The draft text of the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act would halt military construction on the temporary Space Command headquarters in Colorado Springs until Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall submits a report justifying its final location. It would also freeze half of Kendall’s travel budget until Congress receives the justification and decision.

The Alabama delegation has a powerful ally in House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, who took charge of the committee this year after Republicans won the House. Rogers’ staff on the Armed Services Committee noted that the Defense Department continues to build Space Command infrastructure at the Colorado Springs location amid a review of the 2020 decision to place it in Huntsville, Alabama.

“We found out through the process over the last two years while we’re waiting for the Air Force actually make a decision is that the Space Command and the Air Force have been signing leases and building out infrastructure in Colorado,” a senior congressional aide told reporters on a press call, speaking anonymously to discuss the draft legislation in detail. “The chairman wants the Air Force to make a decision.”

Two years ago, during the final days of the Trump administration, the Air Force announced Huntsville, Alabama — the site of the Army’s Redstone Arsenal and home to the Missile Defense Agency — would serve as the new location for Space Command headquarters, moving it from Colorado Springs.

The decision infuriated Colorado’s congressional delegation, who asked the Air Force to review the decision. Several Colorado Democrats argued it was an act of political retaliation because President Joe Biden won the swing state in the 2020 election.

A May 2022 report by the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General found the Air Force followed all relevant laws and policies when selecting Huntsville. But the report also found the rules themselves may have been flawed, resulting in a less than optimal decision.

A separate June 2022 report from the Government Accountability Office found the Air Force did not follow best practices when making the basing decision.

Kendall is reviewing both reports’ findings, but the final basing decision for Space Command headquarters was expected months ago.

“The chairman’s view is why should you be using taxpayer dollars to build up all this infrastructure when the Air Force made a decision that has been reviewed by two different reviews and found that Huntsville, Alabama won — and won fairly,” said the congressional aide.

NBC News reported last month that the Biden administration may halt plans to move the headquarters to Alabama in part because of the state’s new law making abortion a felony punishable up to 99 years in prison for physicians.

U.S. Space Command General James Dickinson met with both states’ congressional delegations last week. Half of the Ohio delegation also threw their hat into the ring last week with a last-minute letter to Kendall and Biden asking them to put the headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in their state.

Deterring China and Russia

Aside from the Space Command dispute, the congressional aide said lawmakers sought to “focus on deterring China” when drafting the $886 billion defense authorization bill. The aide noted that includes $9.7 billion in funding for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative.

It would also provide $300 million in FY24 funding for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which allows the Pentagon to issue new weapons contacts to send to Kyiv. Report language accompanying the draft bill directs that the Biden administration must use $80 million of that funding for long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS.

Ukraine has repeatedly asked for ATACMS and President Joe Biden has come under pressure from Rogers and other lawmakers to send them. However, the Biden administration remains concerned about the impact sending ATACMS could have on U.S. stockpiles and the potential for using them to strike Russian territory, despite Kyiv’s promises to only use them in Ukraine.

The report language also directs Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to brief the Armed Services Committee “on outstanding or denied requests for support” made by Ukraine.

Additionally, the bill directs Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to deliver Congress a report on deepening security cooperation with the Baltic states.

The Armed Services subcommittees are slated to begin marking up their portions of the bill on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. The full committee is scheduled to begin marking up the full FY24 National Defense Authorization Act on June 21 — the same day the Senate holds a markup on its version of the bill.

The House is expected to vote on the legislation in July.

The planned delivery halt of new fighters loaded with Technology Refresh 3 hardware means manufacturer Lockheed Martin may have to store dozens of the planes at its main factory in Fort Worth, Texas, for much of the rest of the year, and perhaps into spring 2024.

The F-35′s Technology Refresh 3 effort — a slate of improvements that aim to give the fighter better displays, computer memory and processing power — was originally due this past April. TR-3 is necessary before the F-35 can receive a more expansive modernization known as Block 4, which will allow the fighter to carry more long-range precision weapons, improve its electronic warfare capability and provide better target recognition.

The TR-3 schedule has slipped considerably, and the F-35 Joint Program Office is now expecting it to arrive no earlier than this December — and perhaps as late as April 2024, a full year behind schedule.

The F-35 Joint Program Office said in a statement to Defense News that the TR-3 delays will in turn disrupt deliveries, causing new fighters to have to be stored in the meantime.

