U.S. Air Force F-35A Lighting II, assigned to the 421st Fighter Squadron participates in Operation Rapid Forge.
Rapid Forge aircraft are forward deploying to bases in the territory of NATO allies in order to enhance readiness and improve interoperability.
SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, RP, GERMANY
07.16.2019
Video by Airman 1st Class Chanceler Nardone
52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
As Europe adds new F-35 capabilities to its combat forces, there is a clear opportunity for U.S Services which fly the F-35 to work a very different approach to providing for enhanced and time urgent combat power.
With a sustained engagement strategy, the USAF, USMC and the US Navy could leverage regional partners sustainment resources, including maintainers and stockpiled parts to ensure an ability to fly to the fight, rather than to have to bring the flying warehouse of C-17s, C-15s, and C-130s and tankers with them.
Three recent events highlight the possibility.
The first is the USAF flying to Orland Air Base
In story published on June 17, 2019, the USAF highlighted this event as follows:
ORLAND AIR BASE, Norway – For the first time outside the U. S., Norwegian and American F-35 Lightning II maintainers worked together on their aircraft June 17, 2019.
A team of five maintainers and four pilots from the 421st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron deployed to Norway for the historic cross-servicing event, during which the maintenance teams received and turned two American F-35As after their arrival from Finland.
The Norwegian air force already operates a fleet of 12 F-35s at Orland Air Base, and plans to eventually employ 52 of the fifth-generation aircraft throughout Norway. The visit was the first time American F-35s have landed in Norway.
“All firsts are special,” said Royal Norwegian Air Force Lt. Col. Eirik Guldvog, 132nd Air Wing executive officer and chief of staff. “For Norway and our European allies, who are entering the fifth-generation fighter era, it’s important to both have the U.S. on board and to train with the other partners around the North Sea.
“To have multinational cooperation within these nations and to have a significant F-35-capable force in the North Atlantic, of course that is important,” Guldvog continued. “This is the first step.”
While the visit was short, it was an opportunity to practice seamless integration in preparation for future deployments.
“Air operations are often multinational, so it’s important that we train together and find every opportunity to interact on a normal basis,” Guldvog said.
According to U.S. Air Force Capt. Brett Burnside, 421st EFS F-35 pilot, the entire endeavor felt familiar and without any significant challenges.
“Even though they are from a different country and speak a different language, they are fighter pilots as we are,” Burnside said. “We simply connected with them on our F-35 datalink and it was just like working with any U.S. F-35 unit.”
Burnside said because Norway is a partner in the F-35 program, it’s extremely important to continue to foster this relationship. Additionally, he said Norway’s geographic location is immensely strategic as they have a large responsibility in quick reaction alert to scramble fighters to intercept hostile aircraft in the arctic region if necessary.
The now-proven ability of RNorAF’s Lightning II maintainers to successfully catch and turn American F-35s is a huge milestone for the country.
“F-35s will be the most important combat element within the Norwegian defense agencies,” Guldvog said. “Not just the air force. It will be the most potent offensive capability in Norway.”
A fleet of F-35As is currently deployed to Europe as part of the European Deterrence Initiative, which enables the U. S. to enhance a deterrence posture, increase the readiness and responsiveness of U.S. forces in Europe, support the collective defense and security of NATO allies, and bolster the security and capacity of U.S. partners.
The second involves the current Operation Rapid Forge where the USAF has brought F-35s to Poland for the first time. As Poland is expected to buy the aircraft, in the future, Polish hardened air bases defended by their increasingly capable active defense systems can provide an opportunity for the USAF or other European F-35 partners to fly to the deterrent effort if the Russians are threatening the Baltics or Poland.
According to a a USAF story published on July 16, 2019:
U.S. Air Force fighter and mobility aircraft deployed to bases in Poland, Lithuania and Estonia today as part of Operation Rapid Forge, a U.S. Air Forces in Europe-sponsored training event designed to enhance interoperability with NATO allies and partners, improve readiness and sharpen operational capabilities.
F-35 Lightning II fighter jets, F-15E Strike Eagles, and C-130J Super Hercules aircraft arrived at Powidz Air Base, Poland, to conduct refueling and re-arming operations using inert munitions.
