The U.S. evacuated American aircraft from a Royal Air Force base in England on Nov. 9 in the wake of a threat from Iran, according to people familiar with the matter. The precise nature of the threat to RAF Mildenhall—whether imminent or more general—remains under discussion among U.S. officials, the people said.
The U.S. Air Force is implementing a new approach to address stubbornly low readiness rates across its aircraft with a daring idea: copying the U.S. Navy.
The Department of the Air Force is ramping up its adoption of artificial intelligence and the training troops need to understand the rapidly evolving tools. The Air Force and Space Force first focused on building the strategy and policy to govern their AI use. Now, the department is ready to put that foundation to the test, said Susan Davenport, its chief data and AI officer.
The Air Force is surveying industry for ready-made artificial intelligence and machine learning software geared toward autonomous space vehicles operating outside of the near-Earth domain, a new document says.
In a move that will delay an impeachment vote for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, House lawmakers on Nov. 10 opted to refer the impeachment resolution to the House Judiciary Committee for further consideration. The motion passed on a 211-204 vote and concerned eight articles of impeachment introduced Nov. 9 by Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie. In a social media post on Nov. 10, Massie called the floor vote a “procedural motion to kill the resolution.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently instructed senior Pentagon and military officials to record any delay or denial in their requests to employ counter-drone capabilities as a “risk of inaction,” and report those instances to Joint Interagency Task Force 401. Hegseth issued a “corrected copy” of that memorandum—dated Nov. 5 and viewed by DefenseScoop on Nov. 10—that outlined multiple policies to reform the Defense Department’s historically lengthy approval processes for buying and fielding weapons that can take down unauthorized unmanned aerial systems.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Nov. 10 that the Trump administration’s economic pressure campaign against Iran was effective enough that “there’s really no need for major combat operations any longer.”
U.S. Africa Command is set to demonstrate a potential autonomous casualty evacuation capability in Morocco. The test will involve a Cessna Model 208B Grand Caravan with an artificial intelligence-driven ‘copilot’ from Merlin Labs.
China has provided us with the clearest look yet at its GJ-11 stealth uncrewed combat aerial vehicle, with new official footage revealing previously unseen details of the flying-wing drone, including its internal weapons bays, landing gear, nose-mounted sensor installation, and distinctive exhaust arrangement.
Russia and Ukraine agreed to a large exchange of prisoners of war, both sides said Nov. 11 as two days of U.S.-mediated talks concluded with no major breakthrough on ending Moscow’s nearly 5-year-old full-scale invasion.
NATO allies are considering the biggest overhaul of their military planning in at least two decades—prioritizing fighting Russia over providing spare troops for places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
When Army Air Forces Col. James M. Stewart returned to Hollywood following his decorated service as a B-24 Liberator bomber pilot in World War II, he seemed to put the war behind him, saying little about his experiences to the public and even to his own family. But a journal found by his bedside after his death in 1997 sheds fresh light on the pain, complexity, and even humor of his time in uniform.
