With the Pentagon’s No. 2 official calling for additional oversight of joint all-domain command and control (JADC2) efforts and other officials repeatedly expressing concerns about the lack of coordination between the military services, there is a growing sense that if JADC2 is to ever become reality, a specific point person is needed to pull everything together. In comments this week, Frank Kendall, the Air Force Secretary, gave a clear sign about who might fill that role: the department’s Chief Digital and AI Officer Craig Martell.
Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall toured the Pacific Air Forces area of responsibility to emphasize the strategic priority of advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific. During his tour, Kendall reinforced the National Defense Strategy tenet of deterring aggression while being prepared to prevail in conflict when necessary, prioritizing the importance of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command theater.
The Space Force has started building a site at Clear Space Force Station, Alaska, where it will operate two new polar communications payloads scheduled to launch in 2023 on a Space Norway mission. The Space Systems Command’s satellite communications office broke ground to prepare the site to serve as a gateway for the Enhanced Polar Systems-Recapitalization (EPS-R) payloads.
The Pentagon has launched a wide-ranging push to speed up sales of U.S. arms to foreign allies in an effort to better compete with China and refill the arsenals of friendly nations that have given military gear to Ukraine. The Pentagon created a task force of senior officials to examine longstanding inefficiencies in U.S. sales of billions of dollars of weaponry to foreign countries. The so-called “tiger team” will look at ways for the Defense Department to streamline parts of the program, according to a senior defense official, with the aim of putting coveted American drones, guns, helicopters, tanks, and other weaponry into partners’ and allies’ hands faster, officials said.
Air Force and Space Force recruits who fail a drug or alcohol test as they get ready to ship out for training may still be allowed to join the ranks under a new policy proposal being weighed by the services. Department of the Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek confirmed to Military.com that officials are currently considering the policy change.
In Episode 92 of the Aerospace Advantage podcast, “A World on Fire, Reducing Civilian Casualties, and a Washington Update: The Rendezvous,” host John Baum chats with retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, retired Maj. Gen. Larry Stutzriem, and Todd Harmer to discuss the air and space topics that you’ve seen in the national security headlines. This episode, they explore Washington’s latest moves regarding Ukraine, takeaways from the recent flare up in the Taiwan Strait, whether DOD’s plan to reduce civilian casualties will work, and whether “divesting to invest” is succeeding when it comes to modernizing the Air Force’s aircraft inventory.
As seen in movies and TV shows such as "Jarhead" and "Generation Kill," wearing a gas mask and suit for surviving chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear attacks is a clunky and uncomfortable experience. That also rings true for aircrew, whose job of making minute adjustments to flight control sticks and instruments while piloting expensive aircraft becomes much more difficult while wearing a clumsy protective suit.
The mutually supporting partnership between Lockheed Martin engineers and Air Force engineers and Airmen fuels a continuous striving for the next evolution of aviation technology. This partnership is rooted in a deep understanding and a shared commitment to the mission ahead, and the desire to stay “ahead of ready” in the needs of the warfighters.
The Department of the Air Force in January promised to launch a modern app as the centerpiece of an effort to transform how troops are judged on their work each year. Instead, Airmen and Space Force Guardians got poorly tested, confusing, and erratic new software called myEval. Nine months into the myEval rollout, senior leaders are delaying other updates to officer and enlisted evaluations. They vow to fix the program’s shortcomings.
The custom-painted F/A-18E/F Super Hornets that carried Pete Mitchell’s name and TOPGUN titles were undoubtedly among the stars of "Top Gun: Maverick," which is now Paramount Pictures’ biggest-ever movie. But in addition to those distinctive Super Hornets (at least three of which were prepared for the movie), another lookalike jet—this time an F-15 Eagle—has now appeared in Japan. A resolutely “Air Force” aircraft painted in a scheme associated with a decidedly Navy-focused franchise is in itself unusual.