Air Force Doesn’t Have Enough Desks for Everyone to Return to In-Person Work
The Air Force will exempt some civilian employees and service members from the Feb. 7 return-to-office deadline due to a shortage of office space.
Defense Secretary Orders Air Force to Pause All Reorg Planning
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the Department of the Air Force to pause all planning related to its “Re-Optimization for Great Power Competition” effort—a move that leaves a sweeping plan to transform the Air Force and Space Force in limbo.
More Test T-7 Aircraft Could Help Air Force Make Up for Data It Can’t Use
Hundreds of test flight hours Boeing flew in prototype T-7A trainer aircraft cannot be used to assess the system’s operational effectiveness or suitability because the design has changed so much, the Pentagon’s top test official said recently. Instead, the Air Force’s plans to buy extra T-7s for testing will allow the service to gather data more quickly.
New Report: Instructor, Student Pilot Both at Fault in $10 Million Helicopter Crash
A helicopter instructor pilot failed to take sufficient corrective action in time to fix the mistakes of a student pilot taking off from a slope, resulting in a rollover that caused nearly $11 million in damages to a TH-1H chopper last spring.
Radar Sweep
Pentagon Issues Memo Pausing Military Enrollment for Transgender Recruits
Deseret News
The Pentagon will pause the acceptance of transgender recruits into the military under a memo issued this week by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Under the newly issued rules, the military is instructed to pause the accession “for individuals with a history of gender dysphoria,” effective immediately. The memo has also paused all medical procedures “associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition” for any military service members.
Hamas Says It Will Delay the Release of More Hostages, Putting Gaza Ceasefire at Risk
The Associated Press
Hamas said Feb. 10 it will delay the further release of hostages in the Gaza Strip after accusing Israel of violating a fragile ceasefire that now faces its most serious crisis since it began three weeks ago. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under heavy pressure to secure the release of remaining hostages after three Israelis freed Feb. 8 came home emaciated after 16 months in captivity. Yet in a sign of the precarious nature of the truce, the Israeli military said late Feb. 10 it had canceled leave for soldiers assigned to Gaza.
‘Burn It Down’: Experts Urge Ditching Sluggish Pentagon Arms Process
Defense News
The Pentagon’s requirements process for weapons development is a bureaucratic morass that stymies true innovation and must be scrapped entirely and replaced, two prominent defense experts argue in a new Hudson Institute paper.
DOD Acquisition Reform Guidance Expected Soon, with Focus on Rapid Prototyping
Breaking Defense
Defense industry insiders are preparing for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to issue new guidance for the Pentagon’s acquisition process aimed at getting new tech into the field at a faster clip, Breaking Defense has learned. Hegseth is expected to sign out a new memo kickstarting the process as early as this week, according to two sources.
Air Force Has Halted Work on Parts of Its ICBM Program
Defense One
Work on the command and launch segments of the Air Force’s Sentinel ICBM program are on hold while service leaders formulate a plan to restructure the way-over-budget effort to replace its aging intercontinental ballistic missiles, service officials said Feb. 10.
Air Force Nixes Officer Applicant Diversity Goals as Directed by Trump’s Executive Orders
Military.com
The Department of the Air Force will no longer set ambitious goals to diversify the officer applicant pool, the latest initiative to be scrapped by the service as a result of President Donald Trump's executive orders aiming to rid the military of policies he disagrees with.
Trump Fires Boards of US Military Service Academies
POLITICO
President Donald Trump on Feb. 10 said he had ordered the firings of the boards of visitors for all of the U.S. military’s service academies, the outside advisory panels that help oversee academic programs and student life, saying that the government’s training grounds for military officers had been invaded by so-called “woke” ideology.
F-35 and Su-57 Face Off in India
The War Zone
A Russian Su-57 Felon next-generation fighter sharing tarmac with a U.S.-made F-35 stealth fighter is a truly unusual sight, and it has quickly become a signature image of the Aero India 2025 international airshow. With the Indian Air Force looking for new fighters, and with a complex path toward fielding its own fifth-generation combat aircraft, the rival jets have both been pitched, to some degree or another, toward emerging Indian requirements.
DARPA’s In-Space Manufacturing Program Advances with Two Teams Selected for Orbital Demos
SpaceNews
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has selected the California Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to lead the final phase of its in-space manufacturing program, the agency announced Feb. 10.
L3Harris Unveils Amorphous Autonomy Software to Manage Drone Swarms
Defense News
L3Harris on Feb. 10 unveiled a software platform, Amorphous, for controlling large swarms of uncrewed systems across multiple domains, allowing aerial drones, ships, and other platforms to operate together seamlessly.
Apple’s New Vietnam War Series Captures ‘Shards of Light’ amid Chaos
Air Force Times
Now, as the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon approaches, Apple TV+ has delivered a six-part series that offers up a personal, unparalleled look into the decades-long conflict. Narrated by actor Ethan Hawke, “Vietnam: The War That Changed America,” pulls over 1,100 hours of archival footage that places the interviewees—journalists and soldiers alike—back into some of the war’s most consequential events.