Ukraine’s recent drone campaign has successfully shaken the population of Russia and instilled a sense of uncertainty and anxiety in some of the most ardent Kremlin propagandists, as the country now has to cope with an ongoing fuel shortage. Many analysts and experts in the West have read this as a sign that the tide is finally turning in the war. Not only can Ukraine fight Moscow on equal terms, but it might just win against the Russian war machine.

 In 2024, Allison Minor wrote, “Solving the Houthi Threat to Freedom of Navigation,” where she argued the international response to Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea has so far been inadequate and proposed a U.N.-led solution. Two years later, with global attention once again focused on maritime shipping activity, we asked Allison to review her arguments. Image: Petty Officer 1st Class Jonathan Word via DVIDSWhen you wrote about the Houthi threat in 2024, the activities in the Red Sea commanded high global attention.

What Are Trump’s Options In Iran Now? President Trump is navigating the Iran crisis through a mix of diplomatic talks in Qatar and constant standby of military pressure.

His administration has weighed several direct measures to enforce concessions regarding uranium enrichment and the Strait of Hormuz tolls. Iran’s insistence on establishing the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) to mandate, vet, and regulate maritime transit and to collect fees for vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz is a red line for the US and other Gulf nations.

(Dec.

In the latest episode of Sub Life, we go behind

President Donald Trump delivered bad news for those who hoped for a lasting peace in the Middle East. He said on July 8 that the ceasefire was finished and that there would be additional air strikes against Iran.

Trump answered questions on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey and said, “I think it’s over.” The Americans struck military targets in Iran overnight on July 7.

USS John C. Stennis Carrier. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R.

Any veteran entrepreneur in business long enough probably feels like they’ve made every mistake in the book and paid for all of them. Chances are also good that they keep going anyway.
Read Next: This Army vet started a supplement company dedicated to education and safety
Jon Klipstein is no different. Ten years ago, he founded his workout supplement and apparel company as UXO, which he has since rebranded as Die Tryin Co.

The United States launched a new barrage of strikes against Iran on Tuesday, July 7, after Iranian forces attacked three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

The Iranian attacks came during week-long funeral ceremonies for the country’s late supreme leader, and after U.S. President Donald Trump committed to giving Tehran a “week off” – despite the memorandum of understanding (MOU) ceasefire agreement already being in place.

A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer sits on the flightline at Lajes Field, Azores, Aug. 22, 2025.

President Trump said on Wednesday that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with Iran to end the conflict ‌was “over”, adding he didn’t want to engage with Tehran any further after Iran once again fired on shipping.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired missiles at three commercial tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz for using the Omani side of the Strait on Tuesday.

President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks at the 450th mile of the new border wall Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, near the Texas Mexico border.

NATO is moving forward with plans for a new cloud-enabled network for classified digital operations, the alliance announced Tuesday.
Leaders of member nations in the military pact are meeting this week in Ankara, Turkey, where the NATO Communications and Information Agency signed a deal with Accenture worth up to 200 million euros, or about $230 million, to support the Protected Business Network program.

Just over a week ago, 586 Air Force sergeants in the service’s largest career field were told they were being promoted, a moment that is traditionally a cause for celebration in all military units. Beaming commanders shook their hands in happy ceremonies. Some units held parties with balloons and cakes decorated with the 5-striped chevrons of a technical sergeant, the rank the airmen had earned.
Now, the Air Force said Monday, 135 of those promotions have been cancelled.

Country music legend George Jones had a lifelong struggle with alcoholism that was as legendary as his voice. Born among the East Texas oil fields in 1931, Jones gravitated to music to escape his alcoholic father’s booze-fueled rampages. He turned to drinking himself to overcome his stage fright and survive the demands of playing on the road.
The emotions that inspired his music only added more fuel to the fire. He’d tried to escape a life of being awakened in the middle of the night to play for his dad and his drunk buddies by singing his way across Texas.

