Pax to Monitor Sonic Booms
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Pax River will be installing a sonic boom noise monitoring system for test flights over Chesapeake Bay for experts to study supersonic flight tests and reduce their noise impacts in the restricted airspace over the watershed. Defense Scoop reports communities along the Atlantic coast occasionally report experiencing sonic booms associated with Naval Air Station Patuxent River.
Federal contractors have certain rights to recoup costs inflicted by the federal shutdown, but will they dare to exercise them? Defense One reports that attorney David Dixon, whose firm presents a DC Disrupted webinar series, said contractors are asking: Will the government retaliate for simply asking to be reimbursed for costs caused by the shutdown? “After the DOGE actions to eviscerate USAID and pretty much punish many, many agencies and terminate thousands of contracts, I think the contractor community is tentative to actually enforce their rights,” Dixon said.
Republican senators on Tuesday blasted a top DoD official for not cooperating with congressional oversight, reports Breaking Defense. Throughout a confirmation hearing held by the Senate Armed Services Committee for three different Pentagon nominees, senators from both parties aired their frustrations with what they described as Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby’s opaque decision-making.
National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, will remain in the nation’s capital for another four months. The Trump administration extended the orders for the mission through at least February 2026, reports Task & Purpose.
The IRS has notified states that offered the free, government tax filing service known as Direct File in 2025 that the program won’t be available next filing season, reports NextGov/FCW. In an email sent from the IRS to 25 states, the tax agency thanked them for collaborating and noted that “no launch date has been set for the future.”
The US military has reactivated Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, 500 miles from Venezuela’s coast, and deployed thousands of troops to the Caribbean, reports Military Times. F-35B stealth fighters, Marine Corps helicopters, and heavy transport aircraft began using the facility’s 11,000-foot runway in September. More than 10,000 US personnel now operate in US Southern Command’s area of responsibility, with the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford en route to join them.
The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier and warship, along with the USS Bainbridge, a guided missile destroyer, departed the Mediterranean for the Caribbean on Tuesday morning, on their way to South America, reports Military Times.
DefSec Pete Hegseth announced yet another deadly strike on a boat accused of ferrying drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, reports AP News. The attack Tuesday killed two people aboard the vessel, Hegseth said, bringing the death toll of the Trump administration’s campaign in South American waters up to at least 66 people in at least 16 strikes. Here’s the timeline.
According to the Trump administration, the number of people killed in the escalating military strikes against alleged drug traffickers does not reach the level needed to trigger war powers limits. Military.com reports the claim came on Monday, which marked the 60-day deadline established by the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which stipulates that the president has the authority to respond militarily to threats to the United States, but that after 60 days of military action he must seek congressional approval — or a 30-day extension — to continue.
Even as the US continues to build up forces in the Caribbean ostensibly for an enhanced counternarcotics operation that could include inland strikes, there are reported plans underway for attacks on cartels inside Mexico, reports TWZ.
USMC MAJGEN Marcus Annibalel fired the commander, executive officer, and senior enlisted leader for an Osprey squadron in Hawaii last week “due to a loss of trust” in their ability to uphold safety and readiness standards, according to a statement provided Monday to Marine Corps Times. LTCOL Shaina Hennessey, SGTMAJ Jamie Lampley, and the executive officer, who was not named in the statement, were relieved of command.
Military retirees and disabled veterans will receive 2.8% increases to their monthly paychecks for 2026, thanks to the annual cost of living adjustment tied to inflation, reports Military.com. The 2.8% raise for 2026 is up from 2.5% in 2025 after a string of raises as high as 8.7% in 2023.
Virginia Beach, VA, is the 6th best place for veterans to live, says Wallet Hub. But Baltimore was 94.
Lockheed Martin said on Tuesday it was working to accelerate delayed deliveries to Taiwan of new F-16Vs, after the island’s defense ministry said the program had been pushed back due to supply chain issues. Reuters reports Taiwan, which faces a rising military threat from Beijing, has complained of repeated delays to weapons ordered from the United States, the Chinese-claimed island’s most important international backer and arms supplier.
Britain’s reliance on the US-led F-35 fighter program could leave it exposed to technical and strategic vulnerabilities, experts told the House of Lords International Relations and Defence Committee, reports UK Defence Journal. Concerns included the aircraft’s immense digital complexity and that the aircraft’s structure and supply network make it impossible for any one nation to stand apart, Dr. Sophy Antrobus told the committee Oct. 29. “If any partner nation pulls out of the system, it will not work properly.”
Families who live within range of a commissary, especially the 1.6 million holders of a Military Star credit card, have a good chance of deferring their payments, interest free, for up to 90 days, reports Military.com. The Army and Air Force Exchange Service, which administers Military Star cards for all services, announced Oct. 31 that it was extending its “relief offer” of interest-free commissary purchases through November, with payments deferred for up to 90 days.
Families of students attending DoD Education Activity schools can apply for free or reduced price school meals during the shutdown, which has affected the income of many military and DOD civilian families. The eligibility is based on income and family size, as required by the US Department of Agriculture, reports Military Times.
The US Department of Agriculture informed grocery stores they cannot offer discounts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients amid the government shutdown, reports The Hill. The notice on the USDA’s website states that unless a store has a waiver allowing it to bypass the program’s equal treatment requirement, “offering discounts or services only to SNAP paying customers is a SNAP violation.”
Aljazeera reports Belgium’s air traffic was severely disrupted after drone sightings forced two major airports to temporarily suspend operations as a security precaution. A drone was first spotted near Brussels airport on Tuesday evening, followed by another incident at the nearby Liege airport, one of Europe’s largest cargo airports, according to Belgium’s public broadcaster RTBF. Both airports suspended operations for an hour, but reopened only to shut down again after a second sighting an hour later. Both airports resumed normal operations that evening at 11pm.
The return to Earth of three Chinese astronauts has been delayed until an unspecified date after their spacecraft was apparently struck by a small piece of debris, according to Chinese state media, reports The Guardian. The three astronauts from the Shenzhou-20 mission flew to the Tiangong space station in April, and were expected to return on Wednesday at the end of a six-month mission. Their replacements, the crew of Shenzhou-21, had already arrived on the weekend.
Contacts awards are not being published during the government shutdown.
