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Stars and Stripes
High-altitude surveillance balloons and new models of U.S. drones soon will be seen in the skies above the Middle East, the Air Force’s top general in the region said. The Air Force’s Task Force 99 is set to begin testing this fall on the balloons as part of the unit’s rapidly expanding operations in the region, said Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, head of 9th Air Force (Air Forces Central).
The Associated Press
The Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking highly classified military documents has been indicted on federal felony charges, the Justice Department said June 15. Jack Teixeira faces six counts in the indictment of willful retention and transmission of national defense information.
SpaceNews
Despite an overwhelming vote of support by the United Nations General Assembly six months ago, advocates of a moratorium on one type of anti-satellite tests say they are still working to get more countries to adopt it. The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution in December 2022 encouraging countries not to conduct destructive direct-ascent (DA) ASAT tests. A total of 155 nations voted in favor of the resolution while nine, including China and Russia, voted against it. Nine other nations, including India, abstained.
POLITICO
President Joe Biden is “open” to removing a big hurdle to Ukraine’s membership in NATO after the war, even if the plan doesn’t specify when Kyiv would join the alliance. According to two U.S. officials, Biden would welcome the removal of a Membership Action Plan, or MAP, for Ukraine’s entry into the military alliance. The MAP requires a candidate nation to make military and democratic reforms, with NATO’s advice and assistance, before a determination of membership can be made. By removing that requirement, Ukraine would still need to make some pro-democracy changes, but alliance members could at any point afterward unanimously welcome Kyiv into the club.
The War Zone
Agreen munitions truck slowly makes its way down the line of fighters at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., towing a rack that is packed with AIM-9X Sidewinders and AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs). Some of the AMRAAMs feature a yellow band, denoting a live warhead, but most have the warhead replaced by a telemetry kit. This will tell the experts on the ground exactly how the missile performs when it’s fired.
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
European giant Airbus has said that more “development” is required on the recently launched AH-125 Ares armed light attack helicopter, and it will take at least another two years before customer deliveries can begin. The admission comes on the heels of the company launching the rotorcraft, as well as the multirole MH-125 variant, in April with the expectation that producing the helos in the U.S. could lead to an influx of Foreign Military Sales (FMS).
Defense News
Ahead of the first Paris Air Show since the pandemic began in 2020, France’s Air and Space Force chief of staff is shedding light on what attendants might take away from the event, which runs June 19-25. In a June 8 interview with Defense News, Gen. Stéphane Mille noted the three air chiefs from Germany, France, and Spain intend to sign a joint document outlining “the doctrinal approach of collaborative air combat” as the three nations pursue the next-generation Future Combat Air System program.
Military.com
Troops in Alaska can now fly home once a year, and the military will pick up the tab. The Army's 11th Airborne Division is pioneering a new policy aimed at helping soldiers get home to see family at least once annually. The policy, which compensates soldiers for the price of a ticket home, applies to all Department of Defense service members posted to Alaska who have family in the continental U.S.
Defense One
The Air Force needs to keep building its new F-35 engine, if only to keep the U.S. industrial base working on next-gen engine technology for future fighter aircraft, argue Rep. Rob Wittman and other House authorizers who are trying to reverse the service’s decision to drop its Adaptive Engine Transition Program. Members of Congress also want to protect 32 Block 20 F-22s the Air Force hopes to axe, according to HASC Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers’ markup of the annual defense policy bill, and prevent “unnecessary” wear and tear to an already-diminishing fleet of jets, Wittman, R-Va., told Defense One.
Defense News
A measure in the House’s fiscal 2024 defense policy bill aims to keep various technologies related to the Next Generation Air Dominance program moving forward in sync, even as one lawmaker said the Navy has fallen behind its Air Force counterparts here. The provision in the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act would require both the Navy and Air Force secretaries to submit alongside their annual budget requests “development and technology maturation progress reports” for the Next Generation Air Dominance program and the complementary effort for collaborative combat aircraft.
Breaking Defense
Over the next few months, AFWERX, the Air Force’s technology accelerator, will be working to establish a new “proving ground” to test different autonomous technologies and capabilities, according to an official. The testing site is a part of AFWERX’s autonomy prime portfolio that was soft-launched a few months ago, Lt. Gen. Bryan Ralston said at the Defense One Tech Summit on June 15. The portfolio will fully launch at the beginning of the next fiscal year.
One More Thing
We Are The Mighty
Located in the South Atlantic, the British overseas territory of Saint Helena is over 1,200 miles from the nearest major land mass, making it extremely remote. The island is serviced by a single airport with just one runway that measures 6,398 feet in length. At over 1,000 feet in elevation, with rocky outcrops and strong wind shear, landing at Saint Helena calls for a steep approach and an experienced pilot. Regular commercial flights utilize small aircraft like the Embraer 190. However, the British Royal Air Force managed to land a massive Boeing C-17A Globemaster III on Saint Helena.
