Kittinger’s Super Swan Dive

The U.S. military announced Dec. 6 that it is standing down its entire fleet of Ospreys after eight Airmen were killed in a crash. The Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy are all standing down Osprey operations after an Air Force Special Operations Command CV-22 crashed off the coast of…

The U.S. can’t match China plane-for-plane or ship-for-ship and shouldn’t try, defense experts told the House Armed Services Committee. But the defense industrial base has to be married to new, asymmetric, disruptive operational concepts that the Pentagon is willing to adapt on the fly.

The Senate confirmed senior military nominations for 105 Air Force and Space Force officers late Dec. 5, a massive bloc that built up over months during the standoff between Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and the Pentagon. Some of the officers had been awaiting confirmation since January, others only joined the queue…

The Space Force will send its space place, X-37B, back into orbit this weekend. When it comes back down is anyone’s guess, at least publicly. On Dec. 10, a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket is slated to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as part of the National Security…

The U.S. and Sweden signed a bilateral Defense Cooperation Agreement on Dec. 5 that will strengthen military ties between them and likely lead to U.S. troops and prepositioned gear on Swedish soil. Swedish Defense minister Pal Jonson said the war in Ukraine prompted Sweden's joining NATO and he laid out…

The Senate confirmed over 400 senior military promotions Dec. 5, after Sen. Tommy Tuberville mostly lifted his monthslong hold on military nominations. Specifically, Tuberville lifted his hold on all nominations below four-star generals and admirals. Out of 455 pending general and flag officer nominations, affecting 451 people, the Senate confirmed…

Three types of U.S. Air Force fighter aircraft participated in air-to-air refueling with a commercial tanker for the first time last month, coinciding with a bilateral exercise between the U.S. and Singapore that concluded Nov. 24.

The eight Airmen aboard the CV-22 Osprey that crashed off the coast of Japan were declared dead as the operation transitioned to search and recovery Dec. 5. 

Adm. Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs and head of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, is pushing a “portfolio” approach to requirements and wants his position to have “more teeth” so he can enforce it.