US Moves Airpower Toward Middle East as Trump Weighs Strike on Iran
Space Force Activates NORTHCOM Component Amid Homeland Defense Shift
Air Force Patent Holiday Offers Businesses Inventions For Free
Radar Sweep
Trump Faces High-Stakes Choice as Final Nuclear Pact with Russia Expires
President Trump is fast approaching his first major strategic arms decision since returning to the White House: whether to agree to a Russian proposal to extend limits on long-range nuclear weapons for another year or do nothing when the treaty expires next week.
US Warns Iran Against Conducting ‘Unsafe’ Military Drills
U.S. Central Command cautioned the Iranian regime against any “unsafe and unprofessional behavior” as the nation prepares to launch live fire drills in the Strait of Hormuz.
Ukraine Can’t Defend the Entire Front. Russia Is Finding the Gaps.
Stretched by Russian assaults across a 700-mile front line, Ukraine lacks enough troops to defend every sector equally, creating gaps where Moscow’s forces can advance more easily.
US Approves Major New Arms Sales to Israel Worth $6.67 Billion and to Saudi Arabia Worth $9 Billion
The Trump administration has approved a massive new series of arms sales to Israel totaling $6.67 billion and to Saudi Arabia worth $9 billion. The State Department announced the sales to America’s allies in the Middle East late Jan. 30 as tensions rise in the region over the possibility of U.S. military strikes on Iran. They were made public after the department notified Congress of its approval of the sales.
MQ-25 Stingray Has Begun Taxi Tests
The initial production representative MQ-25 Stingray tanker drone for the U.S. Navy has completed its first low-speed taxi test. The service has said it is now targeting a first flight for the uncrewed aircraft early this year, after missing a self-imposed deadline to reach that milestone before the end of 2025.
US Starts $70 Million Upgrade to Kenyan Airfield Used in Somalia Operations
This past week the United States and Kenya broke ground on a major expansion of a key air base in the country used by the U.S. military for counterterrorism operations. The United States launched a $70 million overhaul of the airfield infrastructure at the Manda Bay Air Base in Kenya. The base, operated by the Kenyan Defense Forces, is also used by American troops and is a hub for operations in the Horn of Africa.
PODCAST: Global Reach, Global Power: B-1 Flightline Update
Global Reach, Global Power—you can’t exercise that without Air Force bombers. We explore the long-range strike mission with longtime B-1 pilot and recent 9th Bomb Squadron commander Lt. Col. Ryan “Duke” Stillwell.
DOD Ordered to Study Mental Health Impacts Among Military Drone Pilots
Tucked inside the more than 3,000 pages of the recently passed defense budget for fiscal 2026 is a mandate that the secretary of defense carry out a study focused on the mental health impacts of piloting unmanned aircraft systems in combat.
Trump’s Threats to Canadian Jets Raise Questions About a Key Customer: The Pentagon
President Donald Trump’s recent threat to decertify and impose steep levies Canadian-made commercial jets is designed to pressure Ottawa, but it’s unclear if the fallout could also extend to planes used by the U.S. military.
‘Madness’: Italy’s Crosetto Slams British Secrecy on GCAP Fighter Jet
Italy’s defense minister has claimed the U.K. is not doing enough to share its cutting-edge technology with its partners on the tri-nation GCAP fighter program and called the alleged British secrecy “madness.”
Space Force Plans to Create Contractor Pool for ‘Physical/Live’ Training Needs in Summer
The Space Force is planning to issue a new contract this summer to create a pool of qualified vendors to help fill Guardian needs for hands-on training in electronic, cyber, and orbital warfare—with the latter to eventually involve dedicated satellites on orbit, according to service officials leading the effort.
Pentagon Names 6 Appointees to Lead the CTO’s Top Technology Efforts
The six senior officials appointed by Pentagon leadership to oversee the recently restructured “critical technology areas” and accelerate the military’s adoption of each of those top-priority capabilities, were officially announced via social media.
Belarusian Balloons Full of Cigarettes Pose NATO’s Latest Security Threat
At first, they might not seem like much of a threat: weather balloons, filled with helium or hydrogen, carrying bundles of cigarettes from Belarus. But as the number of these balloons crossing into NATO airspace has multiplied—including two major incursions this week into Lithuania and Poland that forced officials to shut down air traffic—officials and experts are concerned that it represents an escalation of a Russian hybrid warfare campaign against the alliance and the European Union.
Gladys West, Unsung Figure in Development of GPS, Dies at 95
Gladys West, a mathematician at the U.S. Naval Weapons Laboratory whose modeling of the Earth’s shape played a critical role in the development of GPS, the global satellite mapping system that pilots, firefighters, and drivers use to get where they’re going, died on Jan. 17 in Fredericksburg, Va. She was 95.





