Air Force

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska— The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), in partnership with Eleventh Air Force and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER), Alaska, successfully completed installation of the first Snow Telemetry (SNOTEL) system at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Oct. 8, 2024.

“Safety offices across the Air Force do trend analysis to identify areas that are causing mishaps more frequently than desired. The data showed us what we logically knew – that Alaska bases get a large amount of snow,” said Lt. Col. Edmund Harrington, Eleventh Air Force chief of safety. “Snow accumulation caused mishaps each of the last three winters either through roof loading or falling from facilities onto people or things. We started looking for a technological solution that would help Alaska installations better understand when to clear snow from roofs.”

The $30k solar powered asset took personnel about two days to install. The site, named Elmendorf Field SNOTEL, numbered 1332, sent its first readings only 48 hours before the first snowfall of the season. This SNOTEL is now part of a network of 90 stations in Alaska and over 900 automated SNOTELs located throughout the Western United States.

“We were able to work out a partnership with Alaska NRCS in which they would provide one SNOTEL system in exchange for scientific water data from the Elmendorf Coastal Plain, which Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson occupies,” said Harrington.

Alaska infrastructure is prone to damage from hazards such as snow loading, ice dams and cornices, which if left unmanaged can cause significant damage to facilities and equipment.

Throughout the year the SNOTEL system will act as an automated weather station measuring snow height and snowpack water content, precipitation, barometric pressure, wind speeds and direction, and incoming solar radiation. Automated reports are sent hourly to the NRCS databases and are hosted on their website. SNOTEL data is open to the public and is used by flood forecasters, water managers, hazard assessment mangers, scientists, and transportation workers.

“We are excited to collaborate with JBER and the Eleventh Air Force on this SNOTEL installation and the shared use and applications of the data,” stated Daniel Fisher, USDA, Alaska snow survey program manager. “Alaska is experiencing more extreme precipitation events and seasons and the Snow Survey Program provides valuable, reliable data that can shape future decisions on how Alaskan communities respond and adapt.”

The SNOTEL site continuously reports hourly weather measurement throughout the year, allowing the base to take preventive safety measures. Careful planning and coordination went into selecting SNOTEL components, maintenance, and the ideal location for the SNOTEL site.

“This particular site was chosen because it’s centrally located among the facilities for which we were interested in understanding snow loading. It was also a previous weather station and had the wind block around it, which made the siting process much easier and prevents snow drifting,” said Harrington. “Finally, it is on the airfield, which means it is restricted access. It will have less traffic from curious people, and it is in the exclusion zone for large mammals, like bears, which are known to cause damage to SNOTEL components in the wild.”

Each winter, incidents and mishaps occur due to snow accumulation across Alaska. Data provide by the SNOTEL equipment will help base leadership take preemptive safety measures to reduce costly damages from winter storms to facilities and equipment.

“The 673d Air Base Wing will be able to use the SNOTEL data to make smarter, risk-based decisions on when to clear snow from facilities to prevent overloading and shedding mishaps,” said Harrington. “I also hope that the JBER SNOTEL site will prove to be so useful that the Air Force chooses to invest in more sites to protect other facilities in Alaska, or even more widely across the Air Force.”

Eleventh Air Force is responsible for training, equipping, and readying Air Force troops throughout the Indo-Pacific Region and Alaska. Implementing innovative ideas and technologies to better prepare and equip the U.S. Air Force is a priority for Eleventh Air Force.

The sixth annual Leadership Educational Development eXperience conference, hosted by the Curtis E. Lemay Center for Doctrine Development and Education and the Air University Innovation Accelerator, was held at the Eagle Institute in Montgomery, Alabama, Oct. 30, 2024.

The talks covered a diverse range of topics from the current state and future of U.S. Air Force Wargames to how artificial intelligence will affect national security, while exploring the limits of what can be done to accelerate innovation in an era of Great Power Competition.

“The main purpose that we like to have in mind is ‘Are we empowering our Airmen?’” said DeVante Snell, AUiX chief of events and public outreach. “To empower our Airmen, they need to have diverse perspectives, information and know how they can take that information with them to their unit, and really innovate that unit.”

The conference focused on leadership, innovation and strategy, and hosted speakers U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Parker Wright, Curtis E. Lemay Center for Doctrine Development and Education commander and Air University deputy commander, Girish Sreevatsan Nandakumar, MIT Center for Collective Intelligence research scientist, Kathleen Kennedy MIT Center for Collective Intelligence executive director, John Radovan, MIT Open Learning public sector director, Mark Rajewski, Coca-Cola Company collaborative-in-chief, and Professor Neil Stott, Cambridge Judge Business School management practice professor of social innovation.

