The White House on Nov. 15 asked Congress for another $38 billion in Ukraine aid. If lawmakers fund the supplemental request, it would bring the total amount Congress has appropriated for Ukraine to more than $100 billion in less than a year. The Office of Management and Budget asked Congress to include the $38 billion Ukraine supplemental funding request—which includes $21.7 billion in security assistance—in the government funding bill for fiscal 2023.
While Israeli intelligence is trying to confirm Iran’s recent declaration that it has successfully developed a hypersonic ballistic missile, the Israeli Defense Forces have already been anticipating such an announcement—and in the last two months have begun accelerating efforts to develop measures to counter the potential new threat, sources say.
An Indigenous Airman, who had to cut his braids when first joining the Air Force two years ago, is now one of the first in the service to receive a religious waiver allowing him to grow longer hair in accordance with his heritage. For Airman 1st Class Connor Crawn, a convoy team leader with the 341st Missile Security Operations Squadron at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., keeping his hair long is part of his Kanien'kehà:ka faith. When he enlisted in the Air Force in 2020, he requested a religious waiver. But as his date for basic military training continued to be pushed back because of his hair, he decided to cut his braids so he could start earlier.
A “deterrence triad” that combines special operations, space, and cyber forces has been described as the “next step in terms of deterrence,” to give the U.S. the “ability to protect and the opportunity to disrupt.” But while the concept was announced in August, the actual where, how, and what of the triad remains “a work in progress,” according to special operations thinkers, leaders, and industry-movers who spoke at the Global Special Operations Foundation’s Modern Warfare Week conference.
In Episode 102 of the Aerospace Advantage podcast, “Want JADC2? You’re Going to Need Capabilities in Orbit,” John Baum chats with Tim Ryan and Doug Birkey of the Mitchell Institute team about the essential role that capabilities in space will play in realizing the Department of Defense’s vision for joint all-domain command and control (JADC2). Technologies in orbit possess the unique ability to gather vast quantities of data and move information at the speed, size, and range required for an effective JADC2 architecture. That means if you want a viable set of JADC2 capabilities, you had better invest in space.
A satellite communications payload Boeing developed for the Space Force demonstrated that it can prevent jamming attacks, the company said. The anti-jam test, conducted at Boeing’s facility in El Segundo, Calif., is a key step toward the planned 2024 launch of the Protected Tactical Satcom Prototype, or PTS-P, a payload that the Space Force will test in orbit to assess whether it can provide secure communications in potential war scenarios when U.S. networks would be targets of electronic and cyber attacks.
“In a recent set of remarks, William A. LaPlante, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, commented: 'Ukraine is not holding their own against Russia with quantum [computing]. They’re not holding their own with [artificial intelligence]. It is hardcore production of really serious weaponry, and that’s what matters.’ With the U.S. Air Force set to unveil its new B-21 bomber next month, the perspective behind these comments is especially important,” writes Douglas Birkey, executive director at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
Despite a decline in overall cyber incidents on Department of Defense networks since 2015, the number of reported data breaches of personally identifiable information have more than doubled, according to the Government Accountability Office. In a new report, the GAO found that the DOD has experienced more than 12,000 cyber incidents since 2015. However, those incidents have become less frequent in recent years with 1,331 in 2019, 812 in 2020, and 948 in 2021. By comparison, there were 3,880 such incidents in 2015.
A new report from Congress paints a dire picture of the state of U.S. military aviation, revealing that the services have not been able to meet their mission readiness goals for most fighters, transports, bombers, helicopters, and other aircraft over the past 10 years. But some experts say the “mission capable” statistic the report hinges on is not an adequate tool for measuring whether U.S. military aircraft can respond to a crisis.
Four F-15E Strike Eagle pilots flew together at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., on Nov. 9 with one significant commonality: They’re all mothers. Although women have been flying as Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) since World War II and as Air Force fighter jet pilots since 1993, their strength and capability are tested in different ways as moms, which is why Maj. Tiffany McElroy chose fellow moms to accompany her in her final flight as a 333rd Fighter Squadron instructor weapons systems officer.