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FILE: A U.S. F-35B Lightning II prepares to launch for the first ski jump short takeoff flight test with weapons (Dane Wiedmann/U.S. Navy).
A U.S. Air Force pilot was injured after ejecting from an F-35B Joint Strike fighter that crashed on Tuesday in New Mexico, said Air Force spokeswoman Rose Riley.
The pilot was taken to a local hospital and is listed in serious but stable condition, Riley told Task & Purpose on Wednesday. At the time of the crash, the pilot was assigned to the Defense Contract Management Agency and the plane was enroute to Edwards Air Force Base, California.

An F-35 Joint Strike Fighter crashed outside the airfield at the Albuquerque International Sunport which is co-located with Kirkland AFB in New Mexico, according to media reports and video from the crash site. The pilot survived and was transported to a local hospital with serious injuries, fire officials said.

F-35 crash in Albuquerque pic.twitter.com/USOQte0OHf
— Chris Clarke (@chrisclarkefly) May 28, 2024

F-35 crash outside of Kirkland AFB in New Mexico. pic.twitter.com/aNo8h1qoJJ
— Hey, Dave! (@davegreenidge57) May 28, 2024

The incident took place shortly before 2 p.m.

Civil Affairs candidates at the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School carry tires while participating in a team-building event during Civil Affairs Assessment and Selection (CAAS) at Camp Mackall, North Carolina, March 2, 2021. (K. Kassens/U.S. Army).
The U.S. Army’s Civil Affairs soldiers are the definition of diplomatic warriors. They are highly skilled in tactical operations but can quickly transition into a suit and tie to talk to a host nation’s diplomats at a level most U.S. politicians struggle to achieve.

The Army has developed a strategy for a new contract vehicle for software that it estimates will be worth more than $1 billion over a 10-year period of performance.
The service’s vision, outlined in a special notice published on Sam.gov seeking industry feedback, was released less than three months after Army leadership announced a new policy to codify changes in how the department develops and manages software.

A new prototype will soon allow the Space Force’s acquisition arm to work remotely on classified projects — with the goal to eventually create a shared network to facilitate collaboration with partners in industry and academia.
Known as Project Enigma, the digital environment aims to allow Space Systems Command (SSC) to collaborate with different stakeholders in a multi-enclave, cloud-based shared network.

The U.S. military’s temporary pier constructed to bring more humanitarian aid into Gaza was damaged and has suspended operations temporarily, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Brian Morales.
The U.S. military’s temporary pier, which was constructed to bring more humanitarian aid into Gaza, was damaged, resulting in temporarily suspended aid operations, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
The U.S. military’s Joint Logistics Over The Shore, or JLOTS, pier officially began operations last week.

The Biden administration’s $320 million floating pier broke apart in heavy seas earlier today less than two weeks after being installed, delaying the flow of badly needed humanitarian aid to war-ravaged Gaza, the Pentagon announced.
“Over the next 40 hours, the Trident Pier will be removed from its anchor position on the coast and towed back to Ashdod where US Central Command will conduct repairs,” Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokesperson, told reporters, including from The War Zone. “The rebuilding and repairing of the pier will take at least over a week.

An F-16 elephant walk. (Senior Airman Brittany A. Chase/U.S. Air Force).
Three Ukrainian pilots have graduated from F-16 training with the Arizona National Guard and a fourth is expected to graduate shortly, a U.S. official told Task & Purpose. The trio are the first Ukranians to be trained to fly and fight in the U.S. fighter.
Eight Ukrainian pilots remain in the F-16 training pipeline with the Arizona Air National Guard’s 162nd Wing in Tucson, the U.S. official said.

Gavin Wilde joined TNSR managing editor Rick Landgraf to discuss Gavin’s recent article about the effects of foreign propaganda on U.S. domestic politics. They discuss how the fear that hostile foreign powers could subvert democracy by spreading misinformation may be exaggerated, as the relationship between people’s beliefs and attitudes and their media consumption remains unclear. Policy interventions should therefore avoid needlessly intervening, lest they inadvertently imitate the authoritarian states they seek to combat.

The first official photos have appeared showing a Soviet-era ground-based air defense system upgraded with Western surface-to-air missiles — a so-called ‘FrankenSAM.’ The images, published by Ukraine’s Operational Command East, show a tracked self-propelled Buk-M1 system — known in the West as SA-11 Gadfly — which is said to have been adapted to fire the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow, a missile that previously provided point defense for numerous NATO and allied warships.