“I loved it. The conference was very insightful I had like two and a half pages of notes just from the first two briefings,” said Ethan Fury, an Air Force ROTC cadet from Detachment 10 at University of Alabama. “I would very much recommend LEDx to even incoming cadets because it’s not only about wargaming, but also about the future of the Air Force and it is great preparation for becoming an officer and thinking strategically.”

This year’s theme “Kobayashi,” inspired by the “Kobayashi Maru” scenario from Star Trek, which is a situation designed to test the character and decision making of Starfleet cadets, offered a unique opportunity for attendees to engage in strategic educational games. LEDx aimed to host a diverse group of leaders from backgrounds of military, academia, and private sector innovators who could come together and discuss innovation efforts from their unique perspectives.

“It’s not just about the information, it’s about the connections as well,” said Snell. “When you have MIT, Stanford, Auburn and Air University, all these great minds and institutions in one room, the goal is to really connect. Although they are here for information and to relay information, we like to think of ourselves as a connection hub as well.”

If you would like to attend the next event, visit the AUiX website for more information: https://auix.org/

Air Mobility Command commander, Gen. Johnny Lamontagne, revealed his commander’s intent and celebrated a banner year of mobility operations during his keynote address at the 56th Airlift/Tanker Association Symposium in Grapevine, Texas, Oct. 31, 2024.

In his address to more than 1,000 current and former Airmen, community leaders, industry representatives and civilians, Lamontagne bucketed his intent in three focus areas: Airmen, Mission and Commitment.

He outlined four to five sub-categories under each area. For Airmen, he intends to ensure mission ready Airmen, who are accountable for themselves and one another. He also expects a command focused on empowering leadership at the lowest echelons while continuing to strengthen Airman and family resilience.

“It starts and ends with the Airmen; Mission Ready Airmen that are ready to thrive and operate in some austere environments in an agile combat employment [manner],” he said. “Even if you’re disconnected from your leadership, you’re going to know what needs to be done and you’re going to execute.”

In his discussion of mission, Lamontagne reaffirmed the nuclear mission remains the command’s most consequential. He also spoke about the command’s work to digitally connect the force, which will help ensure the command’s ability to mitigate emerging threats and fully integrate command and control, not just with U.S. Transportation Command, but also with the 618th Air Operations Center’s counterparts in Europe and the Pacific. Another continued focus is working with the newly erected Integrated Capabilities Command (Provisional) to strengthen the Air Force’s aging tanker fleet while simultaneously accelerating future tanker capability.

“Team, our Air Force senior leadership sees what we see… the need to modernize the fleet and connect digitally which will help us mitigate threats and perform integrated command and control,” said Lamontagne.

The final focus area was on the command’s commitment.

“Commitment is analogous to our chief of staff of the United States Air Force’s efforts to follow through,” said Lamontagne. “And we are going to be committed to the changes our Air Force is making and the priorities of our combatant command.”

Specifically, Lamontagne emphasized the command’s commitment to our higher headquarters’ priorities, our creation of strong combat and air base wings, our future capabilities, and our Air Force, Joint and Allied and Partner teammates.

Lamontagne also celebrated another incredible year for AMC and mobility forces, which included support to several pivotal operations across all geographic combatant commands. He congratulated Airmen for their continued focus on improving readiness for Great Power Competition and potential peer conflict, including max endurance operations and participating in service- and Joint-level exercises like Bamboo Eagle.

“Not unlike years that came before it, and probably not unlike years that’ll come after it,” said Lamontagne. “As we contribute to a mission that is bigger than ourselves and helping our nation achieve its most strategic objectives.”

Finally, Lamontagne previewed the work ahead. The command plans to do a clean-sheet review of the approach to the aeromedical evacuation and global air mobility support system missions, prioritizing effectiveness in contested environments rather than efficiency, which was ideal for the counter-VEO mission. The command has moved out on its creation of its combat wings and air base wings, also reviewing its current numbered air force structures. Lamontagne highlighted the next evolution of Mobility Guardian scheduled for the summer of 2025 in the Pacific.

“In 2023, this command turned heads, changed the game, and got everyone’s attention,” said Lamontagne. “It proved we could do exercises at speed, at scale and at distance. No more pixie dust on the logistics. In 2025, it’s going to be bigger still. It’ll be a joint exercise with U.S. Transportation Command Exercise Ultimate Distribution and part of it is going to become an Air Force, service-level exercise.”

Throughout his keynote address, Lamontagne focused on addressing the Airmen and outlining his intent to make sure his message is clear for the command’s road ahead.

“Whether you know it or not, we are standing on the shoulders of giants that have provided an asymmetric advantage for our nation,” said Lamontagne. “That asymmetric advantage is you—rapid global mobility—and we’ve been doing it for eight decades.”