Trump Should Target Iranian Leaders, Not Just Their Military Facilities: President Donald Trump ordered renewed attacks on Iran after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps allegedly attacked three ships in the Strait of Hormuz. “The era of bullying and extortion is over,” Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s chief negotiator with the United States, tweeted. “It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.” Trump, for his part, declared the interim agreement over. “To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them,” Trump said.

Canada has selected Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems to build a new class of submarines for the Royal Canadian Navy. The contract for the submarines is estimated to initially cost $24 billion, though accounting for lifetime program costs could bring that figure to over $100 billion.

Speaking in Halifax, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed the landmark decision. “This project is about much more than acquiring submarines. It builds Canadian industrial capacity,” he said.

President Donald Trump said he considers the ceasefire with Iran “over” after the U.S. military launched strikes against more than 80 targets on Tuesday in response to recent attacks against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s over,” Trump said on Wednesday during a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. Future talks between the two countries, Trump said, were also in doubt.
U.S.

U.S. leaders have mismanaged their country’s policy toward Iran for decades. The Eisenhower administration’s willingness in 1953 to join the coup against Iran’s elected president, Mohammad Mosaddegh, that British intelligence masterminded set the tone. Washington not only helped restore the autocratic Shah of Iran to power, but the United States also made that ruler its de facto gendarme in the Middle East and excused his many abuses committed against domestic critics.  When the Islamic revolution finally ousted the Shah in 1979, bilateral relations with Tehran soured even more.

Named after a mythological one-eyed figure, the USS Cyclops just disappeared.
The U.S. Navy bulk cargo ship departed Barbados for Baltimore on a scheduled nine-day voyage. The vessel—540 feet long and 65 feet wide—carried more than 300 people along with approximately 11,000 tons of manganese ore. The metal is a key ingredient in steelmaking and heavy artillery.
Also Read: How a Frenchman made a World War I artillery shell disappearThe last known sighting of the Cyclops was on March 4, 1918.

Russia’s autocratic president, Vladimir Putin, is paying his highest price yet for his 4.5-year-long “special military operation” against Ukraine, although some would reasonably argue that it’s ordinary Muscovites who are bearing the literal, physical brunt of the suffering rather than the well-sheltered Russian head of state. Putin’s adversarial counterpart, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has launched the biggest attack on Russia’s capital in the past two years.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has once again capitalized on his attendance at a NATO summit by signing defense cooperation agreements in what is being called the “Drone Deal format” with Estonia and the Netherlands. At the same time, Ukraine has also moved forward with parallel negotiations for similar agreements with Canada and Finland, which are expected to be concluded in the coming weeks.

On the occasion of its founding, the first NATO Secretary General, Lord Hastings Ismay, summarized the alliance’s Cold War mission as having three primary objectives: 1) keep the Russians out, which meant deterring Soviet (and today Russian) expansionism and aggression, 2) keep the Americans in by securing a permanent US presence in Europe, and 3) keep the Germans down. This meant binding them to democratic Western values and preventing a resurgence of militant nationalism or an independent German rearmament in the post-World War II era.

The Ukraine War Keeps Intensifying: On the Morning of July 6th (local time), Russia carried out a massive drone/missile attack against the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv as part of an intensified campaign against what Kremlin propagandists call the “terror regime.” The attack resulted in the deaths of seven civilians, with at least 24 more wounded across the region. This, along with the previous missile attack from last week, marks a significant increase in civilian casualties as a result of Russian attacks.

WarZone
The B-52 fleet is in need of an upcoming upgrade and has been in high demand, as well as suffering a tragic loss.

Ashley Roque, Breaking Defense
If the deal goes through as outlined, the U.K.

Max Grinstein, Washington Examiner
The U.S.

