Author: Michael

A new iron colossus covers the sky of the air military sector, the Turkish Akinci attack drone, destined to mark a before and after in the war history of the Middle East.
Mastery of the sky: Bayraktar TB2 and Turkish supremacy in the drone industry

Turkish steel takes flight into an unprecedented future, marked by Saudi Arabia’s historic order for the advanced Akinci drone. This contract hailed as the “biggest ever,” is living testimony to the reputation enjoyed by the Bayraktar TB2 drone on a global scale.

German defense giant, Rheinmetall, has secured a €1.3 billion contract to supply artillery shells to the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr), strengthening its lead as an ammunition supplier in Europe.
Rheinmetall to supply the Bundeswehr with ammunition until 2029
This agreement is divided into two separate contracts. One is a new contract for the supply of 155mm artillery ammunition; the other is an extension of an existing contract. The supply of several hundred thousand shells of different types is expected.

The SAMP/T NG is rapidly deployed and easily integrated into an air defense network, making it easy to operate in different scenarios.
The Italian Air Force has committed 700 million euros for the acquisition of the latest generation air defense system SAMP/T NG, according to a contract signed on July 18, 2023.
The contract with OCCAR-EA and Eurosam
The agreement was signed by Joachim Sucker, director of OCCAR-EA and Eva Bruxmeier, general director of Eurosam, modifying the existing FSAF-PAAMS Sustainment & Enhancement (S&E) contract.

In his first press briefing as the Defense Innovation Unit’s new director, Doug Beck spotlighted his team’s big plans to help the Pentagon “drive disruption at scale” and hinted at potential forthcoming shifts in how the commercial-to-military technology incubator operates.
“I’m viewing this as kind of the start of an ongoing dialogue — and we’ll have more to share soon,” he told reporters during the virtual engagement on Thursday.

President Abraham Lincoln ran a squeaker of a presidential campaign in 1864. In August, he expected to lose, but Union battlefield successes helped him over the top by November. So in March 1865, he toured the battlefields near Fort Stedman, likely feeling confident in the war and his political prospects.
Ironically, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee launched a surprise attack that threatened to capture him just weeks after his inauguration.
The Petersburg Campaign and Fort Stedman
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant led his forces in the long Petersburg Campaign.

The day before the 1969 Apollo 11 mission that would see man land on the moon for the first time, Richard Davis’ Detroit pizzeria was doing its usual business. Three men called in an order for two large pepperoni and ham pizzas. This order stood out to Davis, because it was the exact same order three men used to rob his fiancee the week prior. 
When Davis arrived at the address with the pies in hand, he was also carrying a .22-caliber revolver. Davis was prepared for anything. The men told him to bring the pizzas around to the back of the house.

When readers and armchair historians think of underwater combat, they probably think of Navy SEALs first, but Force Recon Marines, especially in the Vietnam War, saw a lot of diving duties. Like most things reconnaissance Marines did in Vietnam, they saw a lot of combat. Most of the stories involving the brown waters of Vietnam’s rivers involve what was happening on the surface of the water, but there was a lot happening below, too. 
Lance Cpl. Robert L. Hughes first came to South Vietnam in 1966 with the 1st Force Reconnaissance Company.

When the American colonies declared themselves independent from Great Britain, the British monarchy decided it needed a little more muscle than it had on hand to put down the American Revolution. At the time, a small part of the Holy Roman Empire called Hesse-Kassel (in modern-day Germany) was lending its troops to the highest bidder.
In 1776, that bidder was England’s King George III. He hired 30,000 Hessian troops to help the redcoats subdue the unruly colonists.

Founded on July 14, 1813, the Watervliet Arsenal was established to support the War of 1812. Located on the Hudson River near Albany, New York, the arsenal’s manufacturing capability helped repel the British invasion of the United States. Now, 210 years after its founding, Watervliet is churning out gun barrels to support Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion.
Watervliet is the oldest continuously operating arsenal in America (U.S. Army)
The Watervliet Arsenal is the oldest continuously active arsenal in the country.

The Battle of Wanat took place on July 13, 2008, in the Waygal Valley, Nuristan Province, Afghanistan. It involved around 200 Taliban insurgents attacking a small U.S. Army outpost manned by 49 U.S. soldiers and 24 Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers. Nine U.S. soldiers lost their lives. Another 27 were wounded, marking it as one of the deadliest for American forces during the war.
Background and Preparations
In the weeks leading up to the battle, U.S. forces established a temporary outpost in the village of Wanat. The base was named Combat Outpost (COP) Kahler in honor of 1st Lt.