US Air Force Adds 22 F-15EX Fighters; White House Nominates New Space Command Chief

The U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing a $2.38 billion contract for 22 additional F-15EX fighter aircraft. Reports say this will bring the total number of Boeing-built F-15EXs to 120. ^[3]

The White House nominated Lt. Gen. David N. Miller Jr. to lead U.S. Space Command. If confirmed, he would take over from Gen. Stephen Whiting after his upcoming retirement. ^[5]

On the Russia-Ukraine battlefield, according to Oryx's visually confirmed count as of September 1, Russian forces had lost 218 T-90-series tanks, of which 159 were T-90Ms. The relevant headline says T-90M losses exceed the number Russia had when the war began. ^[2]

The T-90M was meant to fix earlier tanks' problems with a welded turret, Relikt reactive armor, the Kalina fire-control system, and ammunition moved into a protected rear bustle. But it still faced losses to FPV drones. Russia later added cage armor, tried Arena-M, and mostly stopped using tanks the way tanks are meant to be used. ^[2]

A separate commentary points to the U.S. Navy's reactivation of Iowa-class battleships as an example, noting that the high cost bought only a few years of service at sea; the U.S. Air Force chose to buy new F-15s rather than bring back aircraft-boneyard jets, and the F-22 production line is closed just like the SR-71's. The article extends this logic to NASA's SR-71 Blackbird case. ^[1]