C4ISRNet
The Air Force selected five companies to help accelerate the development of its Advanced Battle Management System as the service’s secretary, Frank Kendall, acknowledged that efforts to modernize command and control systems have proved more challenging than expected.
Defense One
One day after President Joe Biden said the U.S. would defend Taiwan militarily, his Air Force Secretary issued a stern warning to Beijing: Don’t do it. Frank Kendall said Chinese leaders should look no further than Russia’s botched attempt to take over Ukraine to see why an invasion of Taiwan would not be easy and would have severe consequences.
National Defense Magazine
The Air Force’s secretive Next Generation Air Dominance program has reached a new phase of development, the service’s top civilian official said. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the service’s next-generation jet fighter has reached its design phase but clarified that he meant that “colloquially.”
Breaking Defense
It took only a “couple of months” for defense contractors to equip the Ukrainian air force’s Soviet-era MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters with American-made AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles, the head of U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa said. “It was quite the effort,” said Gen. James B. Hecker. “We have some [really] smart contractors that were able to make this happen. Now, is it as integrated as it is on an F-16? Of course not.”
SpaceNews
Space Operations Command is assigning cybersecurity and intelligence specialists to work side by side with satellite operators so they’re better prepared to protect U.S. systems from electronic and physical threats, said Maj. Gen. Douglas Schiess. The Space Force is following a directive from Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall to harden space systems against cyber attacks that rivals like China would attempt during a conflict.
Air Force Times
Gen. Mike Minihan knew his first year in command would be busy—but not this busy. For nearly a decade, Minihan was entrenched in the daily work of military operations in the Pacific and—with building urgency—debating how to counter China’s power and influence. The career transport jet pilot planned to put his INDOPACOM expertise toward preparing the Air Force’s mobility enterprise to outpace China on its home turf. But last summer, Afghanistan was falling to the Taliban, and America’s airlift pilots were flying a desperate mission.
Breaking Defense
The first of a new series of Space Force exercises aimed at training Guardians in specific skill sets is called Black Skies. It focuses on electronic warfare, including “live fire” in the form of real-world satellite jamming, according to the head of the service’s training command. “It’s an electronic warfare exercise that Guardians are participating in, particularly the Space Operations Command units,” said Maj. Gen. Shawn Bratton, commander of Space Training and Readiness Command.
The Associated Press
Swiss officials formally signed a procurement contract to acquire three dozen F-35 fighter jets from the United States as part of a planned refurbishment of Switzerland’s air force that has run afoul of critics of the big defense purchase, the government said.
One More Thing
Task & Purpose
Most, if not all, service members have fond memories of collecting their DD-214 and leaving the military. No more early morning PT formations. No more weekend duty. You can finally grow that beard. But sometimes, circumstances change. Maybe a new job didn’t work out, or it just isn’t as personally satisfying as you expected it to be. Maybe you just miss the camaraderie, and you find yourself considering joining back up.
