What the Air Force Transport Fleet Needs to Meet Surging Demand

By Greg Hadley
The Air Force’s airlift fleet is in desperate need of modern connectivity, spare parts, and other innovations to keep going amid growing demand and modernization plans still in their infancy, according to a former senior leader and a new research paper from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. 

Radar Sweep

Trump Says National Guard Will Be Sent to New Orleans

The Associated Press

President Donald Trump said Dec. 2 that National Guard troops will soon head to New Orleans and bring another federal surge to the city that is already awaiting a separate immigration crackdown dubbed “Swamp Sweep” that is expected to begin this week.

Pete Hegseth Says He Didn't See Survivors in the September Boat Strike Because of 'the Fog of War'

NBC News

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pointed to what he called “the fog of war” in defending a follow-up military strike on an alleged drug boat in September that reportedly killed survivors of the initial attack. "I didn't personally see survivors," Hegseth told reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Dec. 2. "The thing was on fire. It was exploded in fire and smoke. You can’t see it."

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Hegseth’s Decadeslong Quest to Rewrite the Rules of Engagement

The Wall Street Journal

Pete Hegseth built a national profile defending troops accused of violating the laws of armed conflict, a trait that won over President Trump in his first term and put him atop the Pentagon in his second. But the defense secretary who has complained about “stupid rules of engagement” is now at the center of a Washington debate about whether a September strike against a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean amounts to a war crime, testing Hegseth’s standing with lawmakers and his leadership of the military.

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Putin Meets with Witkoff and Kushner for Nearly Five Hours

The New York Times

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia held talks for nearly five hours late Dec. 2 with Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, negotiating with the two U.S. emissaries as Washington pushed for an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine.

NSA Has 2,000 Fewer People Now, Meeting Trump-Admin Goal

Defense One

The National Security Agency recently fulfilled a goal to shed around 2,000 employees, according to three people familiar with the spy agency. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the milestone has not been made public. An NSA spokesperson declined to comment.

SNC, Applied Intuition Team Up for Air Defense

Breaking Defense

Defense firm SNC and software company Applied Intuition are teaming up to supply autonomous weapon systems with a priority on air defense, the two companies announced Dec. 2.

Analyzing North Korea’s New Air-Launched Guided Weapons

The War Zone

Celebrations for the 80th anniversary of the Korean People’s Air Force (KPAF) provided an apparent first look at three new types of air-launched weapons, intended to arm the KPAF’s Su-25 Frogfoot ground-attack aircraft, and potentially others.

Pentagon Acquisition Reform Is About Trade-Offs

National Defense Magazine

Less than a month after the Defense Department released its Acquisition Transformation Strategy, the Pentagon’s top acquisition official said the department’s “aggressive and systemic overhaul” of the acquisition system is going to require some trade-offs.

One More Thing

How Sam Eckholm Is Bringing America Closer to Its Military—One Story at a Time

Military.com

In a time when less than 1 percent of Americans serve, one creator has become an unexpected bridge between the military and the public—not through politics or messaging, but through unforgettable storytelling. In this exclusive interview with Sam Eckholm, Military.com got to peek behind the camera to see what really drives him.