Somewhere behind the Novodarivka breach point in June 2023, Ukrainian armored formations sat staged and ready. The ammunition was there. The fuel was there. The original concept of operations called for 12 brigades to push through roughly 30 kilometers of frontage, isolate Tokmak within days, and drive south before Russian forces could consolidate. They never moved. The engineers could not open the lane. Without the lane, none of the rest of it mattered.

Inside the hot, humid and hostile ‘green

uncomfortable truths are still truths
The rescue of the pilot and weapons sensor officer from the F-15E Strike Eagle that went down in Iran is—even with the limited information we have right now—an almost-unbelievable act in the history of the profession of arms.
I am looking forward to the details to come out, but let’s let that work its way through the system. That isn’t what I want to focus on today.
As always, let’s first look at the chart.

Personnel across the Army’s data teams have been “banging their heads against the wall” over information management issues and the service recently launched a new hub meant to help alleviate those headaches, senior military officials told reporters Tuesday.
The Army Data Operations Center went live April 3. A nucleus for network-focused staff across division-level units and above to call for help about connectivity or data issues, officials said the ADOC will free data teams from “red tape” so commanders can make quicker decisions.

Pete Hegseth Has A Problem: Trump Burned Through 4 Defense Secretaries in Term One. The Pattern Is Starting Again
Pete Hegseth was something of an unconventional choice to serve as secretary of defense.

Before his selection, Hegseth was best known as a Fox News host, although he had also led a couple of veterans groups. During Trump’s first term, Hegseth lobbied for leniency for soldiers accused of war crimes.

Hegseth’s confirmation process was tumultuous.

The Trump administration’s budget request for fiscal 2027 calls for significant funds to increase stockpiles of a long-range Army missile that’s been used during the United States’ ongoing war with Iran.
Recently released budget documents show that the Army is asking for nearly $2 billion to purchase more Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM) in FY27 — nearly four-times the amount that Congress allocated in fiscal 2026, which was $546 million.

The American military launched more one-way attack drones last night against Iran, U.S. Central Command announced Tuesday, adding that “hundreds” of unmanned platforms have been involved in Operation Epic Fury in various roles to date.
Tuesday’s announcement comes several weeks after Centcom noted that it had employed long-range kamikaze drones in combat for the first time during the early days of the Iran war, which President Donald Trump commenced on Feb. 28.

The Army’s new XM8 rifle is a shorter, lighte

This video describes the military situation in

This video describes the military situation in

This video describes the military situation in

The 1st Battalion Royal Welsh Battlegroup in Es

The Army plans to host civilian-run data centers on its bases, according to recent federal contracting documents and official statements. 
In late March, Army officials announced that it “conditionally selected” global investment firms to build, operate and manage commercial data centers on “underutilized” land at Fort Bliss, Texas and Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. The data centers are being built under an agreement with private developers to use available acres of Army property in exchange for access to computing power.

Could Trump Be Removed by the 25th Amendment to the Constitution?
President Donald Trump has people on edge again; his news conference on April 6 left many questioning whether he has gone too far.

Trump set a deadline on April 7 after which, he threatened, he might order the U.S. military to destroy civilian electrical power plants and bridges. Such acts would punish ordinary Iranians and could kill or harm civilians—they would potentially constitute war crimes. He has also warned that “a whole civilization may die tonight.

Rank is no longer the only factor in defence ro

Trump Threatened to Destroy a Civilization. Iran Cut All Contact. What Happens Now? 
President Donald J. Trump’s deadline for the Islamic Republic of Iran to end its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is rapidly approaching.

It is evident that the forty-seventh president believes that issuing serious threats to the Iranian regime is the best way to end this conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

F-22 Raptor In the Air. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

The F-22’s New Fuel Tanks Don’t Have to Be Dropped Before Combat — That Single Change Adds 850 Nautical Miles of Range and Solves the Raptor’s Biggest Weakness
The US Air Force’s fifth-generation fighter, the F-22 Raptor, remains the world’s stealthiest aircraft. Introduced in 2005, it is the world’s first mass-produced fifth-generation fighter jet and has been a cornerstone of the US Air Force’s air superiority strategy.

Currently, there are 178 F-22 fighters in service. And it is still the benchmark against which all fighters are measured.

A U.S.

