The Republic of China Air Force has achieved a significant milestone in modernising the anti-ship capabilities of its F-CK Ching Kuo fighters with the first test launch of the Hsiung Chia anti-ship missile. The test was conducted over the Jiupeng weapons test range on Taiwan Island’s southeastern coast. Although the Republic of China Ministry of National Defense has not publicly disclosed detailed performance figures, the test suggests the missile has moved from captive-carry and integration trials into live weapon evaluation.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned the US to “muzzle its pets in Tel Aviv” after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared Iran’s supreme leader was effectively “marked for death.” The exchange comes the same day that indirect US-Iran talks began in Doha, illustrating that diplomatic negotiations and military deterrence are continuing side by side. Of course, the spat raises questions about how durable the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) actually is.

They say you should never meet your heroes. In the U.S. military (and American law enforcement), few cultures are as mythologized, idealized, or as idolized as the ancient Spartans. Author Andrew Bayliss introduces us to the real Sparta in his new book, “Sparta: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Superpower.”
Also Read: An ‘undead’ general thrashed the Spartans after his execution
Bayliss is a Associate Professor of Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Birmingham.

A new report from The Wall Street Journal alleges that, behind the scenes, U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing for the possibility of a return to military operations against Iran.

According to the report, the president held multiple discussions with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine about potential new strikes against Iran, but ultimately decided against them, hoping that peace talks in Qatar and beyond will succeed.

Pompano Beach, Florida – Denys Shtilyerman is the chief designer at the Ukrainian drone firm Fire Point, which designs and produces the famous FP-1 attack drone. This is the same drone that has just hit one of Russia’s largest refineries in the Tyumen region of Siberia. Serious destruction to the site was evident in satellite images of the attack’s aftermath, several of which were published on the Telegram channel Dnipro Osint.

The Royal Navy Rugby League team is not called

The ongoing military conflict and the increasing drone strikes by Ukraine on Moscow have resulted in a quandary for Russian President Putin.

He’s facing the uncomfortable truth that seemed unfathomable four years ago. The war is slipping away, and the world can see it.

Su-25. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

And worst of all, his hated enemy, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, is openly taunting him with each passing drone strike on Moscow.

Putin has no answers and doesn’t know what to do.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth established a new direct reporting portfolio manager for unmanned offensive and defensive systems — dubbed DRPM-UxS — to serve as the “single joint integrator” for almost all of the Pentagon’s autonomous and drone assets, investments and operations.
In an official memorandum to senior Defense Department and military leaders dated June 29, Hegseth called UxS “the most consequential battlefield innovation of this generation” and laid out instructions to set up the new hub to ensure that the agency is moving “at the speed this moment demands.

Just when you thought the chances for peace were over, it looks like President Donald Trump is reversing course again and reopening indirect talks with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The forty-seventh president is absolutely living up to his image as a leading reality television star with all this will-we-won’t-we tension over the war.

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), back, steams alongside the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) in the Mediterranean Sea, April 24, 2019. The John C.

The British Army polo team have won the Sassoon

After days of speculation about the future of U.S.-Iran peace talks, reports confirm that negotiators from the two countries held indirect technical talks in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday.

The technical discussions focused on the passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz and a return to full negotiations that could bring about a lasting ceasefire.

Ford-Class Aircraft Carrier. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

The U.S. Navy Gerald R. Ford–class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) and the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S.

Image by Cvoellmy

Washington, D.C. – In a significant move to accelerate the development, acquisition, and integration of unmanned systems across the U.S. military, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has issued a memorandum announcing the creation of a new Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager (DRPM) for Unmanned Systems.

The Strait of Hormuz may never return to its pre-war status. The strategic waterway, through which more than 20 percent of oil and natural gas transit, is chock-full of sea mines.

Ships are languishing while awaiting permission to pass through the strait, and commercial traffic has been significantly affected.

ATLANTIC OCEAN (June 4, 2020) The Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) and the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) transit the Atlantic Ocean, June 4, 2020.

Littoral Combat Ship Deck Gun U.S. Navy.

The Navy is currently searching for a missing crew member from the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier after an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter from the ship crashed in the Arabian Sea, service officials have announced.
The helicopter from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush “conducted an emergency water landing” about 3:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, according to the officials with the Navy’s 5th Fleet, which overseas the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean.

🏉 The British Army Rugby League teams put on

One aspect of total warfare is that civilians often suffer. Russia and Ukraine have bombarded each other without mercy throughout the conflict.

Both sides are used to ducking for cover and entering bomb shelters at all times, and the threat from missiles and drones is a recurring nightmare for all involved.

A U.S. M1A1 Abrams tank needed for training the Armed Forces of Ukraine awaits offloading at Grafenwoehr, Germany, May 14, 2023. The M1A1 training is expected to last several weeks and will include live fire, crew qualification, maneuver, and maintainer training.

