News
Despite shortage, Air Force likely won’t boost enlisted pilot ranks –
Even as the U.S. Air Force faces a long-term pilot shortage, there are no plans to grow the ranks of enlisted pilots, a top official said recently.
Business
Heckler & Koch: Mexico firearms export trial opens in Germany –
Six ex-employees of German gunmaker Heckler & Koch have gone on trial in Stuttgart, accused of illegally sending guns to strife-torn parts of Mexico. The indictment focuses on 4,500 G36 assault rifles and smaller firearms sent in 16 batches. Prosecutors say they went to violent Mexican states covered by a German arms export ban.
Indonesia formally accepts first Apache helos –
Indonesia has formally received into service the first Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters that arrived in-country in late 2017.
South Korea selects mix of local, Israeli sensors for second Dokdo-class helicopter carrier –
The Republic of Korea Navy’s second Dokdo-class helicopter carrier, which will be known in service as ROKS Marado with pennant number 6112 once commissioned, has been built to carry a different suite of weapons and sensors from the first-of-class.
Defense
Pentagon denies report that B-52s were pulled from US-South Korea military drills –
The Pentagon denied a report from South Korean media that Air Force B-52s will no longer be taking part in military drills between the U.S. and South Korea, saying the bombers were never supposed to participate.
Pentagon OKs $90 million for Lebanese army amid Hezbollah gains –
The Donald Trump administration is sending more than $90 million worth of military equipment to help the Lebanese army protect its borders, the latest sign that the United States is sticking by Beirut despite Hezbollah’s growing influence.
Air Force Materiel Command to reassess aircraft inventory due to fatal mishaps –
The head of Air Force Materiel Command has directed the many AFMC organizations charged with safety and sustainment to take a second look at their data in response to a recent slew of deadly aviation mishaps that have triggered concerns about pilot safety.
Pentagon’s CMO has a plan to get more money for war fighters –
How much money is locked inside the five-sided box?
Forget ‘pinks and greens’: The Army is looking to make radar-stopping stealth cammies –
While the Army sorts out throwback service uniforms known as “pinks and greens” and looks to salvage older camouflage by dyeing gear to fit in with the new patterns, its leaders also have their eye on future combat and how even the clothes soldiers wear will fit into that complex space.
Evolutionary revolution: Esper’s Army modernization philosophy –
The Army Chief of Staff wants revolutionary new weapons. The Army Secretary wants affordable technology fast. How can they reconcile these opposites? By building systems with off-the-shelf tech but leaving room to upgrade them with radically new tech when it’s ready, Secretary Esper said. Call it evolutionary revolution.
Army is inspecting its entire fleet of Apache helicopters for a critical flaw –
The U.S. Army is inspecting its entire fleet of attack helicopters in an attempt to detect a “critical safety issue.”
Army to begin equipping heavy units with active protection by 2020 –
The U.S. Army’s chief of staff told Congress this week that the service plans to begin equipping four heavy brigades with anti-missile defense systems “within 24 months.”
At Bath, a destroyer’s keel is laid more than a year behind schedule –
The Navy on May 14 marked the ceremonial keel laying of the future destroyer Daniel K. Inouye at Bath Iron Works, Maine, a destroyer that is already more than a year behind schedule.
CNO: U.S./French integrated air wing helping develop ‘one larger team’ to tackle maritime operations –
When Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson and Chief of Staff of the French Navy Adm. Christophe Prazuck stood together on the flight deck of carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) on May 14, pairs of fighters flew overhead – one American F/A-18E-F Super Hornet, one French Rafale at its side.
Marine Corps just received its first CH-53K King Stallion –
The U.S. Marine Corps took delivery of its first CH-53 King Stallion heavy lift helicopter at the New River air station in North Carolina on May 16.
Marine Corps is down to one final EA-6B Prowler squadron –
The U.S. Marine Corps’ aging electronic attack aircraft, the EA-6B, is now down to one last squadron.
Veterans
Sweeping veterans policy bill passed overwhelmingly in the House –
House lawmakers advanced a $52 billion veterans legislative package May 16 that would overhaul outside medical care options for Department of Veterans Affairs patients, expand stipends for veteran caregivers and launch a review of the bureaucracy’s national footprint.
New veterans ID cards finally being delivered, but feature Office Depot’s logo on back –
Thousands of veterans received their free veterans ID cards this week featuring their names, their branch of service and a bright red advertisement on the back.
Space & Technology
How to get away with scientific fraud –
Sometime after 2010 – he isn’t exactly sure when – Richard Miller, a professor of pathology at the University of Michigan in Ann Harbor, looked up a former faculty member who had worked in his lab on the popular government research database, Medline.
Los Angeles, America’s future spaceport –
Los Angeles is an open-air museum of aerospace history. It is a city of abandoned missile-defense facilities and stealth-jet assembly plants, of erased airfields and repurposed hangars, flagships of another era standing dormant but unnoticed in plain sight.