Author: Michael

USAF

The U.S. Air Force is looking to begin buying conformal fuel tanks for its future F-15EX Eagle II fighter jets. Budget documents also confirm that the service plans to ask for funds to acquire another 24 F-15EXs in the 2025 Fiscal Year. This is on top of the two dozen it wants to buy in its latest budget request for Fiscal Year 2024 and is now the last planned purchase of Eagle IIs.
The War Zone did a deep dive questioning the USAF’s F-15EX fleet plan prior to the 2023 budget release that you can read here.

In January and February, the Russian army tried to capture the small coal mining town of Vuhledar in southern Donbas.
A powerful mechanized force consisting of elite Russian marine brigades attempted to break through the Ukrainian defenses and capture Vuhledar.
If the Russian military had been successful, they would have set the stage for an operational breakthrough. Heavy casualties marked the end of the Russian offensive. The Ukrainians used this weapon system to stop Russian elite tanks and infantry.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — As they work to streamline information sources and operationalize artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities across the Navy’s entire surface fleet, members of Task Force Hopper recently launched a new program to build “low lift, high impact” AI and ML applications that can generate value from the heaps of data captured on ships every day, according to Capt. Pete Kim.

Space Camp is an internationally-recognized program that immerses students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics through experiences and simulators based on space exploration. But, did you know that Naval Aviation has a similar STEM-oriented program? It makes sense given that many astronauts first flew as Naval Aviators. Located aboard Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, the National Flight Academy offers students an immersive, hands-on learning environment like no other.

Sergeant Major Thomas Patrick Payne is a member of the U. S. Army Delta Force and a recipient of the Medal of Honor. Payne earned his award in 2015 for his action in Iraq. He is the only U.S. service member to earn the Medal of Honor for service during Operation Inherent Resolve.
Background on Sergeant Major Thomas Patrick Payne
Sergeant Major Thomas Patrick Payne hails from Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina, where he spent most of his childhood. He comes from a family of civil servicemen. His father is a police officer and two of his brothers serve in the military.

Last week’s Mandalorian season 3 episode meanders a bit without much payoff (for now, maybe) but it should feel familiar to Star Wars fans on a whole. The middle of the episode detours to entirely new(ish) characters for a while. Let’s get to it.
Spoilers ahead.
The episode opens where last week left off: Bo-Katan Kryze and Din Djarin collapsed on the steps of the living waters in the mines of Mandalore. When Djarin comes to, Bo-Katan asks him what he remembers, he observes that the waters were deeper than he’d thought but all he saw were caverns as he plummeted below the surface.

Forrest Gump is a modern classic film, depicting the latter half of 20th century American history through the eyes of a slow but kindhearted man. Based on the book of the same name, the titular character has a distinct, deep southern accent. Tom Hanks, who played Gump through his teenage years and into adulthood, based the accent on Michael Conner Humphreys, the actor who played young Gump. Like Gump, Humphreys later joined the Army and served overseas.

Like Forrest Gump, Humphreys served in the Army (reddit.

Albert Severin Roche tried to join the French Army well before World War I engulfed continental Europe. The army rejected him for being both too scrawny and too short. The French military believed that someone of his stature just couldn’t serve effectively in combat. They were wrong, very wrong. 
Eventually, this pint-sized powerhouse would find his way into the army, rescue fellow soldiers, capture hundreds of enemy troops, and even escape from captivity after killing his interrogator.

What does Imperial War Museum sound like to you?
Do you think:
a. A bunch of Star Wars nerds got way too into it. They started their own roadside stand with a few AT-ATs and a suit of Darth Vadar’s medical devices?b. A potentially problematic collection of Germany’s attempts to start its own empire? With the first and second reichs being hopefully more celebrated than the third?c.

U.S. Marines from Task Force Tarawa keep a weary eye out after they saw a day of intense fighting March 23, 2003 in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah (Joe Raedle/Getty Images).

Around 4 a.m. on March 21, 2003, U.S. soldiers and Marines crossed the border from Kuwait to Iraq, marking the start of a ground invasion that would reach Baghdad a little over two weeks later and ultimately destroy Saddam Hussein’s regime after 26 days of heavy fighting.
Two days later, U.S.