Welcome to the Early Bird Brief, compiled by Anne-Marie Bissada. Please email news tips and suggestions to anne.bissada@mco.com. |
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(The Associated Press) President Donald Trump is seeking to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to engage in peace talks with Russia by pausing military aid to Ukraine. Read More |
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(Military Times) Veterans Affairs leaders on Monday scaled back massive cost-cutting plans within the department, announcing revised plans to still eliminate nearly 600 professional service contracts they insist will save $900 million without compromising any support for veterans. Read More |
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(Military Times) Senate Veterans’ Affairs ranking member Richard Blumenthal will host former Veterans Affairs Inspector General Michael Missal as his guest for President Donald Trump’s address to Congress on Thursday night, an invitation designed to criticize the administration’s handling of watchdog offices. Read More |
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(Military Times) Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reinstated the name “Fort Benning” on Monday for one of the nation’s largest military bases — the second such reversal he’s ordered and the first that requires actually removing the name of a U.S. service member. Read More |
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(Military Times) A U.S. Military Academy at West Point colonel will be arraigned again for misconduct charges similar to ones that were dropped twice before, according to West Point. Read More |
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(Defense News) The U.K. placed an order worth as much as £1.6 billion ($2 billion) with Thales to supply more than 5,000 air defense missiles for Ukraine, the government said. Read More |
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(The Associated Press) The Pentagon is sending about 3,000 more active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border as President Donald Trump seeks to clamp down on illegal immigration and fulfill a central promise of his campaign, U.S. officials said Saturday. Read More |
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(Defense News) President Donald Trump’s administration is loosening restrictions on military airstrikes by giving commanders more autonomy to make lethal decisions, according to a U.S. defense official. Read More |
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(DefenseScoop) Mere weeks after being named the chief information security officer for the Defense Department, Katie Arrington was announced Monday as the Pentagon’s official “Performing the Duties of the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer.” Read More |
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(Defense News) The Army is one step closer to producing millions of rounds each year of its newest caliber for the service’s newest rifle and light machine gun combination — the Next Generation Squad Weapon. Read More |
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(Stars & Stripes) The Army is facing $210 million in claims from 42 soldiers and veterans who say they were victims of Maj. Michael Stockin, the Army doctor at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., serving a nearly 14-year sentence for sexually abusing patients. Read More |
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(Military Times) A U.S. aircraft carrier arrived in South Korea on Sunday in a show of force, days after North Korea test-launched cruise missiles to demonstrate its counterattack capabilities. Read More |
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(USNI News) The Department of the Navy will no longer cover travel-related expenses or provide leave for abortions for Marines and sailors, according to a policy released Friday. Read More |
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(Task & Purpose) In the wake of cuts to federal research funding, a Navy veteran diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer will not be able to receive an experimental treatment that he says extended his life after doctors gave him “weeks” to live in 2020. Read More |
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(USNI News) A proposed stop gap funding deal to keep the federal government operating includes $1.06 billion in anomalies to cover the costs to complete 22 ships and incremental funding for the Columbia-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine program, according to a summary of the effort reviewed by USNI News. Read More |
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(Stars & Stripes) A U.S. service member from Sasebo Naval Base may face assault charges based on suspicion he hit a man with a mug over the weekend, according to a local news report and a police spokesman. Read More |
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(Stars & Stripes) The Marine Corps activated its second-ever littoral combat team this week on Okinawa, providing the backbone for reconnaissance and anti-ship fire missions carried out by a seaborne quick-reaction force. Read More |
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(Military.com) The Marine Corps announced a pilot program last month that will allow senior enlisted Marines to reenlist to the end of their service limitation without having to submit recurring -- and often burdensome -- extension packets. Read More |
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(Stars & Stripes) University researchers are using a florescent dye in the aquifer near Pearl Harbor to better understand the flow of water beneath the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, site of a massive jet fuel spill three years ago. Read More |
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(Military Times) The Air Force issued a stern warning to airmen last week to avoid working for private companies that maintain affiliation with foreign adversaries, according to a press release from the service. Read More |
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(Breaking Defense) The Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) Warfare Symposium held each spring is typically a packed affair, as thousands of airmen and Guardians crowd the halls of the three-day event standing shoulder-to-shoulder with industry and other attendees. Read More |
