American forces are ready with a “range of options” to deal with increasing acts of aggression in the disputed South China Sea if ordered to carry them out jointly and after consultations with treaty ally the Philippines, a U.S. admiral said Aug. 29.
The White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met on Aug. 29 with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, and held rare talks with a top Chinese military official in a sign that the two countries are communicating at senior levels despite tensions over the South China Sea and Taiwan.
Ukrainian forces struck two oil depots within Russia overnight, while Moscow on Aug. 29 launched the third major aerial attack on Ukraine this week—the latest in strikes by the two sides on each other’s energy infrastructure, causing electricity cutoffs throughout Ukraine and raising the prospect of a bleak winter for its people.
Officials from the National Security Agency and the State Department said they’re still struggling to come up with a way to deter a powerful hacking group allegedly backed by the Chinese government and accused of slipping into U.S. critical infrastructure networks.
The Air Force wants to expand its international exchange program for enlisted Airmen to improve cooperation between allies in case of a major war in the Pacific. Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force David Flosi said at the Senior Enlisted Leader International Summit in Washington that the expanded international exchange for enlisted Airmen would start with nations in the “Five Eyes” alliance with the United States—Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
Air Force Greenlights Baseline for New NRO-Space Force Satellites to Track Ground Targets
The United States isn’t working quickly enough to replace its aging and vulnerable GPS system, according to the Pentagon’s former space policy chief. “We are falling behind. We aren't modernizing constellation signals fast enough,” John Plumb said at a GovExec Space Project event.
Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking sensitive and secret government information, is set to face a court-martial March 10, an Air Force spokesperson confirmed to Military.com.
The first known prototype of the Model 437 from Northrop Grumman subsidiary Scaled Composites has flown. The design has been in development as an advanced “loyal wingman” air combat drone since at least 2021, but this initial example interestingly emerged earlier this month with a cockpit.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Raytheon Technologies (RTX) a $51.7 million contract to develop satellite communications antennas for military aircraft, the Department of Defense announced Aug. 29.
U.S. air-safety regulators have temporarily blocked SpaceX from launching its mainstay rocket after a failed landing, adding another delay to a mission that would feature the first commercial-astronaut spacewalk.
