North Korea’s attempt to put its first spy satellite into space failed May 31 in a setback to leader Kim Jong Un’s push to boost his military capabilities as tensions with the United States and South Korea rise. After an unusually quick admission of failure, North Korea vowed to conduct a second launch after it learns what went wrong. It suggests Kim remains determined to expand his weapons arsenal and apply more pressure on Washington and Seoul while diplomacy is stalled.
“As the senior leaders of the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center, we see the incredible work Airmen do every day to provide expeditionary warfare capability to America’s armed forces. However, this vantage point also allows us to see areas for improvement and even radical change in service culture. One area of concern is mental strength and resiliency across the Air Force. We see a need for a cultural overhaul that will return to tried-and-true methods designed to build strength and confidence into our Airmen,” write Maj. Gen. John Klein and Chief Master Sgt. Courtney Freeman, the commander and command chief of the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center.
A Boeing executive recently declined to uphold a previous pledge by another company official that the sticker price for F-15EX fighters in the jets’ next two production lots would come in below $80 million. Prat Kumar, Boeing vice president for F-15 programs, was asked about the pledge made by a colleague at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) trade show last year. Kumar denied the pledge extended to production lots 2 and 3, asserting that it only applied to fighters tied to lot 1 deliveries.
U.S. Space Command has officially been assigned responsibilities for protecting the United States from missile attacks, a job previously held by U.S. Strategic Command. “The President of the United States approved and directed the implementation of the 2022 Unified Command Plan Apr. 25, 2023,” Space Command said May 31.
The way modern Airmen and Guardians prepare for the future fight is changing, with live, virtual, and constructive training offering new ways to practice essential skills. Learn more about how virtual and augmented reality, simulated environments, and other technologies are helping train warfighters everywhere from the cockpit to the maintenance depot.
The Department of the Air Force selected Florida's Patrick Space Force Base on May 31 as the preferred headquarters location for STARCOM, the service's training and education command. Space Training and Readiness Command had been temporarily headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado since it was organized under the then-newly created Space Force in 2021. The decision, announced in a press release, has been deliberated for years and was quickly praised by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) is purpose-building sensors to better detect and investigate military-reported unidentified anomalous phenomena (or UAP, the modern term for UFOs) as its caseload continues to expand. And the team is also set to welcome a new expert from NASA to inform its complex analyses.
Republicans have spent months hammering President Joe Biden’s Pentagon budget as insufficient. Now they’re faced with a dilemma: support a debt limit deal that locks in Biden’s budget or try to sink the pact just days before a default. A handful of GOP defense hawks plan to oppose the debt deal between Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy rather than endorse the administration’s $886 billion military budget that they’ve panned as too low. Even more defense-minded lawmakers are gritting their teeth and backing the deal, buoyed by the possibility of padding the defense budget with emergency funding or reopening the pact later.
The Energy Department needs to take additional steps to prevent insider threats to the nation’s nuclear arsenal—including working to identify the total number of classified networks across the department to fully monitor users’ activity—according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office.
When congressional authorizers soon begin the task of marking up the Air Force's fiscal year 2024 budget request, they will be relying in part on a recent report detailing the highest- and lowest-performing space acquisition programs. In a report sent to Congress in February, the Air Force assistant secretary for space acquisition and integration assessed the performance of the programs based on cost and schedule to rank the highest and lowest performers.
With the roar of jets, 921 new Air Force officers will celebrate their graduation June 1 amid a sea of blue and gold traditions. The Air Force Academy's pomp and circumstance will feature President Joe Biden as commencement speaker and a performance by the Thunderbirds, the F-16 aerial demonstration team.
