The challenges in pilot inventory were outlined in an August service memo reviewed by Defense News and confirmed by an Air Force official.

Described in the document as a “significant but necessary policy change,” the move shifts the traditional assignment flow for T-38 pilots, who now may be matched to fly non-fighters or bombers.

“We are 1,848 pilots short, with 1,142 of those being fighter pilots,” the memo states. “While we would prefer to send every qualified T-38 graduate to a fighter [Formal Training Unit], circumstances dictate that we utilize available capacity to maximize pilot production. In the near term, in addition to traditional fighter/bomber assignments, T-38 graduates will be matched to additional T-6 [First Assignment Instructor Pilot] assignments and opted for non-fighter/bomber aircraft.”

Due to personnel challenges, some breaks between pilot training and assignment to a formal training unit have exceeded one year, the memo adds.

Brig. Gen. Travolis Simmons, the director of training and readiness and deputy chief of staff for operations with Headquarters Air Force, told Military Times that the delayed starts at the fighter FTUs are “due to a combination of sustainment and manpower challenges.”

Despite recruitment challenges for the service last fiscal year, the Air Force is working to rebound through attracting new talent.

For now, the document describes how T-38 students will prioritize all aircraft, not just fighters and bombers, on their “dream sheets” to ensure an accommodation of preferences. It also outlines that the students may volunteer for non-fighter and bomber opportunities.

“The Air Force has always assigned aircraft based on Air Force needs, platform availability, student preference and student class ranking,” Simmons said. “Even with the recent policy shift, those core tenets remain the same.”

He added that while the policy change is meant to optimize available resources, as capacity and needs evolve, pilots affected by the policy change may have the option to “voluntarily crossflow to fighter/bomber aircraft.”

The Air Force memo also notes the service intends to return to a regular assignment flow as quickly as possible.

The final pilot production numbers for fiscal year 2024 will not be available for release until later in the calendar year, Simmons said.

The Selected Acquisition Report, effective as of Dec. 31, 2023, was cleared for public release in August. It outlines the number of fighters the service intends to field each year through fiscal 2029, with expected losses of between two to four F-35As per year, for a total inventory of 664 aircraft.

An Air Force official told Air & Space Forces Magazine, which first reported on the report, that the figures should not be considered as an exact reflection of planned Air Force budget requests, but they relate to “a number of factors” impacting how fast aircraft can be purchased, delivered and absorbed into existing units and fielded to new locations. The official also said there have been adjustments to the program since late 2023 when the report became effective, which were not captured in the report.

The Pentagon’s plan is for the fleet of F-35s, including the F-35B variant for the U.S. Marine Corps and the F-35C variant for the U.S. Navy, to replace the various services’ legacy fleets and complement their other aircraft.

For fiscal 2026, the report outlines a plan to bed down 16 F-35Bs and 20 F-35Cs, with the services reaching an inventory of 245 and 219 of those respective aircraft by fiscal 2029. Expected losses for the Marine Corps and Navy fleets range from zero to two per year, about half of what the Air Force anticipates.

Additionally, the report describes a procurement plan for the F-35As, with an intention to buy 42 in both fiscal 2025 and 2026, 47 in fiscal 2027 and 2028 and then 48 per year through fiscal 2048. Then, in fiscal 2049, it plans to buy 34, bringing the total number of aircraft acquired since 2007 to 1,763.

The Air Force’s 2025 budget request also outlines the service’s ask for 42 F-35As, a procurement document shows.

The Pentagon cleared the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for full-rate production earlier this year, Defense News previously reported.

There were more than 75,500 cases of sexual assault in the military in 2021, higher than the Pentagon’s estimate of approximately 35,900 cases that year, according to the report by the Costs of War Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute.

Researchers also estimated more than 73,600 cases occurred in 2023, a significantly higher number than DOD’s estimate of 29,000 that year.

On average, during the war in Afghanistan, 24% of active duty women and 1.9% of active duty men experienced sexual assault, the report stated, adding that racial minorities and LGBTQ+ service members also face greater risk of sexual assault.

The review of independent data noted that the range of cases being two to four times higher might actually be conservative, and that on the high end, estimates suggest the prevalence of sexual assault is 10 times higher than DOD’s figures.

