Military

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said Tuesday he’s not worried about the impact of an impending strike that would include 3,200 union workers that produce fighter aircraft and munitions at factories in Missouri and Illinois.
The threat of a strike follows the employees’ rejection Sunday of Boeing’s most recent contract proposal. The International Machinists and Aerospace Workers Union said in statement a strike could begin Aug. 4 if the parties don’t reach a deal before the end of a weeklong cooling off period.
Ortberg noted during the company’s second quarter earnings call that the scope of the potential strike — which includes mechanics in plants in St. Louis and St. Charles, Missouri — would be much smaller than that of the 30,000-worker strike last fall.
During that strike, the company took a $661 million charge on its KC-46 tanker development contract with the U.S. Air Force, in part due to work stoppages on the Air Force’s KC-46 tanker.
“We’ll..

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Germany’s government intends to set up an airlift operation to provide humanitarian aid to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced on Monday.
Details of the operation, which will be carried out in cooperation with Jordan and with the backing of France and the United Kingdom, are still scarce. But previous German aid-dropping operations in the territory may give a glimpse of what to expect, according to a defense spokesman in Berlin.
Officials announced the new initiative following a Cabinet-level meeting, which Merz attended. He said the airlift, which was due to start “without delay,” would be jointly carried out by Germany and Jordan.
The Jordanian government said in an email to Defense News that the German announcement “came in response to a request by Jordan as the dire situation in Gaza worsens.”
The Kingdom bordering Israel to the east will provide “air support to the German..

The Air Force created a new office dedicated to communications and cyber systems, marking what was hailed in a service release “as one of the most significant reorganizations of the Air Staff in over 30 years.”
The new AF/A6 Deputy Chief of Staff Office breaks up responsibilities previously held under the Air Force headquarters A2 office to add a new and combined focus on cyber and communications.
The change is intended to align with other Pentagon initiatives to streamline command and control capabilities and inform future investments and force design decisions.
“We created the A6 to ensure communications and cyber systems are available, secure and aligned with warfighter priorities. This office will help us focus resources and oversight where it matters most — supporting the mission in contested environments,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said in the release.
Maj. Gen. Michele Edmondson has been appointed to lead the new office as deputy Chief of st..

ROCKHAMPTON, Australia — Long-range fires featured prominently at Exercise Talisman Sabre, the largest war games of their kind ever held in Australia.
Various anti-ship missile firings demonstrated the ability of the U.S. and its allies to hit maritime targets from land-based launchers.
If current tensions between China and Taiwan ever boil over into war, dispersed and mobile anti-ship missiles situated near strategic maritime straits could contain China within the so-called First Island Chain, which stretches southward from the Japanese archipelago down through Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia.
This massive exercise in Australia, held from July 13-27, was marked by a number of firsts from Australia, Japan and the United States, as crews aboard HIMARS, Type 12 and Typhon launchers executed their respective fire missions.
The first full day of the exercise kicked off with plumes of rocket engine smoke as HIMARS from three nations – Australia, Singapore and the U.S. &nda..

PARIS — Germany and France will “clarify the situation” regarding their Future Combat Air System project by the end of the year, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said after a July 24 meeting with his French counterpart, in response to bickering between partner companies about work share.
“Some of the involved companies not only have enormous amounts of expertise, they also have – naturally – their own interests and their own will,” Pistorius said in a joint press conference with French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu in Osnabrück, western Germany. “We knew that from the beginning.”
“What’s important for the two of us is that the projects represent German-French cooperation and partnership, they don’t represent national egotism.”
French plane maker Dassault Aviation, the lead on developing a new fighter jet at the heart of the system, has been vocal about wanting a larger role. Its CEO Eric..

WIESBADEN, Germany − The U.S. Army is prioritizing a common launcher that could be used across the European alliance from which a wide variety of weapons could be fired, the service’s chief in charge of the European and African theaters, said last week.
As part of a newly announced Eastern Flank Deterrence Line, a regional plan focused on the Baltic states, the U.S. Army and its allies and partners plan to pursue key ground-based capabilities.
“Everyone loves to talk about long-range fires and air defense,” Gen. Christopher Donahue, U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s commander, said at the Association of the U.S. Army’s inaugural LandEuro conference in Wiesbaden, Germany.
“So specifically, what we want to develop is a common launcher … that is both offensive and defensive capable. We want a common fire control system so that any nation can use that fire control system,” he said. “Then obviously, we want everything to be optionally manne..

WIESBADEN, Germany − The U.S. Army is prioritizing a common launcher that could be used across the European alliance from which a wide variety of weapons could be fired, the service’s chief in charge of the European and African theaters, said last week.
As part of a newly announced Eastern Flank Deterrence Line, a regional plan focused on the Baltic states, the U.S. Army and its allies and partners plan to pursue key ground-based capabilities.
“Everyone loves to talk about long-range fires and air defense,” Gen. Christopher Donahue, U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s commander, said at the Association of the U.S. Army’s inaugural LandEuro conference in Wiesbaden, Germany.
“So specifically, what we want to develop is a common launcher … that is both offensive and defensive capable. We want a common fire control system so that any nation can use that fire control system,” he said. “Then obviously, we want everything to be optionally manne..

Matthew Lohmeier, the former Space Force lieutenant colonel who was relieved of command after publicly blasting the military’s diversity programs and alleged Marxist ideology, was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday as the Air Force’s next undersecretary.
The 52-46 vote to approve Lohmeier was along party lines.
Lohmeier was fired from command of the 11th Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado in 2021 after appearing on a podcast to discuss his self-published book, “Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest and the Unmaking of the American Military.”
During that podcast, Lohmeier decried diversity initiatives, critical race theory and Marxism, saying they were anti-American and divisive. He alleged those ideas were spreading through and weakening the military.
President Donald Trump tapped Lohmeier to be the second-highest civilian in the Department of the Air Force shortly before his inauguration in January, tasking him with changing ..

Air Force Global Strike Command has pulled Sig Sauer M18 pistols from use following the July 20 death of an airman at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.
The airman was active-duty and assigned to the 90th Security Forces Squadron at the time of the fatal incident, the 90th Missile Wing confirmed this week. Further details, including the airman’s name and cause of death, are currently being withheld.
The service’s decision to withdraw the M18 pistol from use in the immediate aftermath of the airman’s death is pending an investigation by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, as well as a safety inspection of the handgun.
A leaked memo dated July 21 called for the M18 to be pulled from use “for all operational and training activities” immediately and replaced by the M-4 rifle until further notice. It also calls for “100% inspections of all Wing-assigned M18 weapons systems” by Combat Arms personnel.
The memo was confirmed as authentic by Charles Hoffman, an A..

PARIS — Turkey and the United Kingdom signed a memorandum of understanding on the export of Eurofighter Typhoon jets on Wednesday, bringing the government in Ankara a step closer to buying the multi-role fighter aircraft built by a consortium of four European countries.
Negotiations on the potential deal with Turkey will continue in coming weeks, the U.K. government said in a statement. While Turkey has been seeking to buy Eurofighter jets since 2023, talks had reportedly stumbled on German reluctance to grant an export license.
The bulk of the Turkish Air Force’s fighter fleet consists of aging F-16 jets, with the country suspended from the F-35 program after buying S-400 air-defense systems from Russia. While Turkey is developing its own fifth-generation KAAN stealth fighter, that jet is still in the prototype phase.
“Today’s agreement is a big step towards Turkey buying U.K. Typhoon fighter jets,” U.K. Defence Secretary John Healey said in a statement. ..