The White House plans to activate around 800 National Guard troops in Washington to support local law enforcement, according to a senior defense official. They will assist with logistics, transportation, and guarding facilities, similar to the role the California National Guard performed this summer in Los Angeles.
When the Supreme Court struck down race-conscious admissions at colleges in 2023, the justices said the decision did not apply to military academies because they had “potentially distinct interests.” The group behind the litigation, Students for Fair Admissions, sued shortly after to test that idea. It argued that the use of race in admissions at the academies, including the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the United States Air Force Academy, should also be struck down. On Aug. 11, the group dropped its case, acknowledging a significant shift in the political landscape since it had brought its lawsuit.
America is running short on munitions. With so many conflicts ongoing, our consumption is outpacing what we can build. This episode of the Aerospace Advantage explores this the munitions gap and what folks are doing to try and fix it, by speaking with Nick Bucci, vice president of defense systems and technologies at General Atomic EMS. They recently partnered with Rafael to build their Bullseye missile here in the United States. This adds more domestic munitions production capacity, while also on-ramping in some new capabilities.
The Army will pick the winner of its first production contract for high-energy, vehicle-mounted air-defense lasers next year, a milestone in the Pentagon’s decadeslong pursuit of practical directed-energy weapons. But their wide adoption will depend on whether commanders and troops can be convinced to forgo today’s interceptor missiles and other options, according to the Army’s critical-technologies chief.
By the end of the year some American special operations forces will begin fielding new wearable tech designed to keep a real-time eye on their vitals as well as integrate with systems designed to warn command posts should the operator be exposed to dangerous gases or chemicals, according to an official with the SOF office dedicated to hazardous materials.
“For years, military theorists and political scientists have argued that airpower is overrated and, in some ways, outmoded. Some point to the proliferation of small, cheap unmanned drones as evidence that traditional air superiority—the ability to control the skies—has been rendered obsolete. According to this view, technological innovation has made ‘air denial’—merely restricting an adversary’s ability to operate freely in the air—a sufficient replacement,” writes retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
As the military’s major mover of people, weapons and aid, U.S. Transportation Command has hundreds of airlift sorties in-flight, 15 or more ships underway, at least 10 commercial tankers on hire, 1,000-plus freight shipments and 200-plus railcars enroute, and 10 patients in air evacuations on any given day, according to recent data.
Air Force officials are investigating after an Airman died during a routine physical training assessment last week at Port Hueneme, Calif. Airman 1st Class Syamukonka Moonga, assigned to Port Hueneme's 346th Training Squadron, died on Aug. 4 at the California technical training site for vehicle maintenance and management. He reportedly died on the scene.
High-profile British, European, and U.S. drone manufacturers are largely refraining from sharing details about how or if they will engage with the United Kingdom’s recently launched project to assess autonomous collaborative platform or loyal wingman-type aircraft, as the Royal Air Force looks to modernize capabilities through a mix of crewed, uncrewed, and autonomous systems.
North Korea has accelerated construction of a launch site for spy satellites in recent months, including the addition of a seaport that could facilitate deliveries of new components from Russia.
Lt. Col. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle famously led the first U.S. strike against the Japanese homeland during World War II, and Doolittle as a lieutenant general also had a little-known role by happenstance in the last strike in the form of the atomic bombing that destroyed Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945.
