A Navy admiral commanding the U.S. military strikes on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean told lawmakers Dec. 4 that there was no “kill them all” order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, but a stark video of the attack left grave questions as Congress scrutinizes the campaign that killed two survivors.
“The Russo-Ukraine War may be headed to a pause, if Western peace talks aimed at resolving the conflict move forward toward agreement. This means Western policymakers should be increasingly focused on how the post-ceasefire reality might look—and how to make it sustainable,” write retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, and Jahara “FRANKY” Matisek, an Air Force pilot who is a research fellow at the U.S. Naval War College.
The Pentagon inspector general released a much-anticipated report Dec. 4 on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the Signal messaging app to discuss sensitive military strikes in Yemen earlier this year, concluding a nine-month investigation into whether he violated the agency’s standards. Read the report.
Since the Trump administration’s Signalgate affair surfaced in March, the Pentagon’s Office of the Chief Information Officer has been working on modern instant-messaging options for personnel to securely communicate at various classification levels in compliance with U.S. policies and the law. But public details on those efforts are sparse—and challenges remain, according to a top defense watchdog.
The Air Force will soon begin applying zero trust cybersecurity principles to the industrial control systems that run its bases and infrastructure, but a senior Air Force official warned that those operational technology environments can’t simply inherit the same requirements that the Pentagon has introduced for information technology systems like laptops and networks.
When the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier lost an F-18 fighter jet in May because of an arresting wire failure, the crew was in the midst of "significantly stressful deployment" because of operations against the Houthis in Yemen, according to a Navy investigation report released Dec. 4.
Ellsworth Air Force Base’s new runway is completed well ahead of schedule. Air Force officials held an opening ceremony Dec. 3. The $129 million project was scheduled to take three years. Crews completed it in just 10 months.
One of the most important upgrades to the F-15EX is the full integration of the General Electric F110-GE-129 engines. The Eagle II’s dual engines each produce 17,155 lbf of thrust dry, and 29,500 lbf with afterburner. Together, they give the F-15EX a high altitude top speed of Mach 2.5. At full afterburner takeoff, the engines produce approximately 149-152 decibels. At close proximity, this is loud enough to cause an immediate eardrum rupture. While residents of central Illinois were not close enough to suffer an injury, they did experience an F-15EX sonic boom that caused mass panic.
