Announcement of the Clear Sky multinational exercise comes days after Ukraine said it would establish a new naval base along the Sea of Azov to counter a more assertive Russia.

The U.S. plans to send about 450 personnel from bases in the States and in Europe, a U.S. Air Forces in Europe spokesman said Tuesday. About 250 will participate in the exercise, including pilots and maintainers; the remainder will be in support roles.

Clear Sky is one of several joint and multinational exercises being conducted in Ukraine this year aimed at promoting regional security, defense officials said.

Ukraine is not a NATO member but has declared its interest in joining the alliance. Cooperation between NATO and Kiev has expanded swiftly since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

A total of some 950 personnel are slated to take part in Clear Sky. Besides Ukraine and the United States, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and the United Kingdom are participating.

The exercise will take place mainly at Starokostiantyniv Air Base, located about 150 miles southwest of Kiev, and other training areas and ranges in Ukraine.

U.S. participants will include the Air National Guard and other stateside and overseas units, according to USAFE. This year marks the 25th anniversary of collaboration between the California Air National Guard and Ukraine as part of U.S. European Command’s State Partnership Program. California units will be heavily represented, with F-15C Eagles and C-130J Super Hercules, USAFE officials said in a statement.

Other U.S. aircraft participating include an F-15D from the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath, England; KC-135s from the Illinois Air National Guard and the 100th Air Refueling Wing; and MQ-9s operating out of Miroslawiec Military Air Base, Poland. The Pennsylvania Air National Guard will provide instructors.

Also scheduled to participate are several additional units from California, Maryland, Ohio, New York, Alaska, Washington and bases in Europe, USAFE said.

Training will focus on air sovereignty, air interdiction, air-to-ground integration, air mobility operations, aeromedical evacuation, cyberdefense and personnel recovery.

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Twitter: @stripesktown
 

The measure, which was part of a larger funding package of more than $850 billion, will fund priorities in the recently passed 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, which directs policy and spending plans for the Defense Department. It was approved in a vote of 93 to 7.

The legislation, H.R. 6157, now goes to the House for approval. The bill won approval from a congressional conference committee on Thursday. If approved by both chambers, the legislation goes to the president for his signature.

“Critically, after subjecting America’s all-volunteer armed forces to years of belt-tightening, this legislation will build on our recent progress in rebuilding the readiness of our military and investing more in the men and women who wear the uniform,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said ahead of Tuesday’s vote.

The defense budget moves on two tracks: the annual NDAA sets policy changes and expenditures for the military and determines how the money will be spent, while the defense appropriations bill is what actually moves money to the Pentagon to support the plan. The defense spending legislation is part of a larger labor, health and human services and education spending bill.

Last month, President Donald Trump signed into law a more than $715 billion NDAA authorizing a 2.6 percent pay raise for servicemembers, as well as new purchases of aircrafts, ships, submarines and weapons.

The legislation also includes funding for three littoral combat ships and an effort to continue payment of death gratuities for fallen servicemembers even in cases of a government shutdown. Those death gratuities, which includes a $100,000 payment to families of the fallen servicemembers, can be halted now when there is a shutdown.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., on Tuesday lauded the bill’s pay raise, boosts to troop levels, funding of 13 new Navy ships, 93 F-35 aircraft, 18 C-130J aircraft, 58 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, 13 V-22 aircraft and the upgrade of 135 Abrams tanks.

“It’s good news, then, that Congress is nearing action on a full-year defense funding bill,” Ryan said in a statement ahead of Tuesday’s Senate floor vote. “It provides the resources to continue the rebuilding of our military -- a $17 billion increase that is consistent with the National Defense Authorization Act.”

Ryan also praised the measure’s efforts to fund research and development of new defense systems and technologies, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, nuclear force modernization and the Ohio-class submarine replacement. It also funds above the president’s request for cancer research, traumatic brain injury research and sexual assault prevention, Ryan’s office said.

“If enacted, this would be the first time in 10 years that the Defense Department won’t operate under a continuing resolution,” which is a temporary funding measure, Ryan said.

The 2019 NDAA, H.R. 5515, passed Aug. 13 and ushers through a series of new reforms, such as revamping the military’s “up or out” promotion system and policies to reign in sexual misconduct and domestic abuse among the ranks.

The plan builds on the momentum to increase the size and might of the military in response to China and Russia’s growing capabilities as laid out in Trump’s $686 billion defense budget proposed earlier this year. The Trump request for the fiscal year included an increase of more than 15,000 active-duty troops, which lawmakers matched in the NDAA.

A two-year spending deal that lifted federal budget caps allowed the defense budget to increase to more than $715 billion. Coupled with approaching November midterm elections, lawmakers worked to pass the bills earlier than in past years.

