Air Force Report Offers New Details on Hyten Investigation
Florida Congressman Calls for Temporary Return of Raptors to Tyndall
Norman “Ken” Dyson, 1938-2019
More than 600 Reserve airmen from 42 different bases are participating in Patriot Warrior 2019, Air Force Reserve Command’s premier exercise focusing on airlift, aeromedical evacuation, and mobility. Patriot Warrior, which runs Aug. 6-24, is headquartered at Fort McCoy, Wis., while Dobbins ARB, Ga., and Minneapolis-Saint Paul International ARS, Minn., serve as support locations, according to an AFRC release. The exercise includes airmen from 67 career fields, along with soldiers, sailors, marines, and international partners, who practice command and control, airdrops, explosives training, patient care, and logistics operations, AFRC said. Participants are standing up a fully operational base from a “bare-bones” location, with mobile hospitals and simulated patients, the command said. —Brian Everstine
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RADAR SWEEP
Security Clearance Backlog Cut in Half: Kari Bingen
The often crippling backlog of national security clearances, which can stretch for as long as two years, has been cut in half, the principal deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence says in her first interview. Breaking Defense
Trump Admin Gives Green Light for Major Arms Sale to Taiwan
The Trump administration has informally greenlit a potential major arms sale to Taiwan involving dozens of new F-16 fighter jets, according to administration officials and others familiar with the matter. The decision comes amid heightened tensions with China as a trade war wages on and a crackdown on protesters in Hong Kong draws US criticism. CNN
OPINION: Discerning Myths from Facts: Some Questions for the Incoming Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
“About two weeks after [CJCS Gen. Mark] Milley’s confirmation hearing, the Department of Defense published a story about several ‘myths’ Milley imagines Americans believe,” writes retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles Dunlap Jr., the service’s former deputy judge advocate general who now works as a law professor at Duke University. “Decide for yourself, but to me the article raises a myriad of questions.” Lawfire
The Pentagon’s Research Arm Wants AI to Help Design More Secure Tech
The “AI co-designers” would help the Pentagon rapidly blueprint secure weapons, vehicles and other network-connected platforms, and suggest designs humans haven’t yet conceived. Nextgov
Small Businesses Sought for Space Accelerator Program
The Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate is reaching out to small businesses to explore space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance technologies. The service is looking for companies that can fill technology gaps by working alongside the Catalyst Space Accelerator program, which is a public-private partnership. National Defense Magazine
Air Force Soliciting Bids for Small, Medium Satellite Launch Program
The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center’s Launch Enterprise is requesting industry bids for the Orbital Services Program-4. Proposals are due Aug. 29. Space News
South Korea Says North Korea Has Fired More Projectiles into Sea
South Korea’s military says North Korea fired more projectiles into the sea to extend a recent streak of weapons tests believed to be aimed at pressuring Washington, D.C, and Seoul over slow nuclear diplomacy. Associated Press and CNBC
Iraq Takes Security Measures Following Mysterious Blasts
Iraq on Aug. 15 banned unauthorized flights and ordered all military camps and munitions warehouses to be moved outside Iraqi cities following a massive explosion at a munitions depot southwest of Baghdad that killed one civilian and wounded 13 earlier this week.The exact cause of the Aug. 12 explosion at the al-Saqr military base is still unknown. Associated Press via Yahoo! News
One More Thing
Greenland’s Not for Sale, but It Is Strategically Important
The internet was abuzz on the evening of Aug. 15 following a report by the Wall Street Journal that President Donald Trump has expressed interest in buying Greenland. By Aug. 16, it had become clear Greenland has no interest in selling, but jokes about penguins, polar bears, and climate change kept flying. Defense News