The Pentagon is bolstering security at the US Embassy in Iraq after Iranian-backed militias attacked it on Dec. 31. About 750 soldiers are immediately deploying aboard USAF C-17s, with more deployments possible over the next several days. “To Iran and its proxy militias: We will not accept continued attacks against our personnel and forces in the region. Attacks against us will be met with responses in the time, manner, and place of our choosing," Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in a Jan. 2 statement. "We urge the Iranian regime to end their malign activities.”
Congress threw its support behind the Pentagon’s effort to design new hypersonic weapons and fully funded the Air Force’s two high-speed missile programs in the fiscal 2020 defense policy and spending bills. Lawmakers want the military to speed up testing and development of hypersonic capabilities, ranging from aircraft propulsion to weapons. They echo the Pentagon’s concern that America’s adversaries are far outpacing the US at maturing weapons that can travel at least five times the speed of sound.
Lockheed Martin closed out 2019 with two more F-35 contracts totaling over $2 billion, as it finished delivering its 134th jet of the year. The bulk of the funding comes in a $1.927 billion contract for recurring logistics services for delivered F-35s for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and non-US services that fly the jets.
The head of Taiwan’s military and seven others were killed in a Jan. 2 UH-60M Black Hawk crash near New Taipei City. Gen. Shen Yi-ming was on his way to visit his troops when the Black Hawk disappeared from radar shortly after takeoff while flying over mountains in the north of the island nation.
Four members of the al-Shabab terror group were killed in three airstrikes in Somalia on Dec. 29, according to US Africa Command. The US military conducted a total of five strikes against al-Shabab in Somalia in December, killing six militants.
Raytheon will build a new batch of Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles for 22 foreign countries under a $768.3 million Air Force contract awarded Dec. 27, 2019. This is the 33rd AMRAAM production lot and involves sales to Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Turkey and the United Kingdom, according to a Defense Department contract announcement. The Pentagon did not say how many missiles are included in that lot.