At this pace, it’s possible the defense spending bill could pass by Oct. 1, which is the start of the new fiscal year and would mark the first on-time passage of the NDAA and its funding companion bill in more than 20 years.

However, lawmakers remain on a tight clock. The House is on recess until next week, and Republican senators are racing to confirm Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh ahead of the midterms.

Without a spending measure in place by Oct. 1, lawmakers might need to pass a continuing resolution, to keep the government operating.

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The officials described the death aboard the aircraft carrier as “a mishap” on the ship’s flight deck. The Bush was at sea conducting carrier qualification training after it had departed from Norfolk, Va., last week ahead of Hurricane Florence’s landfall.

No other individuals were injured in the incident, and officials said an investigation has been launched.

They declined to provide additional details Tuesday about the incident.

The name of the dead sailor was withheld Tuesday, per Pentagon policy not to publicly identify fallen servicemembers until 24 hours after family notification.

"We ask for your patience and understanding as the crew grieves the loss of one of their shipmates," the Navy said in a statement.

The Bush is one of 25 Navy ships sent to sea last week ahead of Florence. The Navy has two ships prepared to aid hurricane relief efforts off the coast, but the Bush is not one of them.

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Twitter: @CDicksteinDC

Moran — the service’s second-highest ranking officer — visited Navy bases in South Korea and Japan last week on a listening tour that he said brought helpful insight into on-the-ground operations in the Pacific.

“We in Washington have our own views about things and it’s largely programmatic in nature, budgetary in nature and some policy,” he told Stars and Stripes in an interview Thursday. “But to get feedback from sailors, commanding officers, chiefs and master chiefs in the fleet really helps us refine and make sure that we’re supporting from Washington what they need [in the Pacific].”

Readiness challenges

At Yokosuka on Thursday, Moran spent time on the waterfront discussing ship maintenance. The base is home to U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility Japan Regional Maintenance Center, which is working on what Moran called a “not insignificant” backlog. A request for exact numbers on that backlog went unanswered.

The 7th Fleet is operating with fewer ships than it had planned after two of its guided-missile destroyers — the USS Fitzgerald and the USS John S. McCain — were severely damaged in separate fatal collisions at sea last year.

While Yokosuka added an additional destroyer — the USS Milius — earlier this year, the fleet remains down two operational ships because Milius was originally intended to be an additional ship in support of Indo-Pacific operations, former Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Scott Swift told Stars and Stripes last year.

Moran said the McCain, which is being repaired in Yokosuka, is expected to get out of drydock this fall and the Navy is aiming to have it underway in the spring. The Fitzgerald is undergoing maintenance in Pascagoula, Miss., and the service has said the goal is to return it to sea by 2020.

Moran said ship maintenance “is a key critical element for overall fleet readiness.”

“Everybody recognizes that we’ve got to do the maintenance that’s built up over time. While that’s important to everybody, no one likes to be in the yards,” Moran said. “There’s a cost of doing that right now and we have to re-baseline the maintenance of our ships across the fleet, particularly [in the Pacific] because it is so active, it has been a very busy place for a long time.”

On Sept. 12, Moran and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russell Smith toured Yokosuka’s USS Blue Ridge, which has been undergoing maintenance for about two years. Crews first re-lit the boilers on the Navy’s oldest commissioned operational ship in June, and Moran said the 7th Fleet’s flagship is “about ready to go to sea.”

“She’s outfitted like an old ‘57 Chevy that we’ve took the engine out, took the dashboard out and put all modern capability in, and man, she sounds and she’s going to run kind of nice,” Moran said.

The Blue Ridge’s staff moved back onto the ship this summer.

Capt. Brett Crozier, the Blue Ridge’s commander, said it was an honor to host Moran.

“We’re always proud to show off the ship,” he said in a Navy statement. “We’re glad the VCNO and MCPON are able to see the ship after all the hard work the crew has put in to prepare us for a return to sea.”

After manning shortages and training and certification problems were determined to have contributed to last year’s fatal collisions, the Navy created a new unit — Naval Surface Group Western Pacific — to oversee the maintenance and training that 7th Fleet crews undergo before deployments.

“We are doing our best to find the balance between getting the maintenance done and ensuring that we’re getting out and operational,” Moran said.

While the new setup has received some criticism, Moran said he believes it will be better received over time.

“To some, it may seem like an added layer of bureaucracy; to others it may seem like an added layer of compliance. Actually, it’s designed to do neither,” Moran said. “It’s to cinch up some of the seams between those out here who are scheduling ships for operations and an organization that is designed to make sure that the maintenance is getting done and that the training, manning and equipping is properly provided to the ships at the right time early in their maintenance phase and post-maintenance or basic phase.”

Competitive waters

Moran said he was encouraged by the questions he received from sailors across the Pacific during his visit. He said he believed they were indicative of sailors being “more and more aware of their purpose.”

“They’re asking about readiness to fight; being ready to go to sea to take on adversaries that might emerge in this part of the world; and being ready to answer the nation’s call, whatever that may be,” he said. “I’m getting great questions — questions on a strategic and operational level — not on a low-level tactical [regarding] uniforms and other things that tend to distract us from what’s important.”

That awareness is important as competition in the region grows, Moran said.

“There are plenty of competitors out here … Certainly we know about the Korean Peninsula, we know that China is pushing further and further out and competing for water-space resources,” he said.

The 7th Fleet regularly conducts freedom-of-navigation exercises in the South and East China Seas. China has been militarizing reclaimed land in the area, is involved in territorial disputes with other countries in the region and protests when they sail too close to certain islands.

“There are signs that our competitors around the globe — but particularly out in this area — are trying to change the international rule of order,” Moran said. “… We’ve got a lot of allies out here and a lot of partners out here who are looking at us to enforce what has been a very successful international order for trade, commerce, freedom, freedom of the seas, access to goods and services.

To stay ahead of the competition, Moran said the Navy must focus on its personnel development by “train[ing] better, smarter and frequent enough to build proficiency.”

He also said technology must “not only be defensive so that we can protect our assets, but also demonstrate that we have the punch and the ability to counterpunch somebody who might want to take us on.”

“At the end of the day, competitors are less likely to want to pick a fight with you if they are concerned about your strength, and so we need to continue to demonstrate that by being out here, by operating out here and having the technology to be able to counter anything that they might throw at us,” he said.

Team players

While the Navy continues implementing its new training and maintenance programs to bolster readiness, Moran said a strength the service has now is its “people.”

“I’ll be perfectly frank with you, I thought as soon as the unemployment rate in the United States dropped below 4.1 percent, we would have a heck of a time retaining good sailors in our Navy, and the good news is that retention right now is very good,” he said.

Moran attributes that to programs that have rolled out recently to encourage re-enlistments.

“[We’re] more transparent about what opportunities are out there for them and then giving them every opportunity to stay Navy, especially those who are very talented,” he said.

For example, the Navy in March offered aviators bonuses of up to $90,000, depending on which aircraft they fly. In May, some sailors were offered preferential billet selection and guaranteed shore duty on their next tours if they took a one-year extension on tours in Japan, Guam and Spain. The service has also developed better technology for accessing career goals.

“I think a lot of that has to do with our approach to how we try retaining folks by modernizing the system by which they manage their careers, providing more opportunities for them [and] being more flexible in how they can execute a career,” Moran said.

Moran returned to Washington on Friday, missing planned visits out to the deployed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan because of typhoons in the region.

He said he would take back to Washington the questions he heard from sailors and lessons he learned during his trip to Korea and Japan.

“It’s really important that … we answer to things that young men and women that serve in any capacity today expect from a high-end profession like the United States Navy,” Moran said.

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Twitter: @CaitlinDoornbos
 

“It’s an honor to speak as John and Jennifer Avery retire from the Air Force, just as it was to speak at their wedding,” said Col. Jared Kennish, the 131st Bomb Wing Operations Group commander, at the pair's joint retirement ceremony on Sept. 7, according to an Air Force statement. “This couple has made history.”

Both served for 20 years, John retiring with more than 2,500 flying hours and Jennifer retiring with more than 1,600 flying hours in the active-duty Air Force and Missouri Air National Guard.

The vessel was part of an anti-submarine exercise last Thursday involving Japanese surface ships, a Japanese military spokesman said. It was the first time a JMSDF submarine had trained in those waters.

The submarine Kuroshio was joined by the JS Kaga, carrying five helicopters, and the destroyers JS Inazuma and JS Suzutsuki, which are on a two-month training mission in the Indo-Pacific, the spokesman said.

The training was not close to areas where China has constructed and militarized artificial islands claimed by several Southeast Asian nations, according to a report by the Reuters news agency.

China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, which encompasses vast reserves of untapped natural resources. However, its claims overlap with territory disputed by Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam and Taiwan.

The Navy conducts freedom-of-navigation patrols in the area, which is a major trade route, and has encouraged other nations to participate. The Royal Navy’s HMS Albion conducted a mission in the South China Sea last month that Chinese officials described as “provocative,” Reuters reported.

Japan’s military did not provide details of the latest South China Sea maneuvers, but its spokesman said such training usually involves destroyers and helicopters attempting to find a submarine that is trying to avoid detection.

The exercise was geared toward improving tactical skills, the spokesman said.

Kuroshio will visit Vietnam for a “friendship mission” with the Vietnam People’s Navy this week, according to a JMSDF statement.

