Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Hyten, now two months into the job of second-highest ranking Pentagon officer, said Jan. 17 he will tackle three main priorities: giving sound military advice to Defense Secretary Mark Esper and President Donald Trump, revamping acquisition, and improving deeply rooted…
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For most, space policy is still more science fiction than reality—the stuff of a galaxy far, far away. People imagine laser-toting gunships and interplanetary bases, not airmen at consoles adjusting satellites in orbit. Those perceptions have persisted through about 18 months of pressure from the White House to make the…
The Pentagon’s review of its force structure in Africa, and the likely reduction of deployed personnel, is already meeting harsh pushback on Capitol Hill, even before the review is completed. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has ordered a “zero-based” review of US forces deployed globally, with the intent to shift the…
At least 11 US service members have been flown out of Iraq for medical care following the Jan. 7 Iranian ballistic missile attack on Al Asad AB. Despite initial claims that there were no American injuries in the attack, US Central Command and senior Pentagon officials said many Americans were…
NATO on Jan. 17 received the first two of five Air Ground Surveillance system drones at NAS Sigonella, Italy. The AGS system, a variant of the RQ-4 Global Hawk already in use by multiple nations, will be used by NATO to watch over Europe, and it will also conduct operations…
Extending the service live of the Air Force’s B-61-12 nuclear gravity bomb remains on schedule a year after officials acknowledged life-cycle testing of a commercial-grade replacement part would delay the program by 16 to 18 months. So daunting are the nation’s nuclear modernization challenges, says Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, head of the…
The Air Force is creating a Navigational Warfare Laboratory to study how military aircraft could still get around if an adversary attacks their GPS signal or other positioning, navigation, and timing systems. Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, will host the lab, which is slated to be up and running by May 2021.…
The US military is in “daily conversations” about resuming anti-Islamic State group operations in Iraq, but the pause has not yet been lifted despite reports of American forces targeting ISIS this week. The US-led coalition suspended its anti-ISIS operations in Iraq earlier this month citing Iranian threats after the Jan.…
Defense Secretary Mark Esper will travel to NAS Pensacola, Fla., next week to announce new safety measures and restrictions on foreign military access to US bases in the aftermath of last month’s shooting that killed three sailors and injured eight more, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan R. Hoffman said during a Jan.…