Airfield 'markings' support Rescue operations

by 45th Space Wing Public Affairs

2/24/2015 - PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- The old adage that practice makes perfect is not just a saying; it's a way of life for service members. But what happens when the place you need to practice does not exist nearby?

Airmen of the 45th Space Wing and the 920th Rescue Wing innovated a solution to the distance problem that will result in annual savings of approximately $288,000 by painting a pair of deck landing pads (DLP) on the east-west runway of the Patrick AFB airfield this month.

The deck landing pads here are a pair of easy to miss-'blobs'-of-paint unfamiliar to many fixed-wing pilots, but to the 920th Rescue Wing, the 301st Rescue Squadron and the Air Force at large, they are a place to practice naval deck landings.
"With the painting of the deck landing pads, pilots here no longer have to travel to an off-site location to meet their mandatory training," said Capt. Gibson Sprott, 45th Operations Support Squadron Airfield Operations Flight Commander. "In the past, the 301st would have to conduct the training at either an offshore aircraft carrier or at a naval air station such as Jacksonville Naval Air Station, Florida."
While simple in concept, the process to paint U.S. Navy markings on a U.S. Air Force airfield took over two years to strategically plan, coordinate and execute, said Sprott.

The 45th Space Wing Airfield Management Office ensured funding was available from the 920th RQW, secured design approval from Air Force Space Command Air, Space and Cyberspace Operations Directorate, and determined the proper placement for the DLPs, according to Sprott.

Upon completion, Brig. Gen. Nina Armagno, 45th Space Wing commander, visited the airfield markings and recognized the team involved in the innovative endeavor.
"The Air Force has made an excellent investment that will pay for itself after its second use," said Armagno. "This is a true success story of the 45th Space Wing's Year of Innovation."

The airfield marking project was a wing-wide effort that cost a total of $13,500.

CSAF and CMSAF visit Cape

by 1st Lt Alicia Wallace
45th Space Wing Public Affairs

2/25/2015 - PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla.  -- Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III and Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James Cody visited the Morrell Operations Center at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., Feb. 8 for the scheduled launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Deep Space Climate Observatory.

During their visit, they had the opportunity of interacting with range, weather and launch teams at work before the launch.

While at the Morrell Operations Center, Welsh spoke with Capt. Marcianna Pease, Operations Flight and Range Operations Commander, 45th Operations Support Squadron. "I know many Airmen have been touched by Gen. Welsh's speeches, but two of my lieutenants wanted me to thank him specifically for the speech he gave at the Air Force Academy in 2011," said Pease.

One of her lieutenants, 2nd Lt. Sophia Lockerby, Range Control Officer, 1st Range Operations Squadron, explained what made the speech so impactful to her.
"Gen. Welsh's speech taught me three things. The first is to know your people because understanding where people come from allows you to understand why they work, make decisions and act the way they do," she said.

"The second thing I learned was what we do is important. Gen. Welsh used examples of young captains and lieutenants who were once cadets just like us and showed us how these young people were flying jets, saving lives, and making a bigger difference than we could wrap out heads around," said Lockerby.

The last lesson she told me she learned from the Air Force Chief of Staff was to never again skip a mandatory post-lunch briefing because his speech was the most impactful speech the cadet wing had ever heard.

The other lieutenant under Pease, 2nd Lt Mercedes Edwards, contingency operations chief, 45th Operations Support Squadron, had her own words to say about Welsh's speech.

"General Welsh's speech truly inspired me. His words made me excited, not only to enter the Air Force, but to have the opportunity to take care of our nation's greatest Airmen. He left every cadet in the audience with a sense of responsibility, not only to take the time to get to know our people, but to realize how much they count on us and how important it is not to let them down. I believe that his speech stays with all the members of that auditorium to this day," said Edwards.

Welsh and Cody visited with the combined launch agency and range teams up to the very last few minutes before the launch was aborted.

"It was truly a privilege to host the Chief of Staff and the Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force, Mrs. Betty Welsh, and their travel team who came to see our mission in action," said Brig. Gen. Nina Armagno, 45th Space Wing commander.

"I'm very proud of Team Patrick-Cape and all the hard work they do in preparation for every launch from the Space Coast. It is our team's persistent and continued operational discipline and safety focus that delivers '100 percent mission success' every time!" she said.

Missile Defense System Performs Successful Flight Test

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24, 2015 – The Missile Defense Agency and sailors aboard the USS Carney, USS Gonzalez, and USS Barry successfully completed a flight test involving the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense weapon system, according to a Defense Department news release.