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Fifteen surface ships and more than 160 aircraft from the Navy, Air Force, Army and Marine Corps are participating in Valiant Shield, the latest iteration of an exercise that has happened every other year since 2006.

“A wide range of skills will be exercised … any of which U.S. forces may be called upon to conduct during contingency situations,” 7th Fleet spokesman Lt. Joe Keiley told Stars and Stripes in an email Monday. Those include “maritime interdiction; defensive counter-air operations; personnel recovery; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; anti-submarine warfare; and command and control.”

Troops are also learning to work with personnel from other branches and conducting live-fire drills, a 7th Fleet statement said.

“The Marianas Island Range Complex is a premier training environment that allows the joint force a unique opportunity to come together and train side-by-side at the high end,” Rear Adm. Daniel Dwyer, who is directing the drills, said in the statement.

Valiant Shield, which kicked off Sunday, runs until Sept. 23, the statement said.

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It was a day full of drama, starting with a surprise appearance by Kim and his wife at the airport to personally welcome Moon, the first South Korean president to travel to the communist state in more than a decade. North Korean well-wishers, who had appeared bored, erupted in cheers when the third-generation leader appeared on the tarmac.

Kim, believed to be 35, and Moon, 65, embraced and smiled broadly, then inspected an honor guard of goose-stepping soldiers from a platform in a highly choreographed start to Moon’s three-day visit.

The two leaders later rode together in an open black limousine, standing and waving as they rode past rapturous crowds chanting calls for unification along the route to the state guesthouse where the South Korean entourage is staying.

Moon's mission

Moon has been thrust in the role of mediator as nuclear talks between the United States and the North have deadlocked over disarmament details, raising concern a new outbreak of tensions could upset the fragile diplomatic process.

He faces the challenge of trying to get the nuclear talks back on track while pressing for peace on the divided peninsula. It’s unclear how much progress he can make in persuading Kim to expand on his general commitment to denuclearization by agreeing to specific measures that would satisfy President Donald Trump.

“This summit will be very meaningful if it yields a resumption of North Korea-U.S. talks,” Moon said before boarding the plane for the nearly hourlong flight from Seoul to Pyongyang.

The leaders met for about two hours later Tuesday at the headquarters of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party. They planned a second round of talks on Wednesday and officials said results wouldn’t be announced before then.

In opening remarks before the meeting, Kim said he feels “very close” to the South Korean president and praised Moon’s “tireless efforts” that he said had paved the way for the unprecedented U.S.-North Korean summit, which took place June 12 in Singapore.

“Because of that, the political situation in the region has become stable and more progress is expected,” Kim said in recorded footage broadcast to reporters in Seoul.

Moon responded by thanking Kim for making a “bold decision” earlier this year when he announced in a New Year’s Day address that the North would join the Winter Olympics, setting the diplomatic process in motion.

The détente reversed months of tensions over the North’s nuclear weapons program that had raised fears of a new war on the peninsula, which has been divided by one of the world’s most heavily fortified borders since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice instead of a peace treaty.

“I feel the great weight we must bear, along with a heavy responsibility,” Moon said. “I wish this summit will produce fruitful results as a gift to the 80 million Korean people for Chuseok,” an important holiday that begins later this month.

Meanwhile, Moon’s wife, Kim Jung-sook, and North Korean first lady Ri Sol Ju toured a Okryu children’s hospital and the Kim Won Gyun conservatory.

Moon, a former human rights attorney and the son of North Korean refugees, previously met with Kim on April 27 and May 26 in the truce village of Panmunjom, which straddles the border. Two other inter-Korean summits were held in 2002 and 2007.

Challenges ahead

Unlike his predecessors, Moon’s mission goes beyond improving bilateral relations to include efforts to persuade Kim to go beyond the vague commitment to denuclearize the peninsula that was reached in their first summit on April 27.

The North Korean leader reiterated the promise in his June 12 meeting with Trump, but the two sides deadlocked over details.

Washington reportedly wants the North to disclose the extent of its nuclear weapons program and insists it will maintain punishing economic sanctions and other pressure until a deal is reached.

Pyongyang says it already has taken important steps, including suspending nuclear weapons tests, and should be rewarded along the way with the lifting of sanctions and a formal declaration to end the war.

Reports citing U.S. intelligence officials and satellite images, meanwhile, have shown continued nuclear activity by the North, raising questions about Kim’s sincerity in vowing to give up his arsenal.

Trump canceled a planned trip to North Korea by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over the summer, citing insufficient progress. But he has signaled a possible willingness to hold a second summit with Kim, thanking the North Korean leader for returning 55 cases believed to contain the remains of U.S. troops killed in the war.

