As the Islamic Republic weathers U.S. and Israeli missile strikes on its infrastructure and the killing of key political figures, China remains on the sidelines, offering words and technical expertise rather than arms to its closest partner in the Middle East.

To be sure, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has strongly condemned the U.S.-Israeli intervention in Iran, calling it “unacceptable” for Washington to launch attacks amid ongoing negotiations with Tehran, “still less to blatantly attack and kill a leader of a sovereign country and instigate government change.

In mid-February, WESH TV news (NBC channel 2) reported that stolen military explosive devices were found in a home at The Villages, Florida, northwest of Orlando.
The county’s bomb squad unit responded to the scene. According to WESH, it was confirmed that the explosives were stolen from the military.
News reporter Luana Muñoz said that neighbors didn’t want to go on camera out of fear of retribution.
Neighbors needed to evacuate for three hours as a safety precaution.
Authorities confirmed that all explosives were removed.

For several years, veterans groups have been pushing for legislation that would allow those wounded in combat to receive both disability benefits and retirement pay. However, a bill intended to do just that — the Major Richard Star Act — recently stalled in the Senate.
Named for an Army reserve major who died of lung cancer linked to burn pit exposure, the legislation took aim at a federal rule against “double-dipping” — one that veterans’ advocates argue has wrongly been applied to two different federal benefits.

A junior pilot from 845 Naval Air Squadron brea

South Korea’s defense industry is booming

Facing a $150 billion infrastructure backlog and congressional appropriation caps, the Army is looking to make private industry an interesting offer: co-invest in its priorities and get a return that isn’t solely reliant on the service itself.
Dubbed the “Strategic Capital Initiative,” the Army is asking industry to help come up with ideas for new public-private partnership structures, operating models and contracting processes that can quickly tackle some of its most pressing demands, according to service leaders and a request for information.

This video describes the military situation in

Thirty-eight minutes.
The Anglo-Zanzibar War on August 27, 1896, was fought in less time than it takes to watch the much-discussed combat scene from “Lone Survivor.” It was the shortest war in world history, which spans, you know, a bunch of years, so that is saying something.
Related: Why Patton’s predecessor in North Africa proved so useless against the Nazis
British warships fired upon the royal palace shortly after 9 a.m.

AeroVironment will develop and deliver the Generative Environment for the Next Era of Spectral Imaging Stimulators, known as GENESIS.

A U.K.-based unmanned aerial system manufacturer claimed the top spot in the first round of the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance competition, reaping delivery orders from the Defense Department.
Skycutter, headquartered in London, was one of more than two dozen drone makers selected to participate in the first “Gauntlet” for the Drone Dominance Program, part of an initiative launched by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last year to boost the American military’s UAS arsenal.

Troops taking part in the war with Iran are “writing history” and showcasing their “wartime readiness,” the acting commander of the Air National Guard told his forces.
A letter to National Guard troops, dated March 5, was sent out by the National Guard Bureau and signed by Maj. Gen. Duke Pirak, the acting director of the Air National Guard, and Chief Master Sgt. Joshua Moore, command chief for the Air National Guard.
“In the opening hours and days of OPERATION EPIC FURY, we have already demonstrated our formidable wartime readiness,” reads the National Guard Bureau letter.

The post From data overload to operational advantage appeared first on DefenseScoop.

Summary and Key Points: Defense analyst Jack Buckby evaluates the critical “magazine depth” crisis facing the U.S. Navy as the four Ohio-class SSGNs (USS Ohio, Michigan, Florida, and Georgia) enter retirement.

-With each boat carrying 154 Tomahawks, the fleet’s decommissioning removes over 600 VLS cells from the undersea inventory.

Tomahawk Block IV Missile. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Tomahawk Launch. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Summary and Key Points: Jack Buckby, a New York-based defense analyst and British researcher, evaluates the looming “magazine depth” crisis as the U.S. Navy prepares to decommission its four Ohio-class SSGNs.

-As of March 9, 2026, the ongoing Operation Epic Fury in Iran has underscored the vital role of the Tomahawk land-attack cruise missile (TLAM), with the Navy exhausting stockpiles to dismantle IRGC infrastructure.

SILVERDALE, Wash. (Oct.

Inside a Turkish hunter-killer submarine↕️

The National Armaments Consortium is expanding its collaboration with academia, industry and the military in an effort to quickly standardize drone fuzing technology, which its leaders say is a critical component to the Pentagon’s push to pump out lethal unmanned aerial systems.
Fuzing technology generally refers to systems that control how and when a munition, in this case attached to a drone, explodes. Fuze development is particularly important to lethal UAS, which are intended to move quickly to a target and need to detonate reliably.

