Defense One
The weapons buyers for more than 40 countries will gather in Brussels to address ammunition and spares shortages as they continue sending arms shipments to Ukraine, a senior defense official said. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the U.S. has committed more than $16 billion worth of weapons in Kyiv’s defense, some of which will take years to provide.
SpaceNews
The conflict in Ukraine has shed light on the value of commercial satellites for national security. However, there are still open questions on how the military will work with private space companies in wartime, said Maj. Gen. DeAnna M. Burt, special assistant to the U.S. Space Force’s space operations chief. “Now we need to codify our relationships with commercial [industry] to best bring those capabilities to bear in a fight,” Burt said at the Air, Space & Cyber Conference.
Defense News
Another batch of companies, including a division of Germany’s Siemens, are entering a Department of Defense competition meant to bring to fruition a vision of seamless military communications as part of a deal worth up to $950 million. The U.S. Air Force selected 30 more vendors to compete for work associated with joint all-domain command and control, a multibillion-dollar endeavor that aims to better connect the military services and provide critical information to forces across land, air, sea, space, and cyber.
Breaking Defense
Israel is facing a dilemma. Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in its defense industry, eyeing lucrative deals directly with foreign firms or that involve international partnerships. But Jerusalem, which recently normalized relations with some Gulf nations but not the Kingdom, is being left out, much to the chagrin of some Israeli defense firms that haven’t been able to get permission from the defense ministry to sell their wares.
Military.com
Thousands of independent and community pharmacies are poised to be dropped from Tricare's pharmacy network next month in a move advocates say could leave patients in rural areas with few options to get prescriptions filled. Effective Oct. 24, 14,963 retail pharmacies will no longer participate in Tricare's pharmacy network, Defense Health Agency spokesperson Peter Graves confirmed in an emailed statement.
The Drive
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. says he's not losing any sleep now over China's growing fleet of J-20 stealth fighters, but that he might if his service's own efforts to modernize and maintain its qualitative advantage don't continue apace. Brown's remarks echo comments that Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach, head of Pacific Air Forces, made about the threat posed by the J-20.
Air Force Times
The Air Force’s array of 48 fighter squadrons and nine attack squadrons are today being asked to do the work of 60 squadrons, the head of Air Combat Command said Wednesday. This is stretching the fighter fleet thin, ACC head Gen. Mark Kelly said at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber conference here—and, in a major war, will become unsustainable.
Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies
In Episode 95 of the Aerospace Advantage podcast, “The Future of Autonomy and Combat Airpower: Closing the Deal,” host John Baum speaks with Heather Penney and Caitlin Lee of the Mitchell Institute, Mike Benitez of Shield AI, and Brett Darcey of Heron Systems in the final episode of their three-part series exploring combat airpower and autonomy. In the final episode, they detail what success looks like going into the future from both a human and technological set of vantages.
One More Thing
Task & Purpose
Ah, morning PT. There’s nothing quite like showing up at 6:30 a.m. to stand in formation and then spending the next hour or so engaging in some calisthenics, weight training, or perhaps your “daily dozen.” The “daily dozen,” what is that, you may ask. Well, as Outing magazine’s fall, 1918 issue says, it’s a series of exercises developed by Walter Camp to give military recruits “a running jump start for the serious work day.”