His administration insists it won’t ease up on the North Korean delegation until a deal is reached. But many experts say Trump’s so-called “maximum pressure campaign” has been weakened as North Korea’s benefactor China has reportedly relaxed its enforcement of the sanctions and Seoul and Pyongyang have moved toward increased cooperation.

South Korean business leaders, including Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong, accompanied Moon, underscoring hopes by the two Koreas to resume economic cooperation projects that are limited by the U.S.-led sanctions.

Both Koreas also are eager for an end-of-war declaration, which would be a step toward a peace treaty.

But Washington says the North must give up its nuclear weapons before that can happen.

That has raised concern that the North may drive a wedge in the longtime U.S.-South Korean alliance, which includes the presence of some 28,500 American troops on the peninsula.

South Korean envoys who met with Kim last month said the North Korean leader wasn’t pushing for a U.S. withdrawal.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and Pompeo reaffirmed the strength of the longtime alliance between their two countries in a phone call on the eve of the summit. The United States maintains some 28,500 servicemembers on the peninsula.

Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this report.

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Twitter: @kimgamel

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National Guard members from both states have conducted more than 60 operations, including about 35 search, rescue and safety missions, since the deadly storm made landfall as a category 1 hurricane on Friday, according to officials with U.S. Northern Command. In addition, Coast Guard crews – some 3,000 members are aiding in relief efforts – were also busy throughout the weekend, rescuing 193 people in North Carolina, according to the service.

Federal officials said Monday that the storm was responsible for at least 23 deaths as it dumped as much as 30 inches of rain in some areas of North Carolina leading to widespread flooding that has shut down large portions of roads, including interstate highways. Some 523,000 homes remained without power Monday, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Meanwhile, servicemembers from installations across the eastern United States arrived over the weekend at staging locations including the Army’s Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia as well as at the North Air Force Auxiliary Field in South Carolina. Just off the East Coast, the Navy’s USS Kearsarge, an amphibious assault ship, and the USS Arlington, an amphibious transport dock, were prepared to respond if needed, according to NORTHCOM. The warships were carrying hundreds of Marines and sailors as well as Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and helicopters. As of Monday afternoon, their assistance had not been requested, according to a Navy spokesman.

The Army has deployed more than 90 helicopters, 3,000 high-water vehicles and 30 watercraft from Fort Stewart in Georgia, Fort Drum in New York and Fort Campbell in Kentucky to assist with recovery and rescue efforts, a service spokesman said Monday. Soldiers stationed at Fort Bragg were also assisting in rescue operations. Paratroopers with the post’s 82nd Airborne Division were aiding first responders as they rescued nearly 30 people over the weekend, according to the Army.

Meanwhile, Fort Bragg officials warned the installation could receive another one to two inches of rain as the remnants of Florence moved north Monday. Servicemembers at Fort Bragg were instructed to contact their chain of command for guidance on reporting for duty in the coming days, in a post on the installation’s Facebook page. Most of the installation’s services remained closed Monday, though the commissary and the Post Exchange on North Post were scheduled to be open through 6 p.m.

At Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, officials were working to restore power Monday. Installations officials announced the base would not require non-essential personnel to return to work until Sept. 24.

Naval Station Norfolk returned back to business as usual Monday. Nearly 30 ships and 128 aircraft began the journey back to the Hampton Roads area over the weekend, and will continue to return to homeport over the next several days, according to a Saturday news release from U.S. Fleet Forces Command. The aircraft began returning Saturday and the ships Sunday.

“I am very proud of the hard work and dedication of our total force – sailors, civilians and families – who worked so hard to prepare for a major hurricane in our area,” said the commander of Navy Region Mid-Atlantic, Rear Adm. Charles Rock. “We were so fortunate Hurricane Florence did not impact us, but are thinking of those who felt the brunt of the storm in North Carolina.”

On Saturday, the commander of Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, Brig. Gen. James F. Glynn, posted a video to Facebook updating the community on operations. In the background, new Marines can be seen training. The base is set to receive new recruits Tuesday night and a graduation for Friday is on schedule, according to the recruit depot.

Stars and Stripes reporter Rose Thayer contributed to this report.

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Twitter: @CDicksteinDC
  

Ortiz, 35, was arrested Saturday and charged with murdering four women in Laredo, Texas, where he has worked as a Border Patrol agent for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He is now in Webb County Jail with a bond of more than $2.5 million, according to online jail records.

He enlisted in July 2001, and after six months of training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Ill., and Navy Medicine Training Support Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, was stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif., according to information from the Navy Personnel Command.

A few months later, Ortiz was sent to the 1st Marine Division Detachment at Twentynine Palms, Calif., where he spent the next three years. While this unit was involved in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Ortiz’s released service ribbons do not indicate that he participated. If he deployed on a temporary assignment, it likely would not be included in his releasable service assignments.

