Extending the service live of the Air Force’s B-61-12 nuclear gravity bomb remains on schedule a year after officials acknowledged life-cycle testing of a commercial-grade replacement part would delay the program by 16 to 18 months. So daunting are the nation’s nuclear modernization challenges, says ...
National Security
The US military is in “daily conversations” about resuming anti-Islamic State group operations in Iraq, but the pause has not yet been lifted despite reports of American forces targeting ISIS this week. The US-led coalition suspended its anti-ISIS operations in Iraq earlier this month citing ...
Defense Secretary Mark Esper will travel to NAS Pensacola, Fla., next week to announce new safety measures and restrictions on foreign military access to US bases in the aftermath of last month’s shooting that killed three sailors and injured eight more, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan R. ...
The US government needs to take a closer look at what could deter a war with China as the Pentagon shifts its focus to security in the Indo-Pacific region and competition between world powers, defense experts told House lawmakers Jan. 15. Modern deterrence theory is ...
The US effort in Afghanistan to reconstruct the country and train its military has been undercut by the motivation to lie to supervisors and limited by the amount of time American personnel have to directly work with Afghan forces, a top watchdog told lawmakers Jan. ...
Turkey will be mostly out of the F-35 by March, and all the way out by the end of 2020, Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief Ellen Lord said Jan. 14. Lord said there’s been no discussion with Ankara about the disposition of four F-35s owned ...
US Attorney General William Barr on Jan. 13 declared the Dec. 6, 2019, shooting at NAS Pensacola, Fla., “an act of terrorism." Three US Navy sailors were killed in the attack and eight more Americans were “severely wounded." Although the FBI’s counterterrorism investigation has determined, ...
More than 50 aircraft from three US bases took to the air over Kadena AB, Japan, Jan. 10 for a complex joint exercise simulating an attack on the largest USAF base in the Pacific. “Kadena was defending itself today,” explained Capt. Brian Davis, the exercise ...
Defense Secretary Mark Esper rallied the troops for the New Year in a letter telling Pentagon employees to work hard, spend money wisely, and prioritize their time well to maintain global military dominance. In a Jan. 2 memo to all Defense Department personnel, Esper urged ...

