Congress is holding Air and Space Forces back: Weapons and Warfare

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

HELLO AND WELCOME TO WEAPONS AND WARFARE. FOR STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS I’M RYAN ROBERTSON AND THIS WEEK WE ARE COMING TO YOU FROM THE 2024 AIR AND SPACE FORCES AIR WARFARE SYMPOSIUM IN AURORA, COLORADO. 

THIS IS WHERE LEADERSHIP FROM THE AIR AND SPACE FORCES GATHER TO SHARE IDEAS AND OUTLINE THEIR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE OF THEIR RESPECTIVE BRANCHES. IT’S ALSO WHERE SCORES OF CIVILIAN COMPANIES COME TO DISPLAY THEIR LATEST INNOVATIONS AND DEVELOP PARTNERSHIPS WITH POTENTIAL BUYERS. 

JUST AHEAD IN OUR DEBRIEF A LOOK AT HOW CONGRESSES’ CONTINUING RESOLUTION IS SLOWING PLANS FOR CHANGES MILITARY LEADERS SAY ARE NEEDED FOR THEIR FORCES TO BE READY FOR EVER-CHANGING THREATS FROM AMERICA’S ADVERSARIES. 

AND WE VISIT WITH THE PEOPLE AT SHIELD AI FOR OUR WEAPON OF THE WEEK. FROM AI ASSISTED ARTIFICIAL PILOTS TO THE V-BAT DRONE, THEY’RE BREAKING NEW GROUND WITH A UAV THAT COULD BE A GAME-CHANGER.

PLUS A CORRECTION FROM ME IN OUR COMMS CHECK, AND MY THOUGHTS ON…. IN RYAN’S WRAP. BUT FIRST, LET’S GET TO THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES.

A MECHANICAL FAILURE IS LIKELY THE CAUSE OF A DEADLY CRASH THAT CLAIMED THE LIVES OF EIGHT AIR FORCE SPECIAL OPERATIONS TROOPS ON NOVEMBER 29th  LAST YEAR. THAT WORD COMING FROM THE PENTAGON AS THE INVESTIGATION INTO THE CRASH OF THE CV-22 OSPREY, OFF THE SOUTHERN COAST OF JAPAN, CONTINUES. IN EARLY DECEMBER THE AIR FORCE GROUNDED ITS FLEET OF OSPREY AIRCRAFT. THE COMMANDER OF AIR FORCE SPECIAL OPERATIONS, LIEUTENANT TONY BAUERNFEIND, TOLD REPORTERS AT THE WARFARE SYMPOSIUM HE WON’T SEND AIRMEN BACK UP IN THE V-22 UNTIL HE’S SURE EVERY QUESTION HAS BEEN ANSWERED. 

Lt Gen Tony Bauernfeind, Commander

“Nothing is more important to me than the safety of our air commandos. And when the time is right, when they make that decision, a return to fly will be with me having the full confidence not only in our training but our crews as well as the platform and any mitigation measures that we have in place to ensure that we can react appropriately if another situation arises.”

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

THE NOVEMBER CRASH IS THE FOURTH FOR THE OSPREY PROGRAM SINCE MARCH OF 2022.

WHEN IT COMES TO RUSSIA AND IT’S ABILITY TO CONDUCT WAR, IT’S WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT. THAT, ACCORDING TO A REPORT FROM BLOOMBERG, IS THE SENTIMENT AMONG NATO LEADERSHIP. BE IT ARTILLERY SHELLS OR SOLDIERS ON THE GROUND, RUSSIA IS REPLENISHISING THEIR WAR EFFORTS AT A RATE MANY IN NATO DIDN’T THINK WAS POSSIBLE. JUST LAST MONTH NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL JENS STOLTENBERG SAID THE WAR IN UKRAINE IS NOW A “BATTLE FOR AMMUNITION”. PRESIDENT BIDEN AND THE SENATE RECENTLY PUSHED FORWARD A $95 BILLION AID PACKAGE, THE BULK OF WHICH WOULD HAVE GONE TO HELPING UKRAINE REPLENISH THEIR AMMO SUPPLIES. SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE, MIKE JOHNSON, SAID HE WON’T BRING THE BILL UP FOR A VOTE THOUGH…NOT UNTIL CONGRESS PASSES LAWS TO SECURE THE SOUTHERN BORDER.  

AND AS THE HOUTHI MISSILE ATTACKS ON SHIPS IN THE RED SEA CONTINUE, SO DO AMERICA’S EFFORTS TO MITIGATE THOSE ATTACKS. ONE STANDOUT OF NOTE COMES FROM THE U.S. MARINE CORPS. FIRST REPORTED BY ‘ALERT 5’ CAPTAIN EARL EHRHART THE FIFTH COULD BE AMERICA’S FIRST FIGHTER ACE SINCE THE VIETNAM WAR. CAPTAIN EHRHART IS CREDITED WITH SHOOTING DOWN AT LEAST SEVEN HOUTI MISSILES. THE HARRIER PILOT IS FLYING OFF THE AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT SHIP BATAAN…HE SAYS WHEN HOUTHIS STARTED LAUNCHING THEIR DRONES, THE MARINES ON THE BATAAN RECONFIGURED THE HARRIERS FOR AIR DEFENSE. CAPTAIN EHRHART TOLD THE BBC THAT MEANT  LOADING UP HIS JET UP WITH AS MANY MISSILES AS IT COULD HOLD. GOOD HUNTING, CAPTAIN.