The war with Iran has had ripple effects across the Middle East and North Africa. The Gulf Arab states, Iraq, and Jordan have suffered direct attacks from Iran, and Iraq also faces violence from Iranian-aligned militias. In response to an attack from Hizballah, Israel has intensively bombed parts of Lebanon and launched an expanded ground invasion in the south.

The annual Sikh military festival Holla Mohalla

Every March, 68 men’s college basketball teams punch their tickets to the NCAA Tournament. Schools load up on NIL-funded rosters, raid the transfer portal for plug-and-play talent, and circle Selection Sunday like it’s a holy day.
Meanwhile, Army, Navy, and Air Force are mostly watching from the couch.
That needs to change.

UKAF women face the French Armed Forces for the

Israel’s Ministry of Defence (IMOD) has received approval to accelerate Arrow interceptor missile production.

Right now, thousands of our military-connected communities are experiencing high levels of angst and uncertainty, as government contracts are being terminated without warning and deployments increase alongside geographical separations, food insecurity, and mobilization of Guard and Reserve components—all while our Coast Guard service members and their families navigate the financial stress while continuing to work full-time without pay.
This seems unfathomable, but unfortunately, this kind of realness is gravitating towards the norm nowadays.

A new digital app launched by the Ministry of D

A Pentagon Report Found the F-15EX Eagle II ‘Operationally Effective’ Against Surrogate 5th-Generation Aircraft in Air Superiority Testing
Pure airspeed, sensing, next-generation weapons, and an expansive payload are just a few of the attributes recognized in Boeing’s F-15EX, an aircraft thought to bridge a capability gap between 4th- and 5th-generation aircraft.

Junior enlisted service members would see the largest of a three-tiered pay raise for troops next year under the latest proposed budget from President Donald Trump’s administration.
Troops at the lowest five enlisted ranks — E-5 and below — would receive a 7% increase in their basic pay, according to the White House. Service members between the ranks of E-6 and O-3, which includes senior noncommissioned officers, warrant officers, and company grade officers, would receive a 6% raise; and all other commissioned officers would get a 5% raise.

GO HARD OR BREAK | Military Motivation
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Nigerian-manufactured MRAPS and UAVs demonstrate the country’s evolving defence industry. However, a reliance on the licensed production of foreign designs will continue.

Elbit Systems has received a contract to supply Precise & Universal Launching System (PULS) artillery to the Hellenic Armed Forces.

When millions of Americans tune in to the 2026 NFL draft on Thursday, April 23, they’ll have two military veterans to thank for the league’s biggest offseason spectacle.
Seeking to jump-start the Philadelphia Eagles’ fortunes, owner Bert Bell tried to sign a hotshot running back from the University of Minnesota in 1935. Stan Kostka, who became a U.S. Navy lieutenant commander during World War II, wasn’t going to come cheaply.
Related: This Medal of Honor recipient came up with the idea for the Super BowlAs Bell and Kostka negotiated terms, the asking price kept increasing.

The British Royal Navy Type 45 class destroyer HMS Dragon has made port in the Mediterranean due to an unspecified “technical issue,” marking the latest of multiple incidents in which the ships have been forced out of action for similar reasons. The availability rates of the Type 45 class ships have been notoriously poor, at times as low as 17 percent, as they have been prone to frequent breakdowns particularly when operating in warm waters.

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An HH-60W Jolly Green II hoists a simulated survivor during an aerial demonstration for Saluting Our Aviation Roots, Feb. 25, 2026, at Moody Air Force Base, Ga. The demonstration highlighted combat search and rescue capabilities for students and families. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman Bre Lewis)

The dramatic and sprawling two-day operation to save the crew of an F-15E Strike Eagle shot down over Iran on April 3 involved hundreds of personnel, dozens of aircraft—and multiple close calls.

USNI News
The latest Pentagon budget request calls for massive purchase increases of two key missiles the Navy has relied on for the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and the U.S.

IntEngineering
The U.S.

Global Defense News
The reported mission drew immediate attention because it suggested that Washington had fused time-sensitive intelligence, strategic long-range aviation, and…

Mikayla Easley, DefScoop
If approved by lawmakers, the Air Force’s budget request would kick off procurement of CCA Increment 1

P.

