Defense Watch

Icebreaker Needs. The U.S. Coast Guard needs more polar icebreakers and should evaluate ice strengthening for some of its high-endurance National Security Cutters and forthcoming medium-endurance Offshore Patrol Cutters, says […]

Bomber Task Force. The latest Bomber Task Force mission on Nov. 26 featured an Air Force B-52 bomber from the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot AFB, N.D. conducting integration operations […]

No pick yet. While Pres.-elect Joe Biden has picked a number of officials for his national security team–Tony Blinken for Secretary of State, Jake Sullivan for national security adviser, Alejandro […]

New Start Limits. The U.S. Air Force plans to increase the number of nuclear capable bomber bases from two to five and to field a future bomber fleet of at […]

Checkpoint Boost. Senate appropriators in their version of the fiscal year 2021 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill recommend a handsome plus-up to the Transportation Security Administration’s request for checkpoint computed tomography […]

Mobility AI. Autonomy and artificial intelligence (AI) are top priorities for Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper, but Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost, the head of Air Mobility Command (AMC), says […]

Space Policy Official. The Pentagon officially established its new Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy position on Oct. 29. The new ASD(SP) is responsible for supervising DoD policy for […]

New Cyber Advisories. A Russian government sponsored actor has been conducting cyber security attacks against U.S. state, local, territorial and tribal government networks, and aviation networks, since at least September, […]

Executive Change. Northrop Grumman’s board has elected Tom Jones as corporate vice president and president of the Aeronautics Systems sector, succeeding Janis Pamiljans, who is retiring in February. Jones, who […]

Long-Term Space Transportation Surge. As U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) pursues cooperative research and development agreements with SpaceX and Texas-based Exploration Architecture Corporation (XArc) on rapid deliveries of 80 short tons […]