F-15E Strike Eagles and C-130J Super Hercules aircraft arrived at Siauilai AB, Lithuania, also to conduct refueling and re-arming operations using inert munitions.
F-15E Strike Eagles and MC-130J Commando II aircraft arrived at Amari AB, Estonia, to conduct refueling operations.
The ability to operate at forward locations enables collective defense capabilities and provides the U.S. and NATO allies the strategic and operational breadth needed to deter adversaries and assure our allies and partners.
The F-35s are deployed from the 388th and 419th Fighter Wings at Hill AFB, Utah. F-15E Strike Eagles are deployed from the 4th Fighter Wing, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. Both squadrons of fighter jets are operating out of Spangdahlem AB, Germany. The MC-130J aircraft are from the 352nd Special Operations Wing at RAF Mildenhall, England, and the C-130J aircraft are deployed from the 317th Airlift Wing at Dyess Air Force Base, Tex., and are operating out of Ramstein AB, Germany
The third event occurred in May of this year where the USAF worked new approaches to adaptive basing.
According to a USAF story published on May 14, 2019:
KINSTON REGIONAL JETPORT, N.C. – The Air Force completed the final test of an innovative warfighting concept May 12 that could be a game-changer for future adaptive-basing constructs.
The Combat Support Wing proof-of-concept capstone exercise developed by the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center and hosted by Air Combat Command’s 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, tested the ability of three teams of about 30 Airmen each to establish and operate an airfield in an austere environment. They had to defend the base and refuel and rearm F-15E’s using multifunctional skills they learned during training events over the past month.
“We’ve seen monumental improvements in the ability of our Airmen to do things outside of their normal career fields and the speed at which they’re able to refuel and rearm jets,” said Brig. Gen. Brian Bruckbauer, AFIMSC director of Expeditionary Support and Innovation. Bruckbauer’s directorate led the planning and execution of the exercise.
The concept supports National Defense Strategy priorities to evolve innovative operational concepts and enhance lethality in contested environments. If fielded, the CSW concept could give the Air Force the ability to rapidly deploy in smaller, more efficient and agile teams to austere and potentially contested areas. Under the multifunctional construct, weapons loaders could drive a refueling truck, security forces defenders could refuel a jet and avionics specialists could provide airfield security while also performing their primary duties.
CSW is an outcome of the 2017 AFIMSC Installation and Mission Support Weapons and Tactics Conference. The capstone was the final event in a phased rollout of the concept over the past year. It tested the hub-and-spoke operations of a single forward operating base at Seymour Johnson and three forward operating locations at Kinston, Moody AFB, Georgia, and MacDill AFB, Florida.
“We had at least 15 different Air Force Specialty Codes come in to attack the problem of how to conduct integrated combat turns with as few people and the smallest logistics footprint as possible,” said Col. Erik Rundquist, commander of AFIMSC Detachment 8 at Langley AFB, Va., who was one of the primary architects responsible for turning the concept into practicable exercise scenarios.
Master Sgt. Jason Knepper, an Air Force Security Forces Center flight chief, joined the CSW cadre in January as a security forces functional lead. He said he’s seen “tons” of progress since capstone participants began training in mid-April.
“We went from individual troops who had their skillset and a vague understanding about what everyone else was doing to now where you’ve got maintainers manning defensive fighting positions and cops helping refuel jets,” Knepper said. “The construct for the multifunction approach is working really well. The people who built those pieces did a phenomenal job and now we’re seeing it work.”
He said Airmen can execute the concept very well when given the opportunity, training and motivation to see why it’s important. One of those Airmen was Senior Airman Darian Betancourt, an aircraft armament systems specialist at the 4th Fighter Wing. He learned how to drive R-11 fuel trucks, palletize cargo, conduct tactical combat casualty care and defend the base.
“It’s been different. It’s been fun too,” Betancourt said. “You gain appreciation for your job and other people’s jobs and you learn what they do.”
He said the experience was eye-opening.
“There’s so much to the Air Force that people don’t get to see and doing something like this really shows that,” Betancourt said. “If everybody could do this (multifunctional learning), that would be something special.”
