Daily Report

Oct. 20, 2025

Navy CCA Program’s Shape Coming into Focus

In announcing its Navy Collaborative Combat Aircraft contract, General Atomics has provided some clues as to where the service is heading with its version of an armed, autonomous fighter escort. It will likely be quite different from the Air Force version.

Radar Sweep

Renewed Fighting Tests Gaza Ceasefire and Israel Briefly Halts Aid

The Associated Press

Gaza’s fragile ceasefire faced its first major test Oct. 19 as Israeli forces launched a wave of deadly strikes, saying Hamas militants had killed two soldiers, and an Israeli security official said the transfer of aid into the territory was halted. The military later said it resumed enforcing the ceasefire, and the official confirmed that aid deliveries would resume Oct. 20.

Hegseth Announces Another US Strike on Alleged Drug Trafficking Boat

The Hill

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Oct. 20 announced there had been another U.S. strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat days prior. “On Oct. 17, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), a Designated Terrorist Organization, that was operating in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Hegseth said in a post on the social platform X.

OPINION: Air Force Squadrons Are Closing—Reversing It Demands Investment

Defense News

“Sept. 23, 2025, is a milestone that highlights the U.S. Air Force’s capacity death spiral. On that day, the Maryland Air National Guard (ANG) inactivated the 104th Fighter Squadron, making Maryland the only state without an ANG flying unit. The reason is simple: For too many years, Air Force funding shortfalls have driven service leaders to retire more aircraft than they can replace through new acquisition,” writes Douglas A. Birkey, executive director for the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

Top Nuclear Weapons Agency to Furlough Most Staff amid Shutdown

POLITICO

The Trump administration is planning to furlough the vast majority of the civilian staff at a key agency that helps manage the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, according to a notice obtained by POLITICO. The National Nuclear Security Administration, which falls under the Energy Department, will exhaust its available funding on Oct. 18, according to the notice NNSA sent to lawmakers.

Gift link

Drone Threats Ignite Burst of Counterdrone Wizardry

The Wall Street Journal

Startups from Silicon Valley to Europe and beyond are racing to develop cheap, reliable systems to counter hostile drones appearing over airports and global shipping lanes far from the battlefield in Ukraine. The systems explode, collide, fire pellets, jam radios, beam lasers, and even shoot nets like Spider-Man.

Army Looking to Field CCA-Like Capability Potentially in ‘Next Couple of Years’

Breaking Defense

The Army is looking to acquire a Collaborative Combat Aircraft-like capability that could be delivered to the service in as soon as a “couple of years,” according to a top Army aviation leader. “That has been a focus for the last … really year,” Brig. Gen. Cain Baker, director of the Future Vertical Lift Cross Functional Team, told reporters at the annual AUSA conference.

No Future for Space Futures Command, Sources Say

Breaking Defense

Space Force’s much-touted plan to create a new Futures Command is on the chopping block, and as of yet there is no formal plan for any replacement organization, according to a handful of sources inside and outside of the Pentagon. “Futures Command is dead,” one Pentagon official said bluntly.

PODCAST: Back to the Future: The Origins of Homeland Air and Missile Defense

The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies

When the USSR gained atomic weapons early in the Cold War, the idea that the Soviets could strike American targets demanded a response. Robust air defense investments followed. With current adversary threats driving a renewed air and missile defense response via Golden Dome, it’s important to consider what past eras can teach us. Lessons learned are tremendously important. Mitchell Institute experts Brig. Gen. Houston “Slider” Cantwell, USAF (Ret.), Heather “Lucky” Penney, and Doug Birkey, explore the issue with Air Force air battle manager Lt. Col. Alex “Big Bobby” Wallis.

One More Thing

Senators Urge New Aviation Safety Proposals Informed by Fatal Collision near DCA

DefenseScoop

Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) moved to mandate comprehensive new safety reviews for all aircraft operations near DCA and at all major and mid-size U.S. airports, in a new bipartisan agreement that would also require fleets across the nation to be equipped with more precise situational awareness technology.