Defense Secretary Ash Carter, in his final public appearance in office on Tuesday, would not provide a timeline for the defeat of ISIS, but said he is confident it will “conclude as soon as possible.” He added, “We know what the steps are, we know the steps that we have laid out in the plan. We take each of those as rapidly as we and our partners can.” Carter also would not say if the coalition is planning any attempts to strike ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi in the near future, just that senior ISIS leaders should be worried about their safety. While the incoming Trump Administration is likely to push to increase the air campaign against ISIS, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford said the current pace is only dictated by ground operations, and not necessarily worry about civilian casualties. If Iraqi Security Forces or Syrian Democratic Forces are conducting operations at a high tempo, that will drive more air support.
The Space Force recently awarded SpaceX $739 million to launch nine missions for the Space Development Agency and National Reconnaissance Office over the next three years. Five of the awarded launches will be to build out SDA’s constellation of missile warning and tracking satellites in low-Earth orbit.
