The Official Newsletter of The National Defense Transportation Association
January 7, 2026
Register Today
February 23 – 26, 2026
Early Bird Registration ends January 22, 2026
The National Defense Transportation Association (NDTA), in association with the Defense Travel Management Office (DTMO), is hosting the 2026 GovTravels February 23-26, 2026, at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, Alexandria, VA.
GovTravels is a four-day event that brings together bringing together experts from across the federal government and the commercial travel industry to examine a wide range of issues that impact the government’s multi-billion dollar travel enterprise. During this event we educate and train DoD travel managers on best practices and strategies, allow government program administrators to learn more about emerging technologies, exchange ideas and collaborate on travel issues, identify and capture actions and build relationships among government and industry commercial travel experts. […READ MORE…]
Save the Date
May 18-21, 2026
NDTA-CAS
Surface Force Projection Meeting
Registration opens January 29, 2026. Check website for details.
Join the National Defense Transportation Association (NDTA) and Christopher Newport University’s Center for American Studies (CAS) Surface Force Projection Meeting (SFPM), May 18-21, 2026, at Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA. Connect with top U.S. government and industry experts to tackle deployment and sustainment challenges and address this year’s theme, “Projecting Power in a Globally Contested Environment — Ideas into Action!” Network with peers, attend insightful sessions, and hear from renowned speakers. NDTA, along with CAS, partners with the U.S. Army Transportation Command (ARTRANS), Military Sealift Command (MSC), U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD), the U.S. Coast Guard, logistics and transportation industry, and academia to provide the SFPM. Mark your calendar and don’t miss out! Details on agenda, lodging, and registration will be available on our website starting December 18, 2025. Registration opens on January 29, 2026. Become an NDTA member today for exclusive benefits!
NDTA Europe & Africa Regional Committee Meeting, January 20-21, 2026 Workforce Development Center, Sembach Kaserne, Germany
Please join us for the NDTA Europe & Africa Regional Committee meeting at the Workforce Development Center in Sembach Kaserne, Germany. The theme of the meeting is “Building Trust and Collaboration: Fostering Partnerships for Sustainable Impact.”
This highly anticipated annual event serves as a forum that brings together government, military, industry, and allied stakeholders to coordinate and collaborate on defense transportation, logistics, and mobility challenges. The agenda includes several notable keynote speakers, committee sessions, and a sponsored off-site dinner with entertainment.
Four regional subcommittees will help bridge civil-military, industry, and government perspectives, offering a neutral, non-political space for problem solving, innovation, and strategic alignment:
Air / Airlift Subcommittee
Surface / Land Transport Subcommittee
Sealift & Ports / Sea & Port Operations Subcommittee
Passenger Travel Subcommittee
Please visit our webpage for registration details, the event agenda, sponsorships, information contacts, and more!
Join NDTA JAX for our first 2026 Chapter event
featuring Rich Possert, Jr. of Operation New Uniform (ONU)
January 8, 2026
Hello NDTA JAX Community,
We are sending out details for this month’s event, coming up fast on January 8, 2026.
NDTA JAX will host Rich Possert, Jr., Program Manager at Operation New Uniform (ONU), for a free virtual event. Rich will provide an overview of the impact ONU makes for our military members transitioning from service to corporate careers.
Registration details are in the attached flyer.
We hope to see you soon!
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy unveiled the nation’s first ever Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) National Strategy setting an ambitious roadmap to accelerate American aviation innovation and transform our skies for the better.
The Strategy and accompanying action plan outline 40 recommendations to safely and efficiently support AAM operations. The Strategy will also help advance President Trump’s “America First” agenda—unleashing America’s economic strength and ensuring the U.S., and not our adversaries, remain a global leader in next-generation aviation. […READ MORE…]
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced more than $118 million in grant awards to strengthen the safety of America’s roadways, enhance commercial vehicle enforcement, and provide high-quality training for military veterans entering the trucking industry.
These Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) grants direct critical resources to state and local partners to reduce crashes through data-driven enforcement. The investments also bolster the integrity of the Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) system to ensure only qualified drivers are getting behind the wheel. […READ MORE…]
China Military Buildup Leaves US ‘Increasingly Vulnerable’: Pentagon Report
By Lee Ferran
(breakingdefense.com) The recent push by China to build up and modernize its military means the American homeland is “increasingly vulnerable” to a myriad of threats that “directly threaten Americans’ security,” according to a new Pentagon report.
