With less than two months left in 2021, lawmakers are warning that time is growing short for Congress to sort through the procedural hurdles necessary to get the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act signed into law. The NDAA is typically considered “must-pass” legislation and has been approved by Congress every year for more than half a century. While it does not actually appropriate the money spent on defense, the policy bill does authorize the appropriations and sets a host of policies and restrictions. It also typically sets a number of reports for the Pentagon to deliver to Congress, and without it, certain special pay authorizations will expire.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency crashed one of its four remaining Gremlins air-launched drones during a flight test in October but not without demonstrating some of the autonomous swarming program’s key objectives. In tests, the X-61 Gremlins Air Vehicles, or GAVs, launch from the wing of a C-130. October's test at the Army’s Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, “successfully validated all autonomous formation flying positions and safety features” and “ultimately demonstrated airborne recovery to a C-130,” according to a news release.

The release of an Air Force Inspector General report on the erroneous Aug. 29 air strike that killed 10 civilians in Kabul, Afghanistan, has prompted questions about accountability that will now be left up to the relevant combatant commanders, according to the Pentagon. “The report and its findings have now been transmitted to U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command,” Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said Nov. 5. “Each of those commanders can take a look at the process breakdowns and can determine for themselves if, in fact, in addition to process improvements, there might need to be accountability at their level.”

Commercial satellite communication providers who want to sell their services to the U.S. military will have to meet the same voluminous cybersecurity standards imposed on federal agencies themselves—plus additional ones specific to space and national security, according to a Space Force official. The move comes amid growing concern about cyberattacks on U.S. satellites that could cripple the U.S. military’s global communications network.