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The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Ground Forces 71st Group Army have deployed Type 96 main battle tanks for driving training exercises in the country’s eastern regions, drawing attention to the capabilities of the vehicles which form the backbone of the country’s fleet fleet. Subordinated to the Eastern Theatre Command, the 71st Group Army is comprised of six combined-arms manoeuvre brigades, four of which are equipped with heavy armour. Each brigade leads four combined-arms battalions.

The message started circulating in some Army circles last week. It promoted an artificial intelligence tool, one that would “revolutionize” how soldiers approach talent management. 
Dubbed VECTOR, the AI application was hosted on an official Army data analytics platform. The message said it could help soldiers write performance evaluations and prepare for promotion boards by tapping into historical board data, critical assessments that determine whether a soldier moves on to the next rank.
Within days however, VECTOR was gone — at least for now.

The Air Force recently held a live demonstration of an air-launched cruise missile that is being developed to give Ukraine additional long-range strike capability at low cost.
The service announced Friday that it successfully conducted a live-warhead test of the weapon — known as the Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM) — on Jan. 21 at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The system is one of several being developed for the Ukrainian military to leverage in its effort to counter Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Anyone who follows “Terminal Lance” on Instagram can tell you that Marines should never be left unsupervised. The trouble they can get into runs the gamut from playing dangerous (but hilarious) games on the unit floor buffer to multiple international incidents, some involving critical American allies.
Related: A junior enlisted Marine once eloped with Bahrain’s Princess
What Marine Warrant Officer Faustin Wirkus did was pretty spectacular, but it wasn’t actually his fault. In reality, it was just a day in the life of a U.S. Marine.

A former Marine drill instructor who was sentenced to prison following the hazing death of a recruit at boot camp was released early and recently arrested for a separate crime. 
Joseph Felix, a former gunnery sergeant, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in November 2017 for hazing recruits, including one who died. The incident was one of the biggest hazing scandals in the history of the Recruit Depot at Parris Island, South Carolina, prompting sweeping investigations that led to several Marines being reassigned, fired, and court-martialed.

Almost two months after the Pentagon deployed GenAI.mil on government desktops across its sprawling workforce, all but one of the military services have formally declared the asset to be their teams’ AI platform of choice.
In response to questions from DefenseScoop on Monday, a Pentagon official said that there have been “1.1 million unique users” on GenAI.mil to date. 
They further confirmed that five of the six military branches have adopted the tool enterprise-wide over legacy systems — noting that it’s just “minus the [U.S. Coast Guard] for now.

Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Lorna Mahlock was confirmed by the Senate on Friday evening as deputy commander of U.S. Cyber Command, where she could have an outsized influence as the organization prepares for new leadership and other major changes.
She was nominated for the position by President Donald Trump.
Her Senate confirmation, which happened via voice vote, means she’ll also pin on a third star and become a lieutenant general.
Mahlock brings deep cyber knowledge and background to her new role.
She has been serving as commander of the U.S.

Russia’s only aircraft carrier is the 55,000-ton behemoth Admiral Kuznetsov (full name “Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Kuznetsov”), and is—on paper—the Russian Navy’s flagship. In reality, however, it was a floating hell for the crew and a money pit that Russia can’t really afford to keep afloat.
This is good news for Russian sailors, who have long considered an assignment aboard the carrier more of a punishment than a highlight on their resume. At the end of the Soviet Union’s glory days, the Admiral Kuznetsov was supposed to be the crown of the Russian Navy.

CSG and HDS are set to form a joint venture (JV) named Hellenic Ammunition, aimed at producing large-calibre ammunition in Greece.

The Senate has confirmed Maj. Gen. Luke Cropsey as the Air Force’s top military official overseeing the service’s research, development and procurement efforts.
Cropsey was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as the military deputy of the Air Force’s acquisition, technology and logistics directorate at the Pentagon in December. His confirmation and promotion to three-star general was approved by voice vote Friday evening.