News
Behemoth Golden Dome may face lackluster scrutiny in Trump’s Pentagon
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to cut more than half of the Pentagon’s test and evaluation office personnel was driven, in part, by concerns over the office’s plans to provide testing oversight for the Trump administration’s $175 billion Golden Dome missile defense project, multiple sources told Defense News.
Pentagon aims to cut 14 defense advisory boards, including DACOWITS
The Pentagon is proposing to terminate 14 different defense advisory groups following a 45-day review, with the cut list including the 74-year-old Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, Military Times has learned.
Navy orders forcewide housing inspections after secretary ‘appalled’ by Guam barracks conditions
Navy Secretary John Phelan visited Guam earlier this month and was “appalled” after seeing the conditions of an Air Force barracks where junior service members were living, prompting an ongoing Navy-wide inspection of more than 100,000 barracks units, according to a government watchdog and service officials.
Trump’s budget boosts USAF, cuts Space Force spending
The Trump administration’s proposed budget for 2026 would modestly increase Air Force spending but cut Space Force funds, according to new details published May 30.
Soldier’s wife deported to Australia after detainment in Hawaii
A woman attempting to visit her military husband in Hawaii was detained and eventually deported after the Department of Homeland Security said it flagged her for dubious behavior.
Air Force
F-15E armed with drone killing laser-guided rockets appears in Middle East
We now have a picture showing a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle down-range in the Middle East with an air-to-air loadout that includes six seven-shot 70mm rocket pods, as well as four AIM-9X and four AIM-120 missiles.
Former Thunderbirds pilots applaud ‘wonderful’ new Netflix documentary
Former Air Force Thunderbirds pilots praised a new Netflix documentary about the branch’s premier aerial demonstration team, saying it captured the highs and lows of life in an air show where extraordinary is the norm, and anything less can put lives at risk.
Air Force wants private company to take over its on-base hotels
The Air Force wants a company to take over its aging chain of hotels at bases across the world, the latest move by the new administration to privatize and commercialize parts of the military.
Treated PFAS water at Air Force base in Tokyo is safe for release, Japan says
The Japanese government on Friday gave the U.S. military the green light to release about 400,000 gallons of treated water from this airlift hub in western Tokyo.
Space Force
Space Force launches second ‘rapid-response’ GPS mission
The Space Force successfully launched a Global Positioning System satellite on Friday — marking the second instance the service has demonstrated its ability to quickly put a GPS space vehicle into orbit in a fraction of the usual time.
Defense
F-15E armed with drone killing laser-guided rockets appears in Middle East
We now have a picture showing a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle down-range in the Middle East with an air-to-air loadout that includes six seven-shot 70mm rocket pods, as well as four AIM-9X and four AIM-120 missiles.
Meta and Anduril work on mixed reality devices for the US military
On Thursday, Anduril and Meta announced news that feels like a fairy tale ending for Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey. The two companies are working together to build extended reality (XR) devices for the U.S. military, Anduril announced in a blog post.
Trump offers F-47 sixth-gen fighter to Japan: Reports
Boeing’s F-47 sixth-generation stealth fighter has been pitched to Japan by U.S. President Donald Trump, according to reports. The idea of an export-configured F-47 was brought up by Trump when he announced Boeing’s win in the U.S. Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) manned combat jet initiative in March.
Army weaves robo-boats, drones, balloons and C2 tech into multi-continent Arcane Thunder exercise
The Army’s recently completed Arcane Thunder 25 exercise incorporated uncrewed surface vessels, unmanned aerial systems, high-altitude balloons and data-sharing capabilities to test out deep sensing and multi-domain operations.
China’s J-36 very heavy stealth tactical jet photographed head-on for first time
New imagery of China’s ‘J-36’ very heavy tactical 6th generation jet has just emerged out of China. The photos shows a long-awaited perspective of the aircraft — taken from the front — that confirms our analysis that the aircraft features a very large and broad bubble canopy to go atop its equally broad nose section.
Veterans
Advocates for homeless vets wary over proposed changes to VA programs
When Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins addressed a conference for homelessness advocates Friday, he pledged significant reforms to how his department approaches providing aid to struggling veterans, with an eye toward “finding homes for all of them.”
Veterans receiving disability payments might have been underpaid, IG finds
Veterans may have received lower monthly disability payments than they should have due to errors made by a computer used by the Department of Veterans Affairs to calculate the amount they should be paid, a federal watchdog found.