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(The War Zone) The U.S. Air Force expects to continue utilizing QF-16 Full Scale Aerial Target (FSAT) drones converted from F-16 Vipers fighters through at least 2035, despite moving in recent years to wind the program down. Read More |
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(Air & Space Forces Magazine) Chief of Staff Gen. David. W. Allvin made a forceful case for investing in the Air Force as a key to rebuilding the U.S. military and restoring U.S. military deterrence, principal objectives for the Trump administration and new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Read More |
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(Military Times) Lockheed Martin hopes to begin rolling out early Block 4 capabilities to the F-35 this summer, a senior company official said Monday. Read More |
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(The War Zone) As the Air & Space Forces Association’s annual Air Warfare Symposium kicks off today in Aurora, Colorado, private adversary air company Top Aces is previewing its new “constructive wingman” capability that will begin test and evaluation on its F-16A/B aggressor aircraft starting this spring. Read More |
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(Air & Space Forces Magazine) The unit price for the latest lot of the F-35 fighter will come in below the rate of inflation, Lockheed Martin’s manager for the program said March 3. The disclosure came on the same day Lockheed and Pratt & Whitney announced that the F-35 and its F135 engine have each surpassed 1 million flight hours. Read More |
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(The War Zone) Lockheed Martin says it conducted six successful flight tests last year as part of work to add new capabilities on the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter. The U.S. Air Force’s small, but highly capable and heavily in-demand F-22 fleet is set to receive a number of upgrades to help keep the jets at the very tip of the service’s spear, potentially into the 2040s. Read More |
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(The Gazette (Colorado Springs)) As her C-130H gunship approached enemy combatants in Afghanistan, former Air Force officer Allison Black's voice came across the field radios, shocking a Northern Alliance general. Read More |
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(SpaceNews) BAE Systems has secured a $151 million contract to develop a next-generation ground system for U.S. Space Force missile-warning satellites. Read More |
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(Air & Space Forces Magazine) Lt. Gen. Philip A. Garrant only spent a few weeks running the Space Development Agency in addition to his regular job as head of Space Systems Command. But he learned something important from the experience. Read More |
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(The War Zone) The U.S. Space Force is looking at reactivating an abandoned rocket launching site on an abandoned Pacific island stronghold to test technologies for future rocket cargo delivery missions. Read More |
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(SpaceNews) In pointed remarks that emphasized the military nature of America’s newest service branch, the head of the U.S. Space Force called on its members to embrace their role as warriors in space. Read More |
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(Air & Space Forces Magazine) Looming cuts to the Pentagon’s civilian workforce will present a particular challenge to the Space Force with its proportionally high number of civilian Guardians, leaders said at the AFA Warfare Symposium. Read More |
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(Military.com) For civilians, state taxes are easy. In most cases, civilians are residents of the state where they physically live, and they file their state income taxes there. (Or not, if the state has no filing requirement.) Read More |
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(Task & Purpose) For thousands of transgender troops in the United States military, the first two months of 2025 were nerve-wracking as they waited to find out whether or not their careers were over. Read More |
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(Military.com) A beloved 30-year-old husband and father who served with the Air Force in his home state of Alaska has died about a year after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, military officials said. Read More |
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Military Culture & History |
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(Military.com) Looking back at almost 20 years of Iraq War movies, the first thought that comes to mind is that Iraq War movies aren't really all that great. Read More |
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(Military.com) As bedraggled Union troops retreated to their camp along the James River in Virginia in early July 1862, they endured a march that stretched more than 12 miles. Eager to lighten their load in harsh conditions, they disposed of their weapons and backpacks. The drummer boys who accompanied them did likewise -- all except one. Read More |
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(Defense One) Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered U.S. Cyber Command to stand down on cyber- and information-operations planning against Russia, according to a U.S. official and a second person familiar with the order. Read More |
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(The War Zone) The U.S. Air Force has designated the drones that General Atomics and Anduril are currently developing as part of the first phase, or Increment 1, of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program as the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A, respectively. Read More |
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(DefenseScoop) While a top priority for Army leaders, countering unmanned systems on the battlefield is presenting challenges and lagging behind other key modernization initiatives, according to the commander of the 101st Airborne Division, one of the service’s most elite and storied units. Read More |
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(Air & Space Forces Magazine) The Air Force’s first two Collaborative Combat Aircraft are fighters, the first uncrewed aircraft to carry such a designation, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin announced in a keynote address at the AFA Warfare Symposium on March 3. Read More |
