The vast majority of service members making a permanent change of station in 2024 will not be moving under the parameters of a new $6.2 billion contract that aims to improve the shipment of troops’ household goods. Instead, military personnel will be moving under the current system, according to U.S. Transportation Command officials.
Lawmakers have promised that 2024 will see a major focus on military quality-of-life issues, including persistent problems with crumbling, unhealthy barracks. But efforts to replace dilapidated housing and improve service members' quality of life could be kneecapped before they can even get off the ground by political fighting over the federal budget.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said that China sent four balloons over the island, three of which passed near to a key air force base. The reported incursions on Jan. 2 come as China has been upping its threat to use force to annex the self-governing republic.
Lt. Gen. Bruce “Orville” Wright, USAF (Ret.), will retire as President & CEO of the Air & Space Forces Association in 2024, after five years as the Association’s president. AFA’s Board of Directors has formed a search committee to identify a successor. ... “Orville Wright will leave big shoes to fill,” said AFA Board Chair Bernie Skoch. “His energy, drive, and outreach are exemplary and were key elements in AFA’s successes over these past five years. We have an outstanding and experienced search committee hard at work on the task of identifying candidates to become AFA’s next President & CEO, and I am confident that we will find exactly the right person for the next stage in AFA’s evolution.”
Crews have found the black box from the U.S. Air Force CV-22 that crashed off the shore of Yakushima, Japan, and killed eight Airmen on board, an official said. The Pentagon grounded its entire fleet of Ospreys a week after the Nov. 29 crash. The fleet remains grounded and the body of the eighth Airman on board has yet to be found, according to Air Force Special Operations Command spokesperson Lt. Col. Rebecca Heyse.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has given Aurora Flight Sciences the green light to build a full-scale model of the X-65—an experimental unmanned aircraft designed to be able to fly without flaps, rudders or other exterior-moving parts.
A water main break in a dormitory at Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota has pushed dozens of Airmen off base and into hotels—leaving some to pay the cost up-front. On Jan. 2, a “water main failure flooded the first floor of Eielson Hall” causing damage to Airmen’s personal belongings and stopping all water usage. Another dormitory, Kollinger Hall, also had water shut off due to the incident.
The U.S. Army announced Jan. 3 it has awarded Bombardier Defense with a contract for what will be among the service’s first business jets-turned-spy aircraft prototypes. The contract, awarded Dec. 12, is for one Global 6500 jet with options to buy two others to be used for the Army’s HADES, or High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System, project designed to replace the RC-12 Guardrail.
Small inexpensive “off the shelf” drones like those Ukraine is using against Russia, and Hamas is deploying against Israel, are transforming modern warfare. To train American soldiers to counter this threat, the U.S. military recently opened a specialized drone warfare school.
As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The U.S. military occasionally takes that idea to an extreme, using some equipment every day that has been around for decades. Task & Purpose asked the services to name some of the oldest pieces of equipment they still use to this day.