You’re far from a major air base with all the support and mechanics they can offer when one and one of your F-15 engines fails—and you’ve got to get back the air as quickly as possible to keep pounding away at your enemy somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. What do you do? Answering that question was one of the highlights of the first Northern Edge 2 exercise in the warmer parts of the Pacific Ocean, testing key concepts such as agile basing across waters much closer to China.
Taiwan is trying to accelerate the development and production of military drones and countermeasures by expanding two national defense programs and focusing on autonomous swarms. Taiwan’s air defense identification zone has over the last year been subject to drone intrusions carried out by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Since the PLA began flying drones within the area last September, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry recorded one flight in April and two in May.
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.
The public’s confidence in the military is the lowest it's been since 1997, according to a new poll released by Gallup. A June study found that only 60 percent of respondents reported “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the military, a steady downward trend for one of America's most trusted institutions. In 2009, the same question garnered an 82 percent vote of confidence from the public.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had a tough call to make. Two senior Defense Department leaders were at odds over where to locate the permanent headquarters of U.S. Space Command, a decision at the center of a drawn-out and bitter fight on Capitol Hill laced with parochial politics. Gen. James Dickinson, the four-star chief of Space Command, recommended keeping the headquarters at its temporary location at Colorado’s Peterson Air Force Base, to avoid disrupting the schedule for the command to become fully operational in August. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall wanted to move the facility to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., in line with an 11th-hour decision during the Trump administration that was based on the service’s review of six sites. Austin brought both arguments to President Joe Biden’s desk and asked the commander in chief to settle the debate.
For decades, the Department of Defense has had relatively unquestioned access to a large portion of the electromagnetic spectrum—a critical resource that enables capabilities like radars, satellite communications, and navigation systems. However, a number of leaders at the Pentagon concerned that access may soon be taken away.
The AUKUS agreement could fundamentally change how the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom pursue new military technology—but first, the U.S. needs to shore up its own industrial base so it can deliver on its initial commitment, a top Pentagon policy official said. Production delays for Virginia-class attack submarines may affect the U.S. promise to sell up to five nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, Mara E. Karlin, assistant defense secretary for strategies, plans, and capabilities told reporters on Aug. 1.
Maintaining or even increasing customers’ savings at the commissary is his top priority, said John E. Hall, who took the helm of the Defense Commissary Agency June 4. Building on his predecessors’ accomplishments over the past several years, he’s also focusing on getting more products to fully stock the shelves more quickly, and on making the stores even more convenient. They’re working on other areas, too, such as improving the quality of produce, Hall said, during a recent interview with Military Times.
The Pentagon is pulling 1,100 active duty troops from the U.S.-Mexico border it deployed earlier this year as the government prepared for the end of asylum restrictions linked to the pandemic. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved the deployment of a total of 1,500 active duty troops for a temporary 90-day military presence surge at the border in May. At the time, illegal border crossings were swiftly escalating with concerns they’d go even higher after the restrictions ended but instead the numbers have fallen.
A Canadian jet captured the imaginations of aviation enthusiasts for decades, especially those within Canada, since the 1950s. The Avro Arrow looked to be the fastest and highest-flying jet in the world for much of its development. But complicated politics, time and budget constraints, and global competition eventually brought an amazing jet down before its production release.