“Despite efforts to address sexual assault, the prioritization of force ‘readiness’ — the ability to train and deploy troops to Iraq and Afghanistan — above all else allowed the problem of sexual assault to fester,” the report stated.

Over the last decade, the government has worked to combat sexual assault through various task force recommendations, DOD initiatives and congressional legislation, including the passage of the “I am Vanessa Guillén Act,” which removes commanders’ authority over sexual assault cases and hands it to independent prosecutors.

Data on sexual assault during the early period of the post-9/11 wars is less reliable than in later years, the report noted, because the information was only systematically tracked after the establishment of the DOD Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office.

But independent reporting and data from other organizations that assist sexual assault survivors indicates a spike in such incidents following the invasion of Afghanistan, it added.

DOD’s latest annual report on sexual assault in the military showed a decrease in sexual assault prevalence for the first time in nearly 10 years.

“We are cautiously optimistic that our work to counter these problematic behaviors is having the intended effect,” Elizabeth Foster, the executive director of the Office of Force Resiliency, said in May when that report was released. “However, to see enduring change take hold, we must sustain our efforts to implement the reforms and initiatives approved by the [secretary of defense].”

The author of the Costs of War Project report noted that while it is difficult to definitively compare DOD data to independent studies, such initiatives provide an important counterpoint to government data.

The military jobs performed by troops who were found to be most at risk of suicide include infantry, ordnance disposal and diving, combat engineering, medical care and those for technical specialists “not elsewhere classified,” according to a Department of Defense study finalized this month and shared with Military Times.

The report studied rates of suicide in the armed forces between 2011 and 2022 by military occupational specialty and identified trends to help the Pentagon address suicide risk among certain jobs.

As the challenge of reducing suicide across the military community continues, lawmakers are hoping the report can facilitate constructive action.

“These key findings show trends that will guide the DOD in its efforts to curb suicide rates and hopefully save lives,” Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement shared Tuesday with Military Times.

King helped facilitate the provision into law that required DOD to study the issue. Along with others in Congress, he called on the Pentagon to provide the report so that policies addressing suicide risks across the armed forces may be created, Army Times previously reported.

The newly released report uses data on suicide deaths beginning in calendar year 2011. Prior to that, the Pentagon was unable to provide reliable information because of a lack of a standardized reporting methodology.

It identified 5,997 service members who died by suicide, a number that included 3,665 active duty, 930 Reserve and 1,402 National Guard troops.

Enlisted service members with the occupation code 101 (infantry) were found to have higher suicide mortality rates than those from 21 other occupation codes. That was followed by service members with the job codes 143 (ordnance disposal and diving), 103 (combat engineering), 130 (medical care) and 149 (technical specialists “not elsewhere classified”).

Additionally, 14 occupation codes had evidence of a higher suicide mortality rate as compared to the civilian U.S. adult population. Of those, the three with the highest adjusted rates were occupation codes 101 (infantry), 102 (armor and amphibious) and 103 (combat engineering). U.S. population suicide data for those comparisons was available through 2021 at the time the report was authored.

Meanwhile, enlisted troops in occupation code 195 (not occupationally qualified) and 191 (officer candidates and students) had a lower suicide rate than 38 other occupation codes, followed by service members with the occupation codes 153 (data processing) and 115 (ADP computers).

Comparisons across services

Army: Soldiers in certain occupation codes (infantry, combat engineering, and armament and munitions) showed strong evidence of higher suicide mortality rates than the rate for the total enlisted Army population, while soldiers in other occupation codes (data processing, other functional support, and officer candidates and students) had strong evidence of lower rates.

Only the Army had occupation codes with enough data to make a comparison to the total Army officer suicide rate. Occupation codes 2203 (helicopter pilots) and 2205 (ground and naval arms) had suicide rates consistent with the total officer Army rate.

Additionally, Army Times previously reported that Army tank brigades experienced a suicide rate twice as high as the rest of the active duty force between 2019 and 2021.

Navy: Only sailors in occupation code 183 (law enforcement) had strong evidence of a higher suicide mortality rate than the total enlisted Navy rate.

Marine Corps: Marines in the occupation code 101 (infantry) had a higher suicide rate than the total enlisted Marine Corps rate, while Marines in the occupation code 195 (not occupationally qualified) had a lower rate.

