Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Aviation Week & Space Technology
September 24, 2007
Pg. 39
Guardsmen are gearing up to conduct more combat missions from the U.S.
By David A. Fulghum, Washington
The Air National Guard is already queuing up for the next-generation, long-range-strike bomber mission.
Cyber Command, long-endurance UAV units, F-22 fighter, B-2 bomber and Joint Cargo Aircraft airlift squadrons and, quite likely, the next-generation bombers due on the ramp in 2018 or so, will be heavily manned and, in some cases, commanded by Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve and Army National Guard personnel.
That transformation is by design and already well underway, says Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, the Washington-based National Guard Bureau chief. The shift has two purposes. The first is to soften the blow from losses of bases and manned aircraft—in particular, the near-eradication of F-16 units. The other is to make the guard and reserve units more available to meet terrorist threats and natural disasters in the U.S. while still supporting combat operations overseas.
For the last two years, top U.S. military and National Guard officials have been confronted with a series of crises in retaining combat-experienced and high-tech-savvy troops while simultaneously placating employers in key professions—such as Internet Technology. IT employers are increasingly frustrated by having workers deployed overseas.
However, Blum thinks the bureau and the U.S. Air Force’s top leadership have found an answer. They are going to reshape the force so it is heavily represented in units that don’t have to leave home for long periods, perhaps not at all, to fight a war.
“It’s a win-win situation” for the federal government, the guardsmen and the employers, he says. Cooperation, “if you’re talking about the IT industry, is pretty good. And [we’re] making it even better because we can take the expertise and cutting-edge experiences [the guardsmen] get in the civilian world and apply it for [national defense from] home.”
UAV units in North Dakota, Texas, Nevada, California and elsewhere are already flying combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan from ground-based cockpits in the U.S. North Dakota’s Air National Guard [ANG] is considered a “great model” for the transformation “of some other places,” Blum says. The state loses its F-16s—the oldest in the ANG—but will, in turn, receive aircraft and other equipment that is better-suited to the dual role of homeland defense and future overseas military operations. They will fly the new Army/Navy Joint Cargo Aircraft as well as Predator unmanned reconnaissance and strike aircraft. “Those are value-added missions for the Air Force,” Blum notes.
That type of transformation is designed to defuse the distrust among officials in the National Guard Bureau, Air Force Reserve, ANG and active-duty Air Force that was triggered by loss of ANG bases and aircraft through base realignment decisions in the last two years.
“A lot of things could have been done better,” Blum says. “We had some tough, tough [decisions] made for us. Some of them were well-aimed shots in the foot. Some were imposed by well-intentioned legislation. We’re going to have to transition some missions. We’re going to divest some old aircraft that are near and dear to a lot of people. But just saying ‘no’ is not the answer.”
The new Cyber Command will pull heavily on guardsmen and reserves who are crucial employees in the IT world. Their continued enlistment is necessary to ensure the military maintains cutting-edge network attack-and-defense capabilities. As another part of the transition, in the last year, the Guard Bureau has generated 54 Computer Emergency Response Teams to mitigate the effects of computer and communications network attacks. So far, the teams are purely defensive and don’t constitute a digital attack force, Blum says. The guard has also fielded 40 Joint Incident Site Communications Capability teams, that can operate without an electrical grid or cell phone infrastructure. That number is to grow to 72 teams by year’s end, he says.
Units whose aircraft aren’t allowed to be permanently stationed outside the U.S. will also be attracting large numbers of guardsmen and reserves. That includes the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter (stationed in Alaska, Virginia and with the Hawaii ANG, so far) and the B-2 stealth bomber. A likely addition to that roster will be the new, interim Long-Range Strike bomber that is being planned for an operational debut in 2018. The Hawaii F-22 unit will be the first commanded by the ANG.
“We’d be foolish not to take advantage of the Guard and Reserves for that [next-generation bomber] mission,” Blum says.
Other initiatives instituted throughout last year by the National Guard Bureau include creation of 54 Joint Force Headquarters for the states; 12 chemical, biological, radiation, nuclear-enhanced response force packages (increasing the total to 17); 55 Joint Operations Centers, six Critical Infrastructure Assessment Teams (for key civilian structures); 54 National Guard Reaction Forces; 52 Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams (bringing the total to 55) and a Joint Interagency Training Capability.
