The Department of Justice said Feb. 25 that a former Air Force pilot was arrested because he provided “defense services” to Chinese military forces. In a press release, the DOJ said 65-year-old Gerald Eddie Brown Jr. had been arrested in Jeffersonville, Ind. The department said Brown, a former Air Force officer and pilot, had been charged “for providing and conspiring to provide defense services to Chinese military pilots without authorization, in violation of the Arms Export Control Act.”
The U.S. has sent top-of-the-line fighters to Israel, marking the first time it has deployed combat aircraft to the country for a potential wartime mission as the two nations prepare to square off against Iran.
Shield AI takes Air & Space Forces Magazine inside their new AI-piloted VTOL fighter jet, dubbed the “X-BAT,” at the 2026 Warfare Symposium. The X-BAT will be capable of launching and recovering from ships, remote islands, or austere forward bases while eliminating dependency on traditional infrastructure.
The leaders of the Senate’s small business committee have come to an agreement to restart the Small Business Innovation Research program, a key tool used by the Pentagon to flow seed funding to small firms developing new technologies.
Temperatures at 30 degrees below zero. Punishing winds. Relentless snow. And only a few hours of sunlight. Those are the conditions facing the U.S. troops known as the Arctic Angels, who are stationed in a region that is fast becoming a strategic battleground for global powers.
The Director of the Joint Staff, Vice Adm. Fred Kacher, is returning to the Navy after only three months in the role, with no clear successor for a key inside-the-Pentagon job. ... The Joint Staff director is a behind the scenes role, but one that wields heavy influence inside the Pentagon. In essence, the director manages the day in and day out of the Joint Staff and sits in on key meetings. The role is traditionally seen as a stepping stone for a three-star officer to head to a higher-level role in the future.
The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies is proud to announce the launch of its new China Airpower Tracker, the authoritative platform for assessing the progress and status of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s airpower capabilities. The online tool merges open-source intelligence with expert curation from the Mitchell Institute.
The Air Force’s top mobility leader is pushing for decades-old air transports and tankers to be replaced sooner than the late 2030s, as currently planned. Lt. Gen. Reba Sonkiss, the interim head of Air Mobility Command, told reporters that the service needs to seriously discuss what the future replacement for the decades-old C-5 and C-17 transports will be.
The Pentagon’s task force focused on defeating unmanned aerial systems announced Feb. 24 that its hub for military personnel to buy anti-drone technology reached initial launch. The Defense Department billed the “Counter-UAS Marketplace” as an online platform where its personnel can purchase mission-specific anti-drone tech from a “growing catalog” of more than 1,600 items while avoiding “the lengthy contracting process typically associated with defense procurement.”
The commander of Air Force Reserve Command has said that he would like to field F-15E Strike Eagle and F-15EX Eagle II combat aircraft to help the command meet its commitment to supporting the overall Air Force mission.
The use of autonomy and artificial intelligence will demand effectively coordination with human teammates, rapidly adjusting to a dynamic threat environment, adhering to commander’s intent, and affording sufficient insight for legal and reliability analysis. Heather Penney chats with a team of AI experts and former warfighters about these factors, including Robert “Bobaloo” Rickard, Leigh Madden, and Mark “Drifter” Valentine.
The Pentagon has published criteria for barracks and other unaccompanied housing that require all the military services to meet the same standards for the first time, according to the Defense Department.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is appealing a judge’s order that blocks him from punishing Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, a former Navy pilot, for participating in a video that called on troops to resist unlawful orders, according to a court filing on Feb. 24.
President Donald Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to two pilots on Feb. 24: Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover, who was wounded while flying a helicopter during January’s mission that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro; and retired Navy Capt. Royce Williams, who shot down four Soviet jet fighters during the Korean War.
