Air Force
No new-tanker competition. After years of uncertainty about the Air Force’s tanker plans, the service has decided to buy more KC-46s instead of launching a new competition for its next tanker buy, Defense One’s Audrey Decker reported Sunday off an interview with Air Force Chief Gen. David Allvin. “The decision to stick with Boeing’s KC-46 likely stems from budget pressures, since continuing Pegasus production would cost less than putting research and development money into a new program. The new contract will come after Boeing finishes delivering tankers under the current program of record, for 188 aircraft.” More, here.
Airline pilot dodges B-52 in midair. On Friday, SkyWest Flight 3788 was cleared for landing at Minot, North Dakota, when an Air Force B-52 suddenly appeared ahead. The pilot “performed a go-around when another aircraft became visible in their flight path,” SkyWest told the Washington Post, which added: “Air Force officials did not provide details of the incident, but they did say that a hulking B-52 bomber was performing a flyover at the North Dakota State Fair, which took place in Minot, home to a commercial airport and an Air Force base.” More, here.
Welcome to this Monday’s edition of The D Brief, a newsletter dedicated to developments affecting the future of U.S. national security, brought to you by Bradley Peniston with Jennifer Hlad. Share your tips and feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 1921, U.S. bombers sank the former German battleship Ostfriesland to prove Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell’s contention that warships were vulnerable to aerial attack.
Around the Defense Department
SecDef clears two U.S. bases to hold immigrants. AP: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says bases in Indiana and New Jersey can house detained immigrants without affecting military readiness — a step toward potentially detaining thousands of people on bases on U.S. soil.” Read on, here.
First Marine general to run Naval Academy. Washington Post: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will replace the first woman to lead the U.S. Naval Academy, defense officials said, with the Trump administration nominating a Marine Corps general to oversee the institution for the first time in its nearly 180-year history.” The admiral, Vice Adm. Yvette Davids, “is about 18 months into serving in a job that typically rotates about every three to four years.” Davids is headed to the CNO’s office: “If confirmed by the Senate, she will serve as the deputy chief of naval operations for operations, plans, strategy and warfighting development, also known as the N3-N5-N7,” wrote USNI News, which first reported the development.
Incoming, pending Senate confirmation: Lt. Gen. Michael Borgschulte, currently the Marine Corps deputy commandant for manpower and reserve affairs. More, here.
Zooming out
Dispatch from Aspen: The Trump administration pulled most of its officials from participation at this year’s Aspen Security Forum, but attendees at last week’s event carried on. Here’s how Politico saw it: “Six months into President Donald Trump’s second administration, national security elites at the annual Aspen Security Forum have accepted that this president has irrevocably upended the global order.” Trump 2.0 “in its first six months has taken a sledgehammer to the norms and conventions that governed U.S. trade relations, use of military force and engagement with stalwart partners and alliances. It has also overseen the elimination of agencies that handle foreign policy tasks — most notably the now-defunct U.S. Agency for International Development — and slashed staff within the intelligence community, the Pentagon and the State Department.
“The administration has said these moves are necessary to create a more focused and effective foreign policy process that can prioritize American interests above all. But its critics have said the U.S. is reducing its ability to respond to crises, losing its credibility with allies and undermining the global economy by taking such a pugilistic approach to policy.” Read on, here.
Speaking of putting the squeeze on allies: WIRED (paywalled): “Back in 2022, Cory Doctorow coined the term ‘enshittification’ to describe a cycle that has played out again and again in the online economy. Entrepreneurs start off making high-minded promises to get new users to try their platforms. But once users, vendors, and advertisers have been locked in—by network effects, insurmountable collective action problems, high switching costs—the tactics change. The platform owners start squeezing their users for everything they can get, even as the platform fills with ever more low-quality slop. Then they start squeezing vendors and advertisers too.
“People don’t usually think of military hardware, the US dollar, and satellite constellations as platforms. But that’s what they are…For decades, America’s allies accepted US control of these systems, because they believed in the American commitment to a ‘rules-based international order.’ They can’t persuade themselves of that any longer.” More, here.
Read the full article here