Israeli footage has shown a successful strike on components of an Iranian Air Defence Forces S-300PMU-2 long range air defence system, as part of a broader air campaign launched against Iran on February 28. The operation is notable as it follows claims by a wide range of Western sources from October 2024 that all Iranian S-300PMU-2 systems had been destroyed during Israeli attacks that month – a claim that was widely questioned due to the speed with which it was allegedly achieved, and the need Israel had at the time for a public relations victory.

In October 2022, Unitree Robotics joined Boston Dynamics, Agility Robotics, and three other firms in signing an open letter pledging not to weaponize their machines and to review customers’ intended applications. This Chinese startup based in Hangzhou had earned its place in that group. Founded in 2016 by a 26-year-old engineer named Wang Xingxing, who quit his job at the drone maker DJI during his probationary period, Unitree set out to build affordable quadruped robots. It worked. By 2023, the company held over 60 percent of the global quadruped robot market by unit sales.

During last summer’s 12-day war between Iran, Israel, and the United States, the U.S. military supported Israeli air and missile defense operations by utilizing its regionally deployed air and missile defense assets to intercept Iranian missiles and drones. By the time the shooting had stopped, CNN reported that the United States had expended 100 to 150 upper-tier, terminal-phase missile interceptors against Iranian missiles.

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In past wars, commanders worried about what would happen after crossing the line of departure. Today, the concern is whether they can cross it at all. Surely this is a concern as the United States considers sending a Marine expeditionary unit into the Persian Gulf. Before they enter, whether by air or sea, the fight will already be underway. Meanwhile, closed shipping routes are increasing the costs of shipping, America’s Gulf partners are under continued pressure, and the Houthis fired a missile to underscore the point. The path to the battlefield is the battlefield. No longer a prelude.

The U.S. Department of War’s Fiscal year 2027 Procurement Programs document has confirmed that the U.S. Air Force is set to receive 38 F-35A fighters under the new defence budget request, as the previously planned procurement rate of 48 per year continues to be missed due to new budget priorities. This compares to just 24 aircraft requested in 2025 for Fiscal Year 2026, the year the F-47 sixth generation fighter program was announced, and 40 aircraft requested for the preceding year.

The French Air Force has deployed Rafale fighters to Siauliai Air Base, a facility located 130 kilometres from Russian territory, to take the lead in NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission in Lithuania. Rafales at the airbase are capable of firing air-to-air missiles deep int Russian airspace, and can easily conduct cruise missile strikes deep into the country including thousands of kilometres beyond Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The U.S. military surged more than 150 aircraft deep into Iran’s territory this weekend in a search-and-rescue mission President Donald Trump initiated to recover an airman who hid in a mountain crevice for almost 48 hours to evade being captured after ejecting from his F-15E fighter jet that was hit by enemy fire.
When it was struck Thursday night, that F-15E — known by call sign Dude 44 — marked the first confirmed shootdown of an American military aircraft by Iran since the war began a little over a month ago.

Donald L. Miller spent years tracking down the men of the Eighth Air Force; haunting reunion halls, poring over diaries at England’s Mass Observation Archive, and sifting through declassified records at Maxwell Air Force Base. He wasn’t thinking about slipcovers or gilt-blocked cloth bindings. He was thinking about the 25-year-olds who climbed into B-17 Flying Fortresses at 25,000 feet, without long-range fighter escort, and somehow kept doing it until they had flown 25 missions or died trying.

The Air Force is asking for nearly $1 billion in fiscal 2027 to initiate procurement of the first Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones, according to newly published budget documents. 
The Trump administration released a record-breaking $1.5 trillion defense budget proposal Friday, comprising $1.15 trillion of discretionary funds for FY27 and $350 billion from a future reconciliation bill. The request would allocate $30.6 billion in total for Air Force aircraft procurement, which for the first time includes the CCA program.

The Defense Department is asking Congress for about $20.2 billion in the next fiscal year for a loan program designed to help eligible companies working in certain technology areas of interest.
The funding request for the Defense Strategic Capital Credit Program, which is overseen by the Office of Strategic Capital, was included in fiscal 2027 budget documents recently released by the Pentagon and seeks to boost spending on the initiative by more than an order of magnitude.
The program was allotted less than $1.5 billion for fiscal 2026, according to budget documents.

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