In April 2005, Ortiz was sent to Navy Element, Defense Medical Readiness Training Institute Detachment at Fort Sam Houston for three years. This institute trains Army, Navy and Air Force professionals in trauma care, burn care, joint medical operations, disaster preparedness, humanitarian assistance and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear preparation and response.

Ortiz spent his final year in the Navy at the Fort Sam Houston’s Navy Medical Training Support Center. It is the administrative arm of the Navy’s medical programs in the San Antonio area.

He left the Navy in May 2009 at the rank of Petty Officer 2nd Class. His awards and decorations include the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, National Defense Service Medal and the Rifle Marksmanship Ribbon.

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Twitter: @Rose_Lori

“We know now from analysis … that the Air Force is too small for what the nation expects of us,” Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said during a speech on the opening day of the Air Force Association’s annual Air, Space and Cyber Conference at National Harbor in Maryland, just south of Washington. “312 operational squadrons is not enough.”

Citing military gains by China and Russia, which recently completed its largest military training exercise in decades, Wilson announced the Air Force should grow to 386 combat squadrons by 2025 or 2030, representing a roughly 24 percent boost.

For years, Wilson and other top Air Force officials have been calling for an increase in the service’s size, noting airmen have been busy for nearly two decades fighting in Afghanistan and the Middle East. Meanwhile, mandatory budget cuts during much of the last decade forced the service to downsize.

“The [National] Defense Strategy tells us that we need to be able to defend the homeland, provide a credible nuclear deterrent, win against a major power, while encountering a rogue nation, all while managing violent extremists with lower levels of effort,” Wilson said. “While all those missions rely on every service working together -- each relies heavily on the Air Force.”

Her announcement Monday was the first time that the Air Force officially presented a goal of increasing the force’s size. Though Wilson did not detail how many new airmen would be needed to reach her goal of 386 combat squadrons, Lt. Gen. Brian Kelly, the Air Force’s personnel chief, said Monday that the force could potentially grow to 740,000 to 745,000 personnel, including airmen and civilians. It now boasts about 685,000 people, he said.

It was also unclear Monday how much additional money the Air Force would need to achieve its growth goals.

Todd Harrison, a defense budget analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the Air Force spends about $53 billion each year on aircraft operations, training and recruiting and a 24 percent increase in combat squadrons would likely add about $13 billion annually in operating costs alone. However, he said he could not immediately estimate the costs to add the new aircraft that the new squadrons would operate.

In Wilson’s speech, she outlined the additional squadrons she wants to add to the service. They are:

• Five new bomber squadrons
• Seven new fighter squadrons
• Seven new space squadrons
• Seven more special operations squadrons
• 14 new tanker squadrons
• Nine more combat search-and-rescue squadrons
• 22 new command-and-control and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance squadrons
• 2 new drone squadrons
• 1 more airlift squadron

Wilson said the Air Force has increased its combat readiness during the last two years with a focus on preparing for “major combat operations” such as it would face in a war with a military power such as Russia or China.

The service must grow and continue to improve technologically to ensure its combat readiness is not surpassed by other nations, she said.

“Our dominance as a global power is not a birthright. It is a choice made by a nation that is a force for good in the world,” Wilson said. “It is a choice made by a nation that is not naïve about the existence of evil. And new threats are emerging to which our generation must respond.”

dickstein.corey@stripes.com
Twitter: @CDicksteinDC
 
 

A contract to build a massive, concrete command-and-control center on the compound is currently out to bid, officials there said last week.

Some base personnel in June said construction of the planned three-story, 120,000-square-foot concrete building would require hundreds of people living and working in temporary structures at the headquarters to relocate to other nearby bases.

The complex is expected to have more than 800 workspaces, according to a NATO procurement document. Contracting rules bar release of further details during the bidding and design phase, officials said.

The plans follow completion earlier this summer of a permanent passenger terminal and control tower at the compound’s helicopter landing zone, which until a few years ago was still a soccer field. An uptick in air traffic at the Resolute Support headquarters, the result of rising insecurity in the capital, drove the effort.

“This project was accomplished rapidly ... due to the significant increase of helicopter flights at RS HQ, which made the previous provisional arrangements untenable,” the NATO Support and Procurement Agency said in a July statement about the tower and terminal.

Helicopter commutes to and from NATO’s downtown headquarters have become common in recent years as bombings and ambushes have made road travel dangerous for coalition troops and officials, the Defense Department’s lead inspector general for its Afghanistan mission said in a May report.

Civilian personnel at the U.S. Embassy, which adjoins the NATO compound, are forbidden to travel the short distance to Kabul International Airport by road, John F. Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, said earlier this year.

