As young soldiers, they waded through breaking waves and gunfire to battle the Nazis. Now bent with age, the dwindling number of World War II veterans joined a new generation of leaders on June 6 to honor the dead, the living, and the fight for democracy on the shores where they landed 80 years ago on D-Day. The war in Ukraine shadowed the ceremonies in Normandy, a grim modern-day example of lives and cities that are again suffering through war in Europe.
Six months after a tragic V-22 Osprey crash off the coast of Japan resulted in the deaths of eight U.S. Air Force special operators, the surviving members of the 21st Special Operations Squadron are getting back to work ahead of a return to flight sometime this year.
Israeli fighter jets appear to have used a U.S.-made munition in a strike that killed dozens of people inside a U.N. school in the central Gaza Strip on June 6, according to five weapons experts who examined verified footage from the debris. The Israel Defense Forces said the aircraft attacked “three classrooms” with precision weapons, targeting a group of militants it said included fighters who participated in the Oct. 7 attacks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin this week gave a rare update on casualty and prisoner-of-war figures from his nation’s ongoing war in Ukraine, though his figures contradicted Western estimates of the human cost of his ongoing invasion.
House lawmakers in recent weeks have taken an ax to the Air Force’s controversial proposal to move Air National Guard units with space missions into the Space Force. The House Armed Services Committee voted last month for a draft of an annual defense policy bill that gives governors the ability to block such transfers. On June 5, the House Appropriation Committee’s defense subpanel advanced a defense spending bill that prohibits “the moving of National Guard missions, functions or personnel to the Space Force in contravention of current law.”
France plans to supply Mirage 2000-5 jets to Ukraine and begin training pilots this summer, with the first training completed by the end of the year, French President Emmanuel Macron said June 6. France is building a coalition with other countries to provide the jets, similar to the coalition by several other European countries to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighters, Macron said in an interview with broadcasters TF1 and France 2.
Inside the cockpit of his F-16, contemplating the horrific and impossible task his country might require of him, then-Lt. Col. Marc Sasseville was overcome with a gutting realization: “We had failed.” The United States’ defenses had not stopped terrorists from hijacking American passenger planes on Sept. 11, 2001, or from flying them into the World Trade Center buildings in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
An analysis of the U.S. Space Force’s budget proposed for fiscal year 2025 indicates the service is embracing a new approach to military satellite architectures. The analysis, released June 6 by the Aerospace Corporation, finds that in contrast to past practices favoring larger, more complex and exquisite systems, the Space Force is now aggressively pursuing proliferated networks of simpler and cheaper spacecraft, an influx of commercially derived satellite assets, and increased leveraging of services provided by private space companies.
Canopy assembly production for the Lockheed Martin F-35 will be doubled by GKN Aerospace in 2027, addressing a chronic shortage that has hampered production and readiness of the stealth fighter.
The Department of Defense’s chief information officer, John Sherman, will be departing his role at the end of the month, according to a statement by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. He will head off to Texas to serve as the next Dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, his alma mater, according to a post on LinkedIn.
As missile threats proliferate, the Missile Defense Agency is looking to new sensors, new digital tools—and new tweaks to older interceptors. For example, a recent booster-rocket adjustment promises to increase the effectiveness of the Ground-Based Interceptor, or GBI, MDA director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins said at a CSIS event.
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) officially unveiled an air-launched version of its LORA (Long Range Artillery), a short-range ballistic missile originally developed for surface launch. The new weapon joins an expanding armory of ballistic missile and artillery rocket designs adapted for air launch, including the Israel Military Industries (IMI) Rampage, also based on a long-range artillery munition, while the Rafael Rocks was developed from Israel’s line of Sparrow ballistic missile test targets.
SpaceX successfully launched its Starship megarocket June 6 on an uncrewed test flight to orbit and back, achieving several key milestones for the first time. The nearly 400-foot rocket is the most powerful booster ever developed and SpaceX aims to make the system fully reusable.