Air Force: All occupation codes had suicide mortality rates consistent with the total enlisted Air Force rate, except for those in the occupation code 195 (not occupationally qualified), which had a lower rate.

Coast Guard: During the time reviewed, the Coast Guard experienced relatively low suicide death counts per year, ranging from 4 to 14 total events annually, making a comparative analysis difficult. Additionally, the Coast Guard does not currently collect data on a member’s occupation at the time of death, limiting the ability to incorporate Coast Guard suicide and occupational data into the report, the study noted.

Space Force: Established in 2019, the Space Force was excluded from the analysis since there were no deaths by suicide in the service between 2019 and 2022.

Troops with the 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team fired the next-gen weapon systems, the XM7 rifle and the XM250 automatic rifle, on June 6 at Fort Liberty, North Carolina. The XM7 and XM250 are set to replace the M4 carbine and the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, respectively.

The Guard’s field test comes after the 101st Airborne Division became the first active duty Army unit to receive the new armaments.

And while soldiers had already been testing the Army’s newest rifle and automatic rifle, they are now officially being distributed across the service’s components, marking the first time in decades that the branch has fielded such equipment, which includes a fire control system and a new caliber family of ammunition.

“Weapon advancements such as the NGSW ensures that units under our command have the best weapons possible,” said Col. Paul Hollenack, the 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team commander. “The fielding of the XM7 and XM250 is a step in making sure that we are doing just that.”

Soldiers assigned to 4th Battalion, 118th Infantry Regiment, 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, South Carolina Army National Guard also received the new weapons. They conducted an integrated training weapons strategy qualification table with the rifles during a week-long training event that culminated June 23, according to another Army release.

“The XM7 is a great rifle. We are training and practicing target shots,” said Cpl. Joseph Negron, a cavalry scout assigned to that unit. “My favorite thing about the XM7 is how the weapon can be easily used by righthanded and lefthanded shooters.”

“The XM7, compared to the M4, is definitely a step up,” he added. “The rifle is a little bit heavier, but it’s accuracy is definitely worth the extra weight.”

The two countries announced their decision in a joint statement on Sunday, after almost a week of military talks. The deadline is September 15.

America has relied on the West African country as a counter-terrorism hub for more than a decade. Until recently, more than 1,000 U.S. personnel have operated there, most working from an airbase near Agadez, which cost more than $100 million and sits in the country’s center.

“This is not a good outcome,” said a senior defense official, briefing reporters Sunday on the condition of anonymity. “We’re leaving Niger after a significant investment and a lot of time invested in the partnership.”

Those ties began to fray last summer after a coup swapped the ruling government with a military junta known as the National Council for Safeguarding the Homeland, or CNSP. The U.S. didn’t label the revolt a coup — a legal title that limits how much support America can offer — until October 2023. By then, the new government had already asked French forces also stationed in the country to depart.

This March, shortly after an earlier round of talks, a spokesman for the CNSP announced that America’s military could no longer keep operating there. The video surprised U.S. officials, who also weren’t at first sure whether it was official Nigerien policy or bluster.

But in the months that followed the decision became clear: the U.S. would be leaving; it only needed to negotiate how.

Developing a plan to do so was the purpose of the talks this month, led by the two militaries.

Niger agreed to protect American forces while they withdrew and help hasten some of the logistics.

The U.S., meanwhile, will remove all military personnel from the country. About 100, non-essential personnel have already left, said a senior military official who also joined the briefing.

“It is already underway,” said the defense official.

With them will come stores of equipment to be largely spread around other sites belonging to U.S. Africa Command. America will remove all sensitive and lethal kit, the officials said, but will leave anything that’s fixed — such as a barracks or hangar — or that costs more to move than it’s worth. The departure is mainly taking place over the air, rather than on the ground, making everything more expensive to transport.

The two officials doubted that, for now, any of the remaining equipment would end up in a foreign government’s hands. This month, the Pentagon confirmed reports that Russian soldiers were stationed near U.S. forces near the capital, which added to concern that Moscow was replacing Washington in the country.

”There’s definitely an interest right now in the [Nigerien] military to not upset things,” the U.S. military official said. “I don’t think in the short term we’ll see them turn this equipment over to others.”