“Starting later this summer, F-35 aircraft coming off the production line with TR-3 hardware will not be accepted until relevant combat capability is validated in accordance with our users’ expectations,” JPO spokesman Russ Goemaere said in an email. “The JPO and Lockheed Martin will ensure these aircraft are safely and securely stored until [acceptance] occurs.”

Breaking Defense first reported the Defense Department’s plan to not accept new F-35s.

Lockheed is now building F-35s with TR-3 hardware installed, and the first such fighter is expected to come off the production line by the end of July, Goemaere said.

The challenge lies in the TR-3 software and getting the programming to work with the new hardware., he said.

In March, F-35 program executive officer Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt told the House Armed Services subcommittee on tactical air and land forces that the development of TR-3′s hardware had lagged behind and its production started slow, but that it had improved and became reliable.

Software integration, Schmidt said, began late and was proving difficult.

The JPO on Monday said the Defense Department will continue to accept deliveries of fighters with the previous hardware and software known as Technology Refresh 2.

“The government and industry team will continue to work this issue until full resolution is achieved,” Goemaere said.

Lockheed said it remains committed to delivering the first TR-3-enabled F-35 this year.

“Our team is fully dedicated to delivering TR-3 F-35 aircraft and will continue to work with the JPO on software development while maintaining the highest levels of safety and quality,” the company said in a statement to Defense News. “We continue to deliver aircraft in the TR-2 configuration as planned.”

CEO Jim Taiclet this year downplayed the potential for the problems to affect F-35 deliveries. In an April earnings call, after the TR-3 delays were acknowledged to lawmakers, he said the company expected deliveries to be lower than anticipated, but said they would be a “fraction” of total Lockheed’s total deliveries and would have “little to no” effect on the company’s aeronautics revenue.

If the problem is not resolved by the end of the year, perhaps dozens of new F-35s could be undelivered by the end of the year.

Lockheed Martin said in an email to Defense News that it is too early to say how many fighters might be affected, and the company did not say how many F-35s with TR-3 hardware it expects to build this year. The company originally planned to deliver between 147 and 153 total fighters in 2023.

Lockheed on Monday said that it has so far delivered more than 45 F-35s this year, with about 50 more TR-2 F-35s now under construction.

This will be the third time in less than a year that F-35 deliveries have been halted. In September 2022, the Pentagon announced that it had temporarily halted F-35 deliveries after the discovery of a Chinese-sourced alloy had for years been used to make a key magnet in the fighter. Those deliveries resumed in October 2022 after the Pentagon decided the Chinese material did not pose a danger to security or flight safety and issued a waiver.

Pre-delivery acceptance flights were also halted in December, which had the effect of also halting deliveries, due to an engine vibration problem that led to a Dec. 15 mishap involving an F-35B. After a fix was put in place that allowed Lockheed Martin to resume acceptance flights, the Defense Department once again began accepting new F-35s.

In the March hearing, subcommittee chairman Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., called the TR-3 delays “unacceptable,” and said it would hurt Air Force squadrons that need the new fighters to replace older, retiring aircraft.

Wittman also quoted an unnamed Air Force official who said of the F-35, “We currently are paying for a great capability, but we’re currently only getting a good capability fielded.”

But if the bill, HR 2670, becomes law, the Air Force wouldn’t be able to cut any more until it shows lawmakers a plan on how it would conduct close air support missions.

This proposal, included in a draft of the NDAA released Monday by the House Armed Services Committee’s tactical air and land forces panel, would leave the service with 218 A-10s. This would fully grant the request the Air Force made in its FY24 budget proposal in March.

For years, lawmakers and the Air Force butted heads over the fate of the A-10. The service repeatedly argued the rugged attack plane — frequently called upon for close air support missions in Iraq and Afghanistan during the wars there — would be too vulnerable to survive in a high-end fight. The Air Force repeatedly asked Congress to allow it to start retiring A-10s, arguing airmen and resources used to keep those planes flying would be better used on newer, more survivable aircraft.

But lawmakers always rejected the Air Force’s request — until last year, when Congress agreed to allow the service to start retiring the first 21 A-10s in 2023. The House’s latest proposal suggests that retirement effort will continue.

