Author: Michael

Summary and Key Points: The United States built 5,195 F-4 Phantom II fighters between 1958 and 1981 — the most-produced American supersonic military aircraft in history.

-Designed as a Navy fleet-defense interceptor, the Phantom expanded into air superiority, fighter-bomber, close air support, reconnaissance, and the legendary Wild Weasel electronic warfare role. The aircraft served with the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marines and 15 American allies.

F-4 Phantom II Fighter National Security Journal Photo. Taken on July 19, 2025 by Harry J. Kazianis.

F-4 Phantom II.

Naval aviators are more stressed by night landings on an aircraft carrier than by combat. Physiological studies show higher heart rates and blood pressure during night carrier landings than during combat missions. Naval aircraft hit the deck at roughly 155 knots and stop in 1.2 seconds. The target zone is 49 feet long. The flight deck itself measures only about 150 meters — postage-stamp-sized compared with the 6,000-to-10,000 foot runways commercial pilots use. Pilots use the Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System (the meatball) to maintain glide slope.

Key Points and Summary: Taiwan is harder to invade today than at any point in its modern history. Over the past two years it has procured 57 HIMARS rocket systems, fielded its fourth Patriot air defense battalion, ordered Army Tactical Missile Systems with 300-kilometer reach, and committed to spending 3.5% of GDP on hard defense — the NATO standard most NATO members do not meet.

–The Problem: Taiwan’s strategic LNG reserves nonetheless last only 11 to 14 days under blockade.

HIMARS. Image Credit: U.S. Government.

The Army successfully hit its recruiting goal for the 2026 fiscal year, more than four months ahead of its deadline. 
The Army announced on Saturday that it reached its goal of signing 61,500 people for active-duty contracts. It’s the third year in a row that the Army met its recruitment goal, after falling short in 2022 and 2023. It also is the second year in a row that it beat the deadline by roughly four months; in 2025 the Army hit the milestone in the first week of June. The fiscal year closes at the end of September.

This video describes the military situation in

The Navy’s longest serving aircraft carrier is now operating in the Caribbean. The USS Nimitz, the 51-year-old carrier that recently got its service extended, arrived in the sea on Wednesday, joining an American military presence that has been in place for several months. It also brings more naval power to the region as the United States ramps up pressure on Cuba.
The Nimitz and its strike group, including the USS Gridley and USS Patuxent as well as Carrier Air Wing 17, entered the Caribbean earlier this week after conducting operations with Brazil, U.S.

The post Another Corrupt Former Army Officer Wes Moore Disgraces Uniform – DOJ Puts Democrat-Run Maryland On Notice In Election Integrity Probe appeared first on Armed Forces Press.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth delivered a commencement speech to the 2026 West Point Military Academy to Army graduates.

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Captain John Monroe Hawk Smith was the executive officer of the U.S. Navy’s TOPGUN program — and one of the most lethal air-to-air aviators in the Navy across a 30-year career. In one storied TOPGUN engagement, Hawk flew a smaller, older Northrop F-5 Tiger so close beside a second F-5 that two Block 90 F-14 Tomcats with the powerful AWG-9 radar and television unit could paint only a single target. Hawk then dove for the deck, where the AWG-9’s Pulse-Doppler mode could not pick him up. The desert lizard paint scheme blended into the sand.

Key Points and Summary: China holds approximately 1.4 billion barrels of oil in its Strategic Petroleum Reserve — the largest in the world. The U.S. SPR is now below 375 million barrels and is dropping by 10 to 18 million barrels per week, according to various analyses. Most experts estimate the SPR needs to hold 500 to 700 million barrels to remain effective in mitigating short-term energy disruptions in a country the size of the United States.

-Gerald Ford created the SPR in 1975 after the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo.

-The last shipment of oil from the Strait of Hormuz bound for the U.S.