Breaking Defense
The House and Senate on Sept. 25 passed a stopgap bill to carry federal funding into December, moving the measure at a breakneck speed to avert a government shutdown—and allowing lawmakers to return to their home states for one last month of campaigning before the presidential election.
Military.com
The Department of the Air Force’s ambitious reorganization plan designed to keep the Air Force and Space Force competitive against China was unveiled earlier this year, listing 24 items ranging from bringing back warrant officers and reorganizing training to creating new offices and elevating new commands. Some of those changes are underway, but others haven’t been touched yet. Now, lawmakers, government watchdogs and defense policy experts are raising alarm that all of those plans could easily be upended by the upcoming presidential election.
The New York Times
The United States, its allies in Europe and several Arab nations on Sept. 25 unveiled a joint cease-fire proposal to temporarily end the recent deadly fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, hoping to avert a wider war and bolster stalled negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The Wall Street Journal
China said it test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile on Sept. 25, a rare public acknowledgment that is likely to increase tensions with its neighbors. The ICBM, which was carrying a dummy warhead, fell into “expected sea areas” in the Pacific Ocean, China’s Defense Ministry said, without specifying the exact location. The ministry said the launch, which was carried out by the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, was part of routine annual training and wasn’t directed against any country or target.
Air & Space Forces Magazine
From solar and nuclear power to more efficient systems and microgrids, the Air Force is putting more and more effort into ensuring its bases and systems have steady supplies of power that are still cost effective. Keep up with all the latest news on how the service is managing its vast energy enterprise.
Military Times
Since Oct. 7, when Hamas’ attack on Israel provoked all-out war in Gaza, the Pentagon has been on call. When the region has approached a wider war, the Defense Department surged forces there to calm it down. But after a year, some in Congress and the Pentagon are growing concerned about how to sustain that pace, and what it will cost the military in the long term.
Breaking Defense
With new leadership in the United Kingdom and the U.S. weeks away from deciding its own political future, the defense heads of the three AUKUS nations will meet later this week in London to plot the path forward for the trilateral security arrangement.
Defense One
The U.S. military services are “doing everything that’s possible within the laws of physics” in the Indo-Pacific right now, but the region’s challenges require “every lever of statecraft, not just the military lever,” Adm. Samuel Paparo told Defense One in an interview.
DefenseScoop
The Missile Defense Agency has picked Northrop Grumman as the sole contractor to continue development for the Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) program, an effort to field an advanced missile that can destroy enemy hypersonic weapons.
SpaceNews
The U.S. Space Force is moving forward with plans to augment its aging Satellite Control Network (SCN) by leveraging commercial satellite antennas. Shannon Pallone, program executive for battle management, command control and communications at the Space Systems Command, said the Space Force is interested in creating a “commercial antenna marketplace.”
Subscription Required
Inside Defense
The Air Force relied on about 130 China-based suppliers for critical technologies in fiscal year 2023, a 68.8 percent increase from the year prior, according to a recent report by Govini that has led key GOP lawmakers to call for change, citing national security concerns.
One More Thing
We Are The Mighty
Tom Skerritt turned 91 on Aug. 25, 2024, and continues acting in films and TV. He has over 170 credits in all mediums including video games including many Oscar-winning films. You will most likely know him from Alien, Top Gun, M*A*S*H, Contact, A River Runs Through It, Tears of the Sun, The Dead Zone, Steel Magnolias, Picket Fences and Cheers. ... He served in the USAF from 1951 to 1955 and spent the majority of his time at Bergstrom Airfield in Austin, Texas, as a Classifications Specialist.
