The Defense Department is limiting travel and curbing exercises as more service members and civilians are confirmed to have the new coronavirus, though officials maintain the impact of the outbreak is limited. As of March 10, three Active Duty service members have been confirmed to have the virus—one in South Korea, one in Europe, and one in the U.S. Additionally, one civilian, four dependents, and one contractor are confirmed to have the virus, Joint Staff Surgeon USAF Brig. Gen. Paul Friedrichs told reporters.The department is still learning about the virus and the impacts of the outbreak, and Pentagon officials expect the numbers to continue to increase.

Space Force officials say it’s taking longer than expected to finalize a list of suggested language that lawmakers could add to the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill, indicating that certain proposals for the new service are sure to cause heated disagreement across the federal government. If the document isn’t sent over by the end of March, Lt. Gen. David Thompson, the service’s vice commander, said, “we’re going to continue to get beat up by Congress.” The Department of the Air Force, which encompasses the Space Force, has submitted technical and conforming amendments for lawmakers to consider. Those amendments serve to clean up laws already on the books to ensure they apply to the Space Force.

The Air Force’s plan to cut MQ-9 Reaper production and some air patrols in the fiscal 2021 budget request would negatively impact the ability to conduct operations and provide enough over watch in hotspots in the Middle East and Africa, the top officials responsible for those regions said March 10. The service wants to end the production of the Reapers, which have been in increasingly high demand across the world, saying it needs to focus on assets and systems that can survive in a high-end fight. Air Force acquisition boss Will Roper told House legislators on March 10 that figuring out what will succeed the MQ-9 Reaper, which is slated to remain in service through about 2030, will be among the most important decisions of the fiscal 2022 budget.

U.S. Air Force F-22s and Canadian CF-18s intercepted two Russian Tu-142 maritime reconnaissance aircraft north of Alaska on March 9, North American Aerospace Defense Command announced. The fighters, which were supported by an E-3 Sentry AWACS and a KC-135 Stratotanker, escorted the Russian aircraft for four hours as they flew in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone. “NORAD continues to operate in the Arctic across multiple domains,” said Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy, commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, in a release. “As we continue to conduct exercises and operations in the north, we are driven by a single unyielding priority: defending the homeland.”

The Taliban has continued attacks on Afghan forces in the wake of the negotiated agreement with the U.S., steps that are “not consistent” with a future settlement for peace, the head of American forces in the Middle East said March 10. For the peace deal to work, the Taliban needs to demonstrate its commitment to the process by reducing violence, and the U.S. will continue its initial drawdown while watching the conditions on the ground, U.S. Central Command boss Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told the House Armed Services Committee. “We don’t need to trust them, we don’t need to like them,” McKenzie said of the Taliban. “We need to observe what they do and we have the capability to do that.”

The Defense Department is seeking innovative ways to connect U.S. military units all over the world, provide high bandwidth services via laser, and communicate with submarines deep underwater. A recently issued contract solicitation launched a four-phase prototyping effort that will lead to a brand new command, control, and communications architecture, said Doug Schroeder, oversight executive of DOD's Joint Capability Technology Demonstration at the Satellite 2020 conference in Washington.

United Launch Alliance announced March 10 its Atlas V rocket launch that will carry the Air Force’s sixth Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite into space is delayed by at least two days because of an unusual valve reading. “Additional time is needed for the team to replace and retest the valve,” a ULA spokeswoman said. “Launch is now scheduled for no earlier than March 21.” AEHF, built by Lockheed Martin, is replacing the Milstar constellation to provide more secure, signal jamming-resistant satellite communications for “high priority military ground, sea, and air assets,” according to the Space Force.