Defense One
A 20 percent bump to its research-and-development budget would help U.S. Special Operations Command foster autonomous drones, battlefield comms, and other gear and weapons to help pivot from counterterrorism to great-power competition, the command’s chief acquisitions executive said. SOCOM is also grappling with new attacks on supply chains and networks, James Smith told reporters last week.
Military.com
Enlisted personnel and junior officers are very concerned about being able to afford housing, the chairman of a new House panel focused on quality of life in the military told Military.com in an interview April 24 after a pair of listening sessions at Offutt Air Force Base. While the quality-of-life panel still has a couple months before it begins in earnest, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who is leading the panel, said he wanted to get a "head start" and so ventured the five miles from his home to hear directly from service members at the base where he used to be a commander.
Air & Space Forces Magazine
Virtually every part of the Department of the Air Force’s drive to modernize is being shaped by Secretary Frank Kendall’s seven Operational Imperatives—lines of effort that address the most important and urgent challenges facing the Air Force today. Now, the department and industry are working together to develop solutions for each imperative, and the results will likely change the Air Force and Space Force for the next generation. Keep up with all the latest news on each Operational Imperative.
Breaking Defense
The National Reconnaissance Office and the Space Force now plan to launch the first satellites in their highly classified joint SILENTBARKER program to improve monitoring of the heavens this summer, according to NRO Director Chris Scolese. The new capability no doubt will be welcomed by leaders at U.S. Space Command, who have been increasingly frustrated about the Defense Department’s failure to fix gaps in space domain awareness (SDA) capabilities required to keep real-time tabs on adversary space activities.
The War Zone
Turkey has flown the first example of its Hürjet jet trainer and light attack aircraft in the latest milestone for a country that’s rapidly developing new homegrown aerospace technologies. While the Hürjet is primarily expected to provide training to future Turkish fast-jet pilots, it also offers a significant level of performance and advanced avionics, making it suitable for combat missions, too, and it’s even been touted to possibly operate from the Turkish Navy’s innovative hybrid drone-carrier/assault ship, the TCG Anadolu.
POLITICO
Lawmakers have a message for the Pentagon as the leak of top secret documents allegedly by a 21-year-old service member has prompted officials to review their procedures for handling classified information. Don’t overdo it. In the days following the arrest of Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of posting a trove of classified information online, the Pentagon has limited who can access top secret data and ordered a reappraisal of its policies to make sure it doesn’t happen again. While lawmakers agree that the system needs to be revamped, they want to make sure that doesn’t result in a full-scale government lockdown of the nation’s secrets.
Defense News
During a meeting with Space Force officials this month, members of Firefly Aerospace’s team received text alerts saying their Alpha rocket needed to be ready to launch a military mission within 24 hours. The message was just a drill, according to CEO Bill Weber, one of many in recent weeks as the Texas-based company prepares to launch the Space Force’s mission known as Victus Nox―Latin for “Conquer the Night”—to demonstrate the ability to build a satellite, integrate it onto a rocket and place it in orbit on rapid timelines.
War On The Rocks
Ryan Evan recently tagged along on a little trip to Alabama with Gen. CQ Brown, the chief of staff of the Air Force. They recorded this episode on the flight back to Washington. Gen. Brown discussed basing and posture in the Indo-Pacific, what the Air Force might be learning from the war in Ukraine, his vision for the Air Force as expressed in Accelerate Change or Lose, artificial intelligence, books that have influenced him, and his passion for leadership.
One More Thing
Dayton Daily News
The F-15 involved in the first double MiG-29 Fulcrum kill in the same engagement arrived at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force on April 25, to become part of the museum’s permanent collection of planes. The operational F-15C Eagle was flown in by a Massachusetts Air National Guard pilot. In March 1999, Capt. Jeff “Claw” Hwang piloted this F-15C as the commander of an air support mission over the former Yugoslavia during NATO Operation Allied Force.
