NPR
Across the country, National Guard troops have been deployed since early in the pandemic at food banks, COVID-19 testing sites, and makeshift hospitals. Guard personnel are now being deployed to hospitals in five states including Ohio, with one of the highest COVID hospitalization numbers in the country. But it turns out not all Ohio Guard members are available for that mission.
Air Force Times
A new year is bringing new consequences for thousands of Air National Guard members who aren’t vaccinated against the coronavirus. As of Dec. 31, 2,500 unvaccinated Airmen and Guardians were ineligible for pay or benefits from the Air National Guard. Those troops were also banned from finishing out jobs, taking on new orders, showing up to drill weekends, or taking part in training.
The Drive
A new design from Scaled Composites, the Model 412 Encore, has appeared for the first time in 3-D-printed model form. The company has said the Model 412 Encore is currently a white paper concept in the “preliminary design phase.” The company said it has already been pitching the concept to a number of interested customers and is now looking for funding to continue development, including a flying prototype.
Delaware Business Now
Hunt Companies, one of the largest providers of privatized military housing, agreed to a $500,000 settlement with the U.S. government to resolve allegations of fraud at Dover Air Force Base, Del. Between January 2013 and June 2019, Hunt submitted what the government determined to be materially false information in order to receive higher performance incentive payouts.
Defense One
The Cyberspace Solarium Commission was charged in 2019 with sorting through the difficult policy solutions needed to help prevent and prepare the U.S. for cyberattacks. The commission is shutting down this month after more than two years and a report to Congress with nearly 100 recommendations that led to a slew of legislative changes. But as cyber incidents seemingly increase in number and scale, the panel is rebooting as a nonprofit in 2022.
Air Force Times
Resolving to work out more in 2022? Practice the exercises that became part of the Air Force physical fitness test Jan. 1. In the Air Force’s first full year of regularly scheduled PT tests since 2019, it’s letting Airmen mix and match the exercises they want to be judged on. Proponents hope the change will play to people’s strengths rather than pigeonholing everyone into the same three moves.
Military Times
The Defense Department will soon have a more complete picture of the state of sexual assault and sexual harassment in the military, with a new version of its annual Workplace and Gender Relations Survey that is open to all service members who want to fill it out. Previously, the survey was sent only to roughly half of Active-duty and Reserve component troops, but there’s now a shortened version that any service member can take.
SpaceNews
Under a $2 million contract from the Space Force, Slingshot Aerospace will try to use location data from commercial satellites to identify sources of electronic interference on the ground. The project takes advantage of telemetry data from the growing number of commercial satellites in low Earth orbit.
Breaking Defense
Space Force is looking for cheap, lightweight electro-optical cameras to keep tabs on spacecraft in the high-value geosynchronous orbit (some 36,000 km in altitude) that could fly as payloads on any number of satellites. GEO is where most communications satellites, military and commercial, currently operate.
The Associated Press
China has recommitted itself to completing its orbiting space station by the end of 2022 and says it is planning more than 40 launches for the year, putting it roughly even with the United States. Launches would include those of two Shenzhou crewed missions, two Tianzhou cargo spacecraft, and the station’s additional two modules, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Breaking Defense
It’s become a standard line when Pentagon officials discuss space: The warfighting domain is more “contested and congested” than ever before. But what does that mean in real terms? The first Breaking Defense Space Survey polled space professionals on topics including threats to America’s space ambitions, the growing role of the Space Force, and which space capabilities need the most investment going forward.
One More Thing
Space.com
Netflix has confirmed that the space-themed satire "Space Force" will return early this year—Friday, Feb. 18 to be precise. The streaming service hasn't given any clues away yet, not even a trailer, but it's more than likely to pick up from the ending of Season 1 with the threat of nuclear war hanging over everyone's heads; the arming, disarming, and rearming of Habitat One; potential conflict with the Chinese; and General Naird (Steve Carell) headed back to the Space Force to deal with the situation.