The AFIMSC Expeditionary Support Directorate will now produce a report for Air Force leaders that includes data on more than 100 measures of effectiveness.
“We’ll be able to provide our senior leaders with a very thorough analysis and some very good recommendations going forward on force structure, force presentation and multi-functional training with the goal of using this concept in our operational plans,” Bruckbauer said.
The CSW concept will be included in the Rapid Forge exercise taking place July 10-26 in Europe.
The featured photo shows a U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II aircraft sitting on a runway during Operation Rapid Forge on Powidz Air Base, Poland, July, 16, 2019. This is the first time that an U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II aircraft has landed in Poland. Rapid Forge is a U.S. Air Forces in Europe-led mission to enhance readiness and test the ability to function at locations other than the main air bases. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Milton Hamilton)
By Pierre Tran
Paris – Armed forces minister Florence Parly set out July 25 a strategy for boosting military capability in space, backed by a funding boost of €700 million ($780 million) and plans to field lasers to disable space-borne threats to French satellites.
Parly also said a space command will be stood up on Sept. 1 and placed under the orders of the air force, which will become the air and space force.
“Yes, we will develop powerful lasers,” she said in a keynote speech at Lyon airbase, central France. France may have lagged behind other nations but fully intended to catch up in this area, with the launch of an arms program dubbed “mastery of space,” she added.
” I hope we can as soon as possible equip our valuable satellites and spy nano-satellites to keep at a distance and, if necessary, blind those which have a tendency to come too close,” she said.
This was an ambitious plan but France would have the first capabilities in the present military budget law, with a full capacity by 2030, she said.
An extra €700 million will be earmarked for acquiring space capabilities, on top of the €3.6 billion set aside in the present military budget law, she said, adding that the spending increase for space will come from the overall budget, which remains unchanged.
That bid to increase and arm space assets means spending cuts in other programs, which will call for talks with the armed forces and procurement officials.
To underline the perceived need to bolster military space, Parly said the Russian satellite Luch Olymp had approached eight satellites of various nations since she revealed a year ago the space craft had closed in to listen to Athena-Fidus, a Franco-Italian spacecraft used for military communications.
There are already means — which are being developed — to “neutralize” or destroy satellites, she said.
“We know it; the shadow of threat is real,” she said.
The space command will be initially staffed by 220 personnel and be based in Toulouse, southern France.
The operations center will be backed up by a space lab which will have close ties to the DGA procurement office and CNES civil space agency. There will also a space academy to train staff.
France will revise the law to allow military space operations, Parly said, such as the US and Finland have already effected.
Alongside work on space weapons for an “active defense.” France will increase surveillance capabilities, she said. Parly made a call to Berlin to cooperate with Paris in a European drive, along with Rome.
“I particularly count on Germany to make up the beating heart of space surveillance,” she said.
France has the rare capability to detect and track satellites with its Graves and Satam radars, along with telescopes operated by CNRS and Ariane group, she said. There are plans to refine those, with the successor to the ground-based Graves system expected to detect satellites as small as a shoe box at a distance of 1,500 km.
CNRS is a research institute, while Ariane is an Airbus-Safran joint venture which builds the Ariane commercial space rocket.
Research agency Onera is working on increasing the power of Graves, a ground-based radar.
France will support CNRS’s plan to increase its Tarot telescope and Ariane’s Geotracker system, she said, adding that the ministry will ask for Airbus to provide greater earth observation.
Tarot consists of two robotic observatories, while Airbus has tracked satellites for the French joint space command on its Geotracker optical system since autumn 2017.
The ministry asked in September that cameras be fitted for self-defense on the Syracuse military telecommunications satellite, and that capability is being fitted, she said.
Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Defence and Space are building two Syracuse 4 satellites, and a third is to be added to the constellation.
France expects to have nano-satellites — small satellites between one and 10 kg — in 2023, which will be « patrol » craft providing eyes in space, she said. Thales plans to build a private constellation for earth observation, which France is following with close interest.
There are also studies on a very long range radar, which would be useful due to the growing missile threat, she said.
Besides prime contractors, the authorities are counting on companies such as Hemeria, Sodern, Cilas and others, in the drive for a stronger military space, she said.
“We are counting on you,” she said.
