Yokota Air Base</keyword> in Japan spent 10 days at the beginning of November training on a <keyword id="2681253" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="c-5m-super-galaxy">C-5M Super Galaxy</keyword>, the largest aircraft in the Air Force fleet.</li><li>Many bases in the Pacific have no dedicated <keyword id="9106241" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="c-5m">C-5M</keyword> maintenance crew, which means the maintainers based at Yokota need to be able to perform repairs if necessary.</li></ul><p>Yokota Air Base, Japan — Maintainers from the 730th Air Mobility Squadron spent 10 days training on a C-5M Super Galaxy aircraft from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, November 2 to 12 on Yokota Air Base.</p><p>Yokota often serves as a refueling station for aircraft flying through the Pacific, which means a variety of transient aircraft divert through the base, often requiring maintenance.</p><p>"It's important to be knowledgeable about this aircraft because Japan, Laos, Thailand and a host of other nations in the Pacific are potential pit-stops for the C-5M." said Staff Sgt. Adrian Saetern, 515th Air Mobility Wing Regional Training Center instructor from Hickam.</p><div type="image" title="Air Force airmen maintainers C-5M super galaxy" height="1668" width="2500" msid="79309229" hostid="261"></div><p>Many bases in the Pacific have no dedicated C-5M maintenance crew, which leaves Yokota maintainers at the helm for repairs if necessary.</p><p>"If we're not actively working on a specific platform, we tend to lose that muscle memory," said Capt. Kris Haniff, 730th AMS maintenance officer in charge. "That makes this training extremely important and valuable. Even though we may not do these tasks on a daily basis, when the time comes, our guys will be good to go."</p><p>The 515th members also refreshed Yokota maintainers on various system diagnostics procedures throughout the aircraft.</p><div type="image" title="Air Force airmen maintainers C-5M super galaxy" height="1668" width="2500" msid="79309232" hostid="261"></div><p>The 374th Logistics Readiness Squadron, Civil Engineering Squadron firefighters, Airmen on temporary duty travel from Kadena Air Base and Japanese Self Defense Force members also joined in to train extensively on aircraft functions, with aims to familiarize any agency that might need to respond to the Super Galaxy if diverted to Yokota.</p><p>One of the goals of this training is to incorporate the multi-capable Airman concept. We want our personnel to learn operations that don't require extensive training but provide exceptional benefits, like the support and defense of our allies in the Indo-Pacific, said Haniff.</p>

Airmen in Japan spent 10 days training to keep the Air Force's biggest plane flying

