An Air Force Academy appointee walked up the steps to the Holaday Athletic Center, where her transformation from civilian to Academy Cadet would begin, and she paused for a moment. Behind her, sign-carrying upperclassmen were instructing her family to move their vehicle along to make room for the dozen or so cars that were queued behind it. The offloading process was efficient and abrupt. Tearful goodbyes were restricted to the space inside the car. “I wasn’t expecting that,” the freshman said before entering the building. Her day would get more frenetic, and much louder, very soon.
An Air Force captain became the service’s first female special tactics officer, donning the elite red beret after completing a grueling three-month training course. Her journey to become a commando has sparked controversy over the past six months about how the Air Force enforces its most stringent training standards and whether she has enjoyed unfair flexibility while going through the pipeline.
One Army veteran running for Congress says the freedoms she fought for in Iraq are being “ripped away” by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Ashley Ehasz, a West Point grad and former Apache helicopter pilot who is seeking to unseat Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania, said the decision is “a matter of national security” because of the impact it will have on the women serving in uniform.
When Vice President Kamala Harris announced in an April 18 speech at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., that the United States would ban the testing of destructive, direct-ascent antisatellite (ASAT) weapons, it was not entirely surprising. The timing was linked to a United Nations meeting in May to discuss reducing space threats. The meeting is part of a long-term effort to agree on rules of the road to maintain safety in Earth orbit and to prevent runaway growth of debris. But the growing commercial users of space are not waiting on the U.N. to take action.
The growing perception of Iran’s aggression in the Middle East, along with Washington’s desire to reduce Russian and Chinese influence in the oil-rich Gulf Arab states, has prompted intense bouts of diplomacy in recent months that could lead to major shifts in the political and military landscape. Many reports have surfaced in past weeks regarding significant developments in play that will likely come together during President Joe Biden’s expected visit to the region in July, according to analysts who spoke with Breaking Defense.
Raytheon Technologies and Northrop Grumman have each won contracts to continue developing hypersonic weapons interceptors in a Missile Defense Agency-led competition. Each company was awarded a firm-fixed price modification to a previously awarded contract for rapid prototyping. Each modification is worth roughly $41.5 million, bringing the total contract value thus far to around $61 million each, according to the contract announcement.
The Space Force stood up its new National Space Intelligence Center (NSIC), but its progenitor, the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC), will confusingly keep space in its name—and continue to be responsible for a good chunk of space-related analysis, according to sources. “It begs the question, I think, as to why did we need to stand up a National Space Intelligence Center? And the truth is that we needed a sharper focus on the space threat that is there today,” Maj. Gen. Leah Lauderback, the Space Force’s head of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, said at the stand-up ceremony.
“Not all weapons are equally important in war. Their importance is unrelated to their cost. Simple tools are undeniably more important in combat than more expensive weapons. Camouflage, concealment, deception, and dispersal still matter. Whether hiding combat jets, trucks, or armor, these basics always apply. Hiding air bases from hypersonic weapons is impossible, therefore maintaining the Air Force’s austere field capability with either the A-10 or a future replacement attack aircraft shouldn’t be underestimated,” writes retired Lt. Col. Brian Boeding, a former A-10 instructor.
Boeing is looking for contract loopholes to get the Pentagon to fork over more money for work on two new Air Force One jets, a project that has cost the planemaker billions of dollars, a top Air Force official said. The company and the Air Force are going back and forth over the terms of a 2018 contract, which stipulates that Boeing, not taxpayers, must pay for any cost overages.
“Top Gun: Maverick” premiered with a new, diverse cast of Naval aviators set to compete for spots at the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School, also known as TOPGUN. Actor Greg Tarzan Davis talked about carrier life, pulling G’s, and portraying Lt. Javy Machado, call sign “Coyote,” a fighter pilot with something to prove.