Almanac: Guide to Aces and Heroes

More of the U.S. Air Force fighters directed to deploy to the Middle East last week are set to arrive as Israel contemplates its response to Tehran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel on Oct. 1. A squadron of F-15E Strike Eagles is arriving in the region in the coming days,…

The Space Development Agency isn’t slowing down anytime soon. On Oct. 2, the organization released a notice to industry outlining its plans for a busy 2025 on the acquisition front, as it will look to procure around 200 satellites from different solicitations for Tranche 3 of its low-Earth orbit constellation.

The wreckage of one of Russia’s newest stealth drones is now in the hands of the Ukrainian forces—a potential intelligence windfall for that country and its partners—after a Russian fighter chased, then shot it down over Ukrainian territory Oct. 5.

The Air Force has tapped Leidos, the defense IT giant, to help oversee the digital infrastructure for its Advanced Battle Management System—part of the department’s contribution to the Pentagon’s larger joint all-domain command and control efforts. 

A new mobile app developed by a team of joint service members, GigEagle is like a military version of the civilian app Taskrabbit, where users can find individuals to help put together an IKEA cabinet, move a mattress, or other temporary handy jobs. But instead of finding people to help…

Two B-1 Lancers from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, led a simulated close air support exercise with South Korean fighters to maintain “defensive readiness” for both nations last week.

The National Reconnaissance Office is participating in Pentagon exercises and launching dozens of satellites as it prepares to work with the Space Force on tracking targets from orbit, its director said last week. 

The Air Force evacuated aircraft ahead of another hurricane Oct. 6, just days after trying to get things back to normal. Hurricane Milton, a Category 5 storm, is now forecast to sweep across central Florida on Oct. 9, with MacDill Air Force Base and Patrick Space Force Base directly in…

Everyone is talking about artificial intelligence, but actual no-kidding military applications can be hard to identify. “If you have a data problem, or if you can make a problem into a data problem, it's probably a good fit for AI,” says Angela Sheffield, an internationally recognized expert in nuclear nonproliferation and…