At approximately 2:30 a.m. EST today, three short-range ballistic missile targets were launched nearly simultaneously from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, the release said.

Destroyers Acquire, Track Targets

Two Aegis BMD destroyers acquired and tracked the targets. Using this data, the Aegis BMD ships conducted simulated Standard Missile-3 Block IB guided missile engagements with the distributed weighted engagement scheme capability enabled, according to the release. The DWES provides an automated engagement coordination scheme between multiple Aegis BMD ships that determines which ship is the preferred shooter, reducing duplication of BMD engagements and missile expenditures while ensuring BMD threat coverage.

Several fire control, discrimination, and engagement functions were exercised, the release said. As no SM-3 guided missiles were launched, the test did not include an attempted intercept.

This test was designated Flight Test Other-19. This was the first flight test to assess the ability of the Aegis BMD 4.0 weapon system to simulate engagements of a raid consisting of three short-range, separating ballistic missile targets, according to the release. This was also the first time Aegis BMD 4.0 ships used the DWES capability with live targets.

The MDA will use test results to improve and enhance the Ballistic Missile Defense System and support the advancement of Phase 2 of the Phased Adaptive Approach for missile defense in Europe to provide protection of U.S. deployed forces, our European allies and partners, the release said.

Aegis BMD is the naval component of the MDA's Ballistic Missile Defense System, according to the release. The MDA and the U.S. Navy cooperatively manage the Aegis BMD program.

Blue Star Families Recognize Outstanding Support

By Terri Moon Cronk

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2015 – Blue Star Families celebrated its fifth-year anniversary here last night, recognizing three honorees for going “above and beyond the call of duty” to support military families.

Blue Star Families works in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to strengthen military families and connect the nation to the military.

The anniversary gala drew top military, congressional and Hollywood celebrities, and also launched the Blue Star Neighbors Campaign, an initiative to build creative connections between military families and their civilian neighbors.

The organization honored the White House’s Joining Forces initiative. Championed by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, the initiative brings together the public and private sectors to ensure that service members, veterans and their families have the tools they need to succeed.

Sheila Casey, the wife of retired Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., former Army chief of staff, co-chaired the anniversary gala. She chairs the Blue Star Families board of directors.

Building Strength in the Community

“We’re about building strength in our community,” she said, adding that it’s “wonderful” that Blue Star Families has made so many civilian-community connections in just five years. Looking back on the organization’s beginning, Casey said that as a military spouse of more than 40 years, she understands the challenges of isolation and other issues that face military families.

The second award went to the Creative Coalition, an organization of performers, producers, writers and others who mobilized the entertainment business around ideas and issues at the forefront of military families.

The Blue Star Neighbor award went to Mark Johnson of Waltham, Massachusetts. Johnson responded to a plea on Facebook seeking help for the family of a deployed service member in clearing an overwhelming amount of snow from around their home.

Johnson, who runs a snowplow business, not only kept the home clear all season, but also performed other tasks such as taking in the mail and moving refuse cans around so the house looked occupied during the deployment.

Blue Star Families is the largest and fastest-growing family engagement organization in the country, officials said. Its 50 chapters’ national and overseas programs and resources help more than 1 million military families each year.

Air traffic control radar system gaining ground, developmental testing in sight

by Justin Oakes
66th Air Base Group Public Affairs

2/24/2015 - HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. -- Moving closer and closer to the first stage of testing, the deployable radar approach control surveillance system continues to jump hurdles and progress quickly through its engineering, manufacturing and development phase.

Since conducting a human factors assessment in October 2013, the Hanscom AFB-based D-RAPCON program has completed both a preliminary and critical design review of the system, began factory acceptance testing of major components of a pre-production unit and identified locations for formal developmental testing.

"We've made great strides and significant progress throughout the EMD phase," said Kasie Moriarty, D-RAPCON deputy program manager.

The D-RAPCON program office is responsible for providing a deployable air traffic control surveillance system for tactical locations and fixed-based operations. Consisting of two subsystems -- an airport surveillance radar and an operations shelter -- D-RAPCON satisfies a joint operational need to deploy, employ, sustain and redeploy aircraft from geographically separated and environmentally diverse regions at will. The system will have a range of up to 120 nautical miles and offer coalition partners a worldwide air traffic control capability.

In April 2013, Raytheon was awarded a contract for the development and procurement of one pre-production unit for testing and training with production procurement options up to an additional 18 units.

