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Less than two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ended the military’s flu shot mandate, several branches reinstated flu vaccine requirements after an outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas sickened at least 222 recruits and hospitalized four. Mainstream outlets tied the outbreak, and the June 12 death of recruit Keon McDaniel, to the end of the mandate, but several physicians and researchers interviewed by The Defender said there is no clear evidence linking McDaniel’s death to the flu or showing that the policy change caused the outbreak.

by Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D.

Ukraine’s long-range strike campaign escalated again on the night of June 23, with missiles striking one of the largest gas processing facilities in Russia.

The strikes also took out military satellite communications infrastructure and caused additional damage in occupied Crimea.

Tu-95. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Tu-95 Bomber Russian Air Force. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

It comes as Kyiv steps up its long-range campaign, forcing Russia to shut down major oil refinery operations and even prompting it to seek help from Kazakhstan to address its fuel shortage.

Ukrainian drone and missile attacks in Russia and in Crimea are putting intense pressure on the Russian economy and on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is facing increasing pressure both at the front and within the country.

However, some analysts believe that Ukraine’s recent string of successes will only cause Russia to escalate the war even further.

Su-34 Fullback. Creator: Vitaly V. Kuzmin. Credit: Vitaly V. Kuzmin

The Ukrainians have knocked out about 25 percent of Russia’s gas and oil refineries.

U.S. President Donald Trump sought to assure global partners on Wednesday that there would be no tolls charged in the Strait of Hormuz.

The president’s comments appeared to suggest that American negotiators had secured a concession from Iran on a permanent basis, meaning that passage will be free for commercial vessels during the 60-day negotiating period and afterward, too.

A U.S.

Space Systems Command announced Wednesday that Boeing will provide two additional satellites for the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) constellation — extending operations for one of the Defense Department’s critical SATCOM networks.
Boeing beat out Lockheed Martin for the MUOS Service Life Extension program, initiated by the Space Force to ensure the tactical satellite communications constellation remains operational until 2035.

In 2004, as a young defense analyst at the RAND Corporation think tank, I was once called into my boss’s office.

“Take a look at this Army Future Combat System, and give me a report,” he said.

On May 16th 2025, Montana’s 1-163rd Combined Arms Battalion hosted over a dozen British Army Soldiers of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry (RWxY) at the Limestone Hills Training Facility in a joint training event to help their armored crewmembers transition to the Challenger 3 tank which is currently in production.

President Donald Trump appeared to make a new threat of military strikes against Iran on Tuesday, June 23, when he told reporters, “I’ll do what I have to do” if Iran doesn’t hold up their end of the agreement.

The comment follows a number of other threats made by the president since signing the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Tehran that established a 60-day negotiating window for a future peace deal.

Ukrainian Attack on Sevastopol Leaves It Without Power: In another devastating attack on Crimea by Ukrainian drones, an attack overnight knocked out power to Sevastopol, the largest city in the Russian-occupied peninsula.

In other attacks on the strategically important area in the past month, the Ukrainians have been attacking Russian supply lines, especially the fuel trucks traveling into the peninsula, as the Russian puppet government has been forced to suspend fuel sales to the public.

TOS-1. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

In 2024, Paul Scharre and Michael Depp wrote, “Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear Stability,” where they argued integrating artificial intelligence into the nuclear chain of command presents both opportunities and risks. Two years later, as AI becomes increasingly integrated into military systems and processes, we asked them to revisit their arguments. Image: Senior Airman Jason Wiese via Wikimedia CommonsIn 2024, you argued that integrating artificial intelligence into the nuclear chain of command presents both opportunities and risks.

What Ukraine’s Crimean Bridge Strikes Mean for Russia: In a statement on Telegram, the Ukrainian military claimed on Tuesday that it had caused significant damage to a bridge over the Crimean canal in the occupied peninsula. The statement, issued by the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (SOF), said that the North Crimean canal bridge had been totally destroyed and “no longer exists.”

“Sorry, but we have an official and urgent message here: The Railway Bridge over the North Crimean Canal in Crimea no longer exists,” the statement reads.