The Pentagon believes it has identified the mechanical failure that led to a fatal crash of an Osprey aircraft in Japan and the grounding of the fleet for two months, a U.S. defense official told The Associated Press. It is now weighing how the aircraft can be returned to service. The Pentagon’s Joint Safety Council is now working with the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps on their plans to get Osprey crews ready to fly again, said Navy Rear Adm. Chris Engdahl, chairman of the council and commander of Naval Safety Command.
U.S. forces probably did not detect the approach of the Iranian-made drone that killed three American soldiers last week at a remote base in Jordan, and there was no air defense system on site capable of shooting it down, the military’s initial assessment of the attack has found. The early findings, which have not been previously reported, indicate that the drone may have been missed “due to its low flight path,” a U.S. defense official with direct knowledge of the assessment told The Washington Post. Additionally, this person said, the base, known as Tower 22, was not outfitted with weapons that can “kill” aerial threats like drones, and instead relied on electronic warfare systems designed to disable them or disrupt their path to a target.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Feb. 6 narrowly advanced 26-20 an arms sale bill largely along party lines that has pitted defense industry groups against arms control advocates. Despite the near party-line vote, the legislation emerged from a bipartisan taskforce meant to address substantial U.S. foreign military sales delays across the board, including to Taiwan.
New Tricare contracts are now slated to start at the beginning of next year, and beneficiaries should see improvements in provider network flexibility and choice; broader access to telehealth; faster response times for calls; and easier transfers of specialty care during permanent change of station moves, defense officials said.
Congress should require all Pentagon contracts to secure data rights from the vendor, the Defense Innovation Board says. “The current state of data access within DOD vendor agreements is fragmented and inconsistent,” the advisory board wrote in its most recent report, which includes suggested legislative text for the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act that would "enshrine DOD data access and rights in all vendor agreements.”
Space technology startups should carefully weigh the risks and rewards when bidding on Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) government contracts, a venture investor said Feb. 6 at the SmallSat Symposium in Mountain View, Calif. The SBIR program provides crucial early funding for young firms, and can be a lifeline for many space entrepreneurs when they’re just getting off the ground.
Even before the entire fleet of V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft was grounded following a fatal crash of an Air Force Osprey off the coast of Japan in November, the Navy’s version was experiencing serious issues that limited its ability to fully perform its assigned missions. Those findings by the Pentagon’s top testing office come even though the Navy’s former air boss called the CMV-22B a “game changer” after its first operational deployment in 2022.
There are no plans to move troops out of Jordan, a Pentagon spokeswoman told reporters Feb. 5, and U.S. Central Command continues to investigate how an Iran-backed militia’s drone was able to evade detection and detonate above a housing building at Tower 22, killing three U.S. soldiers and wounding dozens more on Jan. 28. While troops are more than likely to stay put at the remote outpost on the Syrian border, officials are mulling options for upgrading air defenses at Tower 22 and other small outposts across the Middle East.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will appear at a House Armed Services hearing this month to face questions over his decision to hide his recent hospitalization from top national security officials. The Pentagon chief has agreed to testify on Feb. 29, according to Armed Services spokesperson Justine Tripathi.
When Brock Holmgreen first arrived at the Air Force Academy, a single tandem jump—a gift from his parents when he turned 18—was the sum total of his skydiving experience. Less than four years later, Holmgreen, a senior, is a collegiate skydiving champion and a core member of the Academy’s Wings of Blue parachute team.
