Space Force

Amid all the tensions in Ukraine with Russia, the US Air Force scrambled its F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets to identify an object floating in the air off the shore of the Hawaiian island of Kauai on February 14.

The incident has been confirmed by the US Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), but no further details have been disclosed since the matter is still under investigation.

The Adjutant General of Hawaii issued a statement on Twitter on February 17 saying, “Indo-Pacific Command detected a high-altitude object floating in the air in the vicinity of the Hawaiian Islands.

In accordance with homeland defense procedures, Pacific Air Forces launched tactical aircraft to intercept and identify the object, visually confirming an unmanned balloon without observable identification markings.”

While the military has not revealed the details related to the aircraft deployed in the mission, F-22s, however, are the only fighter jets stationed in Hawaii.

The 199th Fighter Squadron (199 FS) is part of the 154th Wing of the Hawaii Air National Guard, based at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu, Hawaii. The unit is equipped with the F-22A Raptor. The F-22 fighter jet is often assigned to the quick-reaction alert role. 

In regards to aerial activity over Kauai on 2-14:U.S. Indo-Pacific Command detected a high-altitude object floating in air in the vicinity of the Hawaiian Islands. In accordance with homeland defense procedures, Pacific Air Forces launched tactical aircraft to intercept and -1 /3

— Kenneth S Hara (@HawaiiTAG) February 17, 2022

Locals have also confirmed that Raptors were used by the military in the mentioned event, which they refer to as a UFO. Videos shared on a Facebook group “Kauai Community” reveal what appears to be a fixed white oblong object in the sky, surrounded by at least two vapor trails (line-shaped clouds produced by aircraft engine exhaust or changes in air pressure).

Lots of people on Kauai claiming to see a UFO tonight… people I’m close to and trust said they saw it too and that the military is aware it’s there and are circling. pic.twitter.com/EhYJpOcip6

— Noah Evslin (@nevslin) February 15, 2022

Intrigued by the possibility of UFO sighting, some residents said that the object remained stationary. “Someone who works in aviation here on the island received communications that there were F-22s intercepting a UFO.

UFO means an unidentified flying object to them. I wonder what the fighter pilots saw. It being a STATIONARY object,” one comment reads. “The aviation person told me that the UFO is many miles offshore from Princeville over the ocean. It remained in one spot for at least 40 minutes.”

Another resident wrote, “I watched this from Lihue to Kapaa. Two jets flying around and around. And this just stationary not even close to the altitude the jets were.” 

According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, a Newspaper based in Hawaii, Kauai County Councilwoman Felicia Cowen heard two booms, each strong enough to shake her house. “I would like to understand what were the powerful explosion sounds that were strong enough to shake my house in Kilauea, Kauai, and what looked like smoke in the sky. Was any object hit and did it explode? If so, what was it, and why?”

Some video taken yesterday of military planes circling. pic.twitter.com/SXzgPHWmyq

— Noah Evslin (@nevslin) February 15, 2022

However, the “responding aircraft did not destroy the balloon,” as per an Air Force spokesperson who spoke to the paper on Thursday, February 17. “We don’t have anything else to provide at this time,” the official said, adding that the service is “actively monitoring it via joint capabilities and it is under evaluation.”

Why It Was A Cause Of Alarm

The incident alludes to a far bigger problem: the use of balloons to gather important intelligence. Balloons are used to collect intelligence on radar and communications systems. Even the Pentagon is working on the possibility of utilizing surveillance balloons.

In 2019, it was reported that the US military is testing high-altitude, solar-powered balloons that will allow the Pentagon to perform continuous surveillance across America. Since the Pacific Missile Range’s primary facility is located on Kauai’s northwestern coast, the recent event could be a serious source of concern for the US military. 

According to the US military, “the facility is part of  ‘the world’s largest instrumented multi-environmental range capable of supporting surface, subsurface, air, and space operations simultaneously.” Moreover, since the 2000s, the military has undertaken a number of missile defense experiments at this installation. 

There are about 42,000 square miles of controlled airspace and over 1,100 square miles of instrumented underwater range. In addition to missile defense, the site also hosts training exercises ranging from small single-unit drills to large-scale multi-unit battle group scenarios.

Such an installation would pique the attention of America’s rivals given the important equipment located there, as well as the sensitive electromagnetic waveforms some of them emit. 

Joy White: ‘We’ve got to get a more clear access point for commercial industry’

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force’s procurement arm based in Los Angeles has launched a new effort to attract commercial space companies that do not typically work with the government, Joy White, executive director of the Space Systems Command, said Feb. 16.

The plan is to have Space Force representatives assigned at different locations in the United States who can engage with interested companies and identify opportunities for the Space Force to invest in “high potential technologies,” White said at a Space Foundation virtual event. 

White, who is also head of contracting at Space Systems Command, said the initiative was named “SSC front door” although it is still in its infancy. “We’ve got to get a more clear access point for commercial industry to come in and to bring us their ideas, and bring us their technologies. So that is what SSC front door is intended to do.”

Teams assigned to the SSC front door effort will be based at the command’s headquarters in Los Angeles but also at other space industry hotbeds like NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Others will be in Colorado Springs and Kirtland, New Mexico, home of the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Space Rapid Capabilities Office. In the future the plan is to bring people to the Washington, D.C. area as well, she said, “because there’s so much opportunity there to talk with folks and understand what capabilities are out there.”

The Space Systems Command is a massive organization with an $11 billion annual budget and nearly 10,000 personnel. White said the command has set a goal of transforming the military’s space architecture from one dominated by huge satellites in geostationary Earth orbit to more proliferated networks deployed in lower and higher orbits that would be more difficult for adversaries to attack. 

The command has a 2026 target date to have new networks of satellites in orbit and needs help from the private sector, said White.

The Space Systems Command was stood up in August 2021, replacing the Space and Missile Systems Center which was first established in 1954, making it the oldest space organization in the U.S. military. “Over decades programs have gotten bogged down by traditional processes,” said White. The new chief of Space Systems Command,  Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, is restructuring the organization to be more agile, she said.

White said the front door initiative is one of many efforts to ensure “we keep pace with the innovation of the commercial space sector.”

The command is still fine-tuning the front door concept so it doesn’t become too complex for small businesses, she said. “One thing I worry about is whether we have too many doors and so it might be confusing as to how to come in. We’ve got to get that tightened up.”