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IF THIS YEAR’S GATHERING IN COLORADO HAD A ONE-WORD DESCRIPTION IT WOULD BE CHANGE. IF IT WERE THREE WORDS IT WOULD BE CHANGE ON HOLD. IN THE SYMPOSIUM’S OPENING EVENT LEADERS FROM THE AIR AND SPACE FORCES LAID OUT THEIR PLANS FOR PREPARING THEIR TROOPS FOR CONSTANTLY EVOLVING THREATS FROM SEVERAL CORNERS OF THE WORLD. UNFORTUNATELY, IN THEIR VIEW, THERE’S ONE MAJOR OBSTACLE IN GETTING THAT WORK STARTED IN FULL. CONGRESS.

[Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall]
Ladies and gentlemen, we are out of time. We are out of time. We are out of time because for at least two decades, china has been building a military that is designed, purpose, built to deter and defeat the United States if we intervene in the Western Pacific.

[Ryan Robertson]FROM THE VERY START OF THIS YEAR’S AFA WARFARE SYMPOSIUM, AIR FORCE SECRETARY FRANK KENDALL MADE IT CLEAR THE U.S. CAN’T AFFORD TO PUT OFF MILITARY MODERNIZATION ANY LONGER.

[Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall]The United States does not seek a conflict. We have every hope that one can be avoided. We are however involved in a competition, an enduring competition, that could turn into a conflict at any time. We can no longer regard conflict as a distant possibility, or a future problem that we might have to confront. The risk of conflict is here now, and that risk will increase with time.

[Ryan Robertson]WHEN SECRETARY KENDALL CAME INTO OFFICE IN 2021… HE HIT THE GROUND RUNNING. OUTLINING WHAT HE CALLS OPERATIONAL IMPERATIVES. FACTORS THAT WOULD SHAPE HOW THE AIR AND SPACE FORCES WOULD INVEST THE MONEY FROM CONGRESS TO MAKE SURE BOTH BRANCHES ARE READY FOR A GREAT POWER COMPETITION WITH CHINA

[Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall]that work had a major impact on the FOI 24 budget that was submitted a year ago. We’re still, by the way, waiting for the Congress to appropriate the FY24 funds that we need now to modernize the air and space forces and to defend the nation. Congress, if you’re listening, an FY24 appropriation would be very welcome, and once again, please do not subject us to a disastrous yearlong CR and sequestration.

[Ryan Robertson]KENDALL SAYS FOR THE ENTIRE TIME HE’S BEEN THE SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE…CONGRESS HASN’T GIVEN THE AIR OR SPACE FORCES THE RESOURCES AND FUNDING NEEDED TO BE COMPETITIVE.
UNDER A CONTINUING RESOLUTION… SERVICE BRANCHES ARE FORCED TO OPERATE AT THE SAME SPENDING LEVELS AS THE PREVIOUS FISCAL YEAR. IT ALSO MEANS VIRTUALLY NO NEW SPENDING. SO NO NEW PROJECTS CAN START. NO NEW TRAINING CAN BEGIN…. NO MUCH-NEEDED MODERNIZATION EFFORTS.

[Air Force Special Operations Command Commander Lt. General Tony Bauernfeind]
With any sort of continuing resolution is that uncertainty of funding as it goes forward. In some cases with new starts, we fundamentally can’t even start the work we need to do. And so without that monetary aspect in place, we’re sitting on our hands and we’re not moving forward. Even with continuing resolution, the second aspect of it is are we going to overspend what we expect to get. So people tend to become more conservative, thereby pulling their punches a little bit in the execution of those resources. And both of those get solved with Congress’s guidance in the form of a budget.

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Ryan Robertson: This week we are talking about the Kratos fighter jet, which is flown by Shield AI’s Hivemind autopilot. I’m going to bring in Shield AI’s President CEO, Brandon Tseng, to talk about this. Brandon, thank you for joining us.

Brandon Tseng: Hey, thanks for having me.

Ryan Robertson: So you were telling me this is for targeting and red flag. What is that?

Brandon Tseng: Yeah, so our partnership with Kratos is really about productizing and bringing to market AI pilots. So, Shield AI, we are building the world’s best AI pilot to retake the skies. What is an AI pilot? Essentially it is self-driving technology for aviation. And why is that important? It enables aircraft operate without GPS, without communications, without a remote pilot, it enables the concept of swarming or teaming. And then — just like self driving cars can learn to drive different missions, park, do on ramp to off ramp, do freeway driving suburban driving — you can train aircraft to do different missions as well.

We trained quad copters to clear buildings. We trained an F-16 to dogfight. We are working on suppression of enemy air defense missions, maritime domain awareness missions. And so really you can train these aircraft to learn and operate just any mission that you can define that any human pilot flies today.