Last year, a preliminary and critical design review was completed. In July, the CDR closed out, resulting in an agreement between the Air Force and Raytheon on various technical requirements.

Following the reviews, three configuration control boards were assembled in order to clarify and revise requirements due to regulation changes. As a result of the boards' findings, an engineering change proposal, or ECP, was needed; the ECP contract was finalized this month.

"By issuing an ECP, the design now reflects the requirements that can be verified and validated in test," said Sandy Frey, D-RAPCON program manager.

Another indicator of the program office's progress centers on the pre-production unit.

Significant integration activities even warranted a visit from the program's executive officer, Steven Wert, Battle Management PEO, to Raytheon's facility in Marlborough, Mass., last month.

Fabrication and integration of the pre-production unit began in fiscal 2014, which also included early testing of major components. Since then, more than 50 requirements have been met.

"Early testing of the components has enabled the team to identify performance issues and work out best practices for test," Moriarty said. "By remedying issues proactively, it can reduce risk prior to system level test."

According to program officials, formal contractor testing is expected to begin this April.

The D-RAPCON program office also performed site surveys for the most appropriate locations to conduct developmental testing. When choosing a location, the team had to consider elements such as infrastructure, space, power and communication capabilities.

After seeking locations that would challenge the radar system, officials selected two locations at  Eglin AFB, Fla., to conduct developmental testing. Testing is planned to begin in fiscal 2016.

In addition to completing design reviews, testing a pre-production unit and choosing a developmental test site, the D-RAPCON team also worked to continue operations in the national airspace.

In order to function within various areas of responsibility, the radar will require special certification to operate within the U.S. during peacetime. Efforts are currently underway to acquire FAA certification.

D-RAPCON is quickly on its way from design and integration into the test phase of EMD.

"A lot of hard work has taken place since contract award," Frey said. "It is exciting to see designs evolve into hardware fabrication and integration. We look forward to seeing the system fully tested and ultimately fielded because our warfighter has a severely antiquated system that needs to be replaced."

High Seas Must Remain Open to All, Navy Leader Says

By Jim Garamone

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2015 – The world’s ocean trade routes must remain open to all to maintain global commerce, the vice chief of naval operations said here yesterday.

“The world [economy] depends on those high seas staying free,” Navy Adm. Michelle J. Howard told CNN’s Jim Sciutto during the NewAmerica Future of War Project conference.

Noting that China is building its blue-water navy, Sciutto asked Howard how that could affect the maritime situation. China, she replied, “refers to itself as maturing and is starting to stretch its muscles in terms of who they are and how they see themselves as a world power.”

Countries ask themselves if it is possible to be a world power without military power, and “China has taken the path that in order to be a global power, they have to have military strength,” the admiral said.

U.S. Navy Seeks to Maintain Advantage

China is building its navy and following the path of many other countries in history, including the United Kingdom and the United States, copying what has been successful, the admiral said. But the United States wants to maintain its military advantage at sea, she added, and the Navy is continuing to acquire and adapt to maintain the lead.

But China is not what keeps her up at night, the vice chief said. North Korea and the capriciousness of its leader do worry her, she said. “When you have countries that have a certain amount of strength … and then the leadership does not operate logically or on an agreed framework, then that creates a challenge,” she added.

Working With China on Framework

The United States is working with China to create such a framework, Howard said. “We’ve made some tremendous progress with military-to-military contacts,” she told Sciutto. “The chief of naval operations has had several engagements with his counterpart.”

Last year at the Western Pacific Naval Symposium, leaders from several nations, including China, agreed to adopt a code for unexpected encounters at sea, Howard said.

“We have a way at the tactical level for our ships to communicate with each other, to alleviate any misunderstandings,” she added. “There has been great dialogue and great movement between our navies.”

Sciutto asked Howard if she worries about China’s naval build up.

Alternate Futures

“The world is always a magical place, there are always a number of alternative futures that can unfold,” she said. “You can look at it as a potential conflict -- that’s one alternate future. You can look at it on the strength of the trade partnership we have with China -- that’s another. And it’s not just with China. It’s all the nations of the region -- Japan, India, South Korea.

“So there are alternative futures here,” she continued, “and what are we doing to walk down a path that walks away from conflict or creates the stepping stones to conflict?”

Guiding China and working with China is the best policy for the future of the world, Howard said.

Howard was promoted to the rank of four-star admiral on July 1, 2014, during a ceremony at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus presided over the ceremony and administered the oath of office.

Howard is the first female four-star admiral in the history of the U.S. Navy.