This proposed NDAA would also put conditions in place before the Air Force can cut A-10s beyond the 218 count. Under the bill, the service would have to send lawmakers a plan for conducting close air support missions, as well as airborne forward air controller and combat search and rescue missions, including spelling out how many units and aircrews would be needed to conduct those missions. Further A-10 cuts could then come six months later.

The NDAA would also grant the Air Force’s request to retire 57 F-15C and F-15D fighters, some of which are four decades old and reaching the end of their lives.

But lawmakers want to see more information from the Air Force and Navy on their own Next Generation Air Dominance and drone wingman programs.

The proposed language would require the services to send progress reports on the development and technology maturation of these programs. This would include price tags, such as how much an individual aircraft would cost to fly per year and per flight hour.

And the proposed bill would set limits on how much the services could spend on each category of drone wingmen aircraft.

The bill’s proposed language would also require the Pentagon to declare the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program’s development of software for its Block 4 modernization effort, called Continuous Capability Development and Delivery, as a major subprogram of the fighter’s acquisition program. It would also require the F-35′s program executive officer to designate and build six F-35s to serve as developmental testing and evaluation aircraft to support the program’s future testing.

Last week, she raised her right hand and took the oath to join the U.S. Army Reserves, thanks in part to a recruiter in Dallas who also is Nepalese and reached out to her through an online group.

Bidari, who heads to basic training in August, is just the latest in a growing number of legal migrants enlisting in the U.S. military as it more aggressively seeks out immigrants, offering a fast track to citizenship to those who sign up.

Struggling to overcome recruiting shortfalls, the Army and the Air Force have bolstered their marketing to entice legal residents to enlist, putting out pamphlets, working social media and broadening their outreach, particularly in inner cities. One key element is the use of recruiters with similar backgrounds to these potential recruits.

“It is one thing to hear about the military from locals here, but it is something else when it’s from your fellow brother, from the country you’re from,” said Bidari, who was contacted by Army Staff Sgt. Kalden Lama, the Dallas recruiter, on a Facebook group that helps Nepalese people in America connect with one another. “That brother was in the group and he was recruiting and he told me about the military.”

The military has had success in recruiting legal immigrants, particularly among those seeking a job, education benefits and training as well as a quick route to becoming an American citizen. But they also require additional security screening and more help filling out forms, particularly those who are less proficient in English.

Both the Army and the Air Force say they will not meet their recruiting goals this year, and the Navy also expects to fall short. Pulling more from the legal immigrant population may not provide large numbers, but any small boosts will help. The Marine Corp is the only service on pace to meet its goal.

The shortfalls have led to a wide range of new recruiting programs, ad campaigns and other incentives to help the services compete with often higher-paying, less risky jobs in the private sector. Defense leaders say young people are less familiar with the military, are drawn more to corporate jobs that provide similar education and other benefits, and want to avoid the risk of injury and death that service in defense of the United States could bring. In addition, they say that little more than 20% meet the physical, mental and character requirements to join.

“We have large populations of legal U.S. residents who are exceptionally patriotic, they’re exceptionally grateful for the opportunities that this country has provided,” said Air Force Maj. Gen. Ed Thomas, head of the service’s recruiting command.

The biggest challenges have been identifying geographic pockets of immigrant populations, finding ways to reach them and helping any of those interested navigate the complex military recruiting applications and procedures.

Last October, the Army reestablished a program for legal permanent residents to apply for accelerated naturalization once they get to basic training. Recruiters began to reach out on social media, using short videos in various languages to target the top 10 countries that recruits had come from during the previous year.

The Air Force effort began this year, and the first group of 14 graduated from basic training and were sworn in as new citizens in April. They included recruits from Cameroon, Jamaica, Kenya, the Philippines, Russia and South Africa. As of mid-May there were about 100 in basic training who had begun the citizenship process and about 40 who had completed it.

Thomas said the program required changes to Air Force policy, coordination with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and a careful screening process to ensure there are no security risks.

“We have to take exceptional measures to be able to thoroughly vet and go through the security clearance investigation,” he said, adding that in many cases the immigrants are not immediately put in jobs that require top secret clearance.

Under the new program, recruits are quickly enrolled in the citizenship system and when they start basic training, an expedited process kicks off, including all required paperwork and testing. By the time Air Force recruits finish their seven weeks of training, the process is complete and they are sworn in as American citizens.

