Defense News
The Pentagon has chosen systems for the second tranche of Replicator—an initiative to quickly field thousands of drones to counter China in a future conflict. Doug Beck, director of the Defense Innovation Unit, told reporters Aug. 8 the program has awarded contracts for some, but not all, of the systems it will buy in the second phase of the program.
The Washington Post
As Israel braces for an attack from Iran—fueling fighter jets, positioning air defense batteries, and coordinating with Washington on the placement of U.S. military assets—there is growing apprehension about one of its most critical lines of defense: an American-led Arab coalition that helped thwart the last Iranian assault.
King Aerospace
Every team member at King Aerospace is proud to serve their country and answer the needs of its government and armed forces, as demonstrated by their commitment to servant leadership and devotion to God, Country, and Family at locations across the U.S. and around the globe.
The New York Times
After months of losing ground to Russia in brutal, grinding battles in Ukraine, Kyiv shifted tactics with a surprise attack into Russian territory this week that caught Moscow off guard and opened a new front in the 30-month war.
Defense One
Tomorrow’s military satellites shouldn’t need so much human direction, the Space Force’s chief buyer said Aug. 8. ... By adding autonomy to its satellites, the service could reduce reliance on ground-based control stations, which officials say are vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Breaking Defense
“The typical Pentagon reaction to any problem is to create more Pentagon offices to exert more control, which is the opposite of how startups and small businesses operate. The reason small businesses and startups have difficulty penetrating defense procurement has nothing to do with their ability to navigate the physical confines of the Pentagon staff. It has everything to do with how DOD procures items,” writes retired Army Maj. Gen. John G. Ferrari, a senior nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Defense News
Low-cost first-person-view drones are proving increasingly capable of striking larger platforms—such as combat helicopters—in Ukraine, as their pace of development has accelerated to allow them to fly faster and further. On Aug. 7, the Ukrainian military released footage showing one of its unknown models of FPV drones successfully hitting the tail rotor of a Russian Mi-28 Havoc attack helicopter over the battlefield.
Military.com
Dr. Salvatore Mercogliano, a maritime historian and former merchant mariner who worked with JLOTS during the 1990s, stressed to Military.com that the Gaza mission “should be a warning bell for everybody about what a Pacific operation would look like.”
Breaking Defense
The Pentagon is laying the groundwork for a new partnership program in the Indo-Pacific region that will explore opportunities for joint production and sustaining of weapons, according to the Defense Department’s top acquisition official.
DefenseScoop
The Defense Department office in charge of researching and developing next-generation wireless capabilities has multiple projects underway to give warfighters access to 5G-enabled communications—from improving surveillance at bases in Africa to testing the technology with NATO allies.
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Stars and Stripes
An Airman was discovered dead at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea on Aug. 5, less than two weeks after the death of a fellow service member assigned to the same unit.
One More Thing
Military Times
In retrospect, Navy Lt. Cmdr. James Dickerson admits he shouldn’t have posted the TikTok video of him in uniform, lip-synching a profanity-laced parody of Frozen’s “Let it Go” and giving middle fingers to the camera, his blouse’s gold oak leaf rank insignia square in the frame with a caption that read, “Working the day before leave be like.”
