NATO Wants Ukraine’s Drones – and Ukraine: When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine had little in the way of a dedicated military drone industry – and nor was it preparing to build one. Soldiers and volunteers responded to the invasion by using any tool they could find and quickly engaged in asymmetric warfare using Chinese-made DJI Mavic and DJI Phantom drones. The drones were jerry-rigged and modified with improvised grenade-release mechanisms that were capable of destroying Russian tanks through their open hatches.
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“God help us if we go down here,” William Drager, a 25-year-old tail gunner from Hackettstown, N.J., wrote to his family in the late summer of 1944. “They’ll never find us because this is the most rugged country I’ve ever seen.”
He was right. For 52 years, anyway.
The 10-man aboard his B-24 Liberator bomber would get lost following an attack on Japanese positions. They didn’t just lose their way; they were lost to the world until 1996, when they were found by two Chinese farmers.
Russia May Escalate Fighting Instead of Negotiating for Peace: While President Donald Trump is optimistic that there is an end in sight to the Russo-Ukrainian war, Vladimir Putin has other ideas. Despite incessant drone and missile strikes from Ukraine that have flattened energy infrastructure, the Russian dictator has no plans to stop fighting anytime soon. Putin believes that his forces can still take all of Donbas, giving Russia the belief that it can achieve its strategic objectives in the war.
No End to the Meatgrinder
Switchblade Drone. Image Credit: Industry Handout.
Is Iran Dragging The US Into A Long Conflict Against Its Will? President Donald Trump’s attempts to settle the Iran conflict continue to be hit with roadblocks due to Iran’s attacks on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz and the latest exchange of retaliatory attacks between the two sides, leaving the US with limited options.
Trump declared that the interim agreement to end the conflict, the “Memorandum of Understanding,” was “over” and ordered fresh air strikes early Wednesday, hitting 90 targets according to the US Central Command (CENTCOM), after Iran targeted U.S.
The Defense Department has awarded other transaction agreements to nLIGHT Defense and Lockheed Martin Aculight for directed energy weapons as the military seeks new tools for zapping adversary drone swarms and cruise missiles, the Pentagon announced Thursday.
The deals, valued at $86 million, will support the Joint Laser Weapon System program, spearheaded by the Pentagon’s Research and Engineering directorate.
Defense officials have long-touted the benefits of DE systems such as their high-speed engagement, low cost-per-shot and deep magazines.
The war in Ukraine is escalating as both sides increase their medium- to long-range strike campaigns against each other. While many experts and analysts hoped that Ukraine’s recent drone campaign would force Russia to the negotiating table, it appears that the opposite has happened. Sources close to Putin have instead reported that the Kremlin is digging its heels in and remains adamant about ending the war on Russia’s terms.
A rule created 75 years ago bars military members from suing the government while still on active duty, even in cases when one service member sexually assaults another. But if a new bill becomes law, troops would be allowed to bring lawsuits against the government for negligence in such cases, a change that military advocates say would be a watershed moment that gives military members the same legal rights that civilians have.
The Department of Defense policy that dropped 180 faiths from its list of recognized religions is bad news for Unitarians, Druids, and dozens of other belief systems. But when it comes to veterans facing the hereafter, the Department of Veterans Affairs still has you all covered.
Read Next: An Air Force vet created an app to geolocate gravesites and digitize cemetery records
One of the benefits of service is that the VA provides a free government headstone or marker for any eligible, honorably discharged veteran buried in any cemetery worldwide.
Look for the Strait of Hormuz to Be Closed Again as Traffic Dwindles: The summer driving season is here, and you may soon be paying more for gasoline. The Iranians are closing the Strait of Hormuz, and oil tanker traffic is once again stalled. Two weeks ago, it looked like things were better in the strait. Oil and natural gas were transiting regularly through the strategic waterway, and crude prices dipped lower. This was seen as an excellent development in a world plagued by a shortage of hydrocarbons due to the war in Iran.
India’s Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) has completed a successful flight-test of the Pinaka Long Range Guided Rocket (LRGR) at the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur, Odisha.