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March 12, 2020
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Edited by Amy McCullough with Rachel S. Cohen, Brian W. Everstine and Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory
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By Brian W. Everstine
Two Americans and one coalition service member were killed and another 12 people were wounded in a March 11 rocket attack on Camp Taji, Iraq. Eighteen 107mm Katyusha rockets, which are traditionally linked to Iranian-backed militias, struck the base, located north of Baghdad. Iraqi Security Forces located the launcher, on the back of a truck, “a few miles” from the base, which hosts coalition personnel as well as rotary wing aircraft, Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve said in a statement.
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By Rachel S. Cohen
Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper said March 11 the Air Force is still working on promising research despite a largely stagnant science and technology budget request for fiscal 2021 that is worrying some lawmakers. As the U.S. looks to develop advanced military systems like improved hypersonic weapons and enabling technologies such as artificial intelligence faster than Russia and China, Roper lamented that the service’s research fund lost ground to more pressing priorities. Nuclear modernization, joint all domain command and control, and the effort to stand up a Space Force pulled money and resources away from basic research in the 2021 request released last month. “Sometimes the innovation voices did not win at budget closeout,” Roper said. “[There
are] a lot of things on the Air Force’s plate … and unfortunately when we had to make the budget balance, we had to look for areas to take risk.”
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By Brian W. Everstine
The first 747-8 aircraft has begun the modification process to become a VC-25B, or the next Air Force One. The process, which began Feb. 25, will include cutting out parts of the aircraft’s skin and structure in the forward and aft lower lobes to install new “superpanels” with structural upgrades and cutouts for doors, according to a March 11 release. The service expects to deliver the two VC-25Bs in 2024 to replace the two existing VC-25As. The aircraft are expected to serve for 30 years.
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By Rachel S. Cohen
The Space Force aims to release details of its new satellite communications acquisition strategy this summer as the service considers how to combine government and privately owned technologies into one seamless enterprise. Space Force boss Gen. Jay Raymond last month signed off on a vision to overhaul how the service handles SATCOM. Clare Grason, head of the USSF’s commercial SATCOM office, said they have contracted help to figure out how to move to a service-based model, where the military can pay for comms by how much it uses, like per byte. The Pentagon wants to rely on a mixture of military-specific and commercial SATCOM to grow the amount of data it can pass around the world, share the cost of global comms with companies, and fall back on the growing pool of
satellites and ground terminals if some malfunction or are attacked or destroyed.
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By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory
A March 10 U.S. airstrike killed five al-Shabab targets in Somalia without harming any civilians, U.S. Africa Command reported later the same day. The attack—the fifth U.S. strike in Somalia this month—brings the number of al-Shabab militants killed by American airstrikes in March into the double digits.
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Radar Sweep
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Space Force ‘Not Rushing’ to Create National Guard Branch, Top Civilian Says
Defense News
“We anticipate very much that there will be a Guard and reserve presence [in the Space Force], but that isn’t something we’re rushing to. We have, from Congress, an expectation of a design next year,” Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett, who is also the civilian leader of the Space Force, said during a March 10 AFA Mitchell Institute event.
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Hypersonics, AI Top Indo-Pacific Command's Tech Wishlist
National Defense Magazine
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command has a list of cutting edge capabilities that it aims to acquire to stay ahead of peer competitors such as China, according to a senior official. At the top of the list is hypersonic weapons that can travel at speeds of Mach 5 or faster and are highly maneuverable.
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Congress, Warning of Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities, Recommends Overhaul
The New York Times (Subscription Required)
A yearlong effort by a bipartisan group of lawmakers suggests steps to deter attacks, including clearer communication of operations.
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DARPA’s ACE Wants to Automate Dogfighting to Empower AI
Aviation Week
A Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program to build pilot trust in artificial intelligence in combat by automating dogfighting has taken a step forward with the award of the first contract and the release of a solicitation to develop algorithms for close-in air combat.
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How Minot Plans to Protect America’s ICBMs from Drones
C4ISRNET
The concerns of unmanned systems against nuclear facilities, both civil and military, are clear. The devices make excellent little spies, can be weaponized and are cheap to procure—all attributes that have become obvious to U.S. forces who have encountered them while deployed in Syria or Iraq. But, security officials at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota believe they at least have a plan in place for dealing with unmanned intrusions.
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Boeing Will Cash Out $13.8 Billion Loan and Freeze Hiring Amid Coronavirus Market Turmoil
Washington Post (Subscription Required)
Market volatility related to the global spread of the novel coronavirus is creating new risks for the company at a time when its business is already in a historically fragile state.
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Military Housing Tenants Should Have Complete Protections by May 1, DOD Nominee Says
Military Times
Military families should have the three missing tenant protections in the tenant bill of rights by May 1, the administration’s nominee for the Defense Department position that oversees housing told senators March 10. Those protections, which have been key to military families, are a dispute resolution process between the tenant and privatized housing landlord; a process for withholding rent during the dispute; and a maintenance history of the house before the family moves in.
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AFRL Scientist Named DOD Scientist of the Quarter
USAF release
Air Force Research Laboratory scientist Khanh Pham has been honored as the Defense Department Laboratory Scientist of the Quarter, for the third quarter of fiscal 2019. Pham is revered for his contributions to the Air Force and DOD missions, and has accumulated numerous awards throughout his illustrious career.
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Faster Acquisition
Air Force Magazine
The Air Force is leveraging emerging technologies and new legislation to accelerate acquisition decisions and streamline sustainment. Read more here.
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Pakistani F-16 Crashes In Islamabad, Video Shows Hard Maneuver Before Impact
The Drive
The aircraft was involved in a practice flight in preparation for a parade that will occur later in the month when the incident took place.
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Iranian, Russian, Chinese Media Push COVID-19 ‘Bioweapon’ Conspiracies
Defense One
Disinformation about the coronavirus is spreading as quickly as the outbreak, fueled by Iranian, Russian, and Chinese government-backed campaigns blaming and attacking the United States as the source for the scourge. “One narrative all three countries [including China] highlight is the notion that the United States is weaponizing the crisis for political gain and thus worsening its spread globally,” Rachel Chernaskey, a project manager for the Foreign Influence Election 2020 Project with the Foreign Policy Research Institute, wrote March 9.
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Global Snapshot of COVID-19
Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University
The World Health Organization declared a global pandemic on March 11, setting in motion further international controls as the spread of the new coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 disease continued to increase around the world. Here’s the state of the pandemic from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
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One More Thing
First “Alaskan” F-35A Lightning II with Unusual Black Tail Markings Spotted at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth Plant
The Aviationist
This is the first F-35 sporting markings of 356th Fighter Squadron based at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. And here are some interesting details.
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