With the unveiling of the B-21 Raider, speculation and interest in the new bomber have reached a fever pitch, with a first flight still to come in mid-2023. But the B-21 won’t just be about the large, flying wing aircraft that rolled out in Palmdale, Calif. Air Force officials have frequently spoken about the Raider becoming the lead element of a so-called “family of systems,” and Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has made defining that family of systems one of his seven “operational imperatives" for the department. What exactly will be included in that family remains unknown, but a new research paper from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, informed by an unclassified workshop that gathered Air Force leaders, planners, and operators along with industry partners, offers some insight into what might be considered.

With a little more than a week to go before the continuing resolution funding the federal government expires, lawmakers in Congress have still yet to reach an agreement on spending—and Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall is warning that dozens of programs and projects could be affected if no long-term agreement is reached, according to a letter obtained by Air & Space Forces Magazine. 

The House of Representatives voted to pass a new, compromise version of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act on Dec. 8, sending the annual defense policy bill to the Senate and setting up its passage before the end of the year. For the Defense Department’s youngest service, the Space Force, the bill included dozens of sections covering strategy, structure, and more, as legislators continue to define and shape the service.

The Space Force has served as fodder for many comedians who have questioned what it does since it stood up in 2019. Now in its third year, the service continues to tell its story and to explain its importance to the American public. On Dec. 6, it got a boost from CBS's The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. The popular comedian engaged in irreverent humor on a visit to Thule Air Base in Greenland but also showcased some of the Space Force's most important roles there and visited service members as part of a USO trip.

The Department of Defense announced a contract for future cloud services. The effort, Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC), will serve as a pillar of the U.S. military's future operations, with a top line of $9 billion. It will provide the DOD with enterprise, global cloud services across all security and classification levels.