Battle Talk: A Para’s View of Ukraine is a gr

When the United States becomes embroiled in any ongoing conflict (not just a new Middle Eastern conflict), it inevitably stokes conscription fears among American civilians. They start to wonder if they’ll be drafted, if their sons will be drafted, and what (if any) draft exemptions are possible.
Also Read: 11 ways Americans dodged the Vietnam War draft
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt didn’t help allay any anxiety or fears of a draft when she refused to tell Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that President Trump isn’t planning to use ground troops in Iran.

The UK Government has revealed, supposedly for the first time, that it has established four MRO facilities in Ukraine.

The Defense Department has identified Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, of  Glendale, Kentucky, as the American soldier who died after being wounded in a March 1 attack by Iran on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia.
Pennington, 26, died of his wound on March 8, according to the Defense Department. He is the seventh U.S. service member to die during Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. military’s name for combat operations against Iran.  At the time of the attack, he was assigned to the 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade, based out of Fort Carson, Colorado.
“The U.S.

Before the first bomb fell, the conflict in Iran was already being dominated from 22,000 miles above it.
On an uneventful evening in February 2026, hours prior to F-35s screaming off carrier decks and B-2s beginning their long trek toward Tehran, U.S. Space Command and Cyber Command were already at work, relentlessly severing the connective tendons of Iran’s military.
Also Read: America’s ongoing quest to stop firing $4 million missiles at $30,000 drones
Satellite communications would go dark, sensor networks would lose sight.

Joint Interagency Task Force 401 and the Federal Aviation Administration have conducted a high-energy laser test to advance c-UAS in the US.

The United States Coast Guard has been around since President George Washington signed the Tariff Act in 1790. In the nearly 2½ centuries since, the Coast Guard has pingponged between three federal cabinet departments for oversight.
Does it surprise you that none of those departments is the Defense Department?
Related: The complete guide to Coast Guard ranksA good follow-up question is, “Why not?” It’s a valid point, considering the  Coast Guard is the only military service branch outside the Pentagon’s umbrella.
How did we get here? Let’s find out.

The USS Nimitz is at sea for one last job. The aging aircraft carrier, set to be decommissioned, departed its homeport in Washington State this weekend and is heading to the waters around Latin America.
The USS Nimitz and its crew of several thousand sailors departed Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Washington, for its planned final destination at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia ahead of being decommissioned. Stars & Stripes reported on Saturday that the ship will be deploying to the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility during that final voyage.

Benjamin Moseman, War Room
Without space, such an operation would not have been possible

L.C. Williams, DOne
The announcement comes after months of White House pressure on defense companies to build weapons faster.

AF Times
Air Force Global Strike Command conducted an operational test launch Tuesday of an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with two test reentry…

E. Gossrow, Naval N.

Anthony Capaccio, Bloomberg
The Pentagon needs an additional $12 billion through 2031 to boost declining readiness rates of the F-35 fighter

Images showing a Serbian Air Force MiG-29 fighter aircraft flying with two Chinese-supplied CM-400AKG ballistic missiles indicate that the service has become become the second foreign operator of the missile type, with the procurement revolutionising the previously very limited strike capabilities of the aircraft. The missile’s speed, which can exceed Mach 6, makes Serbian MiG-29s them the first fighters in Europe with hypersonic strike capabilities.

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has warned against overreliance on the United States to support the country’s security , after the U.S. Army was confirmed to have withdrawn MIM-104 Patriot missile systems, and a range of unspecified other weaponry, for use in the country’s military campaign against Iran. At a cabinet meeting held at the Blue House, the president observed on March 9: “While we oppose the transfer of some air defence systems by U..S forces stationed in South Korea, the harsh reality is that we cannot fully assert our position.

Terror as cluster munitions disperse from ballistic missiles over Tel Aviv, Israel as hundreds of munitions rain down on civilians.
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The Israeli Air Force has unveiled a new configuration for its F-16I fighter optimised for beyond visual range medium range strikes against well defended ground targets. The F-16I currently forms the backbone of the country’s fighter fleet, and has been responsible for the bulk of offensive operations against Iran, with its twin seat configuration allowing a weapons systems officer, referred to in Israel as a navigator, to fly in the second seat and operate air-to-ground weapons.

This video describes the military situation in

South Korea has conducted an emergency airlift of surface-to-air missiles missiles from the Cheongung-II air defence system to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as the country’s air defences have faced unprecedented challenges from Iranian missile and drone strikes from February 28. The airlift was conducted using a Republic of Korea Air Force C-17 strategic transport, after approximately 30 interceptor missiles were drawn directly from South Korea’s own operational reserves, highlighting the urgency of sustaining the layered missile-defence network protecting UAE territory.

There is little doubt in Washington that AI is a powerful technology that will help determine which country rules the 21st century. Policymakers from the Hill to the White House have made U.S. AI leadership a priority and invested significant resources towards staying ahead of competitors. Yet the United States is at perhaps greater risk than ever before of losing the broader global technology competition.Despite growing investment in AI, U.S.

