Q&A: NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Alexus Grynkewich

By Chris Gordon
Since U.S. Air Force Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich became NATO’s top military officer in July 2025, the alliance has contended with Russian drone incursions and hybrid warfare against its members and Moscow’s continued aggression in Ukraine. Now the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, a career fighter pilot, is trying to guide a major transformation of the forces under his command. Grynkewich recently joined Air & Space Forces Magazine for an interview in his office at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe near Mons, Belgium.

Interview: Meink Cites Progress After First Year as SECAF

By Courtney Albon and Stephen Losey
Just over a year after becoming the 27th Secretary of the Air Force, Troy Meink believes he’s making progress on his top priorities—increasing Air Force readiness, modernizing its aircraft fleet, and growing the nascent Space Force. In a June 26 interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine, Meink acknowledged headwinds but said the proof of his progress is in the fiscal 2027 budget now working its way through Congress.

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Security Precaution Led Trump to Use Old Air Force One in Leaving Turkey

The New York Times

President Trump flew out of Turkey on July 8 on the old Air Force One instead of his new Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8 as a security precaution related to the resumption of hostilities with Iran, according to people briefed on the plans, who said the change came at the urging of the Secret Service.

COMMENTARY: Airpower Did Not Fail in Iran—Simplistic Thinking Did

19FortyFive

Retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula rebuts the argument that Operation Epic Fury proved air power’s limits, calling it a failure of “land-centric thinking,” not of airpower. Campaigns must be judged against their political objectives, he argues—and in Iran, the goal was to degrade a threat, not occupy a country of 80 million.

China Shows Snazzy Clip of DF-17 Missile on State TV in Show of Force

Defense News

China’s Dong Feng-17 ballistic missile has probably existed for more than a decade, quietly adding to the People’s Liberation Army arsenal of ever more modern weaponry. Suddenly in June it was showcased for the first time in official Chinese media, as analysts tell it, and described as one of China’s top military assets as English-language subtitles extolled its battlefield capacities.

SpaceX Satellite Wins Test Pentagon’s Commitment to Competition

SpaceNews

The U.S. Space Force recently awarded two of its biggest satellite contracts to SpaceX, strengthening the company’s position in the military’s next generation space networks. The awards, worth nearly $6.5 billion, put SpaceX at the forefront of efforts to build a global military surveillance network and a space-based communications backbone for missile defense. They are also raising questions about whether procurements of this scale should be concentrated with a single supplier.