The report, an annual assessment mandated by Congress, makes the case that while the Trump administration is pursuing friendlier relations with Beijing, the Asian giant has expanded its capabilities in several key strategic domains, including the cyber, space and nuclear disciplines. […READ MORE…]
Inside China’s Nascent, AI-powered Military Logistics System
By
“Before the troops and horses move, provisions and fodder must go first”—is the Chinese equivalent of Napoleon’s supposed saying that “An army marches on its stomach,” or Omar Bradley’s admonition “Amateurs talk strategy, but professionals talk logistics.” The modern PLA is taking these lessons to heart with a series of efforts to build a smart logistics system of the future, one that can supply its troops under fire in the next war. As described in People’s Daily, the effort incorporates technologies that range from a multi-domain sensing web to an AI-enabled predictive planning that matches resources to cargo drones and tracked UGV mules. The PLA is already testing each in plateau, border, and coastal exercises. […READ MORE…]
An Emerging Risk: Artificial Intelligence Exposing U.S. Strategic Thought
(defenseopinion.com) Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT are now deeply embedded in Americans’ daily workflow. Subscriptions reportedly exceed 11 million, with hundreds of millions of weekly users. This level of usage suggests similar widespread use across the U.S. military, including in professional military education, which includes such institutions as the Army War College and National Defense University.
While these tools offer clear benefits, their routine use introduces underexamined risks for the military. Warfighters may be unknowingly revealing sensitive patterns of strategic thought through their interactions with commercial AI systems. Each prompt may seem insignificant, but when aggregated they form a cognitive fingerprint revealing what Sun Tzu described as the highest form of advantage: knowing one’s enemy. […READ MORE…]
- U.S. movers are moving primarily for the opportunity to be closer to family (29%), company transfer/new job (26%), and retirement (14%).
- A broad migration shift toward smaller cities and towns is redefining American relocation patterns.
- Oregon leads the nation in inbound moves for the first time, while New Jersey tops the outbound list for the eighth consecutive year but with positive momentum from GenZ and younger millennials moving into the state.[…READ MORE…]
Self-driving Cars Could Prevent Over 1 Million Road Injuries Across the U.S. by 2035
(techxplore.com) Autonomous vehicles could dramatically reduce traffic accidents and injuries on U.S. roads. Drawing on historical data and current trends, a recent JAMA Surgery study projected that self-driving cars could prevent more than 1 million injuries between 2025 and 2035, resulting in a 3.6% reduction in traffic-related injuries over the next decade. […READ MORE…]
Apply for 2026 NDTA Foundation Scholarships,
now through Wednesday, April 15, 2026
As we recognize the New Year and wish you all the best in 2026, NDTA wants to remind you that we are accepting applications for the 2026-2027 academic year. Applications are being accepted through April 15 via e-mail at ndtahq@ndtahq.com for our four academic scholarship programs for members and their children:
- Program A – for currently enrolled college students
- Program B – for soon-to-be high school graduates accepted at an accredited institution
- Program C – for currently enrolled, distance learning college students
- Program D, The Denny Edwards Graduate Scholarship – for graduate (master’s degree) students
NDTA offers all scholarship winners a unique opportunity to join our Industry Connect Program (ICP). The ICP links interested students with an industry mentor to help them bridge to the future. More information can be found here.
NDTA is excited about the education and development of our Nation’s future logistics and transportation leaders! Providing scholarships and the ICP helps us promote learning and professional development. To learn about scholarship qualification details and how to apply, go to www.ndtahq.com/foundation/, call us at 703-751-5011 or send us an email at ndtahq@ndtahq.com. Read student testimonials from previous scholarship recipients to learn about the impact it has had on their studies and their career paths.
We look forward to hearing from you!
NDTA continues to be an advocate and supporter of The U.S. Army Transportation Corps Museum at Ft. Eustis, Va. Our mission is to develop future Logistics & Transportation leaders! During this year, the Center of Military History (CMH) has decided to close the museum. Since that time, the Army Transportation Museum Foundation (ATMF) has encouraged members of the Foundation to write letters and send emails to leaders supporting the educational value of the museum as a bridge to the future. To help support this effort, please review the attached information below.
Editor’s Picks
USAF Plan to Fly C-5, C-17s Even Longer Elicits Concerns
(defenseone.com) The Air Force aims to keep its aging C-5 and C-17 airlifters flying years longer than planned as it awaits a next-gen replacement, officials said in recently released documents. That’s alarming to some former mobility leaders.