This video describes the military situation in

Russia Forced to Import Gasoline Thanks to Ukraine War: After reports revealed Moscow was seeking fuel imports from Kazakhstan, the Kremlin confirmed on June 30 that it is looking to import gasoline from abroad for the first time in years. The shock admission reveals the extent of the damage being done to Russian energy infrastructure as part of its ongoing long-range strike campaign.

The Kremlin confirmed that discussions are underway with multiple foreign suppliers to purchase fuel – a remarkable development for one of the largest oil exporters in the world.

In 2025, Ofek Riemer, Daniel Wajner, and Ehud Eiran wrote, “Populists vs. Spies in Israel and Beyond,” where they argued that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s relationship with Israel’s intelligence agencies could have grave consequences for Israel’s democracy. A year later, we asked them to revisit their arguments.Image: U.S.

The New York Times reported that Iran and Oman are moving forward with plans to collect transit fees from ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, despite public objections from the United States, according to an Iranian official and four diplomats who are involved.

If enacted, the plans would represent a significant change from Oman’s previous stance on charging fees to transit the strategic waterway.

(August 15, 2008) With SH-60 helicopters moving pallets of supplies both USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) and USNS Bridge (T-AOE 10) work together during a replenishment at sea or RAS.

Amazon Web Services and Anduril debuted a new co-product offering Tuesday that officials billed as purpose-built for military commanders and first responders who need cloud-grade computing, storage and AI capabilities in remote areas, or places where connectivity is severely degraded or denied.
During the AWS Summit, experts from both companies demonstrated the hardware and briefed a small group of reporters on the underlying technologies that are already deployed in real-world warfare.

Are the ceasefire and peace framework with Iran dead? It is looking more and more like this is the case. President Donald Trump has even been given options by his national security team to resume all-out warfare against Iran.

While he has considered going the violent route, Trump has decided to give negotiations a chance for now.

Donald Trump at Turning Points USA. Image by Gage Skidmore.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has reportedly briefed the president on a new war plan even though the two countries are supposed to keep the peace and talk it out for the next six to seven weeks.

No aerosol deodorant. No vaping.

This video describes the military situation in

The Army said the M7 rifle production line has

A former soldier was found guilty of stealing more than $1 million of Meals-Ready-to-Eat, or MREs, from Fort Bliss, Texas.
Joseph Lavar Davis, 47, was convicted by a Texas jury for a heist that included tens of thousands of MREs worth more than $1.1 million, Department of Justice officials announced Tuesday. 
The MRE theft took place between February and August 2020 and included 200 pallets of the field rations. Each pallet contains roughly 576 MREs, according to federal court documents.

Can drones and robot ships save the Royal Navy?

The upcoming and much-anticipated Jimmy Stewart biopic, “Jimmy” is not only getting a new trailer, it’s getting a lot of support from brands that once supplied materiel support to the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II.
A total of 40 iconic American brands, including the American Legion, American Optical, the American Red Cross, Bulova, Easy Built Models, Hanes, M&M’S, MoonPie, and The Salvation Army, are stepping up once more to honor of the actor and his legacy of service.

While British industry leaders expressed relief for the Defence Investment Plan, there is still concern about details and implementation.

As a merchant in colonial America, Silas Deane knew how to negotiate a good deal.
Those skills extended beyond the confines of his store in Connecticut, and Deane put them to good use when the Second Continental Congress deployed him to France. Deane arrived in Paris on July 6, 1776—two days after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence—with one objective. He sought to secure assistance for the Continental Army, which confronted severe shortages in men and supplies against the British, and needed to do it as secretly as possible.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly instructed the Russian General Staff to calculate multiple pathways for new offensive operations to capture Kyiv.

Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi stated that these plans include potential strike scenarios from Belarusian territory and the Russian region of Bryansk targeting the Chernihiv region.

Ukraine War Map. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

While Belarus has made a lot of noise about Ukraine, it has thus far stayed clear of becoming more actively involved.

KNDS Deutschland marked a production milestone at its Görlitz facility with the unveiling of the 40th interior cabin Protected Transport Vehicle.

Both Russia and Ukraine are increasingly relying on tactical glide bombs as traditional artillery becomes more vulnerable to drones. The shift reflects the ongoing revolution in warfare, where persistent ISR drones, electronic warfare, and precision strike have made massed artillery difficult to use. Presently, Russia leads in both the inventory and operational experience of glide bombs. But Ukraine has begun fielding its own domestically produced glide bomb, too, suggesting that both sides see the weapon as central to the campaign’s future.

Battlefield Problems

Russian Artillery.

Putin’s Goals in Ukraine, Then and Now: Russian President Vladimir Putin still insists that peace with Ukraine is possible – but only on his terms. Today, Putin’s demands of Ukraine are hard to parse. The goals have moved over years of fighting, and with Ukraine now proving it can cripple the Russian economy and make warfighting even more expensive than it was before, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where a negotiated deal doesn’t end up with concessions from Russia.