The first group of 14 included several who are seeking various medical jobs, while another wants to be an air transportation specialist. Thomas said Airman 1st Class Natalia Laziuk, 31, emigrated from Russia nine years ago, has dreamed of being a U.S. citizen since she was 11, and learned about the military by watching American movies and television.

“Talking to this young airman, she essentially said, ‘I just wanted to be useful to my country,’” he said. “And that’s a story that we see played over and over and over again. I’ve talked to a number of these folks around the country. They’re hungry to serve.”

For Bidari, who arrived in the U.S. in 2016 to attend college, the fast track to citizenship was important because it will make it easier for her to travel and bring her parents to the United States to visit. Speaking in a call from Chicago just a day after she was sworn in, she said she enlisted for six years and hopes that her future citizenship will help her become an officer.

In Chicago earlier this year, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth heard from a number of recruiters about the increased outreach to immigrant communities and how it helped them meet their numbers. In the 2022 budget year, they said, the Chicago recruiting battalion enlisted 70 legal permanent residents and already this year they have enlisted 62.

More broadly across the Army, close to 2,900 enlisted during the first half of this budget year, compared with about 2,200 during the same period the previous year. The largest numbers are from Jamaica, with 384, followed by Mexico, the Philippines and Haiti, but many are from Nepal, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Colombia and the Dominican Republic.

“As a little girl, looking at the soldiers, I always had admiration for them,” said Bidari, recalling British troops in Nepal. “Yesterday, when I was able to take that oath … I don’t think I have words to really explain how I was feeling. When they said, ‘Welcome future soldier,’ I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, this is happening.’”

The category four cyclone ripped through the Pacific archipelago in late May, cutting power lines, uprooting trees and disrupting water supplies.

Personnel stationed at Naval Base Guam, Andersen Air Force Base and Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz — in concert with the Army guardsmen, reservists, the Coast Guard, FEMA and other agencies — have all been involved in recovery efforts, both military and civilian, and assisting local governments. A combined joint task force led by U.S. Army Pacific and Task Force West is spearheading the military’s efforts.

Rear Adm. Benjamin Nicholson, commander of Task Force West, and all military installation commanding officers in Guam “are diligently working to restore steady state to the bases and dedicate resources to all FEMA mission assignments,” according to a Navy news release.

No new arrivals — for now

In a May 23 naval administrative message, Vice Adm. Richard Cheeseman Jr., the chief of naval personnel, announced that the Navy would be pausing all PCS moves to Guam “for Navy uniformed members, civilians and their dependents” until June 30. Sailors PCSing out of the territory can leave as soon as they secure travel. The pause doesn’t apply to personnel slated for temporary additional duty.

The Air Force took a similar tack May 25, halting inbound PCS assignments to Andersen for 60 days “in order to ensure incoming service members and their families have adequate resources available to them,” an Air Force spokseperson told Military Times. Andersen expected to receive 240 PCS arrivals between June and August, public affairs officials from the 36th Wing, the base’s host unit, told Military Times. Around 400 people have moved out of the Air Force base to their next assignment since the typhoon made landfall.

“The stop movement also gives 36th Wing leadership time to evaluate the damage done to our resources while also making sure we’re prepared to take care of the families that are due to PCS to Andersen,” the official added.

The PCS pause timeline may shift depending on the progress of relief efforts.

The Marines, however, haven’t issued a broad suspension of inbound PCSs to Camp Blaz, choosing instead to assess “each individual” PCS arrival, Maj. Diann Rosenfeld, a spokesperson for Marine Corps Installations Pacific, told Military Times. Around a dozen Marines plan to PCS to Guam between June and July; one has arrived since the storm swept through, and all outbound June PCSs have departed.

“We are taking all necessary steps to accommodate PCSers already en route to Guam,” Rosenfeld added. “For example, because comms were limited directly after the storm, our sponsors have met face-to-face with different agencies across the island to ensure those agencies could still support our inbound Marines.”

The Air Force described similar plans.

“There are various courses of actions (COAs) in place for members that were due to PCS here to ensure their needs are met if/when they arrive,” a 36th Wing spokesperson said. “Service members that were already on their way or slated to PCS to Andersen AFB are encouraged to work with their sponsors and chain of command to minimize confusion and ensure a smooth PCS process.”

Military installations across Guam sustained damage during the storm. The extent of the damage and how long repairs will take is still not completely clear. Both of Andersen’s runways are operational and fielding plane-loads of aid daily, according to base personnel.

