News
House passes Trump megabill with $150B in military funding
The House passed President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax, health care, immigration and defense spending law Thursday by a vote of 218-214, securing the first part of the Pentagon’s bank-shot defense budget this year.
Navy did not document changes to recruitment procedures, watchdog says
The U.S. Navy failed to properly log new recruiting processes that helped the service reach its enlistment goals in fiscal 2024, according to a government watchdog report.
Navy to stop sharing satellite weather data with NOAA
As of July 31, the Navy’s Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center will stop sharing satellite weather data with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, according to a NOAA release.
Gambling addiction in the military may be going unnoticed, advocates warn
The military is full of young men who are drawn to risky behaviors, a demographic that experts say has the greatest probability for developing gambling addictions.
Militarized zones now make up 1/3 of southern border, stirring debates
Orange no-entry signs posted by the U.S. military in English and Spanish dot the New Mexico desert, where a border wall cuts past onion fields and parched ranches with tufts of tall grass growing amidst wiry brush and yucca trees.
Air Force
F-22 Raptors will be first to control ‘fighter drone’ collaborative combat aircraft
F-22 Raptor stealth fighters appear set to be the first operational airborne controllers for the U.S. Air Force’s future Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones. The service is looking to start adding tablet-based control systems and make other relevant modifications to the F-22s starting in the next fiscal year.
Air Force, Space Force to triple enlistment bonus funding in 2026
The Air Force is requesting about $141 million for initial enlistment bonuses in its fiscal 2026 budget, triple the amount of the fiscal 2025 spending estimate of $46.6 million. The Space Force also wants to roughly triple its initial enlistment bonuses from $4 million in fiscal 2025 to $13 million in fiscal 2026.
US Air Force halts plan for rocket landing pads on remote Pacific atoll amid environmental backlash
The U.S. Air Force has shelved a proposal to build two rocket landing pads on Johnston Atoll, a remote island in the central Pacific Ocean, following environmental concerns over potential harm to local wildlife, the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported July 5.
Space Force
Space Force picks Boeing for $2.8B strategic communications program
The Space Force on Thursday awarded Boeing a $2.8 billion contract to provide secure, survivable communications for strategic missions through the service’s Evolved Strategic Satellite Communications program.
Trump signs Reconciliation Bill, securing billions for Air Force and Space Force programs
President Donald Trump on July 4 signed into law $150 billion in defense funds as part of the tax-and-spending package known as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” after congressional Republicans approved the legislation in narrow, drawn-out votes earlier this week.
Space Force scraps satellite procurement, shifts to more flexible strategy
The U.S. Space Force has canceled a competition between Boeing and Northrop Grumman to build a new class of jam-resistant communications satellites, abandoning a traditional procurement approach in favor of a more flexible strategy.
Defense
Arquus, Daimler Truck team up to pitch military trucks to France
French military-vehicle maker Arquus and Germany’s Daimler Truck have announced a new strategic partnership aimed at providing the French military with new military trucks.
Los Alamos scientist’s insights on the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator
Sometime around 2012, Gary Stradling looked into a deep hole at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and pondered the future of the 30,000-pound GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker buster bombs, America’s largest conventional weapon. The hole was made during testing of the MOP and Stradling, at the time, was division chief of the Nuclear Detection Division of the J9 directorate at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).
Germany considering purchase of 1,000 tanks and 2,500 IFVs
Germany is considering a sweeping defence procurement plan worth up to €25 billion to acquire thousands of new armoured vehicles and battle tanks, aimed at fulfilling NATO’s force generation targets and bolstering deterrence against Russia.
B-21 production is speeding up, but how much and for how long is still unclear
The $10.3 billion the Air Force and Congress want to spend on the B-21 bomber in fiscal 2026 will fund not only continuing development and fabrication, but increased production capacity, the service acknowledged. But USAF isn’t saying whether that accelerated manufacturing will buy more total B-21s than planned, buy the bombers faster … or both.
American P-8s are about to get more reach and firepower
The US Department of Defense has awarded Boeing a $61.2 million contract for additional High Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapon Capability (HAAWC) systems to enhance the long-range strike capabilities of the Navy’s P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.
Boeing lands $2.8B deal to build next-gen nuclear communications satellites
Boeing won a $2.8 billion contract to develop a new generation of secure military satellites that will serve as the backbone of the United States’ nuclear command, control and communications network, the U.S. Space Force announced July 3.
Britain’s new robotic mine sweepers enter service
The Royal Navy has formally accepted its first autonomous minesweeping systems into service, delivering a long-awaited capability aimed at countering modern naval mine threats, according to a press release.
Veterans
Veterans in Minneapolis VA study used mindfulness to combat chronic pain
Don Allen’s left knee has hurt ever since an accident during his Army service in 1981. His right knee has been acting up as well. But the St. Paul man has one surefire way to blunt the pain: Doing the dishes.
Veterans and civilians bond over beers and bluegrass at Nashville’s American Legion Post 82
Matthew “Moose” Musquiz was working as a diesel mechanic in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, when his physical therapist told him about a bar in Nashville, Tennessee, that he might like.
House-approved VA budget bill ends restrictions on doctors from discussing medical marijuana with veterans
Doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs for the first time would be allowed to recommend cannabis to patients in states where it is legal, according to an amendment in the House-approved VA budget bill for fiscal 2026.
