Short Takes – 7-19-25

The Pentagon will host a ‘Top Gun’ school for Ukraine-style attack drones. DefenseOne.com article. Pull quote: “And learning the lessons of Ukraine from actual Ukrainians is another likely key element to drone dominance, one of the organizers for the upcoming T-REX event told Defense One on background. To that end, members of the Ukrainian military will be be on hand to observe the experimentation. And the feedback will likely be blunt.”

White House moves to kill chemical safety board, despite industry support. CEN.ACS.org article. Pull quote: “Michaels points to a CSB investigation of a 2014 accident in which four workers died following a methyl mercaptan leak at a DuPont facility in La Porte, Texas. OSHA issued a small fine, but the CSB made several recommendations addressing a failed safety culture at the plant. Along with problems in manufacturing design, the CSB found deficiencies in process safety systems and a culture that did not encourage safety. The board urged several fundamental safety changes that DuPont addressed.”

Elon Musk’s SpaceX to launch 10th Starship test flight. AmericanBazaarOnLine.com article. Pull quote: “If Flight 10 goes smoothly, it’ll be a big step forward for SpaceX. A successful mission would show real progress in Starship’s reusability and overall system reliability. These are the two things that are absolutely critical if the company wants to pull off its long-term plans. SpaceX isn’t just dreaming of Mars. It wants Starship to handle everything from resupplying space stations to landing astronauts on the Moon, and eventually ferrying people and cargo to Mars and possibly even farther.”