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Faced with a Chinese military that can reach farther, the <keyword id="6404246" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="us-air-force">US Air Force</keyword> is looking for ways to spread its forces throughout the region.</li><li>The service is practicing a concept known as <keyword id="10333267" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="agile-combat-employment">Agile Combat Employment</keyword> in order to do that, and it has a challenging test of its ACE capabilities planned for February. </li></ul><p>As China's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-pentagon-maps-show-chinas-increasing-military-power-and-reach-2020-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">military grows in size and reach</a>, the US Air Force is spreading out in the Pacific. In an upcoming exercise, the service will test its ability to keep jets flying from remote airfields in the region.</p><p><keyword id="10675768" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="anderson-air-force-base">Anderson Air Force Base</keyword> on <keyword id="236698" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Guam">Guam</keyword>, the Air Force's hub in the Western Pacific, is "within the range of many missile threats," Brig. Gen. Jeremy Sloane, commander of the 36th Wing at Anderson, said at an Air Force Association event this week.</p><p>Ballistic and cruise missiles "put our main operating bases at risk and present new challenges for the US ... at bases like Anderson," Sloane added.</p><p>That has given <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-studying-different-austere-bases-to-fight-in-pacific-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new urgency to expeditionary operations</a>, and the Air Force has in recent years put more emphasis on Agile Combat Employment.</p><div type="image" title="Air Force C-130J Anderson Guam" height="1132" width="2000" msid="80594737" hostid="261"></div><p>ACE, as its known, pairs bases like Anderson, or hubs, with remote airfields, called spokes. Specially trained airmen, prepositioned equipment, and airlift capbility facilitate operations between them.</p><p>"ACE expands the number of bases from which air forces can generate combat sorties, and really that just gives us multiple options, expands our access for power projection, and complicates - this is important - complicates the enemy's targeting problem," Sloane said.</p><p>Most exercises now have an ACE component, but "one of the most challenging ACE operations is coming up here in February," during an exercise called Cope North, Sloane said.</p><p>"F-35s and F-16s will conduct spoke operations by landing, refueling, replanning, and launching at Anderson's Northwest Field," Sloane added.</p><p>"Northwest Field is a truly austere airfield carved out of the jungle on the northwest side of our base," Sloane said. "It has minimal markings, minimal lighting, and no permanent aircraft or airfield control. Thus far, only C-130s and [helicopter operations] have been conducted on that airfield."</p><div type="image" title="Air Force Anderson Guam airmen runway" height="1124" width="2000" msid="80594738" hostid="261"></div><p>The 36th Contingency Response Group, a "<a href="https://www.andersen.af.mil/36crg/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first-in</a>" force to secure and set up airfields, "will practice opening the airfield, controlling the airspace, clearing landing [operations], and supporting combat turns of F-35s and F-16s," Sloane said, adding that his command has installed a temporary arresting system to slow landing aircraft and is "quick manufacturing" runway distance markers.</p><p>Sloane singled out "multi-capable airmen," who trained to do multiple jobs, such as maintaining, rearming, and refueling aircraft, as essential to ACE.</p><p>"Proper setting of the theater is characterized by only needing a runway, ramp, a fuel source, munitions, food, and some multi-capable airmen to operate," Sloane said, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-studying-different-austere-bases-to-fight-in-pacific-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">echoing Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach</a>, head of US Pacific Air Forces.</p><p>The 36th Wing is leading work on syllabi for training those airmen, Sloane said, calling them "a big portion of how we incorporate all airman into the fight."</p><h2>'Buying a lot of risk'</h2><div type="image" title="Air Force F-15 fighter jet Tinian" height="1333" width="2000" msid="80594739" hostid="261"></div><p>Cope North is an annual exercise conducted with Japanese and Australian forces. The F-35s will come from Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska and the F-16s from Misawa Air Base in Japan.</p><p>Sloane complimented crews from Misawa and Eielson, who he said were "buying a lot of risk to test ... this concept in a no-kidding remote environment."</p><p>Since <a href="https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2099864/cope-north-2020-joint-forces-exhibit-aerial-prowess/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cope North 2020</a> in February last year, exercises in the region have been limited due to the pandemic. But Air Force officials have touted ongoing ACE efforts, especially during exercise Valiant Shield in September.</p><p>Sloane said Valiant Shield, though reduced in scale by half, featured F-22 operations on Andersen Air Force Base's North Ramp, "which included the first ever 5th-gen[eration aircraft] refueling and first hot refueling from a C-130J aerial bulk fuel delivery system."</p><div type="image" title="Air Force F-22 C-130J hot refueling Guam" height="1147" width="2000" msid="80594740" hostid="261"></div><p>Hot refueling refers to refueling while the receiving aircraft has its engine running. ABFDS uses 3,000-gallon fuel bladders, carried in cargo aircraft like C-130s, and a pumping system to refuel different kinds of aircraft.</p><p>ABFDS "gave full combat offloads during Valiant Shield simultaneously to two F-22s," Sloane said. "The command is very excited about the expeditionary capability and flexibility this provides."</p><p>The Air Force showed ABFDS off again two months later, hot-pit refueling two F-22s at Palau's Koror <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">International</keyword> Airport as part of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/b52s-still-flying-and-crews-train-like-going-to-war-2021-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a dynamic force employment</a> exercise.</p><p>Palau has signed a Compact of Free Association with the US, allowing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-looks-to-pacific-islands-for-presence-amid-china-competition-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extensive US military operations</a> there. The US is also looking to make greater use of other territories.</p><p>"We're partnering with, utilizing, and operationalizing runway and airfield support capabilities in places like ... Tinian and Saipan," Sloane said, referring to parts of the Northern Mariana Islands, an unincorporated US territory.</p><div type="image" title="Air Force F-15 fighter jet Tinian" height="1133" width="1510" msid="80594741" hostid="261"></div><p>The US Defense Department in 2016 <a href="https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/652928/tinian-selected-as-preferred-alternative-for-the-pacaf-divert-activities-and-ex/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">selected</a> Tinian as the site for a divert airfield for aircraft that can't land at a hub like Anderson, and in 2019 the department <a href="https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1841827/cnmi-signs-219m-40-year-lease-with-us-dod/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> $21.9 million lease for that facility.</p><p>Recent US defense spending bills have included millions of dollars to build Air Force facilities, such as fuel tanks and parking aprons, on Tinian.</p><p>Work has been ongoing in Palau, Sloane said. Air Force personnel have repaired airfield damage at Koror Airport and set up a new airfield on the island of Angaur, which has just 130 inhabitants. Airmen are also going to Palau for subject-matter exchanges and other prep work ahead of Cope North next month.</p><p>"These are not easy negotiations for deployments in and out of regions that are right now extremely wary of traveling visitors during the pandemic," Sloane said. "So really, setting the theater requires continuous diplomatic engagement. I'm not kidding when I say things like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/operation-christmas-drop-2018-photos-2018-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Operation Christmas Drop</a> pay big dividends."</p>

To spread out against China's missiles, the US Air Force is sending fighters to remote Pacific airfields