September 24, 2007
Pg. 39
Guardsmen are gearing up to conduct more combat missions from the U.S.
By David A. Fulghum, Washington
The Air National Guard is already queuing up for the next-generation, long-range-strike bomber mission.
Cyber Command, long-endurance UAV units, F-22 fighter, B-2 bomber and Joint Cargo Aircraft airlift squadrons and, quite likely, the next-generation bombers due on the ramp in 2018 or so, will be heavily manned and, in some cases, commanded by Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve and Army National Guard personnel.
That transformation is by design and already well underway, says Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, the Washington-based National Guard Bureau chief. The shift has two purposes. The first is to soften the blow from losses of bases and manned aircraft—in particular, the near-eradication of F-16 units. The other is to make the guard and reserve units more available to meet terrorist threats and natural disasters in the U.S. while still supporting combat operations overseas.
For the last two years, top U.S. military and National Guard officials have been confronted with a series of crises in retaining combat-experienced and high-tech-savvy troops while simultaneously placating employers in key professions—such as Internet Technology. IT employers are increasingly frustrated by having workers deployed overseas.
However, Blum thinks the bureau and the U.S. Air Force’s top leadership have found an answer. They are going to reshape the force so it is heavily represented in units that don’t have to leave home for long periods, perhaps not at all, to fight a war.
“It’s a win-win situation” for the federal government, the guardsmen and the employers, he says. Cooperation, “if you’re talking about the IT industry, is pretty good. And [we’re] making it even better because we can take the expertise and cutting-edge experiences [the guardsmen] get in the civilian world and apply it for [national defense from] home.”
UAV units in North Dakota, Texas, Nevada, California and elsewhere are already flying combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan from ground-based cockpits in the U.S. North Dakota’s Air National Guard [ANG] is considered a “great model” for the transformation “of some other places,” Blum says. The state loses its F-16s—the oldest in the ANG—but will, in turn, receive aircraft and other equipment that is better-suited to the dual role of homeland defense and future overseas military operations. They will fly the new Army/Navy Joint Cargo Aircraft as well as Predator unmanned reconnaissance and strike aircraft. “Those are value-added missions for the Air Force,” Blum notes.
That type of transformation is designed to defuse the distrust among officials in the National Guard Bureau, Air Force Reserve, ANG and active-duty Air Force that was triggered by loss of ANG bases and aircraft through base realignment decisions in the last two years.
“A lot of things could have been done better,” Blum says. “We had some tough, tough [decisions] made for us. Some of them were well-aimed shots in the foot. Some were imposed by well-intentioned legislation. We’re going to have to transition some missions. We’re going to divest some old aircraft that are near and dear to a lot of people. But just saying ‘no’ is not the answer.”
The new Cyber Command will pull heavily on guardsmen and reserves who are crucial employees in the IT world. Their continued enlistment is necessary to ensure the military maintains cutting-edge network attack-and-defense capabilities. As another part of the transition, in the last year, the Guard Bureau has generated 54 Computer Emergency Response Teams to mitigate the effects of computer and communications network attacks. So far, the teams are purely defensive and don’t constitute a digital attack force, Blum says. The guard has also fielded 40 Joint Incident Site Communications Capability teams, that can operate without an electrical grid or cell phone infrastructure. That number is to grow to 72 teams by year’s end, he says.
Units whose aircraft aren’t allowed to be permanently stationed outside the U.S. will also be attracting large numbers of guardsmen and reserves. That includes the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter (stationed in Alaska, Virginia and with the Hawaii ANG, so far) and the B-2 stealth bomber. A likely addition to that roster will be the new, interim Long-Range Strike bomber that is being planned for an operational debut in 2018. The Hawaii F-22 unit will be the first commanded by the ANG.
“We’d be foolish not to take advantage of the Guard and Reserves for that [next-generation bomber] mission,” Blum says.
Other initiatives instituted throughout last year by the National Guard Bureau include creation of 54 Joint Force Headquarters for the states; 12 chemical, biological, radiation, nuclear-enhanced response force packages (increasing the total to 17); 55 Joint Operations Centers, six Critical Infrastructure Assessment Teams (for key civilian structures); 54 National Guard Reaction Forces; 52 Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams (bringing the total to 55) and a Joint Interagency Training Capability.