Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira, who pleaded guilty in March to federal criminal charges for leaking highly classified military documents, will now face a military court-martial. Teixeira admitted to illegally collecting some of the nation’s most sensitive secrets and sharing them on the social media platform Discord. He is facing military charges of disobeying orders and obstructing justice.
The Islamic State group carried out more attacks in the first half of 2024 in Iraq and Syria than it did in all of 2023, officials at U.S. Central Command said on July 17 as the terror group continues to reconstitute in the region.
As it marks the 35th anniversary of its first flight, the U.S. Air Force’s B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is introducing capability upgrades to ensure that it will remain a key element of the aerial leg of America’s nuclear deterrent triad—as well as undertaking long-range conventional strike missions.
The commander of the Swedish Air Force, Maj. Gen. Jonas Wikman, has led the flying force since December 2022, overseeing the integration efforts of Sweden into NATO’s deterrence and defense posture since joining the alliance in March. ... In an interview ahead of the Farnborough Airshow in the United Kingdom, the air chief touched on the dogged obstacles of information-sharing among allies, the lessons from the air war in Ukraine, and how air forces must be prepared to fight in more contested electronic warfare environments in the future.
The head of U.S. Space Command expressed confidence July 17 that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will soon return to flight following a recent mishap. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of U.S. Space Command, revealed that he visited SpaceX’s Starlink satellite factory in Seattle the day after a July 11 incident that led to the grounding of the Falcon 9 fleet.
A cutting edge targeting system proved its worth in the multinational Valiant Shield wargames last month, and a “combat representative” version will be ready for Indo-Pacific Command to use by the end of the year, according to the Pentagon R&D official overseeing the effort. But development of this Joint Fires Network won’t stop there, said assistant secretary for research and engineering Thomas Browning, a former Air Force pilot who still goes by the callsign “Shotgun.”
Industry executives still are raising fundamental questions about the design and relevance of a fleet of future autonomous combat aircraft. Speaking at the Global Air and Space Chiefs Conference July 17, the head of Northrop Grumman’s Aeronautics division emphasized the importance of survivability and upgrade capacity in the future design of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCAs), two features that can add cost and complexity to the concept.
When the Pentagon revealed it had delivered a baseline version of its marquis advanced command-and-control capability earlier this year, it proved it could quickly deliver a solution to a specific set of C2 requirements through focused experimentation.
“‘Over not through’ is the strongest, most unifying culture in the U.S Air Force’s history. It’s a mindset that inspires airmen to attack the toughest operational problems with grit and innovation. And it’s a mindset that urgently needs renewing,” write Paula Thornhill, a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general and a professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, and Lt. Col. Shane Praiswater, a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University Strategic Thinkers Program and director of operations for the 31st Test and Evaluation Squadron’s B-21 Initial Cadre.
Pillar II of the trilateral AUKUS security arrangement already hopes to boost development of AI, hypersonics, and other cutting-edge tech, but on July 17 a key American official suggested it should widen its scope further and aim much higher: to space. Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of operations for the US Space Force, told reporters at the Global Air Chief’s Conference that he believes there is “room” within the U.S.-U.K.-Australia agreement for his area of operations to be added to the list of the partnership’s tech dreams.
Coming from a military family, Paul Skenes had a pretty good idea of what awaited him at Basic Cadet Training before his freshman year at the Air Force Academy. Still, the six-week program challenges every aspiring cadet, even if they enter with eyes wide open. Looking back on it three years later, Skenes is thankful for the experience. ... Skenes, one of the best pitching prospects to come out of college baseball in years, played two seasons for Air Force before leading Louisiana State to a national championship in his only season there. Selected first overall in the 2023 draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Skenes has been scintillating so far during his rookie season of Major League Baseball.