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The vast distances of the Pacific region and the growing reach of the Chinese military has led the US to look for ways to disperse its forces and their bases.</li><li>For the <keyword id="6404246" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="us-air-force">US Air Force</keyword>, that means scouring the region for runways and facilities that can support its aircraft as they try to spread out and sustain potential combat operations.</li></ul><p>The prospect of a war with <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>, which has a rapidly modernizing military that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-pentagon-maps-show-chinas-increasing-military-power-and-reach-2020-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">can reach farther and farther across the Pacific</a>, has the US military looking to spread out.</p><p>For the US Air Force, that means scouring the region for new places to operate, but rather building new bases, it's working with what's there, according to Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, commander of <keyword id="4828938" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="pacific-air-forces">Pacific Air Forces</keyword>.</p><p>"What we're doing is taking advantage of airfields that already exist," Wilsbach told reporters last week. "If you're going to put [in] an F-22 or an F-15 or a C-130, the airfield has to have certain criteria, and so we've actually studied every single piece of concrete in the Pacific and <keyword id="1551039" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Indo-Pacific">Indo-Pacific</keyword> ... for whether they would meet our criteria."</p><p>Air Force brass developed plans for expeditionary basing in the 1990s, and the strategy is getting renewed attention.</p><div type="image" title="Air Force Alaska F-15 agile combat employment" height="1664" width="2500" msid="79416824" hostid="261"></div><p>"We actually started working on this pretty diligently probably about four to five years ago," Wilsbach said. "I was the commander in Alaska at the time ... we really started getting into this in Alaska at first and then it's expanded throughout all of the Indo-Pacific."</p><p>The 2018 National Defense Strategy <a href="https://dod.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/2018-National-Defense-Strategy-Summary.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cited</a> Russia and China as the US's main strategic rivals — the latter, it said, "will continue to pursue a military modernization program that seeks Indo-Pacific regional hegemony in the near-term and displacement of the United States ... in the future."</p><p>The kind of conflict described in that document "may not have fixed bases, infrastructure, and established command and control," meaning the Air Force needed to return to its "expeditionary roots," Gen. David Goldfein, then the Air Force's top officer, said in a 2018 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G55YWEVhvZo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speech</a>.</p><p>That ambition is reflected in <keyword id="10333267" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="agile-combat-employment">Agile Combat Employment</keyword>, in which aircraft from major bases, or hubs, would operate from austere locations, or spokes, without an established support network to refuel, rearm, and relaunch in a relatively short period.</p><p>"The premise behind ACE is instead of having a few ... really big bases, we disperse the forces and we become a lot more agile and a lot more mobile," Wilsbach said, adding that "audibles" would allow aircraft and aircrews to come and go with what would seem like randomness to an adversary.</p><div type="image" title="Marine Corps Japan agile combat employment" height="1685" width="2500" msid="79416827" hostid="261"></div><p>ACE has been around for some time, and "almost every exercise" the command does now has an ACE component, Wilsbach said. During <a href="https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2364515/valiant-shield-2020-joint-force-training-protects-indo-pacific/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exercise Valiant Shield</a> in September, airmen augmented it with additional duties.</p><p>"We had F-22s going to, we call it base X, so not one of the hub bases ... [to] get refueled, and they also practiced what we call multi-skilled airman," Wilsbach said. "You can send a smaller team to one of the out-bases and instead of having an airman that all they do, say, is refuel an aircraft, we asked them to learn multiple skills."</p><p>Being able to do multiple tasks means fewer people would be needed at the spokes, but being flexible can also mean roughing it, Wilsbach said.</p><p>"When I was in Alaska, we did this at, literally, a bare base, and everybody was camping in" store-bought tents and eating MREs next to the runway, Wilsbach said. "We operated from that bare base for two weeks."</p><h2>'A lot of competition'</h2><div type="image" title="Air Force Guam agile combat employment" height="1598" width="2500" msid="79416828" hostid="261"></div><p>Wilsbach didn't elaborate on plans for those hubs and spokes or where they might be, but the Air Force and other service branches are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-submarine-forces-to-use-drones-for-targeting-cargo-delivery-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">practicing to operate</a> across <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marines-in-australia-drones-to-guide-air-force-bombers-targeting-2020-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">broader swaths of the Pacific</a>.</p><p>The US has territories in that area — such as Guam, which has a major Air Force base, and the Northern Mariana Islands — but some countries there are also eager to play host.</p><p>Palau's outgoing president has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-looks-to-pacific-islands-for-presence-amid-china-competition-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">repeatedly encouraged the US military</a> to expand facilities there. Wilsbach has expressed a "<a href="https://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/pacific-air-forces-leader-eager-to-take-up-palau-s-offer-to-build-joint-military-airfields-1.644466" target="_blank" rel="noopener">desire to increase the options</a>" in Palau, where airfields are <a href="https://www.army.mil/article/238873/u_s_military_lands_c130_on_newly_renovated_angaur_airfield_in_palau" target="_blank" rel="noopener">well situated</a> but would take "quite a bit more work" to expand.</p><p>Palau, along with Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, have Compacts of Free Association with the US, under which their citizens get benefits in the US and the US military gets sweeping rights to operate on their territory.</p><div type="image" title="Air Force Guam C-130 agile combat employment" height="1470" width="2500" msid="79416830" hostid="261"></div><p>Pacific Air Forces "regularly assesses locations" in the Indo-Pacific region for "operational, training and exercise objectives" and "routinely" trains and operates in and around the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau, a public affairs officer for the command told Insider.</p><p>Interest in the region is growing because of its amenability to such a hub-and-spoke model and proximity to either side of the Pacific, according to Derek Grossman, senior defense analyst at the Rand Corporation think tank.</p><p>"You want to be able to project power into the potential theaters of combat — South China Sea, Taiwan Strait — and as China develops its ballistic and cruise missiles and other capabilities to attack farther out, you're going to want to be able to disperse a bit," Grossman told Insider in an October interview.</p><p>That is not lost on China, which has courted countries there to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-looks-to-pacific-islands-for-presence-amid-china-competition-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advance its own military and diplomatic goals</a>.</p><p>"That's why there's been a lot of competition recently between the US and China in this area," Grossman said.</p>

The US Air Force has 'studied every single piece of concrete in the Pacific' to find new places to fight from

