Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, has two years left on the job to accomplish one of his biggest priorities—and biggest challenges. At the top of Hokanson's to-do list as he quickly approaches retirement is securing free universal health care for the National Guard. Unlike their Active-duty counterparts, part-time Guard troops aren't entitled to health care when they are off orders.
Though the recent tumult over whether Elon Musk’s SpaceX would continue to fund the operation of its Starlink satellite service in Ukraine appears to be over for now, an uncomfortable question remains: If for some reason Starlink is not available, who else might the Pentagon, or Ukrainian forces, for that matter, be able to turn to? While other satellite communications firms provide internet connectivity from space, experts say that, at least in the short term, few provide both the wide global coverage and inexpensive, highly mobile, and easy-to-use receiver terminals that have made Starlink a vital part of Ukraine’s war against Russia.
Islamic extremism has exploded in Africa despite ongoing efforts by U.S. Africa Command to stifle terrorism on the continent, an August report from the Pentagon revealed. Conducted by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, the Pentagon’s premier analysis branch for the region, the report noted a staggering 300 percent increase in militant Islamist violence over the course of the last decade.
At this year’s Project Convergence, the U.S. Army is once again experimenting with its autonomous Black Hawk that could be the future of its venerable Black Hawk fleet—this time without safety pilots and with new payloads. “My requirement was ‘don’t even bring it if it can’t be flown fully autonomous,'” said Lt. Gen. Thomas Todd, deputy commanding general for acquisition and systems and chief innovation officer at Army Futures Command. “The point being that we have to take a step every year. We have to push ourselves to take steps.”
The U.S. Navy is sharing information from its secretive Project Overmatch initiative with friendly forces abroad to ensure that international communication and collaboration will be possible in large-scale fights of the future. Project Overmatch is the Navy’s contribution to joint all-domain command and control, or JADC2, a Pentagon push for enhanced communications from sensor to shooter. The multibillion-dollar effort is meant to seamlessly connect forces across land, air, sea, space, and cyberspace, enabling improved responses to aggression.
Lockheed Martin has stood up an internal cell to create partnerships with mid-size defense, commercial, and space firms, the company’s CEO said. It’s the latest move by the company to better position its business to deliver militarized commercial technology to the Pentagon. Called LM Evolve, the group is meant to complement the company’s venture capital arm, which primarily invests in startups.
Mynaric, SA Photonics, Skyloom, and Tesat are providing optical communications terminals for Space Development Agency Tranche 0 Transport and Tracking layer satellites scheduled for launch late this year. Derek Tournear, director of the Space Force’s Space Development Agency, displayed the names of the Tranche 0 optical communications terminal providers at the MilSat Symposium in Mountain View, Calif. Not all of the firms had previously announced their roles in the SDA program.
Air Force pararescuemen have braved enemy fire and natural disasters to save troops and civilians in great danger for decades. Uncommon valor becomes a common virtue among a crowd with that kind of mindset, which is why it’s all the more noteworthy that one pararescueman retiring this fall after a 26-year career earned the title of “legendary” from other members of the PJ community. “Yesterday we said farewell to Air Force legendary pararescueman Chief Master Sgt. Ivan Ruiz,” wrote the Pararescue Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the pararescue community and their families, in a Facebook post last month.
The Government Accountability Office is sending a $12 billion systems engineering and integration contract award back to the Air Force to reconsider that decision. GAO's recommendation comes with its ruling to sustain a pair of protests by Guidehouse and Jacobs. Guidehouse argued that the solicitation's terms were misleading and evaluations were inadequate. It also believed the evaluations ran contrary to the terms of the solicitation.
At Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, Texas, the scream of training aircraft overhead is constant. But students in the latest iteration of undergraduate pilot training don’t seem to notice. On most days, they gather in a cramped room they call “the bullpen.” Rows of virtual reality simulators divide the space, while people in flight suits pack the aisles. Most of the stations are made from enhanced Windows PCs and other components such as monitors, joysticks, and throttles.
The Air Force’s elite combat divers will soon have a decoration of their own to wear. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. approved a new badge for divers and diver supervisors to replace the Navy scuba badge, the service announced. Since 2006, Airmen who graduated from the Air Force Combat Dive Course have been awarded the Navy scuba qualification and badge even though their jobs are different.