Security Forces Airmen at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait are stepping up their efforts to counter small unmanned aircraft systems following a series of drone strikes against U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq and Syria.
In episode 56 of the Aerospace Advantage podcast, Mitchell Institute team members recount some of their most memorable experiences flying and fighting. Normally, retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, Heather Penney, and John Baum talk policy and budget issues, but over the holiday season, they decided to reflect on the adventures of past years, such as landing an F-15 on fire, providing close air support in danger-close situations, and strafing enemy forces.
Israel’s Defense Ministry has agreed to purchase two Boeing KC-46A tankers and 12 Lockheed Martin CH-53K helicopters in a long-expected deal. The KC-46 deal is worth about $1.1 billion, and the helicopter deal is worth another $2 billion. The agreement includes an option for six more helicopters, the ministry said, adding that the first will arrive by 2026. It’s unclear when the KC-46s will arrive, and the ministry did not provide a timeline.
Lawrence N. Brooks, the oldest World War II veteran in the U.S.—and believed to be the oldest man in the country—died Jan. 5 at the age of 112. His death was announced by the National WWII Museum and confirmed by his daughter. Most African Americans serving in the segregated U.S. armed forces at the beginning of World War II were assigned to noncombat units and relegated to service duties, such as supply, maintenance, and transportation, said Col. Pete Crean, vice president of education and access at the museum in New Orleans.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is digging in against COVID-19 vaccinations and related mandates, telling National Guard members in his state they can ignore Pentagon inoculation rules and will not face any retribution for not getting coronavirus vaccines.
DARPA is building a manual for repairing war machines that don’t exist yet. That’s the premise of Autonomous Multimodal Ingestion for Goal-Oriented Support, or AMIGOS, a new program in which AI and augmented reality are used to assemble real-time training manuals for military mechanics and medics.
Taiwan air force jets screamed into the sky Jan. 5 in a drill simulating a war scenario, showing its combat readiness amid heightened military tensions with China, which claims the island as its own. Before takeoff, flight crews at a base in the southern city of Chiayi—home to U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets that are frequently scrambled to intercept Chinese warplanes—rushed to ready aircraft as an alarm sounded.
Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. David D. Thompson in a video released Jan. 5 called on the private sector to help clean up space junk. “We need your help,” said Thompson in a video posted by the Space Force’s technology arm known as SpaceWERX. SpaceWERX is running a program called Orbital Prime that is soliciting proposals from private businesses and academic institutions on technologies that could be used to deal with the growing problem of space debris.
Ron Koplin was pushing the F-16 fighter jet into a steep climb when disaster struck: The lights in the cockpit started flickering, and he began losing power. “I hit the brakes, but it was not enough to hold me, so I thought, ‘Eject! Eject!’” Koplin said. But ejecting was not an option, because Koplin was not actually flying an F-16 fighter jet miles above the Earth. Instead, he was driving a 14-foot-long mini F-16 powered by a golf cart motor up a steep hill at the Veterans Day Parade in Milwaukee, Wis.