Radar Sweep
Snapshot: DOD and COVID-19
Here's a look at how the Defense Department is being impacted by and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pentagon Starts Bailing Out Companies That Have Lost Business Due to Coronavirus
On June 11, officials announced that five mid-tier defense companies had received a total of $135 million to “help sustain defense-critical workforce capabilities in body armor, aircraft manufacturing, and shipbuilding,” according to a Defense Department statement.“These actions will help to retain critical workforce capabilities throughout the disruption caused by COVID-19 and to restore some jobs lost because of the pandemic,” DOD spokesperson Lt. Col. Mike Andrews said in the statement.
Air Force Is Looking at Using Magnetic Fields to Navigate Instead Of GPS and Flight Testing It on F-16s
The fact that GPS is vulnerable to jamming, spoofing, or physical threats from American adversaries is widely known. What’s less well recognized is the variety of stealthy, difficult to jam or destroy navigation alternatives to GPS.
U.S. Naval Buildup in Indo-Pacific Seen as Warning to China
For the first time in nearly three years, three American aircraft carriers are patrolling the Indo-Pacific waters, a massive show of naval force in a region roiled by spiking tensions between the U.S. and China and a sign that the U.S. Navy has bounced back from the worst days of the coronavirus outbreak.
Experts Decry Lax Rules For 5G Sat Networks
As satellite operators scramble to join the 5G revolution, there is growing concern that weakness in U.S. regulatory standards for cybersecurity could mean commercial networks could be full of holes for hackers to exploit. The Defense Department currently requires that all satellite operators who sign contracts encrypt their data links to ground stations using National Security Agency-approved methods.
SecDef Orders After Action Review of National Guard Efforts During Civil Unrest Duties
Defense Secretary Mark Esper has ordered an after-action review of the National Guard’s response to civil unrest that roiled the nation in the wake of the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a black man prosecutors say was murdered by a white Minneapolis police officer.
Senate Panel Votes to Require Pentagon to Rename Bases Named after Confederates
The Republican-led Senate Armed Services Committee has approved an amendment to the annual defense policy bill that would require the Defense Department to rename bases and other assets that are named after Confederate military leaders, a source confirmed to The Hill.
Air Force Museum to Reopen July 1
The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force and the National Aviation Hall of Fame will reopen July 1 after being closed since March 15. Reopening will follow Centers for Disease Control, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, local and state guidelines.
At 64 Years Old, the U-2 Spy Plane Can Still Learn Some New Tricks
The U.S. Air Force is adapting the U-2 spy plane to act as a flying connector for the Advanced Battle Management System, an ambitious project designed to allow Air Force aircraft, Army ground forces, U.S. Navy ships and aircraft at sea, and special operations forces to pass data among one another. The system was originally meant to replace the E-8C JSTARS surveillance aircraft and later expanded into a much, much more ambitious multi-service data initiative.