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.dvidshub.net/image/4668300/2018-chicago-air-and-water-show">U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Alexander Cook</a></span></p><p class="caption">F-35 over Lake Michigan at the Chicago Air and Water Show in Chicago, Illinois</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Crowds of spectators recently had a rare opportunity to see America's advanced stealth fighter in action at the Chicago Air and Water Show, where the F-35 Heritage Flight Team put on an impressive show.</p><p>The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, a fifth-generation stealth fighter developed by Lockheed Martin, is the most expensive weapons system ever built, but its superior capabilities supposedly make up for its soaring costs.</p><p>The supersonic, multi-mission fighter, <a href="https://www.f35.com/about/capabilities">according</a> to the developer, features unmatched electronic warfare, air-to-surface, air-to-air, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), and stealth capabilities designed to enhance the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. The F-35 program has, however, faced many setbacks.</p><p>During the recent airshow in Chicago, <span>Airman 1st Class Alexander Cook captured several stunning photos of Capt. Andrew "Dojo" Olson, F-35 Heritage Flight Team pilot and commander, performing aerial maneuvers in an F-35A. The pictures were <a href="https://www.dvidshub.net/image/4668253/2018-chicago-air-and-water-show">posted</a> online by the 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office.</span></p><p><span>Check them out below...</span></p>

Check out these incredible photos of an Air Force F-35 stealth fighter tearing across Lake Michigan

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>U.S. Air Force Photo by Senior Airman Alexander Cook</span></p><p class="caption">F-35A</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>In a key test of the F-35's capabilities, a US Air Force F-35 transmitted live targeting data to US Army ground-based air-and-missile <keyword id="6354810" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="defense">defense</keyword> systems for the first time during the recent Orange Flag exercise.</li><li>The F-35, serving as an elevated sensor, was able to deliver critical information to Army systems that might otherwise struggle to detect certain types of threats.</li><li>The latest milestone test follows the test three years ago where an F-35 transmitted targeting information to a Navy Aegis Combat System, which then eliminated a mock target simulating an enemy aircraft with an SM-6 anti-air missile.</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/?hprecirc-bullet"><span> </span>INSIDER's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul><p>A US Air Force <span>fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighter</span> successfully transmitted live targeting data to US Army ground-based air-and-missile defense systems for the first time in an important test conducted during the recent Orange Flag exercise, the fighter's developer <a href="https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2019-8-06-Orange-Flag-Evaluation-Demonstrates-F-35-and-Army-IAMD-Integration">announced</a> Tuesday.</p><p>The Army's Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS), a complex system developed by Northrop Grumman to connect sensors, launchers, and command and control stations, was able to "<span>receive and develop fire control quality composite tracks" by "leveraging the F-35 as an elevated sensor" during the recent exercise, Lockheed Martin revealed.</span></p><p><span>The tracking data was sent to the IBCS through the F-35 ground station and F-35-IBCS adaptation kit, systems developed by Lockheed to let the F-35 talk to the US Army air-and-missile defense network.</span></p><p><span>The F-35 is capable of detecting threats that ground-based systems might struggle to pick up on until it's too late. The curvature of the Earth can affect the ability of certain ground-based radars to adequately detect threats. The F-35 - which, as Breaking Defense <a href="https://breakingdefense.com/2019/08/f-35-spots-targets-for-army-missile-defenders/?utm_source=RC+Defense+Morning+Recon&amp;utm_campaign=d2ba70bc92-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_08_06_04_51&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_694f73a8dc-d2ba70bc92-85717357">noted</a>, has been described by senior Air Force officers as "a computer that happens to fly" - is able to rapidly maneuver towards new targets and to change altitude, which radar arrays on the ground are unable to do. </span></p><p><span>"The F-35, with its advanced sensors and connectivity, is able to gather and seamlessly share critical information enabling greater joint force protection and a higher level of lethality of Army IAMD forces," Scott Arnold, the vice president and deputy of Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, explained in a statement.</span></p><p><span>With the technology and capabilities tested recently, an Army Patriot battery, for example, could theoretically get a better read on an incoming threat using information provided an airborne F-35.</span></p><p><span>"Any sensor, any effector, any domain," Dan Verwiel, Northrop Grumman's vice president and general manager of missile defense and protective systems, <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/08/06/f-35-talks-to-army-missile-command-system/">told</a> Defense News. "This is the future of the US Army's fight."</span></p><p><span>Three years ago, an F-35 <a href="https://news.usni.org/2016/09/13/video-successful-f-35-sm-6-live-fire-test-points-expansion-networked-naval-warfare">transmitted</a> targeting information to a Navy Aegis Combat System armed with an SM-6 anti-air missile, which was then launched at a mock target simulating an adversarial aircraft. Now, this fighter, one of the most expensive weapons in the US arsenal, is being paired with Army air-and-missile defense networks.</span></p><p><span>The US military is looking at using the F-35 for multi-domain operations, meaning it wants the jet to do far more than the fighter-bomber missions for which it was initially designed. The fifth-generation jet can also use its high-end sensors to send difficult-to-detect transmissions containing critical data to other air assets, warships, and troops on the ground to increase battlespace awareness.</span></p><p><span>The capabilities being tested are a top priority as the US military looks to modernize the joint force in the face of great power competition with China and Russia.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-el-chapo-joaquin-guzman-really-like-cartel-wives-2017-10">What El Chapo is really like, according to the wife of one his closest henchman</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

