Air Force, Japan Exercise Tsunami Evacuation Procedures

Sept. 21, 2026 | By Air Force Senior Airman James Johnson, 18th Wing |

Members of the Air Force's 18th Wing and local government officials in Okinawa, Japan, conducted a joint tsunami evacuation drill across Kadena Air Base, Sept. 19, 2026.  

Nearly 100 residents of the coastal town of Chatan traveled through the base to practice moving to higher ground under simulated disaster conditions.

Executing the exercise for the third consecutive year required close coordination among several installation agencies. The 18th Wing Command Post sent out the initial emergency alert, followed by the 18th Security Forces Squadron escorting participants across the base. 

While Chatan's shoreline faces exposure to coastal hazards, routine exercises help teams streamline entry procedures, ensuring residents can reach higher ground without delay. 

"I am deeply grateful that the training and coordination we have conducted together on a regular basis help us respond effectively when an actual emergency occurs," said Mayor Masashi Toguchi. 

The real-world importance of the training was underscored in June, when a tsunami advisory was issued, prompting base personnel to quickly open the gates so residents could evacuate to a safer location.

"This is more than just a drill or practice; it is an opportunity to prepare for the potential of having to save lives," said Air Force Col. Byron Buzan, 18th Mission Support Group commander. "We have seen the importance of practicing for this scenario firsthand." 

Situated directly between the coast and Kadena Air Base, Chatan relies on long-standing mutual-assistance protocols that allow civilians to access base gates when low-lying coastal areas become unsafe. 

With every exercise, Kadena Air Base and Chatan continue to refine their coordination and eliminate potential delays, demonstrating a shared commitment to community safety and emergency readiness that grows stronger each year.

Department of War Publishes Sixth Release of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Files on WAR.GOV/UFO

Sept. 18, 2026 |

Statement Attributable to Assistant to the Secretary of War for Public Affairs and Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell:

Today, the Department of War is publishing the sixth release of declassified and historical Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) files as part of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE). The collection continues to be housed on WAR.GOV/UFO, and the Department will release additional files on a rolling basis.

The Department of War and our agency partners are actively working on the next release of UAP files. The sixth release of UAP files is available now on WAR.GOV/UFO.

Statement by Chief Pentagon Spokesman, Sean Parnell, on the Clinical Guidance for Testosterone Deficiency in the Male Service Member

Sept. 17, 2026 |

The Department remains focused on building and maintaining a ready, lethal fighting force prepared to dominate the battlefield and achieve peace through strength.

In his July 15, 2026, memorandum, "Health and Human Performance Optimization to Enhance Military Readiness," the Secretary of War directed mandatory testosterone deficiency screenings for all Service members aged 30 and older during their Periodic Health Assessments, with optional screenings available for warfighters under the age of 30.

Consistent with this memorandum, on September 17, 2026, the Director of the Defense Health Agency issued comprehensive clinical guidance to the Military Departments and medical care providers. Effective immediately, this guidance addresses male testosterone deficiency, establishing uniform screening and treatment pathways across the DHA enterprise and assigning responsibility for compliance.

By proactively identifying and treating suboptimal hormone levels, the Department continues to invest in the health of its warfighters, strengthen their performance, and maximize force readiness.

The "Clinical Practice Guideline: Testosterone Deficiency in the Male Service Member" memorandum can be found here, the "Health and Human Performance Optimization to Enhance Military Readiness" memorandum can be found here, and the "Warfighter Performance Optimization – Total Force Fitness" memorandum can be found here.

Defense Health Agency issued clinical guidance can be found here https://www.dha.mil/HHPO

Department of War Signs Framework Agreement With Lockheed Martin to Increase Production of AIM-260 JATM, Boost FMS Sales

Sept. 17, 2026 |

The Department of War, in cooperation with Lockheed Martin, today announced a new framework agreement to expand production capacity of critical next generation air-to-air missiles, the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM). This agreement is critical to ensuring long-term demand signals flow to key suppliers, allowing Lockheed Martin and the munitions supply chain to invest in manufacturing capacity, workforce, and production efficiencies.

"Speed, scale, and stability drive acquisition excellence, and these gears must turn in unison," said Michael P. Duffey, Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment. "Today's announcement reflects our commitment to sending clear, long-term demand signals across the defense industrial base, ensuring our Warfighters receive unmatched capability exactly when and where the mission demands."

