Top 5     Army failing to ensure family housing ‘safe’ from lead paint, asbestos (Army Times) The Army overhauled housing oversight in 2020, but auditors say key portions of its inspection program have failed.       Dems weigh batch votes to bypass Tuberville for remaining nominees (Defense News) Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., this week held a series of votes to confirm Gen. CQ Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by an 83-11 vote, Gen. Randy George as Army chief of staff in a 96-1 vote, and Gen. Eric Smith as Marine Corps commandant with a 96-0 vote.       House GOP plans to pass defense budget fail again as shutdown looms (Military Times) With an Oct. 1 shutdown looming, House Republican leaders failed to pass their $826-billion defense bill for a third time in two weeks. Democrats object to its anti-diversity and anti-abortion-travel measures & GOP conservatives who voted against it want deeper cuts in the whole federal budget.       There is now no Marine uniform that requires women to wear skirts (Marine Corps Times) Female officers and staff noncommissioned officers can now wear slacks instead of skirts with their evening dress uniform.       US Navy unmanned surface vessels visit Japan for first time (Navy Times) Integrated Battle Problem 23.2 is the first exercise to use unmanned surface vehicles in U.S. 7th Fleet.   Helpful Resources     Making a military move? The road may be bumpy; these tips will help (Military Times) The rules for making a PCS move have improved in terms of replacement costs for lost or damaged goods and the handling of certain items.       Your 2023 Military Times Pay and Benefits Guide (Military Times) Whether it’s health care, retirement, family support, VA loans or education benefitss, make the most of the benefits available to you.   Ukraine     Zelenskyy returns to Washington as GOP dissent grows to funding war (The Associated Press) Zelenskyy arrived at the Capitol to talk privately with Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate to shore up support for Kyiv.       Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 576 of the invasion (The Guardian) One killed in Russian attack on Kherson; a second grain ship departs from Ukraine’s Chornomorsk seaport as country attempts to re-start Black Sea exports       Biden administration announces additional $325 million in military aid to Ukraine (The Hill) The Biden administration on Thursday announced an aid package for Ukraine with a value of “up to $325 million” for “critical security and defense needs.”       Ukraine sends first armored vehicles through breach in Russian defenses (Wall Street Journal) Kyiv is seeking to expand the limited breakthrough in the southeast at a pivotal moment in its counteroffensive.       Biden: First US Abrams tanks to arrive in Ukraine next week (The Hill) The first U.S. Abrams tanks allocated for Ukraine will arrive there next week, President Biden said during a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.       With Zelenskyy in town, White House still a no on ATACMS long-range missiles for Ukraine (Breaking Defense) The Biden administration said the long-range weapons are not "off the table," but no decision has been made.   Pentagon     Defense secretary confronts GOP senator over ongoing military blockade (Politico) Some Republicans blanched at the comments during a briefing whose stated purpose was Ukraine.       Pentagon exempts Ukraine operations from potential government shutdown (Politico) The decision means that training on American tactics and equipment can move forward uninterrupted if lawmakers don’t reach a funding deal by the end of the month.   Congress & Politics     Zelenskyy warns Congress, DoD that Kyiv will lose without aid (Defense News) Zelenskyy visited Washington hoping to secure more and better US aid for Ukraine. But many of his pleas fell on deaf ears as Republican opposition grows.       Afghans who recently arrived in US get temporary legal status (The Associated Press) The Biden administration is giving temporary legal status to Afghan migrants who arrived after March 15, 2022, and before Sept. 20, 2023.       We’ve got to do better: Senators plead for improved response to veterans suicides after report reveals hotline failure (Stars & Stripes) The Department of Veterans Affairs must improve mental health care access for veterans with suicide risks, senators told VA officials on Wednesday in the wake of an inspector general report that found problems with the agency’s crisis hotline for suicide prevention.   National Security     State and Justice Dept. contractor charged with spying for Ethiopia (Washington Post) A Maryland man of Ethiopian descent, Abraham Teklu Lemma, is accused of passing on classified national defense information about a region where soldiers battled rebels.   