Author: Michael

Howard Altman/USAF

Immediately following the glitzy rollout of the B-21 Raider at Northrop Grumman’s secure facility at Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, the hot takes started piling up. “It’s just an updated B-2 Spirit” and “B-2 2.0, big deal” quickly became par for the course on social media. I received a ton of inquiries from people genuinely asking if this is the great leap forward it was billed as or if the B-21 appeared to be just a ‘rehashed Spirit.’
The answer to those types of questions is, well, complicated, but not in a bad way.

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Recently, Hunter Brown, a United States Air Force Academy cadet and member of the intercollegiate football team, died of a cardiac arrest while walking to class.  Tragic events like these are becoming all too common.  It is not acceptable to automatically regard these events as normal and categorically deny that they are not related to mRNA vaccines.  Those of us in the graduate community mourn Hunter’s death and extend our deep-felt condolences to his family and friends.

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Polish Ministry of Defense

Poland has outright announced that it wants to give some of its Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, as part of an international effort to bolster Kyiv’s armored forces in the continued effort to thwart Russia’s invasion. While there has been much talk recently of providing advanced Western tanks to Ukraine, this is finally a concrete move in that direction, although such a transfer still hinges upon approval from Germany, the original source of the Leopard 2s in question.

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There are an unending number of interesting facts about the SR-71 Blackbird, probably the coolest aircraft ever produced by any Air Force, anywhere in the world. It’s the only airframe that’s made of 85% titanium, titanium that was purchased by the CIA from the Soviet Union – the country the aircraft was built to spy on. It’s capable of cruising at more than three times the speed of sound at 85,000 feet – and that speed and altitude are its only defenses.

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The Vietnam War had a profound impact on American society. It led to the establishment of an all-volunteer military, increased scrutiny of the government, and a strong anti-war sentiment across the country. One overlooked effect that the war had on the United States is the boom of the nail salon industry.
When Saigon fell in to communist forces in 1975, 125,000 Vietnamese refugees fled to the United States. Most spoke very little English and needed help settling in their new country. Relief organizations tried to align refugees in jobs that used their existing skill sets as best as possible.

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
The subject of U.S.-made military equipment in active service with Communist Vietnam has fascinated military enthusiasts and analysts alike. For all their fascination however, relatively little has been written about the continued use of U.S. military equipment by unified Vietnam after the fall of South Vietnam in 1975. On the rare occasion that the subject has been covered, most attention has gone towards the operations of captured aircraft like the F-5E, C-130 and UH-1. North Vietnam is estimated to have captured more than 1.

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