The increased reliance on air travel comes with a cost. Flight fees for each 3-mile trip to the airport were expected to increase from $1,350 to $2,250, Sopko said.

Upgrades to the landing zone costing about $760,000 and funded by NATO members were completed in July, Resolute Support officials said.

Officials formally opened the new passenger terminal in June. The two-story, yellow stucco building features indoor seating; the previous terminal consisted of a covered outdoor waiting area next to a shipping container that housed a small administrative office.

The new air control tower, completed in July, gives air controllers a 360-degree view of the landing zone and the surrounding airspace, improving air traffic safety, NATO said. New communication and video surveillance equipment allows controllers to monitor three landing zones under their control.

In a statement touting the tower and passenger terminal project’s completion, the alliance’s procurement agency said its role in Afghanistan is increasing and it had “many projects underway.”

The base upgrades come as the mission in Afghanistan has again expanded in recent years after drawdowns under the Obama administration.

The U.S. has been lobbying its partners for increased contributions, as the Trump administration has committed to an open-ended presence in the country and increased troop numbers. The United Kingdom has recently begun deploying additional troops to the country.

Currently, some 14,000 U.S. troops and nearly 8,000 other foreign troops are working to build up the government’s security forces and beat back Taliban insurgents and terrorist groups. Hundreds of more Pentagon civilians also support the mission there, along with about 26,000 Defense Department contractors — some 10,000 of them American citizens.

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Twitter: @chadgarland
 

“NATO doesn’t have a tradition of naming buildings after politicians,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday during a visit to Washington. “You know, we are 29 allies with a lot of presidents, kings, heads of state and government, so we haven’t introduced that tradition.”

After McCain’s Aug. 25 death from brain cancer, there were tributes from across the political spectrum in the United States and in Europe, where there was a push to name NATO’s $1.4 billion Brussels headquarters after the senator.

The effort began when British parliamentarian Tom Tugendhat called on NATO to recognize McCain’s advocacy for the trans-Atlantic alliance. Then three former NATO secretary-generals — Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Javier Solana and George Robertson — followed with similar calls.

“I’m certain that we will be able to honor John McCain, but not necessarily through naming a building,” Stoltenberg said. “And actually, we honor John McCain every day through the fact that we stand together in NATO and deliver a strong trans-Atlantic deterrence and defense.”

Pushing to rename NATO’s headquarters after McCain could have made for an awkward situation for Stoltenberg, who likely would have needed the backing of U.S. President Donald Trump if all allies were to agree on a name for the headquarters. Trump, a critic of both McCain and NATO itself, has questioned the value of the alliance and made threats to withdraw the United States from the body.

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Twitter: @john_vandiver

“This (base) will create conditions for rebuffing the aggressive actions of the Russian Federation in this region,” the Ukrainian government said in a statement on Sunday.

U.S. military officials have been watching as tensions have increased in the Sea of Azov and the strategic Kerch Strait, which connects Ukrainian port cities to the Black Sea and from there to the Mediterranean.

Since April, Russia has delayed the transit of hundreds of commercial ships attempting to sail through the Kerch Strait. Some security analysts have described Russia’s actions as a de facto blockade.

Kurt Volker, the U.S. special envoy, said in Kiev on Saturday that the Trump administration was open to giving the country more lethal weaponry to address capability gaps. Earlier this year, the U.S. provided Ukraine with 210 anti-tank Javelin missiles to support government forces fighting Russian separatists in Ukraine’s east.

“And wherever those gaps are, we are prepared to sit down and talk with Ukraine about what their needs are. They can buy things through our foreign military sales,” Volker told reporters.

Volker also told Radio Free Europe that Ukraine’s short supply of naval and air defense assets was worrying because it means the Russians “feel they can assert dominance there (in the Sea of Azov).”

“I think that’s going to be the focus as we develop the next steps in our defense cooperation,” he said.

U.S. officials have denounced Russia’s stepped-up maritime patrols.

“Russia’s actions to impede maritime transit are further examples of its ongoing campaign to undermine and destabilize Ukraine, as well as its disregard for international norms,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in August.

Moscow has been building up its Black Sea fleet and ground forces since its 2014 seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula, where Russia has deployed sophisticated air defense systems.

In May, Russia opened a new bridge that connects Crimea to the Russian mainland. The building of the bridge without Ukraine’s approval, which spans the Kerch Strait, has been condemned by the West and Ukraine as illegal.

“Russia’s activity in the Sea of Azov and in the Strait of Kerch seems to confirm Moscow’s ambitions to make this basin a fully Russian-controlled internal area,” Krzysztof Nieczypor, a Ukraine analyst with the Centre for Eastern Studies, wrote in August. “Access to the Sea of Azov and control of the ships sailing through the Strait of Kerch enables Russia to exert economic black-mail on Ukraine.”

