Pioneers and Prototypes

The Air Force and other military services are deploying artificial intelligence tools in their IT networks and Security Operations Centers where personnel monitor cyber threats, officials said May 6—but they are leveraging the emerging technology cautiously even as some say it is ready to transform the very nature of warfare.

The Air Force has added new self-guided gliders to deliver cargo to “high-risk environments” without putting a manned aircraft in danger. Contractor DZYNE and the Air Force Research Laboratory unveiled the new “Grasshopper” gliders, which can be dropped out of a C-17 or C-130 and fly “tens of miles.”

The design of the launch facilities for the Air Force’s new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile are likely to undergo major revision, posing yet another challenge for the much-delayed and over-budget program to modernize the land-based component of America’s nuclear triad, officials said.

The Air Force and Boeing are now projecting that they will field the Remote Vision System 2.0 on the KC-46 tanker by summer 2027. The new date is nearly two years longer than previously anticipated, and four years later than originally expected.

The Space Force launch enterprise is slashing the time it takes to get a payload into space. What began as a series of proof-of-concept experiments, beginning with Victus Nox—Latin for “conquer the night”—and a follow-on coming soon called Victus Haze, is evolving into a new way of doing business.

The U.S. will halt its stepped-up campaign of airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen, President Donald Trump announced May 6, citing promises from the rebel group that it will stop attacking commercial shipping lanes.

The launch last month of Orbital Watch, the new Space Force program to share declassified U.S. government threat intelligence with private sector satellite operators and other commercial space companies, comes amid increasing concern about Chinese and Russian development of anti-satellite weapons. 

The Space Force wants to grow its enlisted force faster than its officer corps, the top enlisted Guardian said May 5, part of a push to make enlisted personnel the service’s primary operators. 

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is directing the Pentagon to slash the number of senior generals and admirals, he announced May 5—at least 20 percent of four-star positions would be eliminated under the move. Hegseth also said he is directing a sweeping review of U.S. military commands and staffs, signaling…