Author: Michael

The Space Force first debuted its prototype dress uniform in September 2021. (U.S. Air Force photos).

More than a year and a half after the Space Force debuted its brand-new service dress uniform to comparisons to the Galactic Empire from Star Wars, the outfit’s much-maligned baggy pants have undergone “a lot of refinement,” a service spokesperson said on Tuesday. 
But despite the recent completion of the service’s final fit test for the new dress uniform in late March, officials are far from finished getting the new pants ready for prime time, the spokesperson said.

A disabled veteran with prosthetic legs looks on during the archery competition at the inaugural Valor Games Far West on June 11, 2013 in Foster City, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images).

Veterans groups are venting their frustration over a Washington Post editorial that calls on Congress to more closely scrutinize veterans’ disability benefits claims as a way to cut costs.

With Russia and Ukraine preparing for a new spring offensive, the Russians appear to have moved their flagship TOS-1A Solntsepek heavy flamethrower system to the elite forces of the Russian Army.
On April 3, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the airborne forces had received the TOS-1A Solntsepek heavy flamethrower system for the first time. The Russian Army already used it.
The Russian news agency RIA Novosti has reported that the flamethrower system will be widely used on the battlefield against Ukraine.

A new Navy effort to integrate unmanned systems into 4th Fleet in Central and South America will kick off in July at the multinational UNITAS exercise, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced Tuesday.
The initiative will incorporate lessons learned from Task Force 59, which has been operating under 5th Fleet in the Middle East. The task force has been using unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, sensors and the cloud to create what officials are calling a “mesh network” for U.S. Central Command intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
Soon, U.S.

On April 4, 2023, Finland became the newest member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. As the 31st nation to join the military alliance, Finland effectively doubled NATO’s land border with Russia. Finland’s admission to NATO also coincides with the 74th anniversary of NATO’s establishment.

Left to right: Finland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken (NATO)

On July 5, 2022, all NATO Allies signed Finland’s Accession Protocol.

(IMDB image).

The final evacuation of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan played out in real-time across screens back in 2021, so it makes sense that it would become fodder for new action flicks on the big screen.
But the new trailer for the upcoming Afghan war movie Kandahar, which dropped on Tuesday, is a departure from what you might expect of an Afghanistan evac movie. Set for a Memorial Day release, Gerard Butler stars as a CIA agent fleeing with his interpreter companion in search of rescue, presumably somewhere near Kandahar, Afghanistan.

As the Navy makes progress on its engineering and deployment of ultramodern training environments that merge live, virtual and constructive (LVC) capabilities, senior officials are beginning to recognize an emerging need for a common entity to help monitor and coordinate activities across the expansive system.
Broadly, LVC training combines real-world, in-person elements with virtual reality, simulation and other computer-generated technologies to enable service members to train more like they actually fight for combat of the future.

The U.S. Air Force’s hypersonic ARRW missile is being canceled, but what exactly led to this promising program’s failure?
The post Was the Air Force’s hypersonic ARRW missile killed by a rush to save face? first appeared on Sandboxx.
The post Was the Air Force’s hypersonic ARRW missile killed by a rush to save face? appeared first on Sandboxx.

The Pentagon’s Silicon Valley-based Defense Innovation Unit finally has a new leader in Doug Beck, a vice president of Apple Inc.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday named Beck as the new director. Austin also announced an elevation of the role, reporting directly to the secretary himself rather than to the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering. As such, “DIU will be under the authority, direction, and control of the Secretary of Defense,” per a release from the DOD.

The U.S. Navy has always had a strong affiliation with NASA and space flight, providing some of the most skilled pilots to become astronauts. Fittingly, NASA’s Artemis II crew includes two Naval Aviators, one of whom is the mission commander. The historic crew also includes astronauts who will be the first African American, the first female and the first Canadian to fly to the moon.

Artemis I launches on November 16, 2022 (NASA)

Artemis II marks the first crewed mission aboard the Space Launch System, NASA’s foundational deep space rocket.