President Donald Trump said he was “very angry” and “pissed off” when Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the credibility of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s leadership, adding that the comments were “not going in the right location.”
Vice President JD Vance on March 28 did not rule out using military action to bring Greenland under U.S. control, but said it wouldn’t be necessary if Greenlanders choose to break from Denmark and “cut a deal” with the United States.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrapped up his first official visit to Asia on March 30 by offering reassurances to Japan that President Trump wants a stronger military alliance in the region to deter an increasingly assertive China.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reopening the deferred resignation program and also offering early retirement to eligible civilian workers as he seeks to “maximize participation.” ... The move comes as department leaders are looking to shed civilian employees and reinvest the savings elsewhere as part of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency efforts.
The United States, Japan and the Philippines on March 28 staged joint naval drills to boost crisis readiness off a disputed South China Sea shoal as a Chinese military ship kept watch from a distance. The Chinese frigate attempted to get closer to the waters, where the warships and aircraft from the three allied countries were undertaking maneuvers off the Scarborough Shoal in an unsettling moment, but it was warned by a Philippine frigate by radio and kept away.
China launched the new TJS-16 classified satellite on March 29 aboard a Long March 7A rocket, continuing the opaque series of experimental missions.
Even as the U.S. Air Force works to retire its fleet of A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, Warthogs are still proving useful in the ongoing fight against ISIS. And now, the U.S. military is sending additional Warthogs to the Middle East. It’s part of the latest build up of U.S. military power, as fighting ramps up against Houthi forces in Yemen.
The big news of the week, the month, and perhaps the decade so far is Boeing’s F-47. We get its backstory today with two men who made the program happen—former Air Force secretary Frank Kendall and former Air Force acquisition executive Andrew Hunter.
The defense secretary’s decision to review military standards on combat and physical fitness and appearance opens a Pandora’s box of widely differing rules among the services. And it will raise a crucial question: Should there be a cookie-cutter approach, or should service differences, evolving social norms, and recruiting realities play a role in policy decisions?
Heather “Lucky” Penney and Col. Mark “Chili” Howard explore one of the Air Force’s largest, most diverse units: the 55th Wing. Operating from multiple installations, members of the 55th Wing execute everything from the EC-130 and EA-37B Compass Call electronic attack mission to the RC/WC/TC-135 ISR mission and elements of the nuclear command, control, and communications enterprise. They’ve also got a maintenance group, operations group, and medical group.
A close call between a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 taking off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and a U.S. Air Force T-38 jet, often used by the military for training, sounded alarms in the cockpit of the passenger plane March 28.
