Radar Sweep
Air Force Looking for Ideas on How to Turn Launch Ranges into “National Spaceports”
The Air Force Space Command will hold a tabletop exercise this week focused on the future of military launch facilities and how they can support growth in commercial space. The exercise, to be held Nov. 5-7 in Chantilly, Va., is an effort by Air Force Space Command to gather ideas on how to transform the military’s launch ranges into multi-use national spaceports that can better accommodate national security, civil, and commercial launch demands.
What the Air Force Can Learn from These Experimental Satellites
The Air Force launched two experimental cubesats Nov. 2 that could provide key insights on the viability of fielding a proliferated constellation of satellites in low earth orbit in the next few years.
Pentagon's Draft AI Ethics Guidelines Fight Bias and Rogue Machines
The Defense Innovation Board just published draft guidelines for artificial intelligence ethics at the Defense Department that aim to keep the emerging technology in check. Some of them are more practical (such as demanding reliability) or have roots in years-old policies (demanding human responsibility at every stage), but others are relatively novel for both the public and private spheres.
GAO: Comprehensive Planning and Oversight Could Help DOD Acquire Space Command and Control Capabilities
“The Air Force has been working to develop a single modernized computer system to enable more effective operations of military and other government satellites and space systems. Such a system could better respond to threats ranging from jamming attacks to space debris,” the US Government Accountability Office writes. “The past three programs to attempt this have ended up significantly behind schedule and over budget. The programs also deferred more difficult work.”
CISA, DARPA Offer Look into Their Dealings with Deepfakes
Agency and industry officials this week detailed their efforts to improve public resiliency, streamline communication, and accelerate technical solutions to counter the threats posed by deepfakes and other disinformation techniques ahead of next year’s election.
Dutch Receive First Operationally-Assigned F-35A
The first operationally-assigned Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter for the Royal Netherlands Air Force arrived in country on Oct. 31.
Luke AFB Selected as Candidate for Belgium F-35 Training
Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett selected Luke AFB, Ariz., as a candidate to host a Belgium F-35A Foreign Military Sales Formal Training Unit for up to seven years, starting in 2023.
OPINION: Through a Gender Lens: The Need for Robust Research into Diversity and Military Effectiveness
“Conflicts will continue to develop and evolve in the future, and the complexity of warfighting will continue to confound its wisest scholars,” writes Marine Corps Lt. Col. Jeanette Gaudry Haynie, founder and executive director of the Athena Leadership Project. “By building a fuller understanding of the tools at our disposal, particularly diversity of perspective and thought within the military, we can increase the effectiveness of leaders, improve the development and implementation of policy, and better understand security as a whole.”
Breaking Bad at Kirtland: OSI Investigates Suspected Fake Meth Handed Out to Trick-or-Treaters
It seems someone at Kirtland AFB, N.M., may have gone as Walter White for Halloween. Some trick-or-treaters going door to door in Kirtland’s on-base residential area last night ended up with small plastic pill baggies containing a crystalline blue substance, Kirtland spokeswoman Eva Blaylock confirmed to Air Force Times on Nov. 1. Although the substance resembles the “blue sky” crystal methamphetamine cooked up by the antihero of the show “Breaking Bad”—which was set in nearby Albuquerque—Blaylock said it was believed to be rock candy. But the Office of Special Investigations at Kirtland isn’t laughing.