Over half of the island’s 170,534 inhabitants still lacked electricity as of Thursday, according to the Guam Power Authority. The Guam Waterworks Authority estimated that roughly 30% of residents still don’t have access to clean water. The typhoon’s record-breaking winds and rains caused upwards of $112 million in damage, according to initial tallies.

Military relief groups have raised close to $2 million for the 21,700 service members and dependents living in the territory.

Clouds of thick haze generated by forest fires in Canada wafted southward, polluting thousands of square miles with toxic fumes and forcing millions to minimize their time outdoors. Heeding public health warnings from state and federal agencies, installations from Connecticut to Virginia curtailed routine operations to protect personnel.

Naval Submarine Base New London, Connecticut, suspended all physical training and sporting activities Thursday for 24 hours and recommended limiting any “strenuous activities to only mission essential tasks.” Fort Hamilton, located in Brooklyn, prohibited outdoor youth activities, shuttered its legal office and closed off its pool (its bowling alley, however, remained open); the base planned to resume normal operations Friday.

Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, cycled personnel through its outdoor outposts to limit their exposure to the smoke; the facility temporarily closed its gates throughout the day Thursday to accommodate the rotations.

Military installations further south took on similar precautionary measures. Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, urged “sensitive groups” — children, the elderly and the ill — to avoid all outdoor physical activity. In Maryland, Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland called off a Thursday night recreational soccer showdown. Forts Detrick and Meade, and Belvoir in Virginia, all circulated cautionary announcements on their social media feeds.

Farther south in Maryland, Indian Head’s Fleet and Family Readiness program made a more weighty sacrifice, shutting down its Tiki Bar.

The worst of the smoke seemed to have subsided across much of the country. On Thursday evening, the Environmental Protection Agency deemed the air quality in much of New York state, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia to be “very unhealthy” or “hazardous.” By Friday morning, most of the warnings were downgraded to “moderate.”

As a result, many bases have resumed normal operations. A spokesperson from Dover AFB told Military Times that the base was “completely operational” as of Friday afternoon, though “the 436th Operational Medical Readiness Squadron is continuing to monitor the situation and is in lockstep with Dover AFB leadership to mitigate risks to Dover AFB personnel.”

At least 420 active fires — more than half of which are “out of control” — continue to rage across Canada, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Meteorologists and climate experts expect some respite in the coming days, as shifting winds disperse the shroud elsewhere.

But with the ongoing environmental disaster north of the border, the answer to the question of whether more such shutdowns can be expected in coming weeks is simply blowing in the wind.

Boeing originally expected to start delivering its latest batch of F-15EX Eagle II fighters to the Air Force in December 2022, the federal watchdog wrote in its annual assessment of weapon systems, released Thursday.

Several production problems delayed the delivery of those six fighters in lot 1B, GAO said. Those delays were mainly caused by what office referred to as “supplier quality problems related to a critical component in the forward fuselage assembly that ensures safety of flight.” The report did not provide further details on that component, but said quality problems were fixed by the time Boeing built the seventh and eighth F-15EXs.

Boeing also mis-drilled windscreen installation holes on four F-15EXs in this lot because the company used tooling with a design error, GAO said. Program officials told auditors the problem was caught before more planes were mis-drilled, and that Boeing will redrill the holes on affected aircraft before starting production on the second lot of fighters.

Boeing declined to comment to Defense News on the quality issues highlighted in GAO’s report, and referred questions to the Air Force. Defense News has reached out to the service for comment.

Boeing spokeswoman Deborah VanNierop confirmed Friday that the only F-15EXs so far delivered to the Air Force are the two test aircraft that were delivered in spring 2021, which were considered lot 1A.

More than two years later, the service is still waiting for the next batch of fighters.

The F-15EX is an upgraded version of the fourth-generation Eagle fighter, with advanced avionics such as fly-by-wire controls and improved electronic warfare capabilities.

But those problems are having ripple effects on the F-15EX program, GAO said. Each lot 2 fighter is now delayed by two months as a result of the earlier lot’s problems, the report read, and delivery schedules are in danger of slipping further.

The report noted that program officials thought Boeing could deliver the six F-15EXs in that lot between May and July, with two delivered per month. But Boeing and the federal Defense Contract Management Agency warned that more delays could occur, GAO said.

