Call it a tale of two China strategies. The U.S. Air Force and Navy are each preparing for a potential fight in the Pacific against China, perhaps in the next couple of years, under the guidance of the same National Defense Strategy. But this uncertain timing overlaps uncomfortably with a mountain of modernization priorities for each service. Add to that budget caps for fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2025, and the two services have responded with very different budget strategies.
A U.S. Space Force online marketplace that taps into commercial satellite data has executed around $8 million worth of contracts over the past four months. About 25 defense, intelligence, and civilian federal agencies are now buying data and analytic services from the Space Force-run marketplace, said Col. Richard Kniseley, senior materiel leader of the Space Systems Command’s Commercial Space Office.
U.S. Air Force's new 5,000-pound-class GBU-72/B bunker buster bomb could be a future addition to the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber's arsenal. The service is eying integrating the GBU-72/B and other unspecified "advanced weapons" on the B-2 as part of continued upgrade work on those bombers ahead of the introduction of the new B-21 Raider. The GBU-72/B first emerged publicly in 2021.
A special operations Airman died after being shot by police near an Air Force base in the Florida panhandle May 3, and a deputy has been placed on leave as the local sheriff's office investigates the circumstances of the incident. Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, was assigned to the 4th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, which flies AC-130J Ghostrider gunships, and was killed after ‘an incident at his off-base residence” led to gunfire, according to a press release from the base.
The Biden administration has paused a shipment of bombs that could be used in Rafah over concerns that Israel is poised to invade the southern Gaza city where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering. The decision was based on a review the administration began in April of proposed transfers of weapons that might be used in the densely populated city, according to a senior administration official.
The drawdown of U.S. forces from the Middle East and pivot to great power competition could leave one with the impression that demand for special operations forces (SOF) is falling. But top officials from U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) argued May 7 that troops under their command play an essential role in the U.S.’s bid to outpace Russia and China, which they described as a harbinger for something of a revival.
The Pentagon’s lead innovation officer wants a bigger, faster and better funded repeat of Replicator, a program intended to field high-tech weapons in quick sprints. The first version of the program, announced by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks last summer, is focused on drones. Hicks has said that by 2025 Defense Department will field thousands of these “attritable autonomous systems”—or weapons that are more disposable than usual, like a plastic fork and knife compared to real silverware.
Using AI to sift recruits’ medical records shows how the Pentagon is putting the technology to use—but there’s room to improve, Gen. C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said May 7.
Microsoft has deployed the GPT-4 large language model in an isolated, air-gapped Azure Government Top Secret cloud for use by the Department of Defense, the company announced May 7. Once the tool is accredited, Pentagon officials will be able to use the technology in a secure environment.
The U.S. military has finished building a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, the Pentagon said May 7. “As of today, the U.S. military has completed the off-shore construction of the Trident pier section, or the causeway, which is the component that will eventually be anchored to the Gaza shore,” deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters.
A new study provides some theoretical underpinning to warp drives, suggesting that the superfast propulsion tech may not forever elude humanity. Sci-fi fans—especially “Star Trek” devotees—are familiar with warp drives. These hypothetical engines manipulate the fabric of space-time itself, compressing the stuff in front of a spaceship and expanding it behind. This creates a “warp bubble” that allows a craft to travel at incredible velocities—in some imaginings, many times faster than the speed of light.
