Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III is recommending that the military remove the prosecution of sexual assault and related crimes from the chain of command amid a Congressional push to reform military justice and an independent commission’s review of Defense Department policies. Austin, in a June 22 statement, said he reviewed the recommendations of the Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment and that “in coming days” he will recommend to President Joe Biden to amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice to remove the decision to prosecute sexual assaults and related crimes, to include domestic violence, from a commander’s purview.

The Air Force’s plan to cut 42 A-10 Warthogs in fiscal 2022 targets Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., and the Indiana Air National Guard, but while those wings would lose Warthogs, they would pick up new missions. The Air Force wants to cut the Warthog fleet by 22 percent, from 281 aircraft to 218, in order to gain money and manpower for other needs. Even after the cut, however, A-10s would still outnumber F-22s, ensuring the close-air support jet will still be there if needed into the 2030s. Beyond that, USAF officials believe the Warthog will no longer be viable.

Flying hours dropped in the Air Force's fiscal 2022 budget request because weapon system sustainment costs ballooned, senior Air Force officials told lawmakers June 22. They said the service would value Congress adding money to the budget to help with weapon system sustainment, which in turn would help the Air Force add more flying hours.

The Senate Armed Services Committee advanced the nomination of Gina Ortiz Jones to become undersecretary of the Air Force on June 22, setting her up for a confirmation vote on the Senate floor in the coming weeks. Jones’ approval comes three weeks after the same committee advanced Frank Kendall III for the position of Secretary of the Air Force. No floor vote has been announced for either Kendall or Jones.

War in space will take on aspects of the Cold War in the future, as space powers vie for supremacy but seek to avoid the kind of kinetic warfare that could wipe out satellite constellations and undermine global activity on Earth. Two officials with the Air Force Research Laboratory shared their vision during the Defense One Tech Summit on June 22, with Col. Eric J. Felt, director of AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate, and Kelly D. Hammett, director of its Directed Energy Directorate. The two described a future where deterrence and "unattributable" attacks are the norm, much like the cat-and-mouse days of the Cold War when the United States and Soviet Union competed but simultaneously sought to avoid all-out nuclear war.

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan continues on pace, and though Taliban violence has increased—with the group taking more districts from the Kabul-based government—there are no plans to slow the drawdown yet. U.S. Central Command said June 22 that more than 50 percent of the withdrawal had been completed as of that day. The command has said it won't be more specific about the pace because of security concerns. It said in a release that 763 C-17 loads of material had been removed from the country and that 14,790 pieces of equipment had been handed over to the Defense Logistics Agency for “disposition.” Six facilities had been handed over to the Afghan Ministry of Defense.