Boeing’s analysis predicted it would be unable to deliver the first fighter in this batch until July, and the second in August.

The Defense Contract Management Agency concluded the last deliveries in the lot would probably not happen until September because of the problems that cropped up so far.

GAO said that if delivery of these planes is delayed beyond July, it will be tough to meet planned deadlines in 2023, including the declaration of initial operational capability in July and full-rate production in October.

Boeing referred Defense News’ questions on the fighters’ schedule to the Air Force.

GAO also warned that cybersecurity vulnerabilities remain the F-15EX’s primary vulnerability. The fighter’s design was derived from versions of the F-15 that were sold to foreign militaries, GAO said, and weren’t designed to meet the Air Force’s own cybersecurity requirements.

Program officials told GAO that it is working through the Defense Department’s six-phase process for assessing cybersecurity vulnerabilities on the F-15EX, with the first four either already done or expected to be finished in early 2023. The program expected to finish the final two phases on the aircraft delivered in lot 1B.

The Air Force is now planning to buy 104 F-15EXs, and requested money to buy 24 of the fighters in the proposed fiscal 2024 budget.

The Air Force last year moved to scale back its F-15EX procurement in the FY23 budget, from the original 144 to 80. This was intended to free up funds for higher priority programs, GAO said.

The watchdog warned that a lack of enough procurement funding for the F-15EX could cause the program to be curtailed slightly below that already reduced 80. A June 2022 cost estimate showed the Air Force wouldn’t have enough money for 80 fighters, and only be able to buy 78, GAO noted.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in a March budget briefing that the service had decided to partially reverse its decision to cut the F-15EX procurement to 80, bringing it back up to 104.

The naval hospital, a 16 minute drive from the air base, is the only U.S. military medical option on the island. The women had been notified that, due to a staffing shortage, they would either have to deliver their babies at a Japanese hospital, where they wouldn’t be guaranteed admittance, or return to the continental U.S. when they were 7½ months pregnant.

“Additional military, civilian and contracted staffing is being actively worked to fill the gaps caused by personnel moves and to ensure the same level of care is readily available in support of our service members and families,” DHA officials announced June 8, just hours after a Military Times report on the women’s plight.

The hospital is “not on divert, and there is no change in current capability,” they stated.

The staffing constraints at the hospital were caused by the “summer permanent change of station cycle and unanticipated early departure of civilian staff,” officials stated.

Advocates welcomed the change.

“It’s what we were hoping for, that the pregnant mothers would be able to deliver on Okinawa,” said Elayne Saejung, an Air Force wife who has been an advocate for families on Okinawa.

“There are still questions that remain about the original staffing shortage, and whether they have resolved the staffing issue,” she said. “But this is definitely great news for the families on Okinawa.”

The chief of medical staff at Kadena’s 18th Medical Group had issued a detailed, two-page memo June 7 stating that pregnant women with an estimated due date from August through November would have to choose whether to deliver their babies at a local Japanese facility or be flown back to a military treatment facility in the the continental United States — no later than 34 weeks into their pregnancy. Medical personnel had already begun contacting patients about the requirement.

Advocates described this as a “logistical nightmare” for women.

The memo also included caveats regarding Japanese medical facilities, including that, unlike medical facilities in the U.S., Japanese law doesn’t require hospitals to accept patients in labor or to provide health care in an emergency.

In response to Military Times’ questions earlier Thursday, DHA officials said they were “fully aware of the situation at Naval Hospital Okinawa” and were “working with hospital leadership as well as the leadership of the DHA Region Indo-Pacific to determine the best next steps for those in need.”

That included “actively looking for expediting civilian hiring, contract solutions and temporary assignment of military personnel from across the Department of Defense to mitigate the acute shortage of obstetric support for the women in the Indo-Pacific area,” a spokesman said.

Lt. Gen. Jim Slife, the service’s deputy chief of staff for operations, is taking a fresh look at whether the Air Force needs hundreds more pilots to fill policy-making and managerial jobs — or if airmen with a different background could fare just as well, Brown said during a discussion at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

If it succeeds, the review could also reshape who wields influence among Air Force planners and policymakers in a typically pilot-heavy culture.

“Do all the pilot positions we have on staff actually require a pilot, or does it require someone with operational expertise?” Brown said. “How do we ensure that all of our airmen, to the best of our ability, have a little operational acumen?”

