Military Times
In a pessimistic, but realistic, 2026 war game scenario, a combined sabotage and information operation campaign helped Chinese military forces land on the shores of Taiwan. The United States, caught off guard due to another global crisis, must rapidly respond. In this near future, the United States has some, but not all, of the weapons, units, and ships it needs for this fight. But no magic bullet is going to solve this invasion in a matter of hours or even days.
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Bloomberg
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has won certification from the Pentagon’s Space Force to use recyclable boosters on its Falcon Heavy rocket to launch top-secret spy satellites, according to the service. It may give Musk’s insurgent company at least a temporary edge in its latest competition with a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture that once had a monopoly on the Defense Department’s satellite launches.
Breaking Defense
The Missile Defense Agency now has “very high confidence” that the long-delayed Aegis Ashore system in Poland will deliver an operational system in 2023. Vice Adm. Jon Hill, director of the Missile Defense Agency, said that the Aegis equipment was installed at the system’s site in Poland and is now undergoing system testing, an important step for a program that’s been delayed for four years.
Defense One
More than a quarter of translators who helped the United States military in Afghanistan say they or their family members have faced direct threats from the Taliban within the past month, according to polling data shared with Defense One. More than 74,000 applicants who worked with the U.S. military or government are in the special immigrant visa pipeline nearly a year after the United States withdrew from Afghanistan.
Air Force release
Department of the Air Force senior leaders hosted a roundtable with leaders from some of the country’s most prominent military and veteran support organizations. The forum enabled DAF leaders to update the groups on top priorities and challenges and to discuss how to partner effectively in support of Airmen, Guardians, and family members.
Breaking Defense
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, defense budgets in the U.S. and Europe have increased dramatically, with companies on both sides of the Atlantic looking to cash in. As CEO of Leonardo DRS, the American arm of Italian giant Leonardo, William Lynn III has a unique view on the state of industrial cooperation between Washington and the European capitals.
The Drive
This year marks half a century of U.S. Air Force aggressors, and it’s therefore fitting that the 65th Aggressor Squadron has been reactivated at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., in one of the most significant milestones ever for the squadrons that play the part of the enemy. The unit flies stealthy F-35A fighter jets, and it will set a new standard for the USAF’s aggressor forces as a whole.
Task & Purpose
By the end of this year, the Air Force is slated to shut down three units that specialize in train, advise, and assist; and combat air adviser missions: the 81st Fighter Squadron out of Moody Air Force Base, Ga.; and the 6th and 711th Special Operations Squadrons, both at Duke Field, Fla. These units provide formal training to friendly foreign states’ militaries.
FedScoop
The Air Force has developed a model for how battle management should be conducted in the future, an initiative that officials see as a requirement for the service’s forthcoming Advanced Battle Management System architecture. ABMS is the Air Force’s contribution to the Pentagon’s joint all-domain command and control (JADC2) concept, which seeks to connect sensors and shooters and to provide battlefield commanders with the right information to make faster—and better—decisions.
Defense News
The head of U.S. Strategic Command, Adm. Charles Richard, has said his No. 1 need is a robust missile warning capability. Missile warning is critical “so I know what to do and how to posture and dispose my forces, and it is due to these rapidly expanding and evolving threats: hypersonic weapons, cruise missiles potentially with intercontinental range, unmanned aerial systems, proliferation of shorter-range ballistic missiles, and several novel weapon systems,” he said.
SpaceNews
The Army’s land forces for decades have relied on satellites for communications, navigation, and early warning of missile attack. But the Army now wants to figure out other ways to use space technologies for nontraditional military operations such as cyber and information warfare. Army leaders said wars in the future will be fought in the space and cyber domains. And they argued that there should be more synergy among space, cyber, and information warfare capabilities so they can be layered to greater effect.
Military.com
Military families were given a new streamlined satisfaction survey during permanent-change-of-station, or PCS, moves this summer, but so far, few have been filling them out, according to Defense Department statistics. About 18 percent of the surveys were completed in May and 10 percent in June after the Defense Personal Property Management Office began giving out the questionnaires in a shorter and easier-to-access format. The office is aiming for at least a 30 percent response rate.
One More Thing
Dayton Daily News
The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force will host a traveling tribute to Vietnam War veterans in the coming days, and a B-52 flyover is also on its slate of events. From Aug. 18-21, the museum will host the American Veterans Traveling Tribute Vietnam Memorial—an 80 percent-sized replica of the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C., bearing the names of more than 58,000 service members killed in Southeast Asia. The museum said it will also host an Aug. 19 B-52 flyover, Air Force Flight One pop-up concerts, historical displays, veterans presentations, and more.
