Athlon" system test. A commercial KC-10 tanker refuels a U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jet from the 51st Fighter Wing on Nov. 6.
According to the U.S. Air Force and Space Force magazine on December 5, commercial tankers refueled the U.S. Air Force F-15, F-16 and F-22 fighter jets for the first time. The bilateral exercises between the United States and Singapore ended on November 24, with three U.S. Air Force fighter jets refueling in the air with a commercial tanker for the first time, the article said.
The bilateral military exercise, codenamed "Commando Slingshot," began on November 6 with six F-16 fighter jets from the 51st Fighter Wing at Osan Air Base in South Korea. On Nov. 9, the Pacific Air Force announced that a commercial KDC-10 tanker aircraft would refuel the F-16 en route to Singapore, with plans to refuel the F-15 and F-22 before the exercise ended. After the incident, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Air Force confirmed to ** that commercial tankers practiced refueling F-15C and F-22 fighter jets, but declined to disclose the specific date and location.
The US Air Force considers these missions to be a milestone for the Air Force. The Air Force usually relies on its own tankers to keep planes flying, but has now begun to venture into the commercial refueling sector. Back in June of this year, a commercial tanker aircraft conducted a refueling docking with an E-3 AWACS aircraft and an RC-135 during an exercise, the first of its kind among US Air Force aircraft. The exercise was the first time that a commercial tanker aircraft had refueled a multi-type fighter jet in the air.
"We are expanding this range for Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) and have identified a proof of concept for refueling fighter jets during 'Commando Sling 23,'" Lt. Col. Curtis Holtman, commander of airmobile operations for the U.S. Pacific Air Force, said in a Nov. 9 press release. ”
The advantage of commercial refueling, Holtman said, is that "it prepares our fleet of combat tankers for emerging contingency needs."
Analysts, however, are concerned about the reasons behind this: why the United States is keen to advance the militarized use of commercial resources
The slow modernization of the Air Force has created a lack of capabilities.
In recent years, as the United States has shifted eastward in its global strategic adjustment, the Pacific region has become a focus of the United States' deployment. However, due to the economic downturn, the United States has provided a large amount of military aid to Ukraine after the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and recently fully supported Israel's war in Gaza, which not only caused a heavy burden of military aid to the United States, but also affected the military strength of the US military itself.
The US Air Force believes that the slow modernization of the Air Force due to the priorities of other services over the years is having an impact on Air Force equipment. Although the U.S. Air Force tried to modernize at its own expense, this effort resulted in an aging, downsized Air Force fleet.
According to US media reports, today, the average age of aircraft in the US Air Force is 30 years. The number of operational air forces is less than half of the number of air forces in 1991, and this number is decreasing, not increasing.
In fact, during the 20 years that the United States was engaged in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States expanded the demand for the Army and its equipment by reducing the investment in the Air Force, resulting in a significant reduction in the size of the Air Force. Therefore, the US Air Force proposes that now is the time to reverse this trend.
Although the Pentagon began to reduce the Army, it accounted for only 6 percent of the active forces6 percent, which would save $9.6 billion a year, but it would not be enough to address all the funding gaps for the Air Force and Space Forces. Although investment in the Air Force has been increasing in recent years, most of it has been used for the research and development and upgrading of new equipment. For example, we will accelerate the upgrade of the new F-35 Block IV fighter, step up the research and development and delivery of the B-21 bomber, the next-generation air supremacy fighter, and the unmanned cooperative fighter, and equip it with a new communications and navigation satellite constellation, a new E-7 "wedgetail" early warning system, a new tanker, and a new electronic warfare capability.
Despite this, it seems that these new types of equipment cannot quench the thirst of the near near by far water. In order to maintain its hegemony in the Pacific region, the United States has stepped up the implementation of the Indo-Pacific strategy, but it is obviously unable to deploy its military forces.
A number of measures are taken simultaneously to maintain deterrence.
The new U.S. strategy lists China as a threat and strategic competitor to the United States, and requires the United States to become a better-prepared, more capable, and more credible deterrent by force. In order to make up for the lack of practical capabilities, the following measures are mainly taken to change the strategy:
The first is to slow down the decommissioning of fighter jets. According to the U.S. Defense News**, on December 7, the U.S. Congress proposed to the Air Force in the "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024" that it should slow down the retirement of fighter jets. This means that the Air Force's original plan to retire dozens of F-15E, F-16 and F-22 fighters has put on the "hard brakes".
While Congress applauded the Air Force's efforts to equitably deploy the F-15EX in active, reserve, and Air National Guard, there remained concern that the fighter jets were not capable enough to meet the operational requirements of combat commanders.
Congress has limited the number of F-15E Strike Hawk fighter jets to 68 from now until fiscal year 2029, well below the 119 aircraft the Air Force originally hoped to retire, the report said. This is a compromise, and the original Senate bill was to prevent all F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft from being retired in fiscal year 2029.
The bill requires the Air Force to report on the total cost of all modifications invested in each F-15E and F-16C D it plans to retire, as well as the projected remaining service life. Congress's intent appears to be to ban any planned F-16 decommissioning by fiscal year 2025, and if congressional lawmakers disagree with the answers provided by the Air Force, they will have a second chance to block such a move.
Similarly, the compromise retains the current bill that prohibits the Air Force from decommissioning any F-22 Raptor fighter jets. The Air Force** says their 32 F-22 Block 20s are the most expensive aircraft in stock — too expensive to upgrade and never used in combat. They made two attempts to retire the early version of the F-22. But Congress said that abandoning the aircraft would divert the F-22 for combat use to training use, thereby reducing the service life of the remaining F-22 and reducing the number of fifth-generation aircraft that can be used for combat.
