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Welcome to the Monday edition of the D Brief.

On Episode 170, Ben Watson takes a look back on some of the news' biggest headlines. Tune into the conversation by visiting: https://lnkd.in/dJtBFWZD

The U.S. military’s V-22 Ospreys will be cleared to fly after each aircraft is inspected to assess their prop-rotor gearboxes, a part connected to a deadly 2023 crash, and operating limits are being imposed on new gearboxes. Earlier this month, the Pentagon paused Osprey flights after a near-crash at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico on Nov. 2. That followed a crash that killed eight airmen last year off the coast of Japan after the gearbox failed. The military will now “verify the flight hours” on each prop-rotor gearbox before the aircraft’s next flight, and add restrictions on aircraft with newer gearboxes.  Audrey Decker reports: https://lnkd.in/d9AcEGKY

The Army is doubling down on its data plans with a new four-year, $619 million contract with Palantir Technologies that promises to keep current features that help commanders learn more about their troops, while expanding the AI-powered Vantage platform across the service. Lauren C. Williams reports: https://lnkd.in/darzFXJ9

The intrusion of Chinese-backed hackers into telecommunications systems in the U.S. and around the world drew questions in a Wednesday Senate hearing about whether American cyber warriors should be further authorized to digitally retaliate against their adversaries in the East. “On cyber, we are so much on defense,” Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, told Nextgov/FCW. Sullivan said that in classified briefings about the hacking collective dubbed Salt Typhoon, “it’s very bipartisan where senators say, ‘OK, wait. I understand why we’re trying to defend against this…but what are we doing to raise the level of deterrence?’ David DiMolfetta has more at: https://lnkd.in/dG2fRP9Z

China is rapidly advancing in missiles, nuclear weapons, and influence operations—but endemic corruption is to some degree undermining its military ambitions, according to the new edition of the Pentagon’s annual China Power report. My latest for Defense One

EXCLUSIVE: More than a dozen Army general officer positions will get the axe in the coming years, a spokesman for Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George tells Defense One. Read the story by Meghann Myers: https://lnkd.in/gcFmePkP

“We're sitting on systems ready to go, ready to be deployed, ready to go to New Jersey, ready to go to Langley [Air Force base in Virginia], ready to go to any of these airfields and shoot down whatever is going overhead,” Epirus CEO Andy Lowery said Wednesday. US policy as it relates to domestic drone defense is frustrating drone tech companies and policy makers as well. My latest

"It took some adjustment to nestle the heel of the M4 rifle in the pocket of my shoulder. I lined up the iron sights with the bullseye and squeezed the trigger three times in quick succession. The rifle bucked and the system recorded my prowess. All that was missing were the shell casings and the smell of gunpowder." Read Lauren C. Williams' dispatch from the I/ITSEC show floor in Orlando: https://lnkd.in/gaEts5vg