House appropriators are planning to offer the Pentagon $694.6 billion for operations, personnel, and procurement, plus another $10.5 billion for military construction, in fiscal 2021. The Defense Department funding proposal is $1.3 billion higher than DOD received in fiscal 2020, but nearly $4 billion lower than the Trump administration requested. It spans $626.2 billion for the base account and another $68.4 billion to fund ongoing combat and deterrence operations in the Overseas Contingency Operations account.

The Air Force this month saw its highest one-week spike of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, with more than 1,000 new cases reported among uniformed military, civilian, dependents, and contractors from June 29 to July 6. As of July 6, there were 3,325 total COVID-19 cases in the service, including 2,121 within the uniformed ranks. That compares to 2,300 total and 1,366 military cases as of June 29, according to Air Force data released July 7. The week of June 29 saw the Air Force's second civilian death, eight new hospitalizations, and 99 new recoveries. The increase comes as the United States sees COVID-19 surge in several states, and as the military grows its ability to test more people for the virus.

A bipartisan group of four senators are demanding that the Pentagon explain why Turkey's expulsion from the F-35 program—to have been completed in March—now isn't expected until 2022. The senators said the sense of Congress on the matter is clear, and they want no further delay in ousting Ankara from the fighter program. The Pentagon argues it was trying to avoid costly disruption, but senators believe the delay is making the U.S. look weak.

Elizabeth Jo Shirley, a former Active-duty and Reserve Airman, confessed to illegally holding onto a National Security Agency document that contained top-secret information, as well as to kidnapping her child, the Justice Department announced July 6. The DOJ alleges that she planned on passing classified information to Russia.

Air Force officials are still looking to perfect directed-energy weapons to use against the low-tech threat of small drones before scaling up lasers and microwaves to take out cruise missiles. The Air Force’s high-power microwave weapon known as the Tactical High-Power Microwave Operational Responder, or THOR, is heading to the Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico for further testing, Don Shiffler, chief scientist in the Air Force Research Laboratory’s directed energy branch, said July 7. He added the Self-Protect High-Energy Laser Demonstrator, or SHiELD, program is having difficulty shrinking a powerful laser into a pod compact enough to fly on an airplane.

On March 23, the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies will host a virtual Nuclear Deterrence Series event featuring Scowcroft Group Principal Frank Miller. At a time when nuclear modernization programs are accelerating around the world, proposals to recapitalize the U.S. nuclear arsenal are at the forefront of debates over defense spending. Miller will share his insights into the prospects for U.S. nuclear modernization programs and the value of nuclear deterrence in today's competitive security environment. The think tank will post event video on its website and YouTube page after the live event.