April 28, 2024

Osprey Crash Wreckage Turned Over to US Military

Osprey

Japanese authorities have turned over pieces of the wreckage of the CV-22 Osprey that crashed last week to the US military. Japan also has suspended flights by its Osprey aircraft after the VTOL based near Tokyo crashed during a training mission.

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Navy Aims to Recover & Restore P-8A in Bay

The US Navy is optimistic it can recover and restore to flight status the Boeing P-8A Poseidon that slid off the runway last week into the shallow waters of Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii.

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After 45 Years, F/A-18 Continues to Evolve

F/A-18

The Navy’s F/A-18 Hornet celebrated its 45th anniversary earlier this month. The aircraft was born at Naval Air Systems Command and developed to be a strike fighter. The Hornet introduced a level of aircraft superiority that had not been seen before and set the standard for future development of next-generation fighters. Improvements to the fighter jet ensure that it will remain the Navy’s “workhorse.”

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F-35’s Armory Is About to Get Bigger

F-35

The US Navy is launching an effort to procure four integrated advanced munitions — JASSM, LRASM, JAGM, and Hellfire missiles — on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

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Dubai Air Show Packed Despite Tensions

Despite a tense regional backdrop, the huge Dubai Air Show is running this week, although without a robust presence of Israeli defense firms. The show opened with great news for Boeing which sold another 90 passenger jets to the Emirates, the largest order since the US company’s first sale to Dubai 10 years ago.

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DoD: Percentage of Women in Military Rises

Women

The number of service members in the US military declined last year by 2.7%. A total of 2,077,630 service members were in the active-duty and selected reserve population — a decrease of 58,282 from 2021, while the percentage of women in the military inched upward. The DoD’s 2022 Demographics Profile of the Military Community found that since 2005, the percentage of active-duty military women has increased by 2.9% while the percentage of women in the selected reserve has risen by 4.4%.

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Veterans Day Originally Commemorated Peace

Veterans

Nov. 11 is Veterans Day, begun as Armistice Day commemorating the end of fighting in World War I, in the US the day now honors all those who have served in the military, past, or present. The United States’ official day of national remembrance of those killed in action is Memorial Day, which predates World War I.

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Pax F-35 Pilot Makes 1st Night SRVL on UK Carrier

F-35 Pilot

An US Navy F-35 Lightning II test pilot from NAS Pax River performed the first night shipborne rolling vertical landing, or SRVL, aboard HMS Prince of Wales, the United Kingdom’s newest aircraft carrier, in Atlantic waters just after 9pm Oct. 29. This came after MAJ Paul Gucwa had performed the first SRVL earlier that day.

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Biden: Postwar, Prioritize Two-State Solution

President Joe Biden is calling on Israeli and Arab leaders to think hard about their eventual postwar reality, which he says should prioritize finding agreement on a long-sought two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

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New Speaker Has Mixed Record on Defense

Speaker

New Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), who represents a military-heavy district on the Armed Services Committee, could help ameliorate some of the budget uncertainty generated by the recent turmoil within the GOP conference. He also opposed the sweeping toxic exposure bill for veterans and the Pentagon’s abortion policy.

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