Author: Michael

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.

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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.

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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.

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(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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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A Ukrainian Air Force official has confirmed that the service is already using air-delivered precision-guided weapons operationally. The Ukrainian Air Force has confirmed that it is using the US-supplied JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) air-launched precision weapon against Russian forces in the country. 
U.S. authorities confirmed that Ukraine had received the JDAM-ER, a long-range variant of the weapon capable of striking targets up to 45 miles away with great devastating capability, prompting the announcement.

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Paramount/CBS composite

Star Trek has inspired throngs of people to serve in the military, become astronauts, take up STEM careers, recognize a general sense of duty within, and just dream bigger in whatever their enterprise may be. But in order for any star treks to occur, the universe its stories inhabit has to be built… literally. The guy currently tasked with the tall order of making the 25th Century come to life is Production Designer David Blass.
Star Trek is an international icon as much as it is an entertainment franchise.

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