A major Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow and eight other Russian regions on Sept. 10 killed a resident of the capital for the first time, after a drone hit a residential apartment building. Three of Moscow’s airports ... were temporarily closed as a result of the attacks. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said at least 14 drones were shot down in and around Moscow.
U.S. Adm. Samuel Paparo, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, spoke with his Chinese counterpart Sept. 9 as both countries seek to maintain military-to-military communications. Paparo spoke via videoconference with Gen. Wu Yanan, the commander of the People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command.
The plethora of recent regional geopolitical agreements involving the United States and its allies in the Indo-Pacific is likely having a “galvanizing effect” in Beijing, where military planners have long sought “absolute clarity” about the world’s actors and their intentions, according to Kevin Rudd, Australia’s top diplomat to the United States.
Mercury Systems Chief Operating Officer Roger Wells talks with Air & Space Forces Magazine Editor-in-Chief Tobias Naegele about the latest advances, opportunities, and needs for edge computing and how Mercury’s systems can provide processing power for the Air and Space Forces.
Weapons-builder RTX is working with General Atomics and Anduril to fit air-to-air missiles on the first set of Air Force drones that will fly and fight alongside fighter pilots in combat. The service has set RTX’s Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile as a “threshold weapon”—read: a required one—for its collaborative combat aircraft program, said Jon Norman, RTX’s vice president of requirements and capabilities for air and space defense systems.
Defense giant Boeing announced plans to demonstrate quantum networking in space—a technological feat that, if successful, could help change the way the military processes data and identifies targets. The company plans to launch the effort, dubbed Q4S, in 2026 using its own research-and development money.
The Space Force’s acquisition arm has awarded a $188 million contract to Sev1Tech to expand its ground-based data transport network, the service announced Sept. 10. The announcement comes three years after Space Systems Command (SSC) awarded Sev1Tech a $46.5 million pathfinder contract to develop a prototype of the capability—known as meshONE-T—at 17 locations around the world.
Lt. Gen. Ronald Clark’s promotion to lead Army forces in the Pacific and receive a fourth star is being held up in the Senate by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., the senator and his office confirmed Sept. 10. Tuberville is attributing the move to concerns over what role Clark, who currently serves as the senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, may have played in the initial secrecy surrounding Austin’s hospitalization earlier this year.
The Guam Defense System Joint Program Office, an Army-led shop established earlier this year now beginning its work in earnest, is asking industry for ideas on developing a cutting-edge battle management system that can integrate seamlessly with existing integrated air and missile defense command and control systems.
The U.S. military is investing in reusable reentry capsules designed by space startups to return cargo from space and deliver it to precise locations on Earth. These vehicles are seen as key tools for future space operations and logistics, as the Pentagon explores new methods to streamline transportation in space.
As they serve alongside one another, an Airman father is providing a blueprint for his Airman son. Chief Master Sgt. Adam Hufty has served in the Air Force for 19 years, many of them as the sole representative of his family. But things changed a year ago when his second oldest child, Airman 1st Class Ashton Hufty, enlisted and deployed with his dad’s unit. Both Huftys are currently supporting Bomber Task Force operations with the 110th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron at Royal Australian Air Force Base in Amberley, Australia.