The F-35 can now help the US Army track and destroy incoming enemy missiles

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>The CH-5 combat and reconnaissance drone developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation is said to rival General Atomics' MQ-9 Reaper.</strong></li><li><strong>The CH-5, nicknamed the "Air Truck Bomb," can be seen devastating mock targets in a new video released by the developers.</strong></li><li><strong>While the Chinese CH-5 may resemble its American counterpart, even potentially excelling in range and endurance, it has a lower maximum take-off weight, a lower payload capacity, and a lower service ceiling. The sensors and communications equipment may fall short as well.</strong></li></ul><p>The developers of one of China's newest and most advanced combat drones have released a new video showcasing its destructive capabilities.</p><p>The video was released just one week prior to the start of the <span>China International Aviation &amp; Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, Guangdong, China, where this drone made its debut in 2016.</span></p><p>China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation's CH-5 combat drone, nicknamed the "Air Truck Bomb" because it soars into battle with 16 missiles, is the successor to the CH-4, which many call the "AK-47 of drones."</p><p>Resembling General Atomics' MQ-9 Reaper drone, the developers claim the weapon is superior to its combat-tested American counterpart, which carries four Hellfire missiles and two 500-pound precision bombs. The Reaper is one of America's top hunter-killer drones and a key weapon that can stalk and strike militants in the war on terror.</p><p><span>The CH-5 "can perform whatever operations the MQ-9 Reaper can and is even better than the US vehicle when it comes to flight duration and operational efficiency,"&#xa0;Shi Wen, a chief CH series drone designer at the China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics, <a href="http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2016-11/01/content_27240864.htm">told</a> the China Daily two years ago.</span></p><p><span>But, while the CH-5 and the MQ-9 may look a lot alike, it is technological similarity, not parity. The Reaper's payload, for instance, is <a href="https://breakingdefense.com/2015/09/new-china-drone-looks-like-a-reaper-but/">roughly double</a> that of China's CH-5. And, while China's drone may excel in endurance, its American counterpart has a <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2016/12/04/cheap-lethal-chinese-drones-are-filling-distant-skies/">greater</a> maximum take-off weight and a much higher service ceiling.</span></p><p><span>The sensors and communications equipment on the Chinese drone are also suspected to be inferior to those on the MQ-9, which last year <a href="https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/09/19/mq-9-gets-first-air-air-kill-training-exercise-air-force-official-says.html">achieved</a> the ability to not only wipe out ground targets but eliminate air assets as well.</span></p><p><span>Nonetheless, these systems can get the job done. The CH-4, the predecessor to the latest CH series drone, has been deployed in the fight against the Islamic State.</span></p><p>China has exported numerous drones to countries across the Middle East, presenting them as comparable to US products with less restrictions and for a lower price.&#xa0;</p><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/deadly-life-boston-gangster-whitey-bulger-2015-9">The true story behind Boston gangster Whitey Bulger</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

This dramatic video shows China's answer to America's top combat drone blowing things to bits

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The US just extended a $10 million contract to <keyword id="6354810" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Defense">defense</keyword> contractor Raytheon to equip Boeing AGM-86B air-launched cruise missiles with a Counter-electronics High-power microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP) payloads.<p>These payloads,&#xa0;<a href="http://www.janes.com/article/59048/raytheon-receives-counter-electronics-missile-integration-contract" target="_blank">according to IHS Jane's,</a>&#xa0;will enable the missiles to disable enemy electronics during flight.</p><p>Missiles equipped with the CHAMP technology can fire microwave pulses at multi-story buildings and permanently disable the electric devices therein, as was successfully demonstrated during a 2012 test.</p><p>"This technology marks a new era in modern-day warfare... Today we turned science fiction into science fact." said Keith Coleman, Boeing Phantom Works' CHAMP Program Manager <a href="http://mil-embedded.com/news/raytheon-emp-missile-tested-by-boeing-usaf-research-lab/" target="_blank">said at the time</a>.</p><p>"In the near future, this technology may be used to render an enemy's electronic and data systems useless even before the first troops or aircraft arrive," Coleman continued.</p><p>The CHAMP system could potentially knockout enemy radar detection or missile defense system, but military hardware often has redundant circuitry and is resistant to weapons like EMPs.&#xa0;</p><p>But the inclusion of electronic warfare capabilities on an air-launched cruise missile marks a definite step in the right direction for the US military as tensions rise between the technologically advanced forces of Russia and China.</p><p>As a <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2016/03/15/electronic-warfare-how-the-u-s-army-could-lose-its-next-war/#49c354d2a284" target="_blank">recent Forbes article</a>&#xa0;with the provocative title: "Electronic Warfare: How The U.S. Army Could Lose Its Next War,"&#xa0;points out, "Two decades of fighting rag-tag terrorist groups with scant resources has dulled its edge in electronic warfare, while countries like Russia and China have worked hard to maintain and expand their capabilities."</p><h2>Watch a video explainer on the CHAMP system below:</h2><p><div></div></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/northrop-grumman-b-2-stealth-bomber-air-force-aviation-military-2016-3">America's B-2 stealth bomber is unlike any military aircraft in the world</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="VyODNwMTE6YdaDjml8Bv3ZLoq8hQM22e" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

 US extends $10 million contract for a missile that disables electronics 

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Air Force/Senior Airman Valentina Viglianco</span></p><p class="caption">A U-2 Dragon Lady performs a touch-and-go at Beale Air Force Base, California, September 20, 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>The Air Force is opening up the selection process for pilots to fly the legendary U-2 spy plane.</strong></li><li><strong>The six-year experience minimum is being discarded, and trainee pilots will be able to pick the U-2 as they would any other plane.</strong></li><li><strong>The program is only experimental right now, however, so the U-2 pilot corps will remain a select group.</strong></li></ul><p>The six years of experience and hundreds of hours of flight time needed to become a pilot of the US Air Force's oldest spy plane are no more, and now trainee pilots will be eligible to take the controls of the venerable Dragon Lady.</p><p>The new U-2 First Assignment Companion Trainer, or FACT, program will allow Air Force student pilots to jump directly into the U-2 pipeline and join the 9th Reconnaissance Wing.</p><p><span>"Our focus is modernizing and sustaining the U-2 well into the future to meet the needs of our nation at the speed of relevance," Air Force Col. Andy Clark, commander of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing, said in a release.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Air Force/Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Schultze</span></p><p class="caption">Pilots from Beale Air Force Base go through pre-flight checks on a U-2 at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, September 29, 2018</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>The new program is meant to create "</span><span>a new reconnaissance career path for young, highly qualified aviators eager to shape the next generation of [reconnaissance] warfighting capabilities," Clark said. The first selection will be among fall 2018 undergraduate training pilots with the next round coming in about six months.</span></p><p>The change comes as the Air Force seeks to modernize the U-2 airframe and mission, as well as its pilot-acquisition and development process.</p><p>Once selected, pilots in the FACT program will go the T-38 pilot instructor training course at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph in Texas before a permanent change-of-station to Beale Air Force Base in California, where the U-2s are based.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Air Force/Senior Airman Justin Parsons</span></p><p class="caption">Airmen refuel a U-2 at Beale Air Force Base, California, August 9, 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The selectee will then be a T-38 instructor pilot for the next two years, and once they have the requisite experience, they will undergo the standard two-week U-2 pilot interview process.</p><p>If hired, they'll then start Basic Qualification Training.</p><p><span>"The well-established path to the U-2 has proven effective for over 60 years," Lt. Col. Carl Maymi, commander of the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron, said in a release. </span></p><p><span>"However, we need access to young, talented officers earlier in their careers. I believe we can do this while still maintaining the integrity of our selection process through the U-2 FACT program."</span></p><h2>'An art, not a science'</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Air National Guard/Staff Sgt. Colton Elliott</span></p><p class="caption">A U-2 prepares to land at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, November 16, 2017.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The U-2 entered service during the Eisenhower administration, carrying out covert missions high above enemy territory during the height of the Cold War. The aircraft have been overhauled and the missions have changed in the decades since, but the Dragon Lady remains one of the most unique and challenging aircraft US pilots can fly.</p><p>Today's U-2s are larger than the original versions and are made of slightly lighter material, as less weight translates into more altitude - about one extra foot for each pound shed, according to Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Phillips, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-u-2-spy-plane-still-flying-combat-missions-60-years-after-debut-1528382700" target="_blank" rel="noopener">who ventured up in a U-2 earlier this year</a>, accompanied by Jethro, one of the few pilots who've qualified to fly it.</p><p>Every six years, each U-2 is totally overhauled by Lockheed Martin, which takes the plane completely apart and goes through "every wire, every connector, every panel," Jethro told Phillips.</p><p>"They'll X-ray it … make sure there's no cracks, replace anything that's broken, put it back together, new coat of paint, and it looks like a brand-new airplane again, and it flies like a brand-new airplane again," Jethro added.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Air Force/Staff Sgt. Kristin High</span></p><p class="caption">A U-2 is prepped for takeoff from Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, June 22, 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The long, narrow wings allow the U-2 to quickly lift heavy payloads of cameras and sensors to high altitudes and stay there for extended periods. It's <a href="https://www.dvidshub.net/image/4513321/dragon-lady-visits-vultures-nest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">capable</a> of gathering an arrasy of imagery, including multi-spectral electro-optic, infrared, and synthetic aperture radar products that can be stored aboard or transmitted to the ground.</p><p>Some parts of the preparation process are still low-tech, however.</p><p>The U-2 has a central fuel tank fed by tanks in each wing. Crews will fill up the wing tanks and then look to see which way the aircraft leans. They they transfer fuel from one side to the other until it balances out.</p><p>"So it's really kind of an art, not a science," Jethro said.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-u-2-spy-plane-still-flying-combat-missions-60-years-after-debut-1528382700">The Wall Street Journal</a></span></p><p class="caption">Airmen prepare the suit U-2 pilots need to survive insider the Dragon Lady during a mission.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>U-2 pilots work in two-man crews, but the pilots go up in the aircraft alone. Their pre-flight preparations begin with donning a full-pressure suit, like those worn by astronauts, that regulates the pilot's pressure and temperature.</p><p>"If the cockpit lost pressure at 70,000 feet" - the usual cruising altitude - "and I weren't wearing a space suit, my blood would boil," Phillips said.</p><p>Once suited, pilots head to the aircraft, accompanied by a crew member carrying their oxygen supply.