This agreement represents the latest milestone in expanding the Arsenal of Freedom under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth's joint vision. It establishes a framework for future Multi-Year Procurement (MYP) of JATM, executing congressional authority to secure the nation's highest-priority missile systems.

Executed in direct support of the Department's Acquisition Transformation Strategy, the initiative reflects close collaboration among the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment, the Munitions Acceleration Council, the Economic Defense Unit, the Navy, and the Air Force.

Navy Awards First Production Contract for MQ-25A Stingray

Sept. 15, 2026 | By Neil Lobeda, Unmanned Carrier Aviation |

The Navy awarded a fixed-price incentive contract valued at $562 million to the Boeing Company for Lot 1 of the low-rate initial production of the MQ-25A Stingray carrier-based unmanned aircraft.

The contract provides funds for three Lot 1 Stingrays and additional funding for the advanced acquisition of long-lead components to support three Lot 2 MQ-25As; initial deliveries from Lot 1 are expected to begin arriving in 2029.

"Awarding this first LRIP contract marks a pivotal transition from development to operational reality and is a testament to the focused effort of our joint government and industry teams," said Navy Capt. Daniel Fucito, the program manager for Unmanned Carrier Aviation. "MQ-25A will deliver the advanced reach, lethality and survivability our warfighters need to outpace evolving threats and dominate the future battle space."

In May, acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao announced that the MQ-25A Stingray program received approval to move into the production and deployment phase.

The MQ-25A program of record comprises 76 air vehicles, including four engineering development and manufacturing and five system demonstration test articles. Currently, seven test aircraft are in production.

As the world's first fully integrated, carrier-based unmanned aerial vehicle, the MQ-25A serves as the pathfinder for the future of unmanned carrier aviation. The Stingray will provide the carrier air wing with essential organic refueling, allowing more F/A-18 Super Hornets to focus on strike missions. This will expand the wing's operational reach while preserving the service life of the aircraft, improving readiness across the Super Hornet fleet. The Stingray is also at the forefront of integrating unmanned systems alongside manned platforms within the carrier air wing, setting the stage for future advancements in naval aviation.

Deputy Secretary of War Directs Actions to Foster One Strong Industrial Base

Sept. 15, 2026 |

Deputy Secretary of War Steve Feinberg today signed a memorandum, Fostering One Strong Industrial Base, directing the Department of War to remove the accounting, audit, and compliance barriers that have separated the companies serving the warfighter from the rest of the American economy. The memorandum and its implementation appendix set deadlines for the Department's senior leaders to open competition, confine government-unique cost accounting to the narrow set of work that requires it, and rely on the financial controls and audits companies already maintain.

For decades, the Department walled the most dynamic economy on earth off from the industrial base that serves the warfighter. The wall was built from cost accounting rules, duplicative audits, and compliance obligations that attach to entire companies rather than the work procured. It was built to control contractor costs; instead it limited who competes and raised prices. The memorandum moves the Department from government-unique Cost Accounting Standards to the accounting every American company already uses – Generally Accepted Accounting Principles – and pushes those benefits to every tier of the supply chain.

"Selling to the Department of War should be a line of business, not a corporate identity. Our nation's greatest strength is its private sector, and our defense industry must harness and mimic it – unleashing industry first, and protecting taxpayers by confining our most burdensome oversight tools to the narrow set of work that genuinely demands them," said Deputy Secretary of War Steve Feinberg. "Transparency and partnership runs both ways: the Department opens its buying to market forces, pays fair prices with honest margins, and in exchange industry shares, when asked, the cost and pricing information it already keeps."

The memorandum governs how the Department requests and uses contractor cost and pricing information and is the next step in the Warfighting Acquisition System reforms the Secretary of War directed on November 7, 2025. It implements Executive Order 14402, which makes fixed-price contracts the default and cost-reimbursement the exception, and carries forward the August 18, 2026 direction on supplier transparency so that contracting officers can see through the prime to its suppliers when needed – and connect those suppliers to Office of Strategic Capital loans, Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment funds, and the Department's business operators. Where there is a market – competition, comparable sales, reliable price history – the Department will rely on the market to set the price. Where no market exists, the Department will rely on cost, drawing on the cost and pricing information companies already keep, with no new accounting systems or special data formats required. Information industry provides is used only for authorized Government purposes and is never made available to another company for its own use.

