WASHINGTON, D.C. — A planned Super Bowl flyover meant to salute America’s 250th birthday, a looming crewed trip around the moon, and a sweeping winter storm response were among the latest high-profile missions highlighted in a series of federal updates issued in late January.
For Super Bowl LX on Sunday, February 8, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, the Air Force and Navy said they will conduct a joint flyover featuring two Air Force B-1 Lancers from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota; two F-15C Eagles from Fresno Air National Guard Base, California; and Navy aircraft from Naval Air Station Lemoore, California, including two F/A-18E Super Hornets and two F-35C Lightning IIs. A Military District of Washington joint armed forces color guard is set to render honors during the national anthem, while participating units said they plan community outreach events during Super Bowl week, including aircraft displays, a search-and-rescue demonstration, and F/A-18F backseat flights for community leaders.
In a separate update dated Wednesday, January 28, officials pointed to U.S. Army testing in Arizona as a key contributor to NASA’s Artemis II mission, which is expected to take astronauts around the moon during a launch window described as running from early February through the end of April. The release said the Orion capsule’s parachute system — tested at Yuma Proving Ground between 2011 and 2018 — is designed to slow the spacecraft from reentry speeds approaching 24,500 mph to a landing speed of about 17 mph. The mission’s pilot, astronaut Victor Glover, was described as entering prelaunch quarantine with crewmates on Thursday, January 23.
The updates also highlighted sustainment work at a Connecticut National Guard aviation repair facility in Groton, described as capable of stripping Army helicopters down to their core and rebuilding them to factory standards — work officials said can save millions by extending aircraft service life. The release cited 2019 repairs of two battle-damaged CH-47 Chinooks that were restored and returned to the fleet in about two years.
Far from the mainland, the Coast Guard cutter Polar Star began Southern Ocean icebreaking operations in support of Operation Deep Freeze and marked its 50th year of commissioned service, officials said. According to the release, Polar Star freed and escorted an Australian-owned cruise ship trapped in pack ice near McMurdo Sound after the vessel contacted the cutter late Friday, January 16, with the rescue occurring around Saturday, January 17, local time.
On the research front, the Naval Research Laboratory said its scientists are pushing toward the next generation of solid-fuel ramjet propulsion by using optical diagnostics to capture what is happening inside an operating combustor — an extreme environment where soot, heat, and rapidly changing flow can defeat traditional sensors. Researchers described mapping flame temperatures, fuel regression, and fuel-vapor behavior to validate advanced simulations and shorten development cycles for long-range, high-speed air-breathing systems.
In a weekly operational update dated Friday, January 30, officials said more than 5,500 National Guard members mobilized across 16 states and Washington during Winter Storm Fern, which dropped snow and ice from the Midwest to the mid-Atlantic and the South on January 24–25. The release said Guard members rescued stranded motorists, supported patrol and logistics missions, and escorted essential health care workers to hospitals, with personnel already assigned to federal crime-prevention duty in the nation’s capital shifting rapidly into storm response.
The same update said a new Science and Technology Innovation Board was formed under Undersecretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael, described as the result of combining the Defense Innovation Board and the Defense Science Board. It also included remarks attributed to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at President Donald J. Trump’s first cabinet meeting of 2026, as well as a reference to a January 23 strike on a vessel described as linked to designated terrorist organizations and engaged in narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific.
In separate announcements this past week cited ongoing efforts to operationalize artificial intelligence in military workflows, including a new Marine Corps AI fellowship at the Naval Postgraduate School, and detailed the Nevada Air National Guard’s recent mix of polar logistics and domestic firefighting missions, including C-130 operations supporting both Antarctica resupply and aerial wildfire response.
For the latest news on everything happening in Chester County and the surrounding area, be sure to follow MyChesCo on Google News and MSN.