</p><p>Pilots give the U-2 a traditional pat on the nose, shake hands with each flight crew member, and clamber into the cockpit, where a team of technicians hooks them up to an array of regulators and sensors.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Air Force/Staff Sgt. Kristin High</span></p><p class="caption">A U-2 pilot prepares to board his aircraft at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, June 22, 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"I've got crew chiefs. I've got electricians. I've got different civilians for each of the sensors … so there may be 40 people around the aircraft, who are all there just to get you in the air," Jethro said. "We don't call it a takeoff. We call it a launch."</p><p>The U-2's 103-foot wingspan and broad turning radius make it hard to maneuver, and the wings, laden with fuel, are supported by bicycle-like wheels that break away during takeoff.</p><p>To help deal with those hazards, the other member of the two-man pilot team trails behind the U-2 at the wheel of a muscle car - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-model-s-assist-uss-u2-spy-planes-during-takeoff-2017-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like a Pontiac GTO or Tesla Model S</a> - that can keep up with the U-2.</p><p>Other U-2 pilots who aren't flying may be in Beale's control tower, overseeing their fellow pilots' missions.</p><p>During takeoff, the pilot wrestles with the plane as it gets off the ground.</p><p>"As soon as you throw the power up, you're pushing 18,000 pounds of thrust out of the backend. You have those big, long wings, and it just wants to accelerate so fast," said one U-2 pilot, identified only as Nova. "You gotta pull it up to about 40 degrees nose high just to keep the airplane within limits, and that is just one of the coolest feelings ever."</p><p>"When you get a chance to look and just see the earth just falling away behind you so quickly, it's awesome," he added.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-u-2-spy-plane-still-flying-combat-missions-60-years-after-debut-1528382700">The Wall Street Journal</a></span></p><p class="caption">An airman prepares a U-2 for takeoff at Beale Air Force Base.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Temporary wheels, called "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/u-2-controlled-crash-landing-2017-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pogos</a>," that hold up the wings during takeoff drop away as the plane leaves the ground.</p><p>The U-2 ascends to about 70,000 feet for a typical mission. Up there, the curvature of the earth allows pilots to see 270 nautical miles in each direction - a field of vision of about 500 miles. It can map all of Iraq in a single mission.</p><p>On the edge of space, the cockpit is silent except for the raspy hiss of the breathing system, which sucks pure oxygen into the pilot's helmet.</p><p>"The air pressure inside the cockpit is the equivalent to standing on top of Mount Everest," Phillips said.</p><p>"Without the oxygen I'd be gasping for breath, and I'd be in danger of getting the bends," he added, referring to an illness that occurs when dissolved gases enter the bloodstream as the body experiences changes in pressure.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-u-2-spy-plane-still-flying-combat-missions-60-years-after-debut-1528382700">The Wall Street Journal</a></span></p><p class="caption">The view from the U-2's cockpit as it ascends to altitude.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"A lot of times when we get up to altitude, you'll be able to look down and see the airliners," Jethro, the pilot, said during the flight.</p><p>"And you can see that very gentle curve of the earth from here," Phillips added, "It's an extraordinary view."</p><p>"When you get up there and you think, like, 'What makes these people different from these people?' And you just don't see it from up there," Nova, the other pilot, said. "It's one world. There's one planet."</p><h2>'You're in a small club'</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Air National Guard/Staff Sgt. Colton Elliott</span></p><p class="caption">A U-2 lands at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, November 16, 2017.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The features that make the U-2 an exceptional high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft make it extremely difficult to land. Pilots have to perform a kind of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/u-2-controlled-crash-landing-2017-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">controlled crash</a> to bring the plane back to earth.</p><p>The two sets of wheels built into the plane are set up like bicycle wheels, with one set under the nose and the other under the tail. The massive wings, now relieved of their fuel, make the aircraft hard to control as it comes in.</p><p>The cars that saw the plane off zip in as it lands, their drivers giving the pilots a foot-by-foot countdown and alerting them to any problems. The cars can <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/u-2-controlled-crash-landing-2017-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hit 140 mph</a> while chasing an incoming U-2.</p><p>Once the plane has slowed down enough, one of the wings droops to the ground. Titanium skid plates on the bottoms of both wings help bring the plane to a full stop, at which point the temporary wheels are reattached. The plane then taxis off the runway.</p><p>Back on earth, technicians begin developing the imagery.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-u-2-spy-plane-still-flying-combat-missions-60-years-after-debut-1528382700">The Wall Street Journal</a></span></p><p class="caption">An airman reviews film from a U-2 mission.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>A flight can produce 10,500 feet of film, stored on a 250-pound spool, according to Phillips.</p><p>The U-2's wet-film camera produces images that are clearer than digital images, which are analyzed with loupes or microscope-like optics that zoom in on the features captured on the film.</p><p>It's an old-fashioned approach to aerial reconnaissance, Phillips noted. "But it works, and that's why it's still around," one of the airmen overseeing the film-development process added.</p><p>After the first two undergraduate pilot training students are picked and enter the FACT program, the assignment process "will be assessed to determine the sustainability of this experimental pilot pipeline," the Air Force said in its announcement.</p><p>For the time being, the Dragon Lady's pilot corps will be a rare breed.</p><p>"A thousand pilots, [there are] way more Super Bowl rings out there. You're in a small club," Lt. Col. Matt Nussbaum, 99th Reconnaissance Squadron commander, told Phillips.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/u-2-controlled-crash-landing-2017-9">The U-2 spy plane is so hard to fly pilots have to perform a 'controlled crash' just to land it</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

