March 19, 2024

Navy’s Ospreys Are Back in the Air

Osprey

The US and Japan have resumed flights of the Osprey aircraft in Japan after completing the necessary maintenance and training following a fatal crash that killed eight airmen in southern Japan last year.

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F-35s Certified to Carry Nukes

bombs

In addition to carrying conventional weapons, the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter has been operationally certified to carry the B61-12 thermonuclear gravity bomb, making it the first 5th generation nuclear capable aircraft ever, and the first new platform (fighter or bomber) to achieve this status since the early 1990s.

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MD Air Guard Going Cyber

Maryland’s Warfield Air National Guard Base at Martin State Airport in Middle River is the preferred location to transition from a flying mission with aging A-10 aircraft to a cyber wing mission. The 175th Cyberspace Operations Group also operates at Warfield.

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Houthi Rebels Sink Vessel, Kill Two Mariners

Yemen’s Houthi rebel attacks forced the abandonment of a commercial ship this week and killed two crew members in the process. They sunk their first vessel last week. These are the first fatalities since the rebels’ campaign of assaults in the Red Sea began in October, and the first vessel to be completely destroyed.

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Cyber Lab Ceremony Honors Barbara Ives

Ives

The Barbara Ives Cyber Lab at the College of Southern Maryland’s Leonardtown campus was recently dedicated. The lab is named in honor of Ives, a longtime Southern Maryland resident and retired US Navy Reserve captain, known for her service to the country, the region, and academia.

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Marines Pass DoD’s 1st Full Audit

It took 20 years and the Marines finally passed a full financial audit of the service. No other service has yet passed a full financial audit, nor has DoD.

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DoD Plans $10B in Cuts to Weapons Programs

Weapons Programs

The US Department of Defense plans cuts to some of its weapons programs — F-35 fighter jets, an attack submarine, Army helicopters and drones, and Air Force overhead — to stay under congressionally mandated spending caps. The department will make $10 billion in cuts to its 2025 budget.

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Recruitment Keeps Falling; Navy the Worst

Recruitment

After the services fell short of tens of thousands of enlistees in FY23, only the Air Force managed to exceed its enlistment goals in the first quarter of FY24. The Army only reached 74% of its first-quarter goal. The Navy fared worse at 65% of its target.

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Biden Wants to Scale Back F-35 Orders

F-35 on the International Stage

The Biden administration wants to scale back on Lockheed Martin F-35s. DoD’s order for F-35 fighter jets will drop to below 70, down from an expected 83 – an estimated $1.6 billion drop in spending on jets.

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Navy Faces Most Maritime Hostilities Since WWII

Troops aboard American destroyers in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are facing a level of maritime hostility that the US Navy hasn’t encountered since World War II.

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