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(Defense News) The Pentagon is weighing options to establish new flight corridors to test hypersonic weapons over the U.S. and Australia — and it’s eyeing the Trump administration’s urgent call for a homeland missile shield as a mechanism to speed up the approval process. Read More |
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(Breaking Defense) Far away from home and flying high above the seas for an event called “Pacific Skies” last year, a small group of three German Eurofighters made several pitstops behind KC-135 Stratotankers, helping the jet fighter notch its longest-ever flight of roughly 10 and a half hours. Read More |
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(DefenseScoop) Researchers and engineers at IBM are hustling to build out a large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum supercomputer by 2029, according to a senior executive steering that work. Read More |
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(SpaceNews) The Trump administration’s ambitious missile defense initiative dubbed “Golden Dome” is triggering a flurry of activity across the aerospace and defense sectors as companies jockey for position in what could become one of the Pentagon’s largest procurement programs. Read More |
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(Defense News) Norway has received three new F-35A aircraft, marking the delivery of 49 fighters, with the remaining three planned to be shipped before summer, the Norwegian Defense Material Agency said. Read More |
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(Defense News) The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, proposed a plan that could free up around €800 billion ($841 billion) in defense spending over the next four years, as the continent prepares to face Russian aggression and help Ukraine to defend itself. Read More |
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(Defense News) Denmark picked Norwegian ammunition maker Nammo to restart a shuttered ammo plant for production of small- and large-caliber ammunition, the country’s defense ministry said. Read More |
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(Breaking Defense) Poland has formally signed a $300 million leasing agreement for eight AH-64D Apache attack helicopters, a bridge to when the Polish Land Forces will receive their full order of Apaches. Read More |
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(Defense One) China is driving wedges between the United States and Middle Eastern countries by spreading information that paints the U.S. as an unreliable partner while pitching its own military offerings as better options, according to a senior U.S. military official. Read More |
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(The Guardian) The family of one of dozens of Uyghurs feared to have been forcibly deported from Thailand to China have condemned the decision as “shameful”. The deportations came despite a UN statement saying those being sent to China faced a “real risk of torture” on their return. Read More |
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(CNN) Armed forces in Sudan’s ongoing civil war are perpetrating systematic sexual violence against young children, with one-year-olds the youngest survivors of rape, according to a new report from UNICEF, the United Nations’ (UN) children’s agency. Read More |
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(The Guardian) China and Canada unveiled retaliatory measures against the US after Donald Trump imposed his sweeping tariffs plan at midnight US time, despite warnings it could spark an escalating trade war. Read More |
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(The Associated Press) The United Nations’ World Food Program is closing its southern Africa office in the wake of the Trump administration’s aid cuts, a spokesperson said Monday. Read More |
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(CNN) A delicate truce between Israel and Hamas hangs by a thread after Israel blocked humanitarian aid into Gaza, in response to Hamas rejecting a new Israeli proposal to extend the ceasefire without any commitment to end the war or fully withdraw troops. Read More |
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(Military Times) US, South Korean, and Thai troops storm beach during drill Read More |
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(Military Times) Trump speech to Congress expected to key on Ukraine, national security Read More |
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(Military Times) Army Golden Knights practice pinpoint-accurate landings in parachute competition Read More |
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(Military Times) Jeanette Mack from Navy Federal Credit Union is here to help you understand the options available to you as you look at how to pay for college. Read More |
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(Military Times) Marine One carrying Trump and Musk lands at White House after Florida trip Read More |
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(Military Times) Hegseth orders DOD civilian employees to respond to Musk's latest 'what did you do last week?' email Read More |
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(Military Times) CENTCOM forces kill the senior military leader of Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria Read More |
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(Military Times) See Marines continue work to reinforce southern border wall in California Read More |
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(Defense Opinion) The end of the beginning of widespread Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption has arrived. Instead of seeming like a futuristic scene from a movie, today’s advancements are making a marked difference in processing large data sets. Read More |
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(War On The Rocks) The cyclone of rapid-fire actions taken by the Trump administration in its first weeks has affected every part of the U.S. government, including the Department of Defense and military services. The Feb. 21 summary dismissal of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and many other uniformed senior leaders without explanation was simply unprecedented, and signaled a serious assault on U.S. civil-military norms. Never before have so many senior military officers been fired without clear cause, much less at the beginning of a new president’s term. Some of the key cornerstones of the military — and the long-standing profession of arms — seem to be under direct attack. Read More |
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