Instead, the official expected the Nigeriens to use it for their own counter-terrorism fight, which has grown more acute in recent years as violent extremism rises in the region. America’s presence in the country was focused on that mission, conducting operations itself an training the Nigerien military to do so as well.

And while U.S. operations have paused in recent months, the military official said, the Nigerien forces it trained have continued their own counter-terrorism work.

As it withdraws, America will also turn to the future of its relationship with the country. The two officials briefing reporters colored it in warm hues, saying their military ties — aside from some in Niger’s military who are leading the government — are still strong.

“There’s a generation of the Nigerien military … that have grown up with U.S. training, U.S. equipment, U.S. education,” the defense official said. “That’s something that we would expect that they will continue to desire.”

Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell will likely travel to Niger in the coming months to discuss the two countries’ future.

“They thought it was important to emphasize that they did not see this as the closing of the relationship,” the military official said.

For years, a misspelling of “.MIL” in the suffix of military email addresses as “.ML” — the country domain for Mali — unintentionally led to a “typo leak,” according to The Financial Times, which first reported the story. As a result, everything from diplomatic documents, tax returns, passwords and travel details of top officers has been exposed, the outlet noted.

None of the emails are said to be classified.

Department of Defense spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Tim Gorman told Military Times via email the department “is aware” of the issue and “takes all unauthorized disclosures of Controlled National Security Information or Controlled Unclassified Information seriously.”

A Dutch entrepreneur contracted to manage Mali’s domain, Johannes Zuurbier, identified the leak, Financial Times said.

“This risk is real and could be exploited by adversaries of the US,” he wrote to the outlet.

Authority over the .ML domain, Financial Times reported, is set to soon revert from Zuurbier to Mali’s government, which of late has grown its relationship with Russia. The West African nation may now have additional means to cozy up to the long-time U.S. competitor.

Russia and other world powers prod U.S. networks to gain an unvarnished look at weapons and modernization projects, troop movements and other potentially jeopardizing secrets.

The Defense Department has since 2015 experienced more than 12,000 cyber incidents, with yearly totals declining as of 2017, according to the Government Accountability Office, a federal watchdog.

Among the reported contents of the erroneously addressed emails were: X-rays and medical data, identity document information, crew lists for ships, staff lists at bases, maps of installations, photos of bases, naval inspection reports, contracts, criminal complaints against personnel, internal investigations into bullying, official travel itineraries, bookings as well as tax and financial records.

One misdirected email included travel plans for Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville and his delegation for a then-upcoming visit to Indonesia in May, Financial Times reported.

The Pentagon is already dealing with the fallout of a military documents breach. Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira is accused of accessing, keeping and sharing classified national defense information, including insights concerning the Russia-Ukraine war. He pleaded not guilty to charges in June.

“As you’ve seen from when we had our first unauthorized disclosure from earlier this year we’ve implemented policy and training mechanisms,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said during a July 17 briefing. While the Pentagon bounces emails sent to the Mali “.ML” address, contact made via personal accounts do not offer the same protection, she added.

“None of the leaked emails that were reported came from a DoD email address,” Singh said, adding that the department discourages individuals from using personal emails or credentials for official work.

The American military is not the only one to fall victim to the spelling blunder, Financial Times reported. Emails meant for the Dutch military, which uses “army.nl,” were also unintentionally sent to Mali thanks to a mistaken “army.ml” in the email domain.

Embassies in Washington for Mali and the Netherlands did not immediately respond to a request for comment made by Military Times.

The Pentagon said after an initial 45-day review that the “overwhelming majority” of those at DoD with access to classified information are following the rules, but the department’s analysis still led to several recommendations.

The findings revealed there was not a “single point of failure,” a defense official told reporters Wednesday, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under rules set by the Pentagon.

In April, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin directed the internal department review to take place when Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was arrested and accused of unauthorized disclosure of national defense information. Teixeira pleaded not guilty in June to federal felony charges.

Two commanders in the Massachusetts Air National Guard received a temporary suspension in connection with the federal investigation into Teixeira, and the Air Force also revoked their access to classified networks and information, Air Force Times previously reported.

An investigation into the leak that is being conducted by the Air Force Inspector General is still in process at this time.

The recommendations from the DoD review, which were approved by Austin, include deadlines and plans to ensure personnel are included and accounted for in designated security information technology systems and that personnel have a valid non-disclosure agreement on file, according to a June 30 Pentagon memo. Additionally, it proposes plans to establish a new DoD office to monitor insider threats.

