Strategy & Policy: A National Defense Strategy Under the Gun  

The congressionally appointed Commission on the National Defense Strategy (NDS), after a thorough two-year look, concludes that the strategy is deeply flawed. The bipartisan panel of experts unanimously urged revisions to address emerging threats and advised a steady increase in defense spending to meet growing threats and to ensure a joint force capable of fighting major conflicts in multiple theaters simultaneously.

Radar Sweep

US Agrees to Give Ukraine Millions to Build More Long-Range Drones

The New York Times

The United States has agreed to give Ukraine $800 million in military aid that will go toward manufacturing long-range drones to use against Russian troops, Ukraine’s leader said on Oct. 21, fulfilling a longtime Ukrainian goal of getting Washington to buy weapons from manufacturers in Ukraine instead of primarily in America.

South Korea Mulls Aiding Ukraine amid Reports North Korea to Assist Russia

The Guardian

South Korea is considering directly supplying weapons to Ukraine as evidence increases that North Korean soldiers are preparing to assist Russia in its war against Ukraine. South Korea’s spy agency (NIS) said last week that North Korea had shipped 1,500 special forces personnel to Russia’s far east for training and acclimating at local military bases for future combat alongside Moscow’s troops in Ukraine.

Air Force Names Susan Davenport as New Chief Data and AI Officer

DefenseScoop

The Department of the Air Force has tapped Susan Davenport to serve as its chief data and artificial intelligence officer, the organization announced Oct. 22. Davenport will take over responsibilities from Chandra Donelson, who has been the DAF’s acting CDAO since April while also maintaining her role as the Space Force’s data and AI officer. Prior to that, Eileen Vidrine served as the DAF CDAO from January 2023 until her retirement earlier this year in March.

Weighing Benefits: Could Anti-Obesity Meds Help Troops’ Weight Issues?

Military Times

The U.S. military needs its troops in fighting shape to carry out the mission, but like many other Americans, service members have become heavier in recent years. More than two-thirds of Active-Duty troops are now considered overweight or obese, Military Times previously reported. ... Anti-obesity drugs like Ozempic can offer troops fast weight loss, and their use has grown across the ranks in recent years, even as some researchers argue that the military brass is not using them as much as they could.

Parsing Through the Deluge of Data

Air & Space Forces Magazine

From an F-35 fighter to an antenna connecting with a satellite, the Department of the Air Force ingests huge amounts of data every minute—but making sense of all that information will require new technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning to sift through the noise and present the key points to warfighters so they can take action.

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Lockheed CEO Revives CCA Debate over Combat Readiness Timing

Aviation Week

Lockheed Martin CEO James Taiclet told analysts on Oct. 22 that the U.S. Air Force plans to wait until Increment 2 of the future family of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) to introduce a combat role, relegating aircraft to be purchased in Increment 1 to a strictly experimental role.

F-35 Tech Problems, Protracted Negotiations Hit Lockheed Finances

Defense One

Longer-than-expected negotiations over the Pentagon’s next two batches of F-35s kept Lockheed Martin from collecting about $700 million last quarter, company officials said Oct. 22. Lockheed hasn’t been able to strike a deal for the next two production lots—18 and 19—so they’ve had to spend company cash to keep the production line running.

One More Thing

How These US Military Aviators Became the First to Fly Around the World

Military.com

If it wasn’t the broken engine parts, it was a crocodile-infested lagoon. If it wasn’t the bone-chillingly cold rain, treacherous winds or dense fog, it was the oppressive heat that burned their exposed knees in an open cockpit. And if it wasn’t a forced landing in the ocean, it was running smack-dab into the side of a mountain. To say the least, the eight Army Air Force aviators who departed Seattle on April 6, 1924, did not face an easy assignment.