President Emmanuel Macron said July 13 the French air force would set up in September a space command, seen as needed to ensure “national security.”
“We will increase our knowledge of the situation in space, we will better protect our satellites, including in the active sense,” Macron told senior officers, industry chiefs and personnel at the traditional garden party on the eve of the Bastille Day parade. Parliamentarians Olivier Becht and Stéphane Trompille delivered in January a report to Parly, laying out the key issues for a space force.
There are more than 15 nations capable of space launch, with over 65 countries using satellites, the legislators said in a July 24 statement. There are some 1,500 satellites — with half of those American — and the total number is expected to rise above 8,000 by the end of the next decade, they said.
National and European sovereignty were at stake, with steps needed to be taken to protect civil and military satellites as these allowed France to see, avoid, respond and “neutralize” threats, they said. Transport, communications and banking could be at risk from attacks on French satellites.
Such threats made it “indispensable” for France to have a military space strategy and the funds needed to make it credible, they said.
To address those concerns, the parliamentary report called for boosting space surveillance both by satellites and ground-based equipment, including new radars for the Grave and Satam systems, telescopes, and a second Cosmos base to track space assets.
The aim is to know what objects are in space, their location, owner, trajectory and purpose. Space surveillance calls for French satellites to carry sensors which sound the alarm another spacecraft closes in, “satellite watch dogs” namely small satellites keeping watch on French space assets.
France should acquire means to disable space threats, said the parliamentary report, which recommended ” non-kinetic” means rather than anti-satellite missiles. The latter would scatter hundreds of thousands of space debris, which would add to the risk to other satellites and lead to “collateral damage.”
There may one day be” high intensity” war in space, with French satellites being knocked out temporarily or permanently.
That risk called for the means to pursue missions despite a disable satellite, the parliamentarians said. There are already cases of a foreign satellite approaching in an attempt to eavesdrop on a French spacecraft.
The scale of the task and financial need call on France to work with European allies rather than compete.
The report cites the “sterile competition” between Berlin and Paris on radar and optical surveillance satellites.
“France cannot exist in space without Europe,” the authors said.
Looking further ahead, the report sees the prospect of mining on distant planets, with greater interest in other-world resources as natural resources dwindle on earth and the cost of launch fall.
“The interest in space-based resources will grow,” the parliamentarians said.
Access to resources on earth and in space are economic interests which should be protected by military means, they said.
The featured photo shows French Defense Minister Florence Parly giving a speech as she attends a ceremony commemorating the 76th anniversary of the Vel d’Hiv round-up in Paris on July 21, 2019. (Photo by AFP)
See also the following:
French Investments in Laser Weapons: ONERA at the Paris Air Show 2019
Editor’s Note: So by 2030 new space capabilities, by 2040 a new fighter and new Franco-Australian attack submarines in the 2030s.
In this slideshow, the Marines are seen working with the French Navy and Army on projecting force from a French amphibious ship during Exercise Semper Thunder.
U.S. Marine Corps photos by Nathan Reyes.
Naval forces from 19 nations, including 15 NATO Allies, recently gathered on the Black Sea for Exercise Sea Breeze 2019, co-led by the United States and Ukraine.
The exercise, in its 19th iteration, is designed to enhance interoperability among participating nations and strengthen regional security by focusing on a variety of scenarios played out on land, at sea and in the air.
It ran from 1 to 12 July 2019. Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 took part in the exercise.
SNMG2, as it’s known, is made up of vessels from various NATO nations.
This footage was taken aboard two vessels from the group – the Canadian frigate HMCS Toronto, which is the flagship for SNMG2, and the Turkish frigate TCG Turgutreis.
The video includes general views of exercise activities plus comments from the SNMG2 Commander, Commodore Josée Kurtz (Royal Canadian Navy), and the Commander of TCG Turgutreis, Lieutenant Colonel Burak Akgül (Turkish Navy).
07.17.2019
Natochannel
A French Army SA 341 Gazelle helicopter fires a training missile during Exercise Semper Thunder on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, June 29, 2019.
Exercise Semper Thunder is a bilateral training exercise conducted between the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Task Force Jeanne D’ Arc, which reflects the desire to maintain a high level of interoperability in order to conduct operations in a coalition environment.
CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, UNITED STATES
06.28.2019
Video by Lance Cpl. Gary Jayne III
26th Marine Expeditionary Unit
U.S. Air Force F-35A Lighting II aircraft, assigned to the 421st Fighter Squadron and F-15E Strike Eagles, assigned to the 4th Fighter Wing,
Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina is seen participating in Operation Rapid Forge in the video below.
Rapid Forge aircraft are forward deploying to bases in the territory of NATO allies in order to enhance readiness and improve interoperability.
SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, RP, GERMANY
07.18.2019
Video by Airman 1st Class Chanceler Nardone
52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
In an article published on July 19, 2019 by Micah Garbarino, 388th Fighter Wing Public Affairs, the role of Hill AFB in Rapid Forge is highlighted:
SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany (AFNS) —
Airmen from Hill Air Force Base’s fighter wings forward deployed the F-35A Lightning II to several locations in Europe as part of a joint readiness exercise.
So far, operation Rapid Forge has seen F-35As, F-15E Strike Eagles and C-130J Super Hercules aircraft work together to land, refuel and rearm with inert munitions at forward airfields in Poland and operate out of Lithuania and Estonia in one day.
“Rapid Forge is allowing us to stress test what, up until now, has only been a concept for the F-35A,” said Lt. Col. Maxwell Cover, F-35A pilot and project officer for Rapid Forge.
The goal is to expand the Air Force’s adaptive or agile basing ability, a concept in which aircraft operate from forward, temporary, sometimes contested locations. The ability to land, refuel and rearm at forward airfields gives commanders more flexibility to strike and limits enemies’ ability to target a stationary force.
For the 388th Fighter Wing, the Air Force’s first operational F-35A unit, Rapid Forge is another piece of the F-35A “combat capability blueprint” that has been growing since the first aircraft arrived at Hill Air Force Base, said Col. Michael Miles, 388th Maintenance Group commander.
“We’ve come a long way with the F-35, and with Rapid Forge, we’re translating our expeditionary ideas into expeditionary actions,” Miles said.
During the exercise, an MC-130J Commando II landed at a remote airfield and the crew, made up of loadmasters and fuels troops, quickly sets up equipment and fuel lines. They then transfer fuel from the MC-130J to other aircraft landing behind them – in this case, an F-35A – while maintainers perform inspections and prepare to relaunch the aircraft.
Cover said, for the pilots, landing at unfamiliar airfields in possibly contested environments during combat will take a lot of trust, and they are relying on their ground crews to get them turned quickly. Having the right people and equipment in place is essential.
“A lot of times logistics and sustainment may be simulated away in home-station exercises,” Miles said. “We can’t do that here. It’s important because history teaches us that logistics and supply wins and loses wars.”
Since the C-130 is carrying its own crew, along with munitions and fuel for the other aircraft, space onboard is at a premium. The F-35A maintenance footprint must be small.
Blended Operational Lightning Technicians or BOLT, are Airmen in the 388th MXG who are cross-trained in several aspects of F-35A maintenance. Their presence allows for a 65% reduction in manpower.
“It’s a very small team of Airmen,” Miles said. “That’s what the Air Force is asking for, agile combat deployment with hybrid Airmen who are able to do more than one thing. These BOLT Airmen can recover, inspect, service and launch.”
The Airmen, from the 388th and 419th FW, are currently deployed with the 421st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron to Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, as part of a European Theater Security Package.
The featured photo shows Airrman 1st Class Cody Albert, 421st Fighter Squadron crew chief, marshaling an F-35A Lightning II during operation Rapid Forge at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, July 18, 2019
Talisman Sabre 2019 (TS19) is a bilateral combined Australian and United States (US) training activity.
TS19 is designed to practice our respective military services and associated agencies in planning and conducting Combined and Joint Task Force operations, and improve the combat readiness and interoperability between Australian and US forces.
TS19 is the eighth iteration of the exercise and consists of a Field Training Exercise incorporating force preparation (logistic) activities, amphibious landings, land force manoeuvre, urban operations, air operations, maritime operations and Special Forces activities.
July 18, 2019
Australian Department of Defence