This video describes the military situation in

This video describes the military situation in

The most produced American military aircraft of World War II was not a small fighter, a trainer, or a simple utility airplane — it was a complex four-engine heavy bomber called the B-24 Liberator. Over the course of five years, American industry produced a staggering 18,482 of these bombers, and they served in every theater of the war.The B-24 was a workhorse with strategic impact, but it would not have had its utility — or possibly even existed — were it not for its wing.Of course, all airplanes need a wing to fly.

Numerous recent pirate attacks, especially the hijacking of three merchant vessels off the Horn of Africa, are a stark reminder that the conditions for resurgence can return quickly.It took years of sustained, coordinated effort by multinational naval coalitions, the shipping industry, and international organizations to get rid of pirates in the Western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden. Since 2016, many observers have viewed Somali piracy as yesterday’s problem. Shipping companies increasingly treated the threat as manageable, and Western navies no longer prioritized it.

The Republic of China Army has commenced its 2026 Shen Gong live-fire exercises, with a the primary focus being the first large scale operational live-fire testing of the FIM-92 Stinger man-portable surface-to-air missile systems from multiple launch platforms. The U.S.-supplied Stinger has become one of the Republic of China (ROC) Army’s principal short-range air defence weapons, providing frontline units with a highly mobile and easily concealable asset capable of defending against low-flying aircraft and cruise missiles.

The U.S. Navy is preparing to fully withdraw its sole class of cruiser, the Ticonderoga class, from service, which will mark the end of an era as the service fields only more lightly armed combat ships. Built from 1980–1994, 20 of the 27 cruisers have already been retired, with the remaining seven scheduled to be withdrawn from service by 2030. The ships are notable for their integration 122 Mk 41 vertical-launch cells, the same as those integrated in smaller numbers on Arleigh Burke class destroyers, split between forward and aft arrays.

The Japanese Ministry of Defence’s Joint Staff has reported ten cases of Chinese naval activities and one update on China-Russia joint aircraft activity during a 7-day period from June 25 to July 1, as operations by Chinese warships in international straits around Japan have intensified. Multiple batches of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy warships recently transited international straits around Japan before entering the Western Pacific, with five separate updates on these transits published on June 29 alone.

U.S. President Donald Trump has indicated that his administration is prepared to lift economic sanctions on Turkey and consider allowing the country to acquire F-35 fifth generation fighters, potentially reversing one of the most significant defence policy decisions made during his first administration. The announcement, made during a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the NATO summit in Ankara, signals a major shift in U.S.-Turkish defence relations.

The Swiss Defence Ministry is reported to be considering procuring the South Korean L-SAM long-range air defence system has an alternative to the U.S. MIM-104 Patriot system, amid growing concerns over delivery delays and rising procurement costs affecting the latter. Switzerland is facing significant issues with its existing Patriot acquisition program, including delays that could extend up to seven years and cost increases of at least 50 percent over the original contract value.

Doctors from The Wellness Company announced recently that they had completed a first of its kind study regarding the use of pre-prescribed medications in medical emergency kits.
The results are nothing short of stunning.
According to Dr. Peter McCullough, Chief Scientific Officer for The Wellness Company,
“Respondents reported high engagement, frequent use for common acute illness, rapid symptom resolution, infrequent and mild side effects, and preparedness benefits extending even to never-users.

“You’re going to be confronting a morale fa

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC, aka Sepah or Pasdaran) is at it again. Not quite three weeks after the official signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran that was intended to get the ball rolling on ending the war between the two nations (not to mention Iran’s war with Israel), the IRGC has once again launched attacks against commercial shipping attempting to transit the vital Strait of Hormuz, once again casting doubts upon the peace negotiations’ long-term prospects for bearing fruit.

The military services remain challenged to deliver key hypersonic weapons to warfighters by their previously projected timelines, according to a new report from the U.S. government’s watchdog organization.
Published on Friday by the Government Accountability Office, the review highlights that three of the Pentagon’s ongoing hypersonic weapons programs are at risk of being delayed or delivering systems that have not been fully demonstrated.