C-5 Galaxy will fly until 2045 and the C-17 Globemaster until 2075, longer than previously planned, to ensure that the Air Force has enough airlift capacity while it waits for the Next-Generation Airlift aircraft. NGAL will reach production no earlier than 2038 and initial operating capacity three years after that.
Navy’s New Frigate Will Not Have a Vertical Launch System for Missiles
(twz.com) The U.S. Navy has confirmed that the armament package for its first “flight” of its new FF(X) frigates will not include a built-in Vertical Launch System (VLS). There had been widespread questions about whether the ships would include a VLS array after renderings were released with no such feature readily apparent.
U.S. Navy Conducts First Shipborne Launch of LUCAS One-Way Attack Drone
(theaviationist.com) The U.S. Navy has conducted its first shipborne launch of the Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) one-way attack drone, the Department of Defense announced Dec. 18, 2025. The launch occurred two days earlier from the USS Santa Barbara (LCS 32), an Independence-class littoral combat ship, using its flight deck while at sea. The milestone follows the recent deployment of a one-way attack drone squadron to the Middle East under U.S. Central Command.
Marine Corps Launches Six Drone Training Programs Open to Any MOS
(marinecorpstimes.com) Keeping in step with the Pentagon’s push for legions of new drones, the Marine Corps is instituting new training to ensure the service has the right personnel to operate them. The service is launching a series of new pilot programs aimed at meeting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s $1 billion industry push to get more than 300,000 one-way attack drones into the hands of troops by 2028, according to a release.
U.S. Marines Practice Large Scale Distributed Aviation Operations During Steel Knight 25
(theaviationist.com) The U.S. Marine Corps’ Steel Knight 25 exercise saw the I Marine Expeditionary Force’s (I MEF) 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (3rd MAW) and its subordinate Marine Aircraft Group 13 (MAG 13) execute aviation power projection, simulated strikes, defensive counter-air, distributed ‘hub-and-spoke’ operations, maritime attack and close air support operations.
Hanwha Signals Philly Shipyard Ready to Build U.S. Nuclear Submarines
(gCaptain.com) Hanwha’s Philly Shipyard has the capability of building a nuclear-powered submarine for the U.S. Navy, said Alex Wong, global chief strategy officer at Hanwha Group. Trump told a press conference that Hanwha would participate in building frigates for the U.S. Navy. He called Hanwha “a good company,” referring to its planned $5 billion expansion in the Philly Shipyard.
ABS Approves State-of-the-Art Offshore Substation from Seatrium
(ww2.eagle.org) ABS has issued approval in principle (AIP) to Seatrium for a next-generation offshore substation design featuring 500-megawatt modules. Offshore substations transfer power from wind turbines via inter-array cables, convert it to high voltage, and export it to shore through subsea cables. ABS said the AIP marks a milestone for offshore wind, enabling large-scale renewable generation while meeting rigorous international safety and performance standards for global energy markets.
Air Charter Service Prepares for Further Growth in Florida
(aircharterserviceusa.com) The Florida office of aircraft charter specialist, Air Charter Service, has moved to a much larger space, moving north from Miami to Florida’s Hollywood, to accommodate its growth plans, and has welcomed the experienced Greg Tarran, from the company’s London office, as it expands its private jets team.
AIR ONE Demonstrates Ability to Handle Oversized Shipments
(aironeaviation.com) AIR ONE has transported eight furnace coil boxes measuring 12 metres on a Boeing 747-400 Freighter operated by affiliated cargo airline One Air.
The flight from Liege to Abu Dhabi was operated for Deugro Abu Dhabi with the shipment, which weighed 57 tonnes, getting loaded through the nose door of the aircraft. AIR ONE has organized over 3,750 full charters carrying more than 345,000 tonnes of cargo to over 100 destinations.
On Capitol Hill, ATA Advocates for Cargo Theft Crackdown to Protect Consumers, National Security
(trucking.org) American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear testified before a House Judiciary Subcommittee, urging Congress to take decisive action to combat the rapid rise in cargo theft that is costing the U.S. supply chain — and American consumers — billions of dollars annually as well as putting truck drivers and national security at risk. This is the ninth time that ATA has been invited to speak on Capitol Hill in 2025.
The Source is a free educational publication for NDTA members, conference attendees, and associates.