In addition to the above-mentioned aircraft, the bill will prevent the retirement of any RQ-4 Global Hawk drone;Prevent further cuts in the fleet of KC-135 tankers;And keep the minimum number of E-3 AWACS aircraft at 16 units.
The second is to expand the potential of the existing multi-equipment equipment. Against the backdrop of repeated delays in many new equipment research and development programs, the US Air Force has taken measures to dig deeper and expand the potential of existing equipment in order to solve the problem of insufficient capabilities to meet the urgent needs of military readiness.
In July, the U.S. Air Force's Air Mobility Command (AMC) successfully tested the Rapid Dragon pallet system as part of its large-scale transpacific exercises, as part of its large-scale transpacific exercises, and the command hopes to incorporate the system into all of its plans.
Originally developed by the Air Force Special Operations Command and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the "Athlon" system uses airdrop pallets to launch cruise missiles or other systems. The system was first tested in 2021 and initially focused on the Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Missile (JASSM), although the U.S. Air Force has expanded the system to other munitions and systems, such as transport aircraft and cargo drones. The system has completed three stages of testing: demonstration on C-130 and C-17 aircraft with JASSM, command and control tests for repositioning, and a proven deployment system. The Air Force Research Laboratory said the system is currently undergoing a phase of testing with a focus on high-altitude falls, throws and "collision elimination of operationally relevant payloads," and is working on powered flight tests.
The third is to seek support from the commercial industry for the modernization of the Air Force. In recent years, the U.S. military has paid great attention to promoting the militarization of commercial platforms. On the one hand, it is a multi-faceted exploration of the military potential and use of commercial resources. Among them, "civil aircraft and military" is an important option. The aircraft used to refuel the US Air Force fighter jets during the "Commando Slingshot" exercise was a KDC-10 tanker from Omega Air Refueling in Virginia. The aircraft took off from the U.S. military base in South Korea to refuel four F-16 fighters, and then went to Singapore with the U.S. Air Force fighter formation to participate in the "Commando Slingshot" exercise, and also practiced providing refueling services for F-15C and F-22 fighters on the way.
In fact, the U.S. Air Force has been adopting a "civilian military" strategy since 2021, planning to form an air tanker fleet operated by commercial companies by 2024 to reduce the pressure on the insufficient strength of the U.S. Air Force tanker squadron and enable it to concentrate on completing higher-level missions.
On the other hand, it seeks technical modernization support in the commercial industry. U.S. Air Force Chief Information Adjutant Winston Beauchamp called on the business community to help modernize the Air Force's information technology program and consolidate the network. He noted that the path to these modernization efforts is the Department of Defense's Zero Trust strategy and roadmap. These areas of modernization are where he wants industry to help identify "commercial best practices" for the Air Force and to help the force understand how these things are performed in the commercial realm.
Speaking at the March 10 Tech Industry Breakfast in Washington, D.C., Winston Beauchamp outlined the many opportunities for industry and highlighted the Air Force's ongoing efforts to modernize areas that have been neglected in recent years. "We use integrated systems when necessary;We use federation capabilities whenever possible to allow some flexibility between services. ”
Brief analysis and enlightenment.
In recent years, the United States has continuously adjusted its global strategy and shifted its strategic focus eastward to the Indo-Pacific region. However, due to the expanding strategic needs of the United States, especially the continued support for the war in Ukraine and the strong support for Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip, it has not only caused serious disasters to Europe and the Middle East, but also brought a heavy burden of military aid to the United States. At the same time, it has also exposed the conspicuous problem of insufficient military strength of the United States.
Therefore, on the premise of keeping the overall strategy unchanged, the United States has constantly adjusted its strategy at the strategic level to meet urgent practical needs. Actively promoting the militarization of commercial resources is an important option.
In order to fully tap the potential of existing resources, the US military has, on the one hand, stepped up the experimental testing of the militarization of commercial resources, and has achieved remarkable results. On the other hand, a cooperation mechanism between the military and commercial companies should be established to keep the channels of cooperation open. For example, all branches of the US military have set up special organs to coordinate and manage this kind of business. As a result, the strategy of militarizing commercial resources advocated by the US military has been rapidly promoted. Implications for this approach:
First, fully tapping existing resources can maximize its capabilities. Whether it is a military platform or a commercial platform, there is a certain leeway at the beginning of the design, so as to facilitate subsequent upgrades and improvements, and how to develop this part of the potential for new military applications is of special significance for giving full play to the effectiveness of the equipment. For example, U.S. Air Force Commander Holtman, who was in charge of the commercial tanker exercise, said that the performance of the KC-10 was in line with expectations, saving the Indo-Pacific Command about 2 3 expenses and a lot of human resources. In addition to the refueling mission, the KC-10 also transported 40 participants and supplies, "effectively validating the ability of commercial companies to perform dual missions."
Second, the militarization of commercial resources can make up for the lack of existing equipment. Judging from the participation of a series of commercial resource platforms in military exercises conducted by the US military, the militarization of commercial resources can not only maximize the efficiency of resources, but also save equipment research and development costs, and effectively make up for the shortage of existing equipment.
Third, this strategy can increase the concealment of the actual expansion of military strength. Relevant analysts believe that against the background of the "integrated deterrence" strategy pursued by the United States, the US military can not only give full play to the effectiveness of existing resources but also save expenses and reduce operation and maintenance costs by using a variety of commercial platforms to carry out military support tasks. The important thing is that with the massive use of commercial resources, it is actually equivalent to expanding military power in disguise, and using commercial platforms as a cover can not only increase the concealment of military operations, but also extend commercial resources from the traditional battlefield back end to the front line of operations.