News
North Korea has tested new solid-fuel missile engine –
North Korean ballistic missile scientists carried out a static test of a new type of solid-fuel engine early last week, a U.S. government source with knowledge of North Korea’s ballistic missile programs told The Diplomat. According to the source, the test took place at North Korea’s solid-fuel engine testing site in Hamhung, on the country’s east coast.
U.S. soldiers in Niger were pursuing ISIS recruiter when ambushed –
The U.S. Special Forces unit that came under attack in Niger earlier this month had been pursuing a senior militant, multiple U.S. officials told NBC News.
Business
‘Naval Airbus’ in Europe could lead to industry shake-up –
As French and Italian officials begin a series of meetings to decide how to integrate the two nations’ naval industries, officials in Italy need to figure out what to do with Leonardo.
DARPA: We want autonomous drone swarms for war fighters –
Raytheon and Northrop Grumman are among the first participants in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s program to inform recon tactics and technologies for large throngs of unmanned air and ground robots in cities.
Defense
Concerns about Russia renew Marines’ focus on MEF-level warfighting –
The prospect of a near-peer fight against the Russian military in Eastern Europe is pushing the Marine Corps to shift more warfighting capability to its top-level Marine Expeditionary Force headquarters, a top Marine general said.
One in four troops sees white nationalism in the ranks –
Nearly one in four troops polled say they have seen examples of white nationalism among their fellow service members, and troops rate it as a larger national security threat than Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a new Military Times poll.
NATO plans to create two new commands amid Russia tensions –
NATO is poised to approve the creation of two new commands to improve allied logistics and protect supply lines, aiming to shore up weaknesses in any potential conflict with Russia, allied officials said.
U.S. military was supposed to get much bigger under Trump. Here’s why it hasn’t –
Months later, Trump is no closer to realizing his dream of a U.S. military fueled by 12 U.S. navy carriers, modernized fighter jets and new unmanned aircraft. Instead, a budget deal brokered by congressional Republicans last week is expected to do little to increase defense spending beyond the Obama administration’s budget. And the Pentagon won’t see a cent of that money unless a bipartisan bill makes it through Congress to get rid of old limits on defense spending.
Pentagon kicks off intensive F-35 cost review –
Shay Assad, the Pentagon’s director of defense pricing, is hopeful the deep dive could help lead to prices even lower than the Lockheed Martin’s goal of an $80 million F-35A unit cost.
Crew surveys suggest Fitzgerald relatively stable before fatal June collision –
A crew morale survey from March shows high marks for the previous Fitz CO, who left the ship only weeks before the June 17 collision.
F-35A pilots report five more hypoxia-like episodes –
U.S. Air Force F-35s at Luke AFB, Ariz., are back in the skies after a spate of so-called physiological episodes (PEs) caused the service to ground the aircraft this summer, but the troubling events have continued across the service’s F-35 fleet, with pilots reporting tingling fingers and other symptoms that indicate hypoxia five separate times since flights resumed.
Marines launch rocket from amphibious ship to destroy land target 70 km away –
The rocket system destroyed a target 70 kilometers away on land.
Veterans
Lawmakers unveil planned VA health reforms, but department leaders want more –
Proposals before Congress would allow more veterans to seek care at private-sector doctors’ offices with VA officials picking up the bill.
Commander of first flight of space shuttle Challenger dies –
Paul Weitz, a retired NASA astronaut who commanded the first flight of the space shuttle Challenger and also piloted the Skylab in the early 1970s, has died. He was 85.