Daily Report

Nov. 7, 2023

Allvin to Airmen: The Course Is Set. Now We Must Follow Through

Gen. David W. Allvin's first message to his Airmen praises each of the past three Air Force Chiefs of Staff for the work they did to modernize and set the priorities for a 21st Century Air Force. Now, he says, it's up to every Airman to “follow through” to ensure those initiatives bear the fruit needed to meet the challenges of tomorrow. Just days after being sworn in as USAF’s 23rd Chief of Staff, Allvin spelled out his priorities in a Nov. 6 memo to Airmen in which he emphasized the esssential role the Air Force could play in future conflict.

B-1 Bombers, Guided-Missile Submarine in Middle East

The United States displayed a show of force in the Middle East on Nov. 5 with B-1 bomber flyovers and the deployment of a Ohio-class guided-missile submarine in the region against a backdrop of continuing attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. The BTFs—which are deployed multiple times a year to multiple theaters—demonstrate “to our allies and our partners the capabilities we have to respond to a variety of situations, while showing our potential adversaries that we have these capabilities," Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder said. However, he said that the bomber sortie was not connected to current threats in the region.

Radar Sweep

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In Battle for Gaza City, Israeli Military Enters Densely Populated Urban Area

The Wall Street Journal

Israel began in earnest its difficult push into Gaza City, sending troops into an urban Hamas stronghold that is still packed with civilians after one of the most intense bombing barrages of the monthlong war. Israel’s ground operations around Gaza City were accompanied by continued airstrikes, with the military saying Nov. 6 that its jet fighters had struck around 450 targets over the previous 24 hours.

100-Year-Old Tuskegee Airman Promoted to Colonel

Air & Space Forces Association

Storied Tuskegee Airman James Harvey III was honorarily promoted to Colonel during halftime of the Air Force vs. Army game on Nov. 4 before tens of thousands of spectators at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo. Harvey, who turned 100 years of age in July, is among the few World War II Tuskegee Airmen still surviving today.

How South Korea’s Defense Industry Transformed Itself Into a Global Player

Breaking Defense

Last year, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stated publicly a goal of one day being among the world’s top four weapons suppliers, behind the U.S., Russia, and France. It was an ambitious goal, to be sure, but one that doesn’t seem nearly as impossible as it would have even a few years ago, thanks to a series of major deals inked by Seoul and its domestic arms industries.

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Tech Start-Ups Try to Sell a Cautious Pentagon on AI

The New York Times

Shield AI is one of a handful of start-ups demonstrating the potential of cutting-edge technology to revolutionize war-fighting tools and help the United States keep its military advantage over China. The company and others like Anduril Industries, Autonodyne, EpiSci, and Merlin Labs are developing new and more powerful ways for the Pentagon to gather and analyze information and act on it, including flying planes without pilots, creating swarms of autonomous surveillance and attack drones, and making targeting decisions faster than humans could.

Manufacturing Woes Could Sink US Sub Fleet. Can 3D Printing Save It?

Defense News

U.S. Navy officials say this building, the Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence, represents the future of the submarine industry—and perhaps the service’s only path to building the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine and Virginia-class attack submarine on time. The Navy has already used additive manufacturing to print small repair parts on ships at sea, including circuit covers and radio knobs that would be difficult and expensive for the service to access while deployed.

US Service Members’ Data Is Easy and Cheap to Purchase Online, Study Finds

NBC News

Personal information about Active-duty U.S. service members is cheap, easy to buy, and widely advertised by data brokers who sell Americans’ data, according to a Duke University study published Nov 6. The researchers behind the study said they purchased a variety of data including names, phone numbers, addresses, and sometimes even information like the names of service members’ children, their marital status, net worth, and credit rating, often for as little as 12 cents per person. In total, the researchers bought nearly 50,000 service members’ records for a little over $10,000.

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US Soldier Death at Air Base in Qatar Not Combat-Related, Pentagon Says

Stars and Stripes

An American soldier stationed at a base in Qatar as part of a mission to defeat the Islamic State group has died, the Defense Department said. Staff Sgt. Felix A. Berrios was supporting Operation Inherent Resolve when he died Nov. 3 at Al Udeid Air Base, the department said Nov. 5 in a statement. The death was not combat-related. Berrios, 33, was from Houston, the Pentagon said. He was assigned to the 25th Signal Battalion, 160th Signal Brigade.

One More Thing

F-15’s Tilting Air Intakes Showcased in Awesome Video

The War Zone

A recent video of a Japanese F-15J Eagle brilliantly shows the fighter's maneuvering air intakes bobbing up and down in flight. Although it certainly looks strange in a techno-marvel kind of way, there is an important reason for it central to the aircraft's functionality.