Ukraine says it has a new long-range weapon to strike deep into Russia without asking permission from allies—a homegrown combination of missile and drone that the defense minister vowed Aug. 26 would provide “answers” to a wave of Russian bombings. The Palianytsia was created due to urgent necessity, Ukrainian officials said, as Russia has dominated the skies since the outbreak of the war in February 2022 and Ukraine’s Western allies have placed conditions on use of their long-range missiles in Russia.
Japan said it scrambled fighter jets on Aug. 26 after a Chinese military aircraft violated its airspace in a further escalation of regional tensions. The incident comes just weeks after the U.S. military intercepted several Russian and Chinese bombers in international airspace near the coast of Alaska. The two-minute incursion into Japanese airspace by the Y-9 surveillance aircraft at 11:29 a.m. was the first by a Chinese military plane, local media reported.
The breakup of a Chinese rocket following a satellite launch generated a fresh field of debris—and new concern over Beijing’s attitude toward space junk. The Long March 6A rocket, launched Aug. 6, was carrying the first batch of satellites that aim to form a rival system to Starlink, the satellite broadband service offered by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. After releasing those satellites, the rocket broke up into hundreds of pieces, for reasons unknown.
Across the country, most of the Air Force reservists eligible to transfer into the Space Force work for the 310th Space Wing headquartered at Schriever Space Force Base. The reservists with the wing who are eligible to transfer work in specialty areas such as space systems operations, cyberspace operations, and intelligence.
Former President Donald Trump on Aug. 26 vowed to create a Space National Guard if he is elected commander-in-chief again in November, calling it a critical step in ensuring that America continues to strengthen its military defenses in space.
Lockheed Martin just graduated the first students from its F-16 training center in Romania, but the company is already looking to expand it and double its production of pilots as the U.S. and its allies struggle to meet demand for training.
The Defense Innovation Unit is on the hunt for generative artificial intelligence tools to help the U.S. military with joint planning and wargaming. DIU issued a solicitation to industry via its commercial solutions opening contracting mechanism to support an effort called Thunderforge.
“At the recent U.S. Strategic Command Symposium, Rep. John Garamondi (D-Calif.) ... challenged the military to return nuclear bombers to alert status if the nuclear threat is as serious as STRATCOM suggests. While we may disagree with his views on Sentinel, we certainly agree with his views on returning nuclear capable bombers to alert status. It is long overdue,” write Dr. Adam Lowther, vice president of research at the National Institute for Deterrence Studies, and Lt. Col. Derek Williams, a U.S. Air Force B-52 Weapons System Officer.
Despite numerous policies and studies advocating for greater integration of private sector innovations, the gap between rhetoric and action remains wide, experts said Aug. 26. Mandy Vaughn, an industry consultant and co-chair of a recent study by the Defense Science Board, said DOD has yet to institutionalize processes that prioritize commercial capabilities early in the budgeting cycle.
Joby Aviation, a company with Dayton manufacturing plans, recently flew a Cessna autonomously for more than 3,900 miles for the Air Force, the company said Aug. 26. Joby’s team flew a fully autonomous Cessna 208B Grand Caravan between military bases and public airports across California and Nevada earlier this month.
Ten people are recovering from injuries they suffered when a wild storm hit McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas over the weekend. The slow-moving wet microburst brought wind gusts of up to 54 mph, as well as lightning and rain, to the Frontiers in Flight Airshow flightline in Wichita. A wet microburst is a short-lived, small area of damaging winds with heavy rain and hail.
