Following confirmation on July 26 that the Russian Navy’s sole refurbished Kirov class nuclear-powered missile cruiser Admiral Nakhimovreturned to its home port of Severomorsk after 29 years out of service for refurbishment, the role of the remote Arctic facility now hosting the country’s premier surface combat ship has gained significant attention. Severomorsk is the headquarters and principal surface fleet base of the Navy’s Northern Fleet, located on the eastern shore of Kola Bay, and is a closed military city meaning that all civilian access is tightly restricted.
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A Boeing 777-200LRMF converted freighter made an extremely low pass over Horseshoe Bay Resort Jet Center Airport on 24 June, coming within just feet of runway according to video and ADS-B data. The aircraft, registered N705DN, is a former Delta Air Lines 777-200LR that was converted to freighter configuration by Mammoth Freighters. The aircraft is currently owned by Jetran LLC and is scheduled to be handed over to Qatar Airways Cargo, reported FlightRadar24.
The data behind the flight
The lowest recorded altitude during the low pass by Flightradar24 ADS-B receivers was 950 feet.
The fragile memorandum of understanding (MOU) cease-fire deal between the United States and Iran is on the verge of coming undone after Iran struck a commercial cargo ship passing near Omani waters, and the U.S. responded with strikes on Iranian military targets. The exchange began on Thursday when Singapore-flagged commercial cargo ship Ever Lovely was hit by a one-way attack drone while transiting close to the Omani side of the Strait of Hormuz.
At least four one-way attack drones were reportedly launched at the ship, with one striking the upper deck of the vessel, causing damage.
Amid mounting pressure from Ukraine’s long-range strike campaign and threats issued to Belarus over its hosting of Russian military infrastructure, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks on June 26. The meeting has ignited speculation that the two countries may be preparing to deepen Belarus’ involvement in the conflict.
Putin met with Lukashenko at his Valdai residence in the Novgorod region.
The Force is strong with Sam O’Hara. The District of Columbia agreed to pay an undisclosed amount of money to O’Hara, a district resident who says he was illegally detained for following a group of Ohio National Guardsmen and playing the “Imperial March” from “Star Wars.”
On Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia, which is backing O’Hara’s lawsuit over his detention, said on Friday that the District of Columbia agreed to pay him to settle the case.
The price tag for rebuilding Ukraine keeps climbing, and the latest official estimate puts it close to $588 billion. That figure, daunting as it is, may be the easier half of the problem. Money can be borrowed, seized, or donated. People are far harder to replace, and after more than four years of war, Ukraine has lost millions of them, including a large share of the young, educated, and skilled workers any reconstruction will depend on.
In the latest test of the Washington-Tehran memorandum of understanding (MOU), U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced a series of strikes against Iran on June 26. The announcement followed news that an Iranian drone had struck a ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz close to the Omani side of the waterway.
What CENTCOM Confirmed
U.S.
For the first time, all 22 National Guard generals who command America’s Air National Guard fighter squadrons put their names on a single letter to Congress, and their message was blunt. The United States Air Force, they wrote, is the oldest, the smallest, and the least ready it has been in its 78-year history. The independent data largely backs them up. The fighter force has shrunk by more than half since the Cold War ended, the jets that remain are decades old, and readiness has fallen to its lowest level in a generation.
Ukraine has turned its drone war into an explicit instrument of coercion. President Volodymyr Zelensky announced this week that he approved a 40-day operation by Ukraine’s security service aimed squarely at one goal, forcing Russia to negotiate an end to the war.
The operation comes with a deadline and a clear purpose: to make the war hurt deep inside Russia until Moscow agrees to negotiate, and its early results are already severe.
Ukraine Switchblade Drone. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Ukraine has spent the early summer methodically choking off Crimea, hitting the fuel depots, the rail bridges, the ferry terminals, and the supply routes that keep the peninsula running, and the effect is now impossible for Moscow to hide. Russian occupation authorities have rationed gasoline, brought in fuel vouchers, and watched the summer tourist season collapse. Vladimir Putin’s options for hitting back are real, but they are also narrower than the Kremlin’s rhetoric suggests, and most of them are versions of things Russia is already doing without decisive effect.