The New York Times
Haunted by its responsibility for World War II and Nazi tyranny, Germany embraced the pursuit of peace with the fervor of a convert. But on June 14, its government took an important step toward shedding that legacy as war once again transforms the European continent. For the first time since the world war ended, the government unveiled a comprehensive national security strategy meant to confront Germany’s vulnerability to new military, economic, and geopolitical threats, including climate change.
Air Force Times
About 88 percent of all dual-military service members have been able to co-locate with their spouse, but the services have work to do to ensure they’re balancing the needs of these families with the requirements of the mission as they make their assignment decisions, according to a report from the Department of Defense inspector general.
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The Washington Post
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to China this week in a sign that relations between Beijing and Washington are improving after a massive feud erupted in February with the downing of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that breached U.S. airspace and loitered near sensitive military sites as it traversed much of the country.
DefenseScoop
The Air Force’s chief of artificial intelligence test and operations inadvertently created a media frenzy when he spotlighted a breath-taking scenario where an AI-enabled drone aggressively turned on the humans it was teamed with, during an on-stage talk late last month at the Royal Aeronautical Society’s international Future Combat Air and Space Capabilities Summit in London. In the aftermath of the incident, DefenseScoop asked national security and AI experts to reflect on this overarching miscommunication, the media firestorm it ignited, and the military’s response.
Air & Space Forces Magazine
Driven by advancements in technology and research, the Air Force and Space Force are adapting how they train their warfighters to complete the missions at hand. Keep up with all the latest news on changes and improvements to the services’ training enterprises.
Breaking Defense
The House Appropriations Committee published its initial draft of the Pentagon’s fiscal 2024 spending bill June 14, providing an $886 billion topline for the national security spending and $826 billion specifically for the Defense Department. Those numbers adhere to the cap figures agreed to by White House and congressional leaders late last month as part of the debt ceiling deal. The $826 billion topline for the Pentagon is $285 million more than the White House requested and about 3.6 percent more than last year’s enacted budget, according to a committee statement.
Military.com
Junior enlisted troops could see their pay jump more than 30% next year under a proposal unveiled June 14 by House Republicans. A House panel's proposal for annual Pentagon spending would give E-6s and below significant increases in their base pay, and lawmakers want to set aside $800 million to rework the military's pay scale for those service members. On top of the rewritten pay scale, all service members would also get a 5.2 percent pay raise under the bill drafted by the House Appropriations Committee. That means the junior enlisted personnel would see even bigger pay bumps than the 30 percent increases in the pay chart.
POLITICO
Sen. Tommy Tuberville is rejecting off-ramps and advice from more senior Republicans to end his hold on military promotions, even as Pentagon officials step up their warnings that the maneuver is compromising America’s security. The Alabama lawmaker’s colleagues have approached him in recent weeks to broker a compromise that would allow roughly 250 senior officer promotions to clear the Senate. The hold threatens to ensnare President Joe Biden’s pick for Joint Chiefs chair, Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown, along with others preparing to rotate in as senior military leaders prepare to retire.
SpaceNews
Amid the growing pains that come with being a new military branch, the U.S. Space Force is trying to establish its brand and build an identity. “The amount of work that we’ve done in three years is absolutely eye-watering to me, but we’re still trying to figure out how to navigate” within the large military bureaucracy, said Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, deputy chief of the U.S. Space Force for operations, cyber, and nuclear.
The War Zone
The huge flight line at Tyndall Air Force Base is a hive of activity, with rows of fighter jets lined up under the rising Florida sun, heralding the start of the day’s Combat Archer activities. First light sees ground teams receive live AIM-9M and AIM-9X Sidewinder heat-seeking short-range missiles, as well as AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs) from the resident munitions squadron, which had already built and prepped the weapons for loading onto the jets for the day’s missions.
Defense One
Poland has long understood “the bargain” with Europe: if the Russians invade, Poles would likely be first in the line of fire. So post-Cold War Poland quickly signed up to receive protection from the toughest neighborhood gang: NATO. Today, as NATO nations arm neighboring Ukraine for its battle with Russia, all eyes, roads, and most weapons lead through Poland. The day after visiting Kyiv in February, President Joe Biden took to an outdoor stage in Warsaw and delivered a Kennedy-esque address. “Knowing who stands with you makes all the difference. The people of Poland know that … more than anybody,” Biden said.
Breaking Defense
The Netherlands will begin to train Ukrainian F-16 fighter jet pilots “as soon as possible” as part of a three-step plan backed by the US Department of Defense and has stepped up military aid to Kyiv by way of a new €40 million ($43.3 million) air defense package, set to be announced at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Germany on June 15. Both the training and spending plans were revealed by Kajsa Ollongren, Dutch minister of defense, in a letter to the country’s House of Representatives.
One More Thing
The War Zone
A farewell flypast for the Royal Air Force’s C-130 Hercules transport aircraft took place June 14 as the service’s remaining J-models approach retirement later this month. C-130s—starting with legacy C-130K models—have been in operational service with the RAF for 56 years. The retirement of the RAF’s C-130Js marks the end of the Hercules’ use by the service, with the C-130K models having been retired in 2013.