The Turkish Air Force has deployed six F-16C/D fighter aircraft to support NATO’s air defences in northern Cyprus, after British F-35B fighters based there were credited with shooting down multiple drones near the island. This represents part of a quick-reaction air policing operation, at a time when multiple NATO members including France and Italy have deployed assets to the region to support collective Western Bloc defences against Iran. This follows the United States and Israel’s initiation of a large scale assault against Iran on February 28.

The Swiss Federal Council has confirmed that planned procurements of F-35A fifth generation fighters have been reduced from 36 to 30 aircraft, which represents the maximum number of aircraft possible within the financial framework approved by voters. Rising costs linked to inflation and raw material prices, which have increased price of the aircraft, have been cited as primary factors leading to cuts in planned procurement numbers. “The USA are claiming additional costs for inflation, the development of raw material prices and other factors,” the Swiss government announced.

Advanced violence is democratizing.  AI, in conjunction with dramatic improvements in robotics, energy production, and sensors, will increasingly enable ever-smaller groups of people to use targeted violence more effectively, and from a distance. Over time, this shift will dramatically impact all varieties of force projection: state-on-state war, various forms of low-intensity conflict, and how states enforce internal order.

In Beirut, Baghdad, and across the Middle East, the same pattern repeats: a leader is killed, a funeral fills the streets, and within weeks someone new is giving orders.Indeed, despite the setbacks faced by the regional network of armed groups aligned with Iran that calls itself the “axis of resistance,” it has not disappeared. U.S. forces have struck several groups linked to the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq, while Israel has sustained operations against Hizballah across southern Lebanon and Beirut.

South Korean government sources speaking to a number of local media outlets have confirmed that MIM-104 Patriot long range air defence systems have been preparedfor redeployment in the Middle East, and that heavy U.S. aircraft transport planes, likely C-17s, have flown to Osan Air Force Base to move them. This follows multiple reports of an extreme depletion of Patriot and THAAD missile defences in the Middle East, after the U.S.

Chinese state media has published footage of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s two Type 055 class destroyers operating under the Eastern Theatre Command Navy, otherwise referred to as the East Sea Fleet. Analysts have widely speculated that this may be intended to draw attention to the Type 055’s ability to shape the balance of power at sea in the region, in the expectation that fleet will receive two additional Type 055 class ships in 2026. The footage was published at a time of high tensions with both Japan and the United States.

This story is developing…
BREAKING: CENTCOM:
Last night, a U.S. service member passed away from injuries received during the Iranian regime’s initial attacks across the Middle East.
The service member was seriously wounded at the scene of an attack on U.S. troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on March 1.
This is the seventh service member killed in action during Operation Epic Fury.
This is the first U.S. soldier killed in Saudi Arabia; the previous six were killed in Kuwait.

A U.S. service member passed away Saturday night, days after being wounded in an Iranian attack on American forces in Saudi Arabia, U.S. Central Command said.
CENTCOM announced the death of the service member on Sunday afternoon, saying that the American was “seriously wounded at the scene of an attack on U.S. troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on March 1.” They are the seventh American service member to die during Operation Fury, the U.S. military’s name for combat operations against Iran.
According to U.S.

Nine days into the war with Iran, U.S. forces alongside the Israeli military continue to bomb targets around Iran and throughout the Middle East as the conflict shows no signs of ending.
U.S. forces have hit more than 3,000 Iranian targets as part of Operation Epic Fury, U.S. Central Command said, with fighter jets, bombers and missiles fired from destroyers. This weekend, President Donald Trump posted to social media saying that the U.S. military is expanding its range of targets and that Iran “will be hit very hard.

Watch live as HMS Dragon prepares for deploymen

L. Ron Hubbard, a Navy veteran, filed for disability claims and was denied—something he attributes to his going off the deep end and eventually founding the most balls crazy religion west of the Mississippi (my words, not his). But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. 
Our story begins during World War II, when military brat (used here as a term of endearment) Lafayette Ronald Hubbard served in the Navy. What did he do in the Navy? Well, it depends on who you ask.

There’s a lot of great television out there right now, so much that it can be difficult to keep up.

Russian state tech corporation Rostec has stated that the T-72 main battle tank which currently forms the backbone of the country’s armoured units has very significant potential for further modernisation. “The higher the upgrading potential, the better the combat equipment. The T-72B3M tank, produced by our Uralvagonzavod Group, is a platform with almost endless capabilities. This combat vehicle is significantly superior to earlier T-72 models thanks to a modern sighting system, new protective equipment, and a more powerful engine,” the firm observed.

Chairman of the ruling Korean Worker’s Party Kim Jong Un has announced a highly ambitious schedule for destroyer production to revolutionise the Korean People’s Army Navy’s blue water capabilities, which places the service on track to field the world’s fifth largest destroyer fleet in the early 2030s. The Navy’s first destroyer, the Choe Hyon, was launched in April 2025, and from March 3-4, 2026, conducted pre-commissioning trials that saw it conduct manoeuvrability and warship-control tests and validate its combat systems.