Three objectives drive the change:

•     Compete continuously for speed and volume. Carry several performers to production, send real orders to those who deliver, and keep future opportunities open.

•     Attach rules to contracts, not companies. One award that carries an oversight regime must not force a company to remake itself. No company should be barred from this market, or trapped in it, by government-unique requirements.

•     Audit only what matters, only when risk exists, and never twice. Rely first on the independent audits companies already pay for; reserve government-unique oversight for high-risk work where the Department has no alternative.

Actions directed in the appendix include:

• a Department proposal to the Cost Accounting Standards Board to make exemption the default and confine coverage to cost-based development contracts awarded without adequate competition
• immediate use of the higher cost-accounting thresholds enacted in the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act;
• senior-level approval before any acquisition strategy brings a new business unit under full coverage;
• commercial product and service determinations within 15 business days;
• simplified, commercial-aligned business-system criteria with acceptance of independent public accounting firm certification in place of separate government review;
• risk-based audit rules;
• expanded use of other transactions and advance market commitments;
• and profit policy under which negotiated margins reflect value delivered, risk carried, and private capital invested – not merely cost incurred.

No new organization or compliance framework will be created, and implementing guidance may not add requirements beyond the memorandum and applicable law.

The memorandum and its implementation appendix are available here. Information for companies seeking to do business with the Department is available at business.defense.gov.

Department of War Announces a $450 Million Investment in The Elmet Group to Secure America's Tungsten Supply Chain

Sept. 14, 2026 |

The Department of War's Office of the Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy, in partnership with the Economic Defense Unit, announced today a $450 million redeemable preferred equity investment in The Elmet Group through the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program. This strategic investment will strengthen domestic tungsten capacity, bolster U.S. industrial resilience and military readiness, and help secure an essential material for the defense industrial base.

"This investment reflects the Department's commitment to rebuilding critical industrial capacity in the United States," said assistant secretary of War for industrial base policy Hon. Mike Cadenazzi. "Expanding domestic tungsten processing will strengthen supply chain resilience, support high-quality manufacturing jobs, and reinforce the production base behind essential defense systems."

The Elmet Group is the only U.S.-owned, fully integrated producer of tungsten and molybdenum materials and components, supports more than 100 Department of War programs, including the F-35, Patriot PAC-3, Trident D5, NGI, PrSM, and Virginia- and Columbia-class submarines. Tungsten is a foundational input for the defense industrial base, prized for its hardness, heat resistance, density, and durability, and used in critical components across missiles, munitions, aerospace, propulsion, naval, undersea, electronics, and industrial manufacturing applications.

"The Economic Defense Unit was created to identify critical industrial chokepoints before adversaries can exploit them and before they become battlefield risk," said George K. Kollitides II, director of the Economic Defense Unit. "Tungsten is essential to the systems that protect American warfighters and sustain deterrence, and this investment helps secure a domestic processing capability the United States cannot afford to leave exposed. By pairing targeted Department support with a disciplined preferred equity structure, we are strengthening the supply chain behind more than 100 defense programs while protecting taxpayers and delivering for the joint force."

The Department's investment into Elmet will also establish the only independent ammonium paratungstate facility in North America, which is a key step for tungsten processing and one of the largest chokepoints across the U.S. industrial base. By expanding U.S.-aligned refining and processing capacity, this investment will help reduce reliance on adversary-dominated supply chains in markets where China currently dominates global supply, including an estimated 85 percent of tungsten and 40 percent of molybdenum.

The Department's investment is expected to generate substantial economic benefits, including new high-tech jobs across Coldwater, Michigan, and Lewiston, Maine, preserving high-paying manufacturing jobs in Euclid, Ohio, and increasing demand for upstream mining jobs in Nevada.

It is also expected to support approximately 1,200 downstream jobs across manufacturing, engineering, and logistics networks tied to major defense suppliers.

The investment reflects the Department's broader strategy to secure critical industrial inputs, protect the defense supply chain, and ensure the United States can produce the materials required for sustained military advantage.