The Russian test of an anti-satellite weapon this week highlighted the vulnerability of orbital assets on which the U.S. military increasingly relies, and it dramatically demonstrated why a new U.S. Space Force research and development program is focused on defensive technologies, according to experts and military officials. The test, which created hundreds of thousands of pieces of space debris, reduced a derelict Russian spy satellite to a cloud of orbital debris—showcasing the kind of weaponry the Space Force will have to counter if it is to provide critical communication, surveillance, and other capabilities to U.S. forces on the ground in an all-out shooting war with a peer competitor such as Russia or China, explained Brian Engberg, director of the Space Control Technology Branch of the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Airmen from the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard must be fully vaccinated by Dec. 2, the first deadline for any Reserve or Guard component in the military. While that deadline approaches, however, the Pentagon and the Oklahoma National Guard are engaged in a dispute over whether the Defense Department has the necessary authority to require the vaccine for the Guard.

The Pentagon will ramp up monetary assistance to members of the military who are struggling to afford or locate adequate housing while also better advertising food programs, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said Nov. 17. “The pandemic and tight housing markets across the country have made financial struggles even tougher,” Austin told journalists in the Pentagon press room. “I've directed the Department to take several steps to strengthen the economic security of our force.” DOD will address housing and food costs with “immediate relief” as the holidays approach.

The Defense Department may change its policies to hold leaders accountable when military strikes go awry and innocent civilians are killed, said Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III on Nov. 17. During a rare press briefing by Austin at the Pentagon, he also questioned Putin’s actions on Ukraine’s border, but when asked, he did not explain why deterrence has failed to quell Iran’s malign activities or say why China is further along in the development of hypersonic weapons than America.

The Defense Department’s new academic research and training venue focused on the Arctic will be located in Anchorage, Alaska, the Pentagon announced Nov. 17. The exact location of the Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies, first announced in June, is still to be determined.