The United States announced the revocation of its authorization for Iranian oil sales on Tuesday, July 7, following a series of Iranian attacks on commercial tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said that it was revoking Iran-related General License X, the June 21 authorization that allowed the “production, delivery, and sale” of Iranian crude oil, petrochemical products, and petroleum products. The authorization has been replaced with General License X1 for a wind-down period, which is expected to run until July 17.

Navy officials have identified Cmdr. Gabriel Edwards, commanding officer of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 5, as the sailor who went missing after an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush crashed last week into the Arabian Sea.
Edwards was one of four crewmembers on board the helicopter. The other three sailors survived and were recovered.
“The thoughts and prayers of every member of the Carrier Strike Group 10 team are with the Edwards family.” Rear Adm. Todd Cimicata, commander, Carrier Strike Group 10, said in a statement.

Putin’s Next Crisis: The war in Ukraine has taken a toll on Russia. The country has suffered nearly a million and a half casualties. Attacks on its gas and oil infrastructure have caused widespread gas shortages in 56 of Russia’s 83 regions. The economy is teetering on the edge, and the news keeps getting worse.

Half a million Russian citizens went bankrupt in 2025, up 33 percent from the year before, as Russian President Vladimir Putin risks an “explosive” banking crisis, an intelligence report from an unnamed European country has warned.

The ‘Viking Row’ continues to take

Delivering timely military data to warfighters in the air, at sea or on the battlefield has almost always meant bridging insurmountable technical chasms. That’s starting to change as defense leaders shift their perspective on what it means to operate “at the edge.”
“The edge no longer just means that literal front line of the battlefield. It really is where airmen and guardians are operating and conducting their day-to-day business operations.

Ukraine’s long-range missile and drone strikes continue, with one of the most devastating long-range attacks of the war occurring overnight into Tuesday, July 7. The strikes targeted Moscow and at least 15 other Russian regions with more than 400 drones.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to intensify strikes deep inside Russia following the attacks, while Russian authorities said that their air defenses had intercepted hundreds of drones.

In the last 24 hours, Ukraine launched one of its largest drone attacks against Moscow, with more than 430 drones taking part in the operation.

This comes after Zelensky vowed to retaliate against the most recent Russian drone/missile attack against Kyiv.

Tu-160M Bomber Air Force. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

According to initial reports, most, if not all, of the drones were intercepted by air defense systems, and no damage/impacts were recorded.

This video describes the military situation in

Ukraine’s planned 40-day, long-range strike campaign against Russia has weeks left, but we may already have an idea of where this is headed.

The campaign goes above and beyond just destroying military targets in Russia; it is a deliberate attempt to damage the economic system that keeps Putin’s war running. And it’s working so far.

Putin Is Speaking Image from the Russian Federation Government End of 2024

The strategy proved to be effective yet again this week when Ukrainian drones struck the Omsk oil refinery in Siberia – the largest Russian refinery.

Giving the boot to cancer 👟
🏉 UKAF rugby

Why does the US military use million-dollar int

An irreplaceable losS
BFBS Forces News Reporter

Despite crude oil levels remaining low, oil prices, which have reached pre-conflict levels, may have given President Trump some much-needed leverage over Iran.

The Iranians had closed off the strategic waterway, the Strait of Hormuz, threatening any tankers or container ships that entered the Strait with missiles, drones, or attacks by small speedboats.

141208-N-WD464-386 ARABIAN GULF (Dec. 8, 2014) The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) prepares for flight operations in the Arabian Gulf. Carl Vinson is deployed in the U.S.

The Navy’s program acquisition executive for strategic systems programs is launching a Next Generation Undersea Security Initiative focused on unmanned systems, autonomy and other high-tech capabilities that could enhance and protect the sea service’s assets.
The SSP office is responsible for developing and sustaining sea-based nuclear forces and other advanced weapon systems.