At the start of fiscal 2023 last October, the Air Force stood around 700 pilots short of its 13,000-person active duty goal, and around 1,200 pilots short of the 8,000 it needed across the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve.

Overall, the Air Force’s pilot workforce is around 91% staffed. While combat flying units have all the aviators they need, Brown said, three in 10 policy jobs sit empty because the service doesn’t have enough pilots to fill them.

In some cases, it’s because having a pilot in the seat has become the norm.

“You had a pilot come into that job, you liked it, and you said, ‘From here on out, I need to have that,’” Brown said. “That’s not necessarily the case.”

Will the review eliminate the pilot shortage altogether? No, Brown said. It’s one piece of a broader strategy to recruit and retain a stable workforce that is large and skilled enough to defend the nation.

He pointed to the latest push to award bonus pay to aviators who decide to stay in the Air Force after their initial 10-year contract is finished. Those pilots can earn up to $50,000 a year on top of their base salary, combat bonuses and other compensation.

The service is also exploring new initiatives to boost the quality of life for airmen and their families, like keeping service members at the same base longer to offer more stability in the workplace and at school.

“We’ve got to manage this very closely to ensure we are doing the right things,” Brown said. “Don’t do a ‘one size fits all.’”

It’s been 19 years since the Air Force last convened the biennial air-to-air weapons meet, which began in the early days of the Cold War in 1954.

The competition is named for the legend of William Tell, a 14th-century Swiss farmer who — as the tale goes — had to fire an arrow so accurately that it would knock an apple from his son’s head, lest they both be killed for insulting the Austrian Habsburg empire.

For decades, the shootout provided a stage for ambitious fighter pilots to show off their skills for bragging rights, a trophy and the title of “Top Gun.”

The Air Force has held just one William Tell competition in the 27 years since it paused the regular meets in 1996. The event reconvened for its 50th anniversary in 2004, before the War on Terror spurred a 19-year hiatus.

Now with U.S. forces out of Afghanistan and a substantially smaller footprint in Iraq and Syria, the Air Force is turning its attention to a faster-paced, more complex kind of air war.

This year’s William Tell, slated for Sept. 11-15 at Savannah Air National Guard Base in Georgia, will reflect military competition in the Indo-Pacific — namely, the U.S.-China rivalry — posed by savvier enemy pilots, high-tech jets and advanced anti-aircraft artillery.

F-35 Lightning II, F-22 Raptor and F-15 Eagle units will go head-to-head in a gauntlet of simulated air combat scenarios, weapons loading, maintenance and weapons director competitions.

Fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft will act as the adversarial “red team,” Air Combat Command spokesperson Mike Reeves told Air Force Times. It’s unclear whether William Tell will bring in the Air Force’s red air contractors like Top Aces and Textron subsidiary ATAC, which fly the F-16 Fighting Falcon and Mirage F1 jets, or turn to drone targets like the remote-controlled QF-16s.

Pilots will be tested on their offensive and defensive prowess against simulated enemy air forces, and on how well they maneuver when an adversary aircraft is in sight.

“There will be a heritage event with live air-to-air gun employment against a towed banner,” Reeves said. “There will also be … weapons loading, command and control, and intelligence competitions.”

Wings across Air Combat Command and Pacific Air Forces are allowed to send teams of 10 to 14 airmen, depending on the type of aircraft. Each team needs one captain, an aircrew of up to eight people, two intelligence airmen and three weapons loaders. Command-and-control wings can also send three members apiece to participate.

Participants will compete for individual and team awards. The group that best thinks outside the box in collaborating with other jets will be crowned the top “fighter integration team,” to show that the aircraft are “most lethal when used as a cohesive fighting force,” Reeves said.

Planners hope the resurgence of William Tell will help prepare airmen for real-life combat operations in the Indo-Pacific, where they could face off against Chinese jets like the J-16 fighter that buzzed an American RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance plane on May 26.

The U.S. considers China its top strategic threat and has pledged to protect Taiwan, the autonomous island nation that Beijing claims as its own territory, if China were to invade.

“Our unwavering commitment to air dominance remains steadfast,” Air Combat Command boss Gen. Mark Kelly said in a release. “We reiterate our steadfast dedication to maintaining control of the skies in support of our joint force and multinational partners.”