Army     Army picks four to build robotic combat vehicle prototypes (Defense News) The U.S. Army selected McQ, Textron Systems, General Dynamics Land Systems and Oshkosh Defense to build light robotic combat vehicle prototypes for a total of nearly $25 million, the service said Sept. 20.       US soldiers in S. Korea investigated for smuggling synthetic marijuana (Army Times) South Korean police are investigating more than a dozen U.S. soldiers stationed at two military bases in the country for allegedly using and distributing synthetic marijuana.       Army soldier should’ve returned to Earth months ago; instead, he broke a NASA record (Stars & Stripes) The reality facing American astronaut and Army Lt. Col. Frank Rubio dawned on him slowly, he said, as a tangle of unexpected hiccups unfolded hundreds of miles above Earth on the International Space Station.   Navy     Navy launches board to help services leverage new science and tech (Defense News) The newly formed Department of the Navy Science and Technology Board will meet for the first time this week, with members slated to discuss how they can help Navy and Marine Corps leaders leverage scientific advances.       Navy brings unmanned vessels to Japan to bolster fleet integration (Defense News) Four unmanned ships are now operating out of Japan for the first time, as part of the U.S. Navy’s Integrated Battle Problem 23.2 exercise aimed at folding these unmanned vessels into routine fleet operations.   Marine Corps     The Corps finally gets an official top Marine leader (Marine Corps Times) In the vote for Gen. Eric Smith, 96 senators voted to confirm him and none voted against him.       911 call reveals bizarre circumstances of F-35 ejection (The Associated Press) The F-35 crashed Sunday after a malfunction prompted the pilot to eject over Charleston and land in a residential backyard.   Air Force     Biden taps Melissa Dalton for Air Force’s No. 2 civilian post (Air Force Times) President Joe Biden on Thursday named Melissa Dalton as his pick to serve as the next under secretary of the Air Force.       KC-135 tanker autopilot now safer to use in flight, Air Force says (Air Force Times) Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker pilots are inching closer to normal operations after incremental software fixes to the tanker’s glitchy autopilot have led the service to ease flight restrictions on the jets.   Space Force     Space Force pauses commercial strategy to flesh out ‘actionable’ plans with industry (Breaking Defense) Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman has, in essence, sent the Space Force’s draft Commercial Space Strategy back to the drawing board, seeking to flesh it out with more specifics on what exactly the service believes it needs from industry for each of its mission areas.       True Anomaly gets $17 million Space Force contract for space domain awareness software (SpaceNews) The contract is a four-year Small Business Innovation Research Phase 3 award to deliver a suite of software products   Coast Guard     US, Vietnam coast guard cooperation grows tighter after Biden visit (Stars & Stripes) The U.S. and Vietnamese coast guards will expand a working relationship on the high seas in the wake of U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Hanoi this month, according to a top American diplomat.       He was investigated for sexting a student at the Coast Guard Academy. He’s now a college president. (CNN) A college president, who wants his campus to become the business school “of choice for women,” once exchanged hundreds of sexually suggestive messages with a student he taught at the prestigious Coast Guard Academy, prompting prosecutors to recommend charges against him in military court, according to confidential records obtained by CNN.   Your Military     Inside the delicate art of maintaining America’s aging nuclear weapons (The Associated Press) The AP was granted access inside military nuclear missile bases and other facilities to report on how they are adjusting to meet the increasing workload.       800 additional active-duty troops to deploy to US-Mexico border as migrant crossings increase (Stars & Stripes) An additional 800 active-duty troops were ordered Wednesday to deploy to the southwest U.S. border as the daily number of migrants crossing has more than doubled this month, according to the Department of Homeland Security.       Black teens learn to fly and aim for careers in aviation in the footsteps of Tuskegee Airmen (The Associated Press) Marie Ronny and Kyan Bovee expect their futures to take off. Literally.       F-35 fighter jets ‘mission capable’ only 55% of the time, watchdog report finds (Stars & Stripes) F-35 fighter jets are available to fly only 55% of the time, and 73% of replacement parts must be sent back to suppliers because the Pentagon’s maintenance depots are inadequate, according to a new report from government auditors.       As government takes first steps toward settling Camp Lejeune claims, it’s a long road for many victims (Virginian-Pilot) The government has taken the first step toward settling some of the nearly 100,000 claims.   Veterans     Total of overdue VA disability claims balloons to almost 300,000 (Military Times) The number of overdue cases hasn't been that high since 2014.       1 in 3 PACT Act claims have received a 0% disability rating, prompting a VA review (Military.com) The Department of Veterans Affairs has approved nearly 80% of the 570,000 claims it has adjudicated under the PACT Act, distributing more than $2.2 billion in disability compensation to veterans or survivors since it began accepting claims last year.   Military Culture & History     What are EFP bombs? (Task & Purpose) Once triggered, an EFP turns a copper or steel warhead into a molten projectile that can punch through the main armor of almost any vehicle in the U.S. Military.   Cyber, Space & Unmanned     UK mulls onboard sensing requirements for satellites (C4ISRNET) In an effort to avoid collisions in the increasingly congested space environment, Britain is considering a policy that would require satellites to carry a space domain awareness sensor, according to a U.K. Space Command official.   Defense Industry     Honeywell seeks to land F-35 cooling deal (Defense News Weekly) As the F-35 becomes more advanced, it will require cooling technology in the cockpit. We visit Honeywell’s AFA booth to learn more about their plan.       Ransomware gang targeting defense firms, FBI warns (Defense One) The Snatch ransomware group has been learning from others to improve its own ploys, including data theft and double extortion, cyber authorities say.   International     Austria to buy four Embraer C-390 cargo planes for over $500 million (Defense News) Austria’s current fleet of turboprop transporters was purchased second-hand 20 years ago.       Argentina eyes surplus CH-46 helicopters as Mi-17 replacement (Defense News) The Boeing CH-46 medium-lift helicopter, retired from service in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, may get a new lease on life, this time with the Argentine Air Force.       China’s fighter jets aren’t just flying around Taiwan. They’re practicing. (Wall Street Journal) A surge in activity by the Chinese military shows it honing its ability to block the U.S. from responding to an invasion of the island.       Sudan army chief warns war could spill over into neighbours (BBC) Sudan's de facto leader has warned the UN that his country's war could spill over into neighbouring African nations.       Azerbaijan claims full control of breakaway region and holds initial talks with ethnic Armenians (The Associated Press) Azerbaijan regained control of its breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in a deadly two-day military offensive and held initial talks with representatives of its ethnic Armenian population on reintegrating the area into the mainly Muslim country, Azerbaijan’s top diplomat told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.       Iran says fire at defense ministry warehouse extinguished, under investigation (Reuters) An overnight fire at the Iranian defence ministry's battery warehouse was extinguished on Friday, state media reported, the latest in a series of incidents hitting the Islamic Republic's defence industry.   Commentary & Analysis     Cyber attacks reveal uncomfortable truths about US defenses (C4ISRNET) As has been reported time and again, the U.S. critical infrastructure is under constant attack, held at risk by the insecurity of the computing systems that operate its most essential services.       The patriot: How General Mark Milley protected the Constitution from Donald Trump (The Atlantic ) The missiles that comprise the land component of America’s nuclear triad are scattered across thousands of square miles of prairie and farmland, mainly in North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. About 150 of the roughly 400 Minuteman III inter­continental ballistic missiles currently on alert are dispersed in a wide circle around Minot Air Force Base, in the upper reaches of North Dakota. From Minot, it would take an ICBM about 25 minutes to reach Moscow.       What commercial autonomous technology can do for US Army modernization (C4ISRNET) The U.S. Department of Defense is at an important juncture as it thinks creatively and ambitiously on how to leverage this critical new technology at scale for strategic advantage.       The all-volunteer force is dying. Here’s how to save it. (Washington Post) America’s all-volunteer force is slowly dying. And unless we take action soon to reverse the trend, we are putting our nation’s future security at risk.