CQ Roll Call
In what appropriators are calling a “disturbing” development, lawmakers say the Air Force has diverted over the last two fiscal years nearly $1.3 billion from funds to train pilots overseas without telling Congress. The Air Force’s decision to tap the training funding, which is about a quarter of the money in those accounts, for other purposes follows years of military complaints about lacking adequate and predictable resources to properly train pilots and other personnel.
Breaking Defense
Despite deep concerns within Congress about Pentagon management of the Missile Defense Agency, the fiscal 2020 defense spending bill released Dec. 16 will swell the Defense Department’s $9.43 billion budget request to $10.4 billion.
Inside Defense
The Defense Department has terminated the Threat Reduction Advisory Committee, according to a notice in today's Federal Register. In August, the committee held a classified meeting on the "continued viability" of US chemical and biological weapon treaties, and in past years has discussed countering weapons of mass destruction issues related to North Korea, Russia, and other countries.
Defense One
The US military should rely more on deception and similar tactics instead of simply trying to counter Chinese military developments solely with expensive weapons, a top US Air Force general said Dec. 17.
Fifth Domain
The Air Force will hold a pitch day focused on cybersecurity next year, according to an official. Joe Bradley, the director of Cyber Resiliency Office for Weapons Systems, told Fifth Domain in a December interview that—in conjunction with the Air Force’s cyber entities in San Antonio—they plan to hold a pitch day in March or April where companies can come in and potentially win contracts in minutes.
Military.com
The Air Force is investing $50,000 in a progesterone-testing kit company that could help service members who are trying to conceive. One year after a study estimated 37 percent of women currently serving report fertility issues, the Air Force awarded a Small Business Innovation Research grant to Proov, a company that makes $40 kits for women to test their hormone levels.
Military Times
Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, because troops under 21 won’t be allowed to for much longer. A bipartisan congressional plan to raise the federal minimum age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21 was included in a sweeping budget bill expected to be passed into law by the end of the week. And contrary to previous comments from lawmakers, there is no exception in the law for members of the military.
Denver Post
A sergeant stationed at Colorado’s Schriever Air Force Base faces possible discharge from the military more than eight months after he was identified as a local leader of a white nationalist organization. The Air Force has demoted Cory Reeves one rank from master sergeant to technical sergeant and he now faces discharge proceedings, said Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek.
One More Thing
F-22 Demonstration Team on Twitter
Watch as Lt. Col. Paul Lopez signals for two F-35s to break away during a flyover earlier this year, during which three fifth-generation fighters flew in a single formation to represent the US Air Force and pay respect to their predecessors.