A growing number of military facilities that handle classified information in part have prompted the need for consistent and understandable standards, the defense official told reporters.

“We are no longer just talking about a small number of facilities primarily in intelligence community buildings,” the official said. “I think we have a real opportunity to clarify and make consistent the expectations across the services.

The Pentagon partners with hundreds of U.S. universities and research institutions, a relationship malign actors have been able to reportedly hijack to steal U.S. defense technology. When those U.S. institutions also get funding from the black-listed entities, the foreign partners have in the past used the research relationship to try to access and even steal sensitive defense research.

“The publication of these foreign entities underscores our commitment to ensuring the responsible use of federal research funding and safeguarding our critical technologies from exploitation or compromise,” Heidi Shyu, the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said in a June 30 release. The statement went on to encourage U.S. universities and industry to “review the list and exercise caution when engaging with entities listed.”

The list of foreign institutions, which includes entities from China and Russia, was required by the 2019 defense authorization act and further encouraged by a national security presidential memo that outlined guidance for the Pentagon and other agencies to ensure research security. A 2020 Government Accountability Office report also recommended that the Pentagon safeguard U.S. investments in scientific research from malign actors.

U.S. law enforcement has tracked numerous attempts to steal technology from the U.S. defense sector. In October 2022, the Justice Department indicted four Chinese nationals in connection with an alleged intelligence campaign seeking to turn Americans into Chinese spies, according to a release from the department. The group, in part, used a purported academic institute at Ocean University of China — one of the entities listed in the recent DoD release — to recruit individuals from around 2008 to 2018.

“These defendants cloaked themselves and their motives in order to get access to our higher learning institutions and recruit others to betray this nation,” James Dennehy, the FBI special agent in charge, said in the release.

In a 2021 case, a Chinese national received a two-year prison sentence for illegally exporting technology with military applications in anti-submarine warfare to Northwestern Polytechnical University, another Chinese entity on the DoD list.

And in April, a former Harvard University professor, whose research was in part sponsored by the Pentagon, received a sentence for lying about his involvement with a Chinese talent recruitment plan and affiliation with a Chinese university, according to the Department of Justice. That school, the Wuhan University of Technology, is not catalogued on the recent DoD list.

A June 8 policy memo signed by Shyu requires “all fundamental research projects that are selected for award by the department to go through a review for potential conflicts of interest and conflicts of commitment arising from foreign influence.”

Included in the DoD release is a guide for reviewing if such research proposals possess a conflict of interest and if certain actions would prohibit them from receiving funding from the department.

For example, according to the release, starting in fiscal year 2024, no American institutions of higher education with a Confucius Institute may receive DoD funding unless issued a specific wavier. That follows guidance set by the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.

The Washington, D.C. embassies for Russia and the People’s Republic of China did not respond to requests for comment on the Pentagon memo.

The sale, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, would include 24 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

The principal contractors will be Lockheed Martin, RTX and Boeing.

“The proposed sale will improve the Czech Republic’s defense capabilities as well as support NATO operations by guarding against modern threats and maintaining a constant presence in the region,” the agency said in the statement. It added that the move “will not alter the basic military balance in the region.”

In May, the U.S. signed a security agreement with the Czech Republic, a NATO member that has backed Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

This potential sale comes a year after the Czech Republic announced it would like to procure 24 F-35s from the United States.

“Our decision to select this option is based on the analysis by the Czech Armed Forces, which clearly articulates that only the most advanced 5th generation fighters will be able to meet mission requirements in future battlefields,” Czech Defence Minister Jana Černochová said at the time, according to a release.

A U.S. Government Accountability Office report from May found the F-35 program continues to experience schedule delays, cost increases and late deliveries. It recommended Congress consider directing the program manage engine modernization as a separate program.

The potential sale to the Czech Republic would also include 25 Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 engines, 70 AIM-120C-8 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles, and various other bombs, electronic warfare and radio capabilities, among other equipment.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of this possible sale, the release said, adding that the actual dollar value could be lower “depending on final requirements, budget authority, and signed sales agreement(s), if and when concluded.”

If the sale goes through, the Czech Republic will join nine Foreign Military Sales customers to the F-35 program.