Throughout the year, Ukraine has lost a series of cities, towns and villages in its eastern Donbas region to Russia, typically withdrawing its troops after hard-fought battles that sometimes lasted for months. ... To outside observers, Ukraine’s slow but steady retreat from the Donbas region, the main theater of the war today, may seem to signal the beginning of the endgame, with Moscow firmly gaining the upper hand on the battlefield, leveraging its overwhelming advantage in manpower and firepower. But Ukrainian commanders and military experts dispute that, saying that a more crucial fight is unfolding in the region that goes beyond simple territorial gains and losses.
Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel this week, only the second time Iran has attacked Israel directly, stood out for its large scope and limited impact, analysts say. Iran gave little warning before launching at Israel at least 180 fast-moving ballistic missiles. A Washington Post analysis shows that at least two dozen made it through Israeli defenses on Oct. 1, far more than in the preceding attack in April, some causing damage at or near Israeli military and intelligence sites. But so far, reports of critical damage on the ground have been limited.
A cyberattack tied to the Chinese government penetrated the networks of a swath of U.S. broadband providers, potentially accessing information from systems the federal government uses for court-authorized network wiretapping requests.
Pentagon and industry officials agree: how the U.S. military used to develop and buy software will no longer work in the modern, digital age. Learn more about how software modernization can change to adapt to best practices and the needs of the warfighter.
During a recent speech the Air Force’s top enlisted leader, Chief Master Sgt. David Flosi, singled out Special Operations Senior Airman Marlene Guerrero. Flosi praised her for “kicking a**” by juggling being a fuels technician who was also trained on hydraulics and, on top of that, serving as a dedicated assistant crew chief. ... The shoutout underscores what is quickly becoming one of Flosi's main initiatives as the face of the service’s enlisted force: He wants Airmen to be able to take on more tasks and is pushing an initiative to reduce the number of job types called Air Force specialty codes, or AFSCs, and reducing where there might be overlap.
The U.S. military struck more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen on Oct. 4, going after weapons systems, bases, and other equipment belonging to the Iranian-backed rebels, U.S. officials confirmed. Military aircraft and warships bombed Houthi strongholds at roughly five locations, according to the officials.
Since the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s inception, the Defense Department and industry have struggled to wrestle down its price tag to roughly $80 million or $100 million per jet, depending on the model. It’s been a grueling battle involving inflation, supply chain crunches, evolving requirements and developmental problems, and remains ongoing to this day. But now, looming over the horizon, Air Force leaders face an even harder challenge: Developing a sixth-generation fighter, a successor to the F-22, that can be produced at or below the cost of an F-35.
United Launch Alliance’s second Vulcan Centaur lifted off Oct. 4 on a test flight needed to certify the vehicle for carrying national security payloads, but may have suffered a problem with one of its solid rocket boosters.
In this episode of the Aerospace Advantage, Heather “Lucky” Penney chats with members of the Mitchell Institute team about the latest defense news from the Beltway and the broader national security community. The Air and Space Forces Association just wrapped up their Air, Space, and Cyber Conference and Mitchell Institute was incredibly engaged.
Two U.S. senators are working across the aisle to get answers from the Pentagon about its efforts to advance quantum sensing—whose promises include jam-resistant position-navigation-timing systems—and whether the U.S. military can keep pace with China in the field.
Lt. Gen. Paul Stanton took the helm of the Defense Information Systems Agency and Joint Force Headquarters-Department of Defense Information Networks in a ceremony Oct. 4. Stanton, an Army officer, takes charge from Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner, who headed both organizations the past three-and-a-half years and will retire after a 40-year career that started as an enlisted Sailor in the Navy.
When talking about aircraft, it’s easy to focus on the main body of the plane itself. But in many cases, it’s the subsystems that make a capability reach its full potential. That’s true for drones as well as manned jets, meaning whether the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program is ultimately a success will come down, in part, to the engine, weapons, sensors, and communications gear that are on board.
One of the best-known military jet demonstrations currently active, the Turkish Air Force’s ‘Solo Turk’ F-16 team, appears to have had an extremely close call at a recent airshow. Footage of the incident has appeared widely on social media, as well as unconfirmed reports of an investigation into what happened. Based on what we can see from the available videos, the pilot seems to have had a very lucky escape with the jet intact.
