In what would be a reversal, the Biden administration is poised to approve sending M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, U.S. officials said Jan. 24, as international reluctance to send tanks to the battlefront against the Russians begins to erode. The decision could be announced as soon as Jan. 25, though it could take months or years for the tanks to be delivered. U.S. officials said details are still being worked out. One official said the tanks would be bought under an upcoming Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative package, which provides longer-range funding for weapons and equipment to be purchased from commercial vendors.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has decided to send Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine and allow other countries such as Poland to do so while the United States may supply Abrams tanks, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The decision concerns at least one company of Leopard 2 A6 tanks that will be provided out of Bundeswehr stocks, said Spiegel magazine, which first reported the news. One company usually comprises 14 tanks.
In episode 112 of the Aerospace Advantage, John Baum chats about the challenges of operating drone swarms during a great power conflict with Dr. Doug Meador, the autonomous collaborative vehicles portfolio manager within AFRL’s Aerospace Systems Directorate; Lt. Col. Ryan “SCUDS” Slaughter, the lead for autonomous collaborative platforms in the Headquarters AF strategy, integration, and requirements directorate; plus Caitlin Lee and Mark Gunzinger from the Mitchell Institute team.
The newest version of the F-16 fighter jet flew for the first time Jan. 24, aircraft maker Lockheed Martin said Jan. 24. The jet, which has been built for Bahrain, made its maiden flight from a Lockheed factory in Greenville, South Carolina. CEO Jim Taiclet mentioned the flight during the company’s quarterly earnings call. “It was successful [and] a really great milestone for the company and for that organization in South Carolina,” Taiclet said.
Greece has announced its first domestically build combat drone, the Grypas, with the initial scaled aircraft expected by 2025. In September, the Hellenic Aerospace Industry in cooperation with the Aristotle, Thessaly and Democritus universities presented Greece’s first national drone, the Archytas, advertised as the inaugural system in a line of upcoming unmanned technologies.
The Defense Department’s commercial innovation hub, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), is taking another step toward flight of its prototype hypersonic test jet, asking commercial industry to provide available technologies and payloads—such as propulsion units and communications packages—to be integrated for future demonstration. The Area of Interest (AOI) solicitation, released by DIU on Jan. 23, is a follow-on to the Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing Capabilities (HyCAT) initiative launched last September.
Tricare users who receive prescriptions by mail now need to confirm their refills before they are sent, a change that could cause disruptions for millions of beneficiaries if they don’t immediately respond to the confirmation messages and take the needed steps. Express Scripts, Tricare's pharmacy benefits manager, let patients know in December that the Tricare Mail Order Pharmacy Program would stop sending refills automatically without any confirmation.
Republican lawmakers spent the last year stalling President Joe Biden’s defense nominees, but the latest threat to filling the Pentagon’s top jobs is coming from the president’s own party. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said he’s threatening to delay the six remaining Pentagon nominees because Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin refuses to meet with him over the Trump administration’s decision to move U.S. Space Command from its current location in Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Ala.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences paid closer attention than usual to movies that people actually paid to see in 2022 and nominated quite a few of them for major awards. The surprise hit movie "Everything Everywhere All at Once" leads the pack with 11 nominations, but there was an impressive amount of recognition for military-themed and military-adjacent movies.