Author: Michael

The Falcon 9 rocket that carried the Space Development Agency’s new satellites, shortly before launch. (photo courtesy Space Development Agency).

The U.S. military’s Space Development Agency hit a major milestone today, conducting its first launch to space. The mission sent 10 new communications and missile tracking satellites into low-Earth orbit in a test of the agency’s mission to quickly create a new orbital network of satellites.
The satellites, carried aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

After multiple postponements, SpaceX successfully launched the first set of the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 0 satellites on Sunday, the Defense Department announced.
The launch had been scheduled for Thursday, but the mission was auto-aborted just three seconds before liftoff. It was rescheduled for the following day, but on Friday the SDA announced that it was being postponed again, tweeting that SpaceX was “working quickly to resolve issues discovered during yesterday’s launch attempt.

A member of the Arkansas National Guard stands in front of damaged areas following a series of tornadoes. (photo courtesy Arkansas National Guard).

After a series of tornadoes hit the Midwest and South on Friday, leaving at least 26 people dead, the National Guard is helping rescue and recovery efforts in Arkansas. 
The state mobilized 100 National Guardsmen to help with rescue efforts, declaring a state of emergency on Friday. They’re assisting Arkansas State Police in helping people evacuate from damaged areas, directing traffic and pointing people to safe locations.

 
By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
If you don’t see the book you want on the shelf, write it yourself (By Beverly Cleary)

In addition to writing articles and maintaining lists of losses, we’ve authored several books on a number of topics. These are all listed on this page.

According to a recent report issued by a think tank in Beijing, the United States engaged in “intense military action” in China’s backyard despite the war in Ukraine.
In its yearly assessment of U.S. military activity in the South China Sea, the Beijing-based South China Sea Strategic Situation Survey Initiative (SCSPI) claimed that the U.S. military emphasized military deterrence against China despite the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine in Europe.

The Russian military is flying two prototype S-70 “hunter” stealth drones that are expected to be operational by 2024, a significant and potentially worrisome development for the Pentagon.
S-70 Okhotnik: Explained
The Okhotnik is not only stealthy but is also reported to be an armed attack drone, according to numerous reports, including 2018 one on Russia Beyond citing Russian experts discussing the drone.

The US Air Force has announced that it will not proceed with the hypersonic weapons program being developed by aerospace and defense giant Lockheed Martin. Instead, service officials have signaled they will try to support a different initiative from rival Raytheon Corp., Bloomberg first reported on Wednesday.
The decision comes after a hypersonic weapon test on March 13 that the Air Force admitted was “not a success.” The Lockheed Martin AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) had suffered several failures during testing.

Russia’s sophisticated Su-30SM and Su-30SM2 fighter jets completed a series of training exercises over the Kaliningrad region last week, according to state news agency TASS. In these Baltic exercises, at least ten Russian aircraft conducted tactical exercises with bombing raids and missile strikes.

WASHINGTON, USA – The US Department of Defense, via the Pentagon, has announced that only half of its fleet of 540 F-35 Lightning II fighter jets are combat-ready.
According to the Pentagon, the combat readiness rate of US F-35 Lightning II fighters is well below its 65% target. According to the head of the F-35 program, US Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, this preparation is “unacceptable.”
Combat ability
Lt. Gen. Schmidt announced that as of February, the United States had more than 540 F-35 fighters and that 53.1% of the F-35 fleet’s aircraft were combat-ready.

WARSAW, POLAND – An exercise over Europe could provide an unexpectedly good combination to help the Ukrainian Air Force.
This is a joint data transfer effort between the American F-35 Lightning II fifth-generation stealth fighter and the Soviet MiG-29 fourth-generation fighter. Realistically, the F-35 could become a key player in Eastern Europe and the war in Ukraine.
A few days ago, a NATO exercise took place over Poland. MiG-29s from the Polish Air Force and F-35s from the Royal Netherlands Air Force flew in joint pairs during this exercise.