Americas
GE Aviation Systems won a $63 million deal for KC-135 aircraft integrated data acquisition recorder systems. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. The KC-135 Stratotanker provides the core aerial refueling capability for the United States Air Force and has excelled in this role for more than 60 years. This unique asset enhances the Air Force’s capability to accomplish its primary mission of global reach. It also provides aerial refueling support to Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and allied nation aircraft. The KC-135 is also capable of transporting litter and ambulatory patients using patient support pallets during aeromedical evacuations.
The United States is sending a “small number” of additional troops to the Middle East in response to rising tensions in the region, the Pentagon said Monday, giving few further details. The announcement comes as fears of a broader regional war grow, with Israel striking hundreds of targets in Lebanon in what is by far the deadliest cross-border escalation in nearly a year of violence between Israel and Hezbollah.
Middle East & Africa
Israeli air strikes on Lebanon killed nearly 500 people on Monday, including 35 children, the health ministry said, marking the deadliest day of cross-border violence since the Gaza war began. Arab states strongly condemned Israel for the escalating hostilities with Hezbollah, which have intensified to levels unseen in nearly a year. The war erupted after Hamas and other Palestinian militants launched the unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, drawing in Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups.
Europe
On the overcast and humid flight deck of the Italian aircraft carrier ITS Cavour, during a port call at Changi Naval Base, Singapore, Captain Dario “ZAZA” Castelli, the Italian Navy’s Carrier Air Wing Commander, provided a comprehensive briefing on the Italian Navy’s transition from the AV-8B Harrier to the cutting-edge F-35B Lightning II. Captain Castelli, whose career spans from piloting AV-8Bs to overseeing the F-35B acquisition program, outlined the Italian Navy’s ambitious modernization efforts. “We’ve been operating AV-8Bs for more than 30 years,” he explained, “but in 2000, we joined the F-35 program, marking the beginning of a new era.”
Asia-Pacific
Japan lodged a “very serious protest” with Moscow after a Russian patrol plane entered its airspace three times, the defense minister said Monday, calling it the first confirmed incursion since 2019. The military responded by scrambling fighter jets and issuing radio and flare warnings, Minoru Kihara told reporters. “We confirmed today that a Russian Il-38 patrol aircraft has violated our airspace over our territorial waters north of Rebun Island, Hokkaido, on three occasions,” he said.
