Air Force researchers are designing an autonomous aircraft that can take down a manned plane in air-to-air combat, with the goal of pitting the two against each other in July 2021. Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, head of the Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, said the Air Force Research Laboratory team is pushing the boundaries of what the military can build, compared to the aircraft that already fill the service’s squadrons. “[Team leader Steve Rogers] is probably going to have a hard time getting to that flight next year … when the machine beats the human,” Shanahan said during a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event. “If he does it, great.”

National Guard troops—including Air National Guardsmen—from 10 states are deployed or slated to travel to Washington to reinforce the District of Columbia National Guard’s support to local and federal law enforcement, amid ongoing civil unrest following George Floyd’s May 25 death in police custody, the National Guard Bureau said in a June 4 release. As of the morning of June 4, more than 32,400 Guard personnel from 32 states and the nation’s capital had been tapped to back up law-enforcement responses to these civil disturbances, the release stated.

The Defense Department is rolling out 5G technology for experimentation and testing at seven more military bases, including the Air Force’s main training base. The second tranche of bases includes Naval Base Norfolk, Va.; Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii; Joint Base San Antonio, Texas; the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif.; Fort Hood, Texas; Camp Pendleton, Calif.; and Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. These bases, in addition to the first tranche announced last year, make 12 total military installations that will explore potential uses for 5G.

A contingent of RQ-4 Global Hawks are now flying out of Yokota Air Base, Japan, after making their regular trip from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, to avoid bad weather. The RQ-4s often move to Japan to stay safe from Andersen's typhoon season. A Pacific Air Forces release said the unmanned surveillance aircraft, owned by the 319th Reconnaissance Wing, started heading to Yokota on May 30. Having alternate locations to perform the Global Hawk mission allows the Air Force to continue collecting reconnaissance images while supporting Japan and keeping peace in the Indo-Pacific, said Lt. Col. Ben Craycraft, commander of 319th Operations Group's Detachment 1.

On March 23, the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies will host a virtual Nuclear Deterrence Series event featuring Scowcroft Group Principal Frank Miller. At a time when nuclear modernization programs are accelerating around the world, proposals to recapitalize the U.S. nuclear arsenal are at the forefront of debates over defense spending. Miller will share his insights into the prospects for U.S. nuclear modernization programs and the value of nuclear deterrence in today's competitive security environment. The think tank will post event video on its website and YouTube page after the live event.