Weekly News Roundup: Army Shelves $2B IVAS Headset, Air Force One Bridge Jet Delivered, and More

Five stories worth your attention this week — from a federal watchdog flagging another billion-dollar Army tech program gone sideways, to the Air Force's new interim presidential jet painting the sky in Trump's preferred colors.

Army Shelves $2B IVAS Headset Program After Soldier Feedback

The U.S. Army has quietly moved nearly 10,000 Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) headsets into storage rather than fielding them, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Tuesday. The service spent close to $2 billion on the Microsoft-developed augmented reality system since 2018. Soldiers who tested earlier versions reported neck strains, headaches, and motion sickness during use. Pentagon testers in 2022 found soldiers using IVAS 1.0 hit fewer targets and engaged them more slowly than with standard equipment. The Army said the operational reliability of early production units was "not acceptable." The service has pivoted to a new program — the Soldier Borne Mission Command System — informed by lessons learned from IVAS. The 1.2 prototypes are being used at the U.S.-Mexico border in an operational capacity.

Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk Drones Permanently Relocate to Japan

Three of the Air Force's massive RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drones are now permanently stationed at Yokota Air Base in Japan, ending 16 years of operations out of Andersen Air Force Base on Guam. The 4th Reconnaissance Squadron began the relocation in late May, with the first drone arriving May 27. Roughly 150 Air Force personnel also transferred to Japan. The Global Hawk weighs nearly 15,000 pounds with a 130.9-foot wingspan, and is designed to fly for more than 30 hours at altitudes around 60,000 feet. The Air Force cited Japan's more favorable weather during typhoon season as one factor in the move — Guam takes regular hits during summer storm season. The drones will support "theater-wide operations" including peacetime, contingency, and crisis operations in the Indo-Pacific. It marks another shift of surveillance assets to East Asia, following last year's permanent MQ-9 Reaper deployment to South Korea.

New VC-25B "Bridge" Air Force One Jet Joins Presidential Airlift Fleet

The Air Force officially accepted delivery of the new VC-25B "Bridge" aircraft — a modified Qatari-gifted 747-8i that will serve as an interim Air Force One platform ahead of the delayed Boeing-built VC-25Bs. The jet arrived at the Presidential Airlift Group at Andrews Air Force Base on Friday wearing President Trump's preferred red, white, and blue livery, a departure from the Kennedy-era blue-and-white scheme that has adorned dedicated Air Force One aircraft for over 60 years. The aircraft will now undergo commissioning flights — described by the Air Force as the "final exam" before the platform is declared operational and available for presidential missions. Trump held a press conference at the hangar, calling it "the largest Air Force One ever built" with "the finest engines in the world" and noting it features Starlink connectivity and redundant communications systems. The aircraft is expected to begin flying the president on domestic trips shortly.

Congress Weighs Cutting Tinnitus, Sleep Apnea Disability Ratings to Fund Star Act

A sweeping veterans benefits package making its way through the Senate includes a funding mechanism that would cut future disability ratings for tinnitus and sleep apnea to help offset the cost of allowing combat veterans to simultaneously collect retirement pay and disability compensation. The Take Care of America's Veterans Act bundles dozens of proposals, including the Major Richard Star Act — which has stalled repeatedly over its estimated $10 billion price tag. The current offset proposal would replace the standalone 30% disability rating for sleep apnea with a scale based on treatment effectiveness, and reclassify tinnitus (currently rated at 10%) as a symptom of an underlying condition rather than a standalone disability. Veterans advocates have pushed back, arguing that tinnitus and hearing loss are among the most common service-connected conditions and that the proposed changes would disproportionately affect veterans from earlier conflicts. The package remains under negotiation.

Germany to Co-Produce 2,000 Ukrainian TerMIT Unmanned Ground Vehicles

Quantum Tencore Industries — a German-Ukrainian joint venture formed under the "Build with Ukraine" initiative — announced it will co-produce 2,000 TerMIT unmanned ground vehicles at a facility in Germany. The initial order represents the largest single global procurement of UGVs to date. The TerMIT is a tracked unmanned system designed for logistical resupply and perimeter security roles in combat zones. The co-production agreement was described as part of a broader effort to establish industrial-scale manufacturing capacity for unmanned systems outside Ukraine, reducing reliance on direct delivery from Ukrainian factories operating under ongoing combat conditions. Quantum Tencore Industries is the second joint venture under the Build with Ukraine framework, following Quantum Frontline Industries. Details on delivery timelines and the specific configuration of systems headed to the Ukrainian Armed Forces have not been publicly disclosed.

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Sources: Task & Purpose, The War Zone, Soldier Systems Daily