Breaking Defense
The long-simmering “shadow war” between Israel and Iran appears to have boiled over in recent days in the form of an unprecedented missile strike, a widespread cyberattack, and a purported nuclear sabotage plot. The developments could be a precursor to an intensified, if still largely opaque, conflict between the two Middle Eastern nations should a new Iran nuclear deal between Tehran and the West be signed, according to Middle Eastern sources. Israel has vocally opposed the deal, arguing that sanctions relief will fund Iranian violence and it will leave Israel to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Air Force release
Nils Sandell was sworn in as the 24th chair of the Department of the Air Force’s Scientific Advisory Board on March 11. Sandell’s appointment was the culmination of a 13-month effort to restart SAB operations after a Department of Defense review directed by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III last year.
Military.com
The Marine Corps' top officer had high praise for Ukrainian forces on March 16 as he discussed the invasion of the country by Russia. “I would begin, first of all, with Ukraine and how well their forces are doing,” Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David H. Berger said while speaking to Washington Post reporter David Ignatius on a webcast.
Defense News
By the end of this year, the Space Force hopes to have fully transitioned from its legacy space catalog system to a modernized command and control capability—a milestone years in the making. The service is in the process of decommissioning the Space Defense Operations Center, which was fielded in 1979, and replacing it with the new Space Command-and-Control (Space C2) system that will bring together operational-level C2 capabilities into one integrated system.
SpaceNews
The Air Force is funding a study to identify potential uses of NASA’s plant-growing technology to feed troops in remote locations. Eden Grow Systems and Rhea Space Activity announced they won a Small Business Innovation Research Phase 1 contract to look at possible applications of aeroponic technology to grow produce at inhospitable locations where some Space Force units are deployed.
Military Times
Need substitute teachers? Need medical janitors? Need bus drivers? Need jail guards? Need “mall cops” for the border? Need poll workers? Need to process unemployment claims? If you’re a governor, you have the authority to deploy your state’s National Guard forces to combat nearly any societal ill with the stroke of a pen. It’s happening more in recent years than ever before. That’s left some senior Guard leaders worried about becoming America’s “easy button.”
Forbes
“As author Kevin James recently stated, ‘... this war is destined to end in a terrible defeat for the West unless it changes its strategy.’ One of those required changes is for the U.S. and NATO to increase their supply of critical equipment to Ukraine that allows it to defend itself. Unchecked Russian aggression will have devastating consequences for countries beyond Ukraine to include the United States,” writes retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
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Bloomberg
The Pentagon will request 61 F-35s in its next budget, 33 fewer of the stealth jets from Lockheed Martin Corp. than previously planned, according to people familiar with the spending blueprint. The Defense Department had planned to fund 94 of the fighters in fiscal 2023, up from the 85 in this year’s budget, according to the most recent “Selected Acquisition Report” on its costliest program.
The Verge
Last week, a flurry of news reports worryingly claimed that Russia was threatening to strand an American astronaut on the International Space Station in direct response to sanctions placed on the country as it continues to invade neighboring Ukraine. But Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos is trying to put those fears to rest, saying that it will bring home the astronaut as planned.
One More Thing
HistoryNet
“What were the designers thinking?” one might ponder. Often the answer was war—or at least a Cold War—during which the quest for a military edge prompted air forces to give any promising proposal a whirl. The failure of many such experimental designs was no doubt attended by that universal excuse, “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
