The U.S. military has rescinded the preliminary award of what could be a nine-figure contract with the company it had tentatively selected to build a small-scale nuclear power plant at Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska. The Department of the Air Force and the Defense Logistics Agency in August announced an “intent to award” the contract to Oklo—a Silicon Valley startup backed by Sam Altman, who, until his ouster this week, also led the company behind ChatGPT.
“The once mighty United States Air Force has settled into a rhythm of buying just 48 F-35As a year. To the layman, that may sound like a lot. It’s not. That’s down from its 2015 plan to acquire 80 a year, which fell to 60 a year in 2017 and just 41 in Fiscal Year 2022. There are many reasons why the Service should be buying more F-35s, but for the sake of time, let’s narrow the list to the six most pressing,” writes John Venable, a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force and Senior Research Fellow for Defense Policy at The Heritage Foundation.
Small loitering munitions, also known as kamikaze drones, with new specialized seekers would be a valuable additional tool for finding and taking out enemy land-based electronic warfare systems, according to U.S. Special Operations Command. This underscores the threat posed by electronic warfare capabilities that potential adversaries, especially China and Russia, have already fielded and new systems they are continuing to develop. It also speaks to ongoing discussions about the roles of U.S. special operations in any future high-end conflict after decades of focusing on counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency, and other lower-intensity operations.
For its latest Hyperspace Challenge accelerator, the U.S. Space Force selected three startups specializing in satellite propulsion, picks reflecting the military’s growing interest in nimble satellites that can maneuver to outplay adversaries. This marks a shift for the Pentagon, which traditionally has launched satellites into orbit and restricted their movements to conserve fuel. But with rivals fielding maneuverable spacecraft, U.S. officials are calling for a shift to “dynamic space operations,” enabled by autonomous refueling and other in-orbit services.
The Department of Defense on Nov. 17 publicly released its new strategic guidance for operations in the information environment, which calls for a shift in how the Pentagon approaches the integration of “informational and physical power.” The document, which was signed in July by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, marks the first update of the strategy since 2016.
Due to the dysfunction in Congress, countless military programs are on shaky budgetary ground. In this op-ed, the Mitchell Institute’s Tim Ryan argues the Pentagon cannot wait to upgrade one that’s probably little thought about but crucial: weather satellites.
The U.S. Air Force is reevaluating the schedule for delivery of the two new planes for the presidential fleet, which may mean more delays for the troubled project that already has saddled contractor Boeing Co. with $2.4 billion in losses. In addition to reviewing the timeline for delivery of the specially equipped planes—known as Air Force One when the president is on board—the Air Force is evaluating whether at least two current major milestones are still on track.
Iranian-backed militants in Iraq and Syria have long battled with U.S. and coalition forces, launching sporadic attacks against bases in the region where troops are deployed to fight Islamic State group insurgents. But since Oct. 17, as civilian deaths in Israel’s war against Hamas began to skyrocket, there has been a dramatic spike in attacks by Iran’s proxies, operating under the umbrella name of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden sat down and agreed to discuss the implications of artificial intelligence and the resumption of military-to-military discussions that is pretty much all they agreed to: the start of discussions. But that’s still a major win for those hoping to avoid conflict between the two global powers, according to a top National Security Council official who briefed regional reporters.
The U.S., Japan, and South Korea will roll out a platform to share missile threat detection data later this year as part of a broader trilateral agreement designed to bolster security in the region and deter North Korean aggression, defense officials announced on Nov. 14. U.S. Indo-Pacific Command is leading the effort, described as a shared platform to exchange real-time missile warning data to better detect missiles launched by North Korea. The platform is expected to be fully operational in December.
A new app that allows military families to “sublet” their child care slots on a short-term basis will be rolled out to all Air Force child development centers by July 2024, officials said. Kinderspot, which was the brainchild of Air Force Maj. Jacque Vasta, allows families who are enrolled at a participating Air Force child development center to offer their weeklong blocks of time to other families when they’re away from the child care center, while receiving a credit to their account when another family rents their spot.
SpaceX launched its Starship megarocket, the most powerful rocket on Earth, on its second test flight this weekend, and while the vehicle may have met an explosive end, its flight was absolutely amazing to behold. Stunning photos and video by SpaceX, Space.com, news wires, and the public show the sheer spectacle of the Starship second test launch, which SpaceX launched early Saturday (Nov. 18) from its Starbase facility near Boca Chica Beach in South Texas.