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Twitter: @john_vandiver

Moon, who flies to Pyongyang on Tuesday for his third round of meetings with Kim in less than five months, has staked his legacy on improving relations with the North but faces a stiff challenge in trying to persuade the communist state to give up its nuclear weapons.

His office played down expectations for a breakthrough, but Moon appeared optimistic.

“I aim to have lots of heart-to-heart talks with Chairman Kim Jong Un,” Moon was quoted as saying during a meeting with senior advisers on the eve of the summit. “What I want to achieve is peace – irreversible, permanent peace that is not disrupted by international politics.”

Efforts to revive stalled U.S.-North Korean talks on the nuclear issue have risen to the top of the agenda between the two Korean leaders amid fears that continued deadlock may lead to new tensions between the longtime adversaries.

Washington reportedly wants the North to disclose the extent of its nuclear weapons program and insists it will maintain punishing economic sanctions and other pressure until a deal is reached. Pyongyang says it already has taken important steps and should be rewarded along the way with eased sanctions and a formal declaration ending the 1950-53 war.

Reports citing U.S. intelligence officials and satellite images, meanwhile, have shown continued nuclear activity by the North, raising questions about Kim’s sincerity in vowing to give up his arsenal.

Trump canceled a planned trip to North Korea by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over the summer, citing insufficient progress in the months that followed his own historic June 12 summit with Kim, which was held in Singapore.

Moon said he will try “to find a middle ground” by focusing on easing military tensions and promoting nuclear dialogue between the United States and North Korea.

Earlier Monday, his office acknowledged the difficulties. The presidential chief of staff said Moon planned to meet at least twice with Kim during his three-day trip to the North Korean capital.

“Denuclearization is a pressing issue,” Im Jong-seok told reporters in Seoul. “There are many expectations for great progress on the issue at the summit, but the prospects are very limited and it’s hard to have an optimistic view.”

Moon, a 65-year-old former human rights lawyer, and Kim, believed to be 35, first met on April 27 in the truce village of Panmunjom, which straddles the heavily fortified border that has divided the peninsula since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice instead of a peace treaty.

He briefly stepped into North Korea during that symbolism-laden meeting, but he will be making his first real trip to the communist state when he flies directly to Pyongyang on Tuesday.

The Korean leaders also met in late May in Panmunjom.

South Korean business leaders including Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong will accompany Moon, underscoring hopes by the two Koreas to resume economic cooperation projects that are currently stalled because of the U.S.-led sanctions.

Moon and Kim are expected to meet after the president’s arrival on Tuesday and again on Wednesday, according to the chief of staff. Im said South Korea’s first lady Kim Jung-sook will visit a children’s hospital and a music school.

Both Koreas are eager for an end-of-war declaration, which would be a step toward a peace treaty, That has raised concern that the North is trying to drive a wedge in the longtime U.S.-South Korean alliance, which includes the presence of some 28,500 American troops on the peninsula.

South Korean envoys who met with Kim last month said the North Korean leader wasn’t pushing for a U.S. withdrawal.

North Korea has suspended nuclear and missile tests, which were the focal point of tensions that prompted fears of a nuclear war last year. The last one was the firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile in late November. It also moved to destroy its main nuclear testing site and to dismantle a key missile launch site.

But experts have said the moves are likely reversible without international inspections and verification.

Trump, meanwhile, promised Kim unspecified security guarantees and announced that he was suspending joint war games with the South following the Singapore summit.

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Twitter: @kimgamel

A CH-53E Super Stallion from the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing landed at about 4:40 p.m. after the pilot received a “cockpit warning indication,” 1st Marine Aircraft Wing spokesman Capt. Eric Flanagan wrote in an email to Stars and Stripes. The incident occurred during routine training on a pre-determined route.

“The aircraft systems performed as designed and notified the pilot of the issue,” Flanagan said. “The aircrew performed as trained and chose the safest option, landing the aircraft in accordance with standard procedures.”

The wing, which is based out of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, sent a team to the airport to evaluate the helicopter and perform any needed maintenance, Flanagan said. The aircraft was deemed safe and departed the airport the following afternoon, according to the Okinawa Times newspaper. There were no delays to commercial flights.

Emergency landings of U.S. military aircraft have become commonplace in Japan — something that has alarmed residents in Okinawa. The U.S. military urged locals not to worry.

“Precautionary landings are a result of a commitment to safety, not an indication of a lack of it,” Flanagan said. “Our pilots do the right thing by landing at an airport and ensuring we don’t fly an unsafe aircraft over anyone’s home.”

The Super Stallion is a heavy-lift platform made by Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin. Plans call for the CH-53E to be replaced with the CH-53K King Stallion in the coming years.

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