Radar Sweep
US House Approves Bill to Avert Government Shutdown This Week
The US House of Representatives on Nov. 19 approved legislation to avert a widespread government shutdown later this week with a bill extending temporary federal funding through Dec. 20. The legislation passed the House by a vote of 231-192, with all but a dozen Republicans voting against the funding.
OPINION: Why the US Needs to Invest More in Bombers“The B-21 promises to be a very advanced and capable aircraft and the Air Force should procure them in ample numbers as rapidly as possible,” writes retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, dean of the Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “However, until the day comes that the B-21 is fully mission capable in sufficient numbers to meet the needs of the national defense strategy, the legacy bomber force will have to answer the call to fly and fight. Investing in sustaining the viability of these proven aircraft is not an option, it is an imperative.” Forbes
“The B-21 promises to be a very advanced and capable aircraft and the Air Force should procure them in ample numbers as rapidly as possible,” writes retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, dean of the Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “However, until the day comes that the B-21 is fully mission capable in sufficient numbers to meet the needs of the national defense strategy, the legacy bomber force will have to answer the call to fly and fight. Investing in sustaining the viability of these proven aircraft is not an option, it is an imperative.”
Rising Costs, Dwindling Recruit Numbers, Increasing Demands May Bring Back the Military Draft
Over the past five years, retired Army Maj. Gen. Dennis Laich and Col. Larry Wilkerson along with members of the All-Volunteer Force Forum have traversed the country in an effort to address what they see as a looming crisis in the military—dwindling numbers of qualified and interested recruits for a military straining at the seams. And they’ve got the solution: Bring back the draft.
Trump Blows off Congressional Inquiry on Lebanon Aid Freeze
The White House blew through a Nov. 15 deadline to justify its decision to freeze $105 million in US military aid for Lebanon to Congress, two congressional aides told Al-Monitor. The administration of President Donald Trump has not explained the controversial move to Congress in repeated meetings.
Rostec Exec: American Sanctions Create Unfair Advantage for Weapons Sales
Defense News spoke with Victor Kladov, Rostec’s director for international cooperation and regional policy, on Nov. 18 about aircraft sales, the impact of US sanctions, and the ongoing S-400 air defense deal with Turkey.
Point Blank 19-8 Integrates ISR, Special Operations
The 48th Fighter Wing, in partnership with the Royal Air Force, hosted Point Blank 19-8 on Nov. 14, 2019. The purpose of Point Blank is to exercise large force capabilities that incorporate current and future wartime scenarios.
The Agency That Recovers and IDs Remains of Missing Troops Needs More Money, Partner Organizations Say
Leaders of organizations that work closely with the Pentagon agency charged with recovering and identifying the remains of service members missing from overseas battlefields blasted its funding as insufficient to recover nearly 82,000 missing troops worldwide. The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency, or DPAA, should receive additional funding to increase its capacity to locate, recover and ultimately identify Americans missing from World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, top officials with the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the nonprofit History Flight and the National League of POW/MIA Families told lawmakers Nov. 19.
Nanotechnology Is Shaping the Hypersonics Race
A protective coating of carbon nanotubes may help the Pentagon field warplanes and missiles that can survive the intense heat generated at five times the speed of sound. Researchers from Florida State University’s High-Performance Materials Institute, with funding from the US Air Force, discovered that soaking sheets of carbon nanotubes in phenol-based resin increases their ability to disperse heat by about one-sixth, allowing a thinner sheet to do the job.
Too Many CISOs Delay Cyber Response, DHS Official Says
Agencies must be able to act swiftly to keep their tech ecosystems secure against a constantly evolving array of digital threats, but excessive bureaucracy within the federal cyber community is impeding that quick action, according to Mark Bristow, director of the hunt and incident response team within the Homeland Security Department’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center. Though it’s critical to have different groups weigh in on cybersecurity policies, he said, today there are too many cooks in the kitchen to execute a coherent, unified strategy.
“A Really Momentous Day”: STRATCOM Welcomes New Leader, Dedicates New HQ
About 800 military and civilian workers and VIP guests attended the Nov. 18 dedication of the new US Strategic Command headquarters in honor of the iconic Air Force leader who moved the infant Strategic Air Command from Maryland to Nebraska in 1948, and presided over its growth into the world’s most important and most feared military command.
Azellia White, Trailblazer for African American Women in Aviation, Dies at 106
Azellia White, who said she found freedom in the skies, becoming one of the first African American women to earn a pilot’s license in the United States, died Sept. 14 at a nursing home in Sugar Land, Tex. She was 106. Mrs. White, the daughter of a sharecropper and a midwife, was drawn to aviation by her husband, Hulon “Pappy” White, a mechanic who served during World War II in Tuskegee, Ala., as a mechanic for the storied unit of black military pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen.