The Afghanistan War Commission's mission: Weapons and Warfare

Two years into a four-year term, the Air Force's top four star unexpectedly calls it a career

What's behind the decision? Plus, Spain scraps plans to buy the F-35

What that means for Lockheed Martin and NATO. And buckle up, we're going for a ride with the Hurricane Hunters as they fly into the eye of Hurricane Aaron

Hello and welcome to Weapons and Warfare, a show made for people who want to know more

about our national defense. Our goal is to help you have an informed conversation about what's

happening with America's military. For Straight Arrow News, I'm your host, Ryan Robertson

and we start this week with a look back at America's war in Afghanistan. In 2021

Congress tasked a bipartisan commission with documenting the stories of warriors who served in America's longest-running war

While the commission's full report will not be released until next year

we are hearing from some of those entrusted to do the job. And that's the subject of this week's debrief

38 days. That's all the time that stood between the horrific events of September 11, 2001

and the first Americans setting foot in Afghanistan on October 19. 7,255 days later

the last American military contingent would leave. It is America's longest war, and now

Veterans from the United States' 20-year involvement in Afghanistan are telling the commission reviewing the decisions that shaped the war it was indeed hell, but also confounding, demoralizing, even humiliating for them

One thing that's particularly important to us is to tell a human story of the war

We know that the media has covered the issues and conflicts of Afghanistan extensively

but oftentimes the stories of the individuals who served on the ground get lost

The report will yze key strategic, diplomatic, military and operational decisions made between June 2001 and the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021

I think Afghanistan, like any war, is full of coming-of-age stories when you get down to the very individual level

And those are, as Bob said, those are gut-wrenching. Those are very personal things

According to numbers from the AMARC Foundation, more than 832,000 Americans served in Afghanistan

throughout Operations Enduring Freedom and Freedom's Sentinel. Nearly 21,000 were wounded, while 2,456 made the ultimate sacrifice

One of the main goals of the commission is to take a close look at the strategic

diplomatic and operational choices made by the U.S. during the war, as well as gather lessons learned and offer recommendations for the future

Our work is not just about what the U.S. did in Afghanistan

but what the U.S. should be doing in any country where it deems it has a national security interest

To date, the commission conducted more than 160 interviews with cabinet-level officials

military commanders, diplomats, Afghan and Pakistani leaders, and others. This isn't just us talking to Americans

We're talking to allies, partners. We're talking to Afghans about their experience and try to understand how they saw the decisions and our actions over the course of the war

The commission is also hosting forums for veterans, including a recent one at a National Veterans of Foreign Wars convention

The reason we are in Columbus today is to talk with those coming to this VFW convention

One is to educate them on the purpose of the commission, but it also allows them to have a voice and express their concerns, tell their stories about their experience in Afghanistan

The group released its second interim report in August. It draws no conclusions yet, but identifies themes emerging from documents, interviews, and veteran forums

The commission's final report is due to be made public by August 22, 2026

I'm joined now by senior producer and Air Force veteran Brett Baker

Brett caught you on the road this week, but honestly, I'm really glad we did this story on the commission's findings from the war in Afghanistan so far

because whatever criticisms Americans have of their government and the handling of the global war on terror

the service members doing the actual work on the ground and in the skies you know they all performed admirably for the most part Absolutely Absolutely So it really critical that their voices are part of the official record and it helps inform leadership

You know, what's next going forward whenever this kind of thing happens again

All right. Well, let's go ahead and get to some headlines you may have missed. Just two years into a four year assignment, the Air Force's chief of staff is calling it a career

In a surprising move, General David Alvin announced his retirement. He will remain as chief of staff until a replacement is confirmed and expects to leave around November 1st

two years into his four-year term. Of his decision to end his 39-year career, General Alvin said

more than anything, I'm proud to have been part of the team of airmen who live out our core values

of integrity, service, and excellence every day as we prepare to defend this great nation

Alvin is an Air Force Academy graduate and command pilot with more than 4,600 flying hours

Brett, General Alvin's departure is, you know, surprising to say the least, and marks another

in kind of a series of top commanders to either quit or be fired since President Donald Trump

named Pete Hegseth as the Secretary of Defense. Yeah, and you know, this guy, we've seen him speak

a few times at different symposiums we've been into. He is a compelling figure. Like he can

command a room. You listen when he's talking. So whatever his reasons are, whatever the motivations

were. We don't know exactly, but I do think that it is, it's, I think it's a blow to Air Force

leadership that he's stepping out this early. You know, it's supposed to be a four-year commitment

and, you know, halfway through he's pulling the ejection handle. I don't think it's good for the

Air Force. I don't think it's good for the DOD, but it is what it is. Well, his legacy will always

be tied to the F-47 as well. So even though it was a shortened time in office there as Chief of

Staff of the Air Force, he definitely made a mark on the service for sure. Thanks, but no thanks

That's the word from Spanish military officials as they put a stop to a deal with Lockheed Martin

for a fleet of F-35 fighter jets. Instead, Spain is turning its focus to European-made options like

the Eurofighter and the future combat air system. Spain had set aside more than 6 billion euros to

upgrade its aging Navy and Air Force fleets, but with rising tensions over defensive ending targets

and political friction between Madrid and Washington, the U.S. jets are now off the table

Canada was looking at doing a similar deal, Brett, but ultimately it looks like they will stick with

thereby of 88 F-35s. What do you make of all this? It's interesting for sure

I think it's more of a sign of the time we're in right now

than it is anything that has to do with the performance of the vehicle itself

Because right now their fleet is mostly Harriers and F-18s. So you're talking 50 to 30-year-old technology

And now they're going to wait for something that is still in development. So who knows when those 6th Gen fighters are going to become available, whereas you have a 5th Gen fighter if they're still fully realizing its capabilities available now

So I do think it's a bit of the moment. You know, with the America First policy, European units or countries are looking out for themselves and saying, OK, well, maybe we're just going to have to operate within this

And so I think that's probably like the biggest part of this piece is let's keep it within Europe and that'll help whatever happens down the road

You bet. Yeah, there is some fears that whether they're founded or unfounded, they exist

That if the Europeans buy a lot of American technology, that the Americans might be able to, you know, turn off a function of that vehicle or a piece of equipment or something like that

Um, so Europeans want to provide for themselves and, and ensure that doesn't happen

Uh, we saw this in Ukraine when Starlink was kind of shut down for a little bit, uh, when

Ukraine was trying to launch a counter-offensive into Russia, uh, that counter-offensive was

ultimately called off because they didn't have, uh, the satellite communications to make

it possible. Talk about a turbulent day at work. This is video of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron aka the Hurricane Hunters tracking Hurricane Aaron flying a WC Super Hercules out of Keesler Air Force Base is that right I mispronounced Puget Sound a couple of weeks ago

and I feel awful about it, so I want to make sure I get Keesler Air Force Base correct

Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi. The crew deployed ocean buoys to collect real-time

measurements of waves, currents, and atmospheric turbulence. And, oh yeah, they flew into the eye

of the hurricane, yielding some amazing video. Brett, I will not ever do this. What say you

I, you know, I'm game. Let's go. I mean, they're not going to go fly it if they don't plan on

coming home. So. That's true. That's true. Turbulence has never brought down an airplane

but well, they say it hasn't brought down an airplane. Yeah, it's amazing work they're doing really

You know, the technology is catching up to where now they can put things into these storms

I couldn't even begin to comprehend what it all is, but I do think it's fascinating that they're like

opening the back of that plane and just chucking stuff out. Yeah

All right, go to work. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely some amazing technology. Hopefully they learn a whole bunch of stuff

you know I don't know if humanity will ever be able to stop a hurricane but if we can predict

paths and that sort of thing then hopefully we can you know get people out of harm's way

Brett want to thank you for joining us and being a trooper this week obviously you got some seasonal

allergies going on hope you feel better next week get some honey get some tea in your system

and we'll see you later see you next night it's time to break up with mainstream media

and try something new. At Straight Arrow News, we're bringing back trustworthy journalism

Bringing you news, not noise. Bringing you facts, not fluff. Bringing you clarity, not chaos

We are. We are. We are Straight Arrow News, the news you've been looking for

For unbiased, straight facts, visit san.com. Innovation is at the heart of the defense industry, people with a vision for what's possible, pushing things forward

And as American leadership turns its attention toward the Indo-Pacific, they are asking their defense industry partners to bring new ideas to the table at a pace not seen in decades

While that's always been the business model, recently there's been a significant change

Where they once wanted bigger, stronger, faster, they're now asking for smaller, smarter, and more cost-efficient

That's why the Cummings Aerospace Hellhound is our Weapon of the Week

As the video evidence shows, the Hellhound S3 is a bit of a head-turner

this man-portable 3D-printed turbojet-powered drone is capable of delivering on a wide range

of loitering munition missions. Through flight tests, we've demonstrated a top speed of 384 miles per hour to date

In addition to that, it gives you rapid time to target. The operator can use that speed to really execute a target quickly

Sheila Cummings is the founder, president, and CEO of Cummings Aerospace. She tells us the S3 was designed with portability in mind

Well, the vehicle itself is approximately 12 pounds. It's 3D printed, so it makes it a very light and effective solution

Overall, the launch canister, the vehicle, ground control system, you're looking at a total system weight of about 40 pounds

And so it's integrated onto a rucksack to demonstrate that main portability

Cummings says once trained, an operator can have the system up and ready to go

in as few as two minutes. But it's really in the skies over the battle space that she says this

variant of the Hellhound really offers the user a lot of bang for the buck. The Hellhound S3 variant

can not only hold a munition solution, but it can carry an EW payload or RF payload or other payloads

we haven't even identified yet. And so the open systems architecture design really supports

technology evolution and gives you the flexibility for changes in the mission needs

The S3 was designed to compete for the U.S. Army's Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance Program

also known as LASSO, and while it wasn't picked up in the first increment of weapons purchased

that opportunity went to Aeroviron's Switchblade 600, the Army says LASSO will not be a single

manufacturer program, suggesting a future opportunity for outfits like Cummings Aerospace. Despite that initial disappointment, though, Cummings says her company

has its sights set on a much bigger picture The reality is Hellhound is a family of UAS products so the S3 variant is just one We have others that we want to bring online to support the broader UAS market

and counter-UAS market. To that point, just a few weeks ago at the Space and Missile Defense

Symposium, Cummings Aerospace rolled out the Hellhound S4, which is a Group 2 UAS that could

fit within the scope of President Trump's Golden Dome project. If you like a bargain, good news

This is a BOGO edition of Coms Check, two for the price of one, so let's get straight to it

First up, after decades of failed attempts, including the recent cancellation of a second

robotic combat vehicles competition, the U.S. Army is attempting to develop RCVs with a unit cost cap

of $650,000 while also asking for prototypes of unmanned ground commercial robotic vehicles

that can carry more than 2,200 pounds and navigate alongside soldiers in armored brigade

combat teams. The RCVs should support basic remote capabilities and include autonomous

features for navigation and various operational modes. They need to reach at least 34 miles per

hour on roads and 25 miles per hour off-road with a range of 140 miles, advanced sensing capabilities

and potential features for countering unmanned aerial vehicles and conducting electronic warfare

A lot of kit in a little box. About a month ago, we featured the Lockheed Martin Jagam in our

Weapon of the Week. Well, now the U.S. Army has awarded Lockheed Martin a $720 million contract

for the joint air-to-ground missiles and Hellfire missiles. It's a deal that will not only take care of the Army and Navy

but international customers as well, including 160 Jagams for the UK and Hellfire missiles

for NATO allies like Poland, Spain, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Canada

All opinions expressed in this segment are solely the opinions of the contributors

Alright folks, that's going to just about do it for us this week here at Weapons and Warfare

If you liked what you saw and or heard in the episode, and you want to share it with your friends, we encourage that

So go ahead, like and subscribe to our social media feeds, and download the Straight Arrow News app today

Our mission here at the show is to try and make the world of defensive technologies

and national defense more accessible for you. So for my wrap this week, I thought it was important to add some context

to a story I saw Reuters put out recently. It got picked up by a bunch of different outlets

The headline reads, the U.S. Navy is building a drone fleet to take on China

It's not going well, which is somewhat true, but doesn't give enough context

The Reuters report details two Navy tests where different types of unmanned surface vessels

were being controlled by AI agents. Things did not go exactly as planned

The mishaps from one of those tests was caught on video, and the Navy ultimately put a hold on a $20 million contract with L3Harris

one of the companies providing AI software for the autonomous tests. The story only talks about two tests, though

which included just a few surface vessel and software providers. But the Navy is performing dozens of these types of tests

with many different vendors trying to find the right combination of craft, software, and armaments

For instance, I spoke with the CEO of Havoc AI earlier this year

about his software successfully controlling dozens of surface vessels in two different parts of the globe simultaneously from a land-based testing facility

That test went very well. Doing live field tests will inherently include failures

as many tests are designed to push a system to the point of failure so you can find its limits

When it comes to fielding naval drones, it's true there may be too many cooks in the kitchen

There were several naval offices all working on drones. Now they're getting rolled into one, the Naval Rapid Capabilities Office

So in my mind, it's not necessarily that the Navy is failing to field a drone fleet

It's just easier to get people to click on an article about failures

I don't know if that says more about the outlet or the audience. For senior producer Brett Baker, video editor Brian Spencer, and motion designer Dakota Patio

I'm Ryan Robertson with Straight Arrow News, signing off