Military.com
With the House personnel subcommittee targeting “other issues” like politicization in the military, the House Armed Services Committee has set up a new panel that will exclusively focus on the issues that directly impact service members' quality of life. Boosting pay for junior enlisted service members and improving military housing conditions will be among the priorities of the new subpanel, its leader told Military.com in an interview.
Defense One
As the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, John Hyten worked to streamline the military’s requirements process, to speed up the process. Now more than a year into retirement, he’s working to help commercial companies break into the defense sector. “It's frustrating for a commercial company to figure out how to do business [with the Pentagon], but if we don't win the artificial intelligence race, and we don't win the quantum race, we're in a world of hurt as a country,” Hyten said in an interview.
Defense News
The Pentagon is taking another stab at opening competition for the AIR Card program, a government credit card widely used to pay for a huge military expense―fuel, but the effort is facing skepticism from a key lawmaker. Under the contract, troops use the Aviation Into-Plane Reimbursement (AIR) cards and Ship Bunkers Easy Acquisition Card (SEA) cards to keep U.S. military aircraft around the globe fueled up and ready to go. The contract holder processes the transactions and profits almost entirely from transaction fees it charges the government’s network of commercial fuel suppliers.
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The Washington Post
The U.S. military is poised to secure expanded access to key bases in the Philippines on the heels of a significant revamp of U.S. force posture in Japan—developments that reflect the allies’ concern with an increasingly fraught security environment in the region and a desire to deepen alliances with the United States, according to U.S. and Philippine officials. While negotiations are still ongoing, an announcement is expected as soon as this week when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin meets in Manila with his counterpart and then with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
NBC News
Drones loaded with bombs targeted a military factory at the heart of the central Iranian city of Isfahan, authorities said Jan. 29, causing a large explosion and minor damage to the facility. The incident served as the latest flashpoint for rising tensions over the country's nuclear program and its supply of drones to Russia. The news drew a celebratory reaction from Kyiv that earned its own rebuke from Tehran on Jan. 30.
The Defense Post
The U.S. Air Force AFWERX innovation arm has awarded Electra a contract to develop an electronic short take-off and landing (eSTOL) aircraft prototype. The full-scale pre-production eSTOL prototype will be constructed to validate operational use cases and associated requirements for the service. It will be equipped with improved precision flight controls, aerodynamics, acoustics, hybrid-electric powertrains, and distributed electric propulsion resulting from previous AFWERX Agility Prime program contracts in 2021 and 2022.
Military.com
The Department of the Air Force is doing a 90-day review of how the Air Force and Space Force help victims of domestic violence, an analysis that has already led to plans to hire more special agents for future investigations into cases of abuse. The review comes as a response to a 2021 survey that found that 66 percent of women and 48 percent of men in the Air Force reported experiencing some form of interpersonal violence, meaning abuse that ranged in severity from workplace bullying to physical or sexual assault and family violence.
One More Thing
Military Times
While routines are important, sometimes mixing things up to enjoy a spontaneous moment with your family can be a great form of self-care. And that is the message from the newest suite of resources from “Sesame Street for Military Families.” In an announcement of the new resources, Sesame Workshop officials noted the disruptions caused by the pandemic over the last three years, with added stressors affecting the emotional well-being of children and their caregivers. This was especially true for military families, who already regularly face disruptions in their routines because of the military lifestyle, such as relocation and deployment.