Ryan Robertson: So what you’re saying is Hivemind is not limited to one type of craft, you can teach it to fly any craft?

Brandon Tseng: Yes, you can teach it to fly any craft. So, the MQM 178 Firejet — and Kratos has been a terrific partner with us — it actually represents the sixth class of aircraft that we have flown. So Hivemind has flown three quad copters, its flown our VBAT, its flown the F-16 and the MQM 718 is the sixth aircraft. And later this year, when we fly the Valkyrie, that will be the seventh aircraft.

So Shield AI, essentially what we’re doing is taking an AI pilot and integrating it on lots and lots of different aircraft. So you can imagine a world where there are hundreds of thousands of aircraft, up to a million aircraft flying. We don’t have enough pilots — what’s flying those? AI pilots. Hivemind will be flying those.

Ryan Robertson: How did you come up with the name Hivemind?

Brandon Tseng: Yeah, great question. Actually, it’s a science fiction reference a lot of people don’t know. I used to play Starcraft when I was a kid, and Hive Mind is one of the characters in the game of Starcraft, which is a real time, science fiction-type strategy game. So I got the inspiration there.

Ryan Robertson: Brandon, that was great. Thank you so much for joining us today. Folks, you’re definitely gonna want to keep an eye on a Hivemind, because where this thing is going, I mean, sky’s the limit? Space is the limit? What do you think?

Brandon Tseng: I’ll just say it’s going everywhere. When I started the company in 2015, I asked myself, what’s the military look like in 2035? Decided AI and autonomy should be commanding, maneuvering, piloting all of our different assets. And so we think about Hivemind being that key enabler for the U.S. military, and to enable the concept of intelligent affordable mass.

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All right, folks, it’s time for comms check this week. I don’t have my fancy touchscreen behind me, but that’s okay. We’re gonna get through this. It’s going to be a quick one. So we had done a story about the silver lining to some of the Houthi Red Sea attacks, essentially that U.S. and UK navy personnel were getting a chance to defend the ships and get some real world experience. Beardy, McBeard Face said it was a great piece, tthanked us for finally having some facts and nothing else in the story. So you’re welcome Beardy McBeard face.

But Paul Woods said the Navy doesn’t have any F-15 carrier squadrons, because in the story, I said that the Eisenhower was launching F-30 fives and F-15. So you know what, Paul? You’re right. The Navy doesn’t have any F-15 fighter squadrons. That was my mistake. What they did launch was F-35 and F-18 Super Hornets. So Paul, thank you for correcting my mistake. And for everyone else out there, this is proof that when we make a mistake on Weapons and Warfare, we own up to it. That’s how you can trust us. But in the meantime, that’s comms check.

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All opinions expressed in this segment are solely the opinions of the contributors.

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Well, everyone we are just about done with this week’s episode of Weapons of Warfare. But before we go, I want to wrap up the show talking about something that we mentioned in the debrief Congress’s continuing resolution to fund the government. Now, like we said before, under a CR, unless a special exception is made, every service branch is forced to operate at a level on par with the previous fiscal year’s budget, which doesn’t take into account things like inflation, or the rising cost of material goods or any other factor, which may make things cost more than what a CR would fund.

We told you what this means for programs or weapons systems. But operating without an approved congressional budget also hurts the Department of Defense’s most valuable resource. Its people. I spoke with an Air Force officer here at the symposium who told me when the DoD doesn’t have a budget and doesn’t know when the next will be approved, everything tightens up, and decisions no officer wants to make are made. Sometimes that means fewer training missions. Sometimes that means less career development. But sometimes that means people lose their jobs, and not necessarily in the military, but in the private sector to under a CR since no new programs can start. Some contracts go unfulfilled, which means there’s no money to pay the workers who are supposed to be doing the work.

And of course, there’s a psychological toll as well. Put yourself in the shoes of a service member. You volunteer, you sign up, you’re told you’ll play an integral role in defending the nation and preserving freedom. But when it comes time to cut the checks, instead of giving their best like they ask of you, Congress tells you to put a cap on it. Yes, your mission is important and may literally mean the difference between life and death, but we don’t feel like doing the work to get you what you need. So make do with what you got.

The country may be divided and Congress may be broken, but funding our national defense and our troops should not be a divisive issue, whether it be from near peer adversaries or militant extremists. Providing protection is not cheap. And as we’ve all heard, freedom isn’t free.

Part of the problem in my estimation is the lack of military experience on Capitol Hill right now. After World War 2, 85% of Congress had military experience. Today, that number is closer to just 15%. And while I appreciate the separation between Congress and our military, I have to imagine if more members of Congress reported to office with military service on their resume than giving the best that we have to offer what they need to stay in the fight. wouldn’t be such a fight. But that’s my thoughts.

What are yours? Let us know by commenting on our social media feeds or sending us an email to Weapons and Warfare at san.com. For senior producer Brett Baker, for video editor Brian Spencer and for graphic designer Dakota Piteo, I’m Ryan Robertson with Straight Arrow News, signing off