The Air Force is changing the way it recruits U-2 pilots - here's what it's like to fly the US's oldest working spy plane

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>US Air Force/Airman 1st Class Dalton Williams</span></p><p class="caption">An Atlas V rocket carrying the Space Based Infrared System GEO Flight 4 satellite lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, January 19, 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>The Air Force is getting ready for a potential conflict in space.</strong></li><li><strong>The force's 2019 budget underscores the "tremendous emphasis" the Air Force is putting on the new domain, a senior official said.</strong></li></ul><p>The Air Force already faces extensive operational obligations on Earth, but the service is shifting focus to prepare for what many see as the growing potential for conflict in space.</p><p>In a speech at the Air Force Association's air-warfare symposium in Florida in late February, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein <a href="http://spacenews.com/air-force-chief-goldfein-well-be-fighting-from-space-in-a-matter-of-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> it was "time for us as a service, regardless of specialty badge, to embrace space superiority with the same passion and sense of ownership as we apply to air superiority today."</p><p>It's not the first time Air Force leadership has underscored the importance of space.</p><p>Goldfein <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/america-russia-air-force-next-battlefield-space-2017-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">outlined</a> the Air Force's preparations for space operations in a February 2017 op-ed. In October, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson emphasized the interests the US has in space and stressed the Air Force's obligation to prepare for conflict there.</p><p>"We are the ones, since 1954, who are responsible for everything from 100 feet below the earth in missile silos all the way up to the stars," <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-has-to-get-ready-for-conflict-in-space-air-force-secretary-says-2017-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">she said</a> at an event in Washington, DC. "We need to normalize space from a national-security perspective. We have to have all of our officers who are wearing blue uniforms more knowledgeable about space capabilities and how it connects to the other domains."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.af.mil/News/Photos/igphoto/2001739236/">US Air Force</a></span></p><p class="caption">The Air Force's 45th Space Wing supported NASA's launch of Orbital ATK's Cygnus spacecraft on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, April 18, 2017.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>US national-security officials have said space will become a venue for a range of state and non-state actors with the continued expansion of the space industry and increased availability of technology, private-sector investment, and proliferation of international partnerships for shared production and operations.</p><p>"All actors will increasingly have access to space-derived information services, such as imagery, weather, communications, and positioning, navigation, and timing for intelligence, military, scientific, or business purposes," Daniel Coats, the director of national intelligence, said in a Worldwide Threat Assessment delivered to the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this year.</p><p>"As if we don't have enough threats here on Earth, we need to look to the heavens - threats in space," Coats told the committee.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>US Air Force/Scott M. Ash</span></p><p class="caption">Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein prepare to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee, June 6, 2017.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>In his February speech, Goldfein said the question was not if, but when the US will be fighting outside Earth's atmosphere.</p><p>"I believe we're going to be fighting from space in a matter of years," he said, <a href="http://spacenews.com/air-force-chief-goldfein-well-be-fighting-from-space-in-a-matter-of-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Space News. "And we are the service that must lead joint war-fighting in this new contested domain. This is what the nation demands."</p><p>Goldfein has been a proponent of multi-domain operations, which draw on air, cyber, ground, sea, and space to provide a full picture of the battlefield. Fighting outside the earth's atmosphere will require new training as well as investment in new technologies, he said.</p><p>"We must build a joint, smart space force and space-smart joint force," he told the audience in Florida.</p><p>Asked this month about congressional concerns over the Air Force's preparations for operations in space, Wilson outlined specific moves the force is making to ready itself.</p><p>"I think it's harder for people to understand [space] because it's not where we normally breathe and live, but for the Air Force it is an area of tremendous emphasis - just look at the budgets," she said at the Heritage Foundation.</p><p>The fiscal year 2018 budget had a 20% increase in funding for space programs, Wilson said, and the fiscal year 2019 budget proposal - which requests <a href="http://spacenews.com/air-force-chief-goldfein-well-be-fighting-from-space-in-a-matter-of-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$8.5 billion</a> for space programs - added more than 7% on top of that.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>US Air Force/United Launch Alliance</span></p><p class="caption">The Air Force launched the ninth Boeing-built Wideband Global SATCOM satellite on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, March 18, 2017.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"We have shifted to next-generation missile warning - so a rapid change there to cancel two planned satellites and shift to a defendable missile-warning architecture. Jam-resistant GPS, so GPS III, is in this budget," Wilson said, referring to the next set of satellites needed to keep the global positioning system operational.</p><p>The "National Space <keyword id="6354810" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Defense">Defense</keyword> Center is now set up and established so that we have a common operating picture of what's going on in space, because unless you known what's going on you can't defend it," she added. "Our budget also includes simulators and war-gaming to train space operators to operate in a contested environment. So there is a lot in this budget."</p><p>In the next five years, the Air Force plans to put $44.3 billion toward space systems, <a href="http://spacenews.com/air-force-chief-goldfein-well-be-fighting-from-space-in-a-matter-of-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Space News - about an 18% increase over the five-year plan submitted in 2017. The new total includes $31.5 billion for research and development and $12.8 billion for procurement.</p><p>"The top-line numbers I think tell a story," Wilson said at the Heritage Foundation. "But I think when you get down into the programs, there's a real recognition that space will be a contested domain and that we are developing the capability to deter and prevail should anyone seek to deny the United States operations in space."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/stunning-view-earth-captured-nasa-astronaut-bodycam-randy-bresnik-iss-spacewalk-gopro-2017-12">Watch this breathtaking view of Earth captured on a NASA astronaut's body cam during a spacewalk</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

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