Military

MANILA, Philippines — U.S. and Philippine fighter aircraft staged a joint patrol and training Tuesday over a disputed South China Sea shoal where Chinese fighter jets fired flares last year to drive away a Philippine aircraft, Philippine officials said.
The joint patrol and air-intercept drills over the hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines were the first by the longtime treaty allies since U.S. President Donald Trump took office again.
Trump’s “America First” foreign policy thrust has sparked concerns among Washington’s allies in Asia about the scale and depth of U.S. commitment to the region in his new term. His predecessor, former President Joe Biden, had moved to strengthen an arc of security alliances in the region to counter China’s increasingly assertive actions.
China pushing Philippines ‘to the wall’ with sea aggression: Manila
Two U.S. Air Force B-1 bomber aircraft and three Philippine Air Force FA-50 fighter jet..

Following a lengthy delay as the U.S. Army and Navy struggled to test the round, the Army will field its long-range hypersonic weapon to the first unit by the end of fiscal 2025, a defense official confirmed Wednesday in a statement to Defense News.
The Army had planned to field the live, ground-launched hypersonic rounds to the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Field Artillery Brigade unit at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state by the fall of 2023. But the milestone continued to be pushed back after several aborted tests in 2023 due to challenges at the range, related not to the round, but the process of firing up the missile for launch.
Testing the all-up round was considered critical to ensure the system was safe, effective and ready for fielding, said then-Army acquisition chief Doug Bush.
The U.S. is in a race to field the capability and develop systems to defend against hypersonic missiles. China and Russia are actively develo..

MILAN — NATO showed off its underwater surveillance capabilities in an unmanned surface vessel demonstration in the Baltic Sea as part of alliance efforts to deter acts of sabotage against critical undersea infrastructure in the strategic area.
The trials took place in waters near Denmark from Feb. 17 to 20 and involved integrating manned and unmanned assets in live-firing events and tactical maneuvers.
Participating drone boats were fielded through the Task Force X initiative established earlier this month by the alliance’s top transformation branch as part of patrolling activities in Baltic waters.
“It provides a framework for all nations to contribute by enabling the deployment of their autonomous capabilities. … This collaborative effort will fill gaps in surveillance, particularly in areas not covered by existing systems like the Automatic Identification System,” Adm. Pierre Vandier, commander of NATO’s Allied Command Transformation, said in a ..

An important series of tests for the latest upgrades to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will likely not begin until two years after these jets started hitting the field — and at least three years following their original due date.
The Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation said in its annual report, submitted to Congress on Jan. 31, that dedicated operational tests for the F-35’s Technology Refresh 3, or TR-3, upgrades will probably start in mid to late fiscal 2026, or around next summer. Those tests are intended to determine whether TR-3 is operationally effective.
Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, the military’s F-35 program executive officer, said in a statement to Defense News that as of January, Lockheed Martin has delivered more than 100 TR-3 equipped fighters. All of those jets have software allowing its pilots to conduct training flights, including combat training.
“We are aggressively implementing comprehensive test plans to ensure this critical upgrade deli..

Software company Applied Intuition announced Thursday it acquired Silicon Valley autonomy firm EpiSci, whose technology has supported a slew of Pentagon programs aimed at integrating AI with military platforms.
The move positions Applied, which has until now focused largely on dual-use autonomous technology for land systems, to expand its portfolio into other domains.
“We’ve done a lot of on-the-ground, land autonomy,” Applied’s CEO Qasar Younis told Defense News. “And we thought one area we could augment its portfolio is in other domains — in the air and on the sea … and space as well.”
EpiSci, founded in 2012, builds AI software for a number of defense applications, including surface warfare, maritime tracking, space-based missile tracking satellites and uncrewed aircraft. Last year, the Air Force used the company’s software to stage the first-ever dogfights between an F-16 and an experimental fighter jet, the X-62A VISTA.
US Air Forc..

PARIS — Ukraine received the first Mirage 2000 fighter jets promised by France on Thursday, French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu said, giving the country its second type of Western aircraft in addition to F-16 jets handed over by allies last year.
The Mirage 2000 jets arrived with Ukrainian pilots on board, after several months of training in France, Lecornu said in a post on X. “They will now participate in defending the skies of Ukraine.”
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine posted an image of a Mirage 2000 taking off in Ukrainian livery and the text “Already in Ukraine.”
A major advantage of flying Western jets is their ability to interface with NATO ordnance such as the Scalp/Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles and guided bombs, as well as older air-to-air missiles that many of Ukraine’s allies have in stock. The Netherlands, Denmark and Norway delivered F-16s to Ukraine last year, with the Dutch planning to hand over another batch in 2025.
French P..

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday pledged to demonstrate to China that the United States will continue supporting its allies in the Indo-Pacific region.
The U.S., however, is not going to create unnecessary conflict with Beijing, Hegseth said in a question-and-answer session during a town hall with Defense Department personnel.
“We’re clear-eyed about the communist Chinese, the [People’s Republic of China], but we’re also not attempting to initiate conflict or create conflict where it otherwise doesn’t need to exist,” Hegseth said. “We’re going to stand strong with our partners. And then President Trump, at his strategic level, is the one who’s having the conversations to sort of ensure that we don’t ever have a conflict.
“We don’t want that, [the Chinese] don’t want that,” Hegseth continued. “We just have to remain strong in order to be in the best possible position.”
The Pentagon p..

The Defense Innovation Unit announced Feb. 14 it has selected 37 systems and components to add to its list of commercial drone capabilities certified for military use, pending final approvals to ensure they meet congressionally mandated cybersecurity and supply chain standards.
DIU in November staged a three-day flight demonstration at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms in California. Following the event, the department selected 23 systems as well as 14 unique drone components, which are now in the midst of a months-long cybersecurity verification process.
Once completed, the approved drones will be added to DIU’s Blue Unmanned Aircraft Systems, or UAS, List and the components to its Blue UAS Framework, making them available for the military services to buy.
“Advocacy for many of these new and enabling technologies continues to be critical for getting capabilities to the warfighter,” DIU said in a statement. “With the cycle for development of new c..

A U.S. Army Black Hawk crew may not have heard critical air traffic control messages instructing it to fly behind the commercial regional jet it ultimately collided with midair at Reagan National Airport in Washington on Jan. 29, the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday.
Additionally, the helicopter crew may have received inaccurate altitude data inside the cockpit, NTSB officials said at a media briefing at NTSB headquarters about the ongoing investigation.
The on-scene investigation of the collision of the American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, and a UH-60 on a flight over the Potomac River has concluded, Jennifer Homendy, NTSB chair, said. The investigation will continue off-site in various labs and other secure locations.
No survivors in passenger jet-Army helicopter crash near DC: Officials
When the aircraft collided, the fuselage of the commercial jet broke apart in three places and was discovered inverted in waist-deep water in the Potomac. The helicopter wre..

The Air Force conducted a test launch of an unarmed Minuteman III missile early Wednesday to help ensure its land-based nuclear force still operates safely and effectively.
Airmen from Air Force Global Strike Command launched the intercontinental ballistic missile from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 1 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, the department said. The Minuteman missile carried no nuclear payload but was instead equipped with a test re-entry vehicle that was designed to transmit readings.
The missile flew about 4,200 miles at speeds of more than 15,000 mph to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site at the Marshal Islands’ Kwajalein Atoll. Personnel at the test site, which is run by Army Space and Missile Defense Command, collected radar, optical and telemetry data as the missile closed in, to measure how well it worked.
“Today’s Minuteman III test launch is just one of the ways the Department of the Air Force demonstrates the readiness, pr..