The Associated Press
Iran on July 23 began an annual air force drill in the central part of country, state media reported, as the U.S. sends more fighter planes to the region to deter the Islamic Republic from seizing commercial vessels in the Persian Gulf area. The official IRNA news agency said 11 Iranian air force bases participated in the drill, dubbed Fadaeian Velyat-11, or Devotees of the Supreme Leader-11. It said an air base at the southern port of Bandar Abbas at the mouth of the strategic Strait of Hormuz is active in the drill.
BBC
Russia has accused Ukraine of being behind a drone attack that damaged at least two buildings in the capital Moscow early on July 24. The Russian defense ministry said two drones were "suppressed and crashed", adding that there were no casualties. Russia's state-owned Tass news agency reported that one drone fell close to the defense ministry. Ukrainian officials are yet to comment, but they rarely claim responsibility for attacks inside Russia.
Defense News
“The U.S. private sector innovates like no other. American companies quickly adapt to changing market demands, develop and integrate new technologies at scale, deliver products with exceptional speed and compete to win. This dynamic environment has become the benchmark of success in the modern world, but sadly and needlessly, it is often foreign terrain for the U.S. military,” writes Michael R. Bloomberg, the founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies, the chair of the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Board, and the former mayor of New York City.
Breaking Defense
Though Israeli lawmakers passed the first key legislation related to a controversial judicial overhaul July 24, the vote took place amid a backdrop of vocal, widespread domestic protests that have spread into Israel’s military reservist ranks, alarming senior Israeli officials. More than 1,000 Israeli air force reservists announced late last week they could end their voluntary service as their part of the protest. The air force reservists have since been joined by another 10,000 reservists from elsewhere in Israeli Defense Forces, though it’s thought the air force veterans could carry more influence.
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.
POLITICO
The Senate is rushing to pass its defense policy bill this week before Congress leaves for its extended summer recess, and Democratic leaders will need to avoid a flurry of contentious issues to make it happen. The upper chamber enters its second week of debate on the National Defense Authorization Act looking to hold together a bipartisan consensus that’s kept the $886 billion legislation on track so far. And Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is looking to strike a contrast with the GOP-led House, which narrowly passed a defense bill loaded with conservative priorities mostly along party lines.
Air Force Times
The Air Force is still allowing Airmen to separate and retire, despite funding woes that could affect when those troops move out of their homes, the service confirmed July 24. “Retirement and separation dates are being requested, processed and approved as normal, and dates of retirement/dates of separation are being established as normal,” spokesperson Ann Stefanek said in an email. “No Airmen are being, or will be, involuntarily extended beyond their desired retirement or separation dates.”
Military.com
A Defense Department database of military health system patients diagnosed with COVID-19 is incomplete and inaccurate, shortcomings that make it ineffective for steering medical treatment or public health decisions on the illness, the Pentagon's top watchdog has found. A DOD inspector general report released this month found that the department's COVID-19 registry did not contain roughly 7,200 patients who qualified for inclusion and there were errors in 24 of 25 records reviewed by inspectors.
Breaking Defense
The Space Force’s first “orbital warfare” exercise, called Red Skies, has been delayed from this summer towards the end of the year, according to Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM). “We anticipate that the inaugural execution of the Red Skies exercise will be near the conclusion of this year. Prior to this, the team will be extensively building out and refining various aspects of the exercise during the latter part of the summer,” a STARCOM spokesperson told Breaking Defense.
SpaceNews
Maxar Technologies announced July 24 that its new satellite bus designed for low Earth orbit constellations passed a critical design review. The company will produce 16 of the Maxar 300 series buses for L3Harris Technologies. Each bus is about the width of a conventional oven. These will be used to build missile-detecting sensor satellites for the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 1 Tracking Layer program.
One More Thing
Simple Flying
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the then United States Army Air Corps (later the United States Air Force), ultimately dropped more bombs than any other aircraft of the entire Second World War. Over the course of the conflict, the B-17 would primarily see action in the European Theater, completing missions with distinction across the continent. As the third most popular bomber ever built (after the German Junkers Ju-88 and B-24 Liberator), it is unsurprising that this aircraft would have an iconic name. However, the story of the B-17's name is more complicated than one would usually expect.