One silver lining of receiving less funding tha

President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the United States is getting along very well with Iran, that Iran’s denuclearization is moving along well, and that recent meetings in Qatar had gone well. He said it within hours of a report that he had spent recent days weighing whether to walk away from those talks and restart the war outright.

Both things are true, and the distance between them is the story.

Last fall, the U.S. Marine Corps had virtually no first-person view attack drones. That’s changed quickly. This episode is about how a team of marines at Weapons Training Battalion at Quantico went from a cold start to building a Marine Corps-wide first-person view drone training system. Ryan was pleased to welcome some great marines onto the show: Col. Scott Cuomo, CWO5 Steve Pearsoll, CWO3 (Gunner) Troy Hotaling, GySgt Jude Stewart, GySgt Justin Creasman, and Sgt Timothy Brockup.Since we recorded this episode, Cuomo has changed command and is off to his next assignment.

Rheinmetall has received an order from Ukraine to supply 155mm long-range artillery shells, with production for the contract already underway.

The global satellite market forecast will see an increasing share spent on military and dual-use systems over the coming decade.

Ukraine Warns Russia May Be Preparing Northern Offensive: Amid Ukraine’s hugely successful long-range strike campaign, Kyiv is now warning that a new Russian offensive could be on the way – this time, from the north. And the goal this time would not be to capture Kyiv, but to stretch Ukrainian defenses to their limits.

The tail insignia for the Air Force’s E-4B Nightwatch airborne command post — unofficially nicknamed the “Doomsday Plane” — pays tribute to a legendary World War II bomber unit that was awarded three presidential citations.
On June 26, the first E-4B featuring the Square B tail flash — a black box with a white letter “B” — was unveiled at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, as part of the 95th Wing’s heritage week, according to a news release from Eighth Air Force, which oversees the wing.

Then-sergeant first class Jacob Gaskill felt uneasy last year. He had been in the Army for more than a decade as an explosive ordnance technician before heading to the Army Software Factory. There and over the course of multiple years, he helped fix some of the service’s most pressing digital issues.
But in 2025, his software tour was coming to a close. Armed with an “additional skill identifier” that denoted his qualifications as a software developer from his time at the ASWF, he was set to go back to the EOD branch and finish out his service in the job he entered back in 2010.

…just good stuff to report, really…

Public Domain

One day, and that day may never come, there will be an easy search mechanism for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Until then, the best a humble citizen from the provinces can do is take a low pass, bite a nibble at the most attractive bits, and then head off to digest what you got.
Speeches, orders, and policy statements from the Executive Branch are important, but if you really want to drive change or correct error, you have to do it through the legislative branch.

The Ukraine War Comes Closer to Putin: Russia’s capital city was once again under bombardment by Ukrainian drones in the latest round of strikes to hit Russia’s largest city and the seat of power in the world’s largest country.

Posting to his Telegram channel, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote that more than 60 explosive-laden drones had been successfully shot down by Russian air defenses, but it was not immediately clear how many Ukrainian drones had managed to evade being shot down.

Tu-160 Bomber from Russia. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Russia Tu-160 Bomber on Tarmac.

At the beginning of this year, world events seemed to be leaning in Russia’s favor. Distracted by military action in Venezuela and Iran, with the potential for conflict in Cuba and other parts of the world, the Trump Administration’s attention and interest in resolving the war in Ukraine through a peace deal seemed to be on life support. Perhaps waning interest in Washington would provide a window of opportunity, thought the Kremlin.

It’s one of the most important days in Gu

Annual “religious liberty training” may soon be required for troops and commanders if the Pentagon adopts recommendations from a White House-directed commission of faith leaders and military advocates. 
The recommendations, which Pentagon leaders said Tuesday they “welcome,” come from the Religious Liberty Commission, a 12-person committee established by President Donald Trump in May 2025 to develop policies across the federal government to “secure domestic religious liberty.

Image by Simon Dawson/10 Downing Street

Outgoing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer — expected to leave office next month after losing Labour MPs’ support — unveiled a long-delayed Defence Investment Plan on Tuesday, pledging almost £300 billion over four years to “transform” Britain’s armed forces. Headline items: over £5 billion for drones and autonomous systems, a promise to make the Army “10 times more lethal” through drones, missiles and AI, and roughly 60,000 new jobs by decade’s end.

Ukraine’s top general says Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian General Staff to draw up plans for a new offensive that includes capturing Kyiv. Speaking on the TSN telethon on June 30, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said Putin tasked his General Staff with calculating several options for a renewed assault, one of them launched from Belarusian territory and aimed at the Ukrainian capital.

The claim is real and alarming on its face.

Archibald MacLeish didn’t have much downtime to enjoy the holidays in 1941.
As the United States’ ninth Librarian of Congress, MacLeish was too preoccupied with work. A few weeks after Japan’s surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, MacLeish was among those tasked with making the final arrangements to safeguard the nation’s most important documents from enemy attack or sabotage.
Related: 6 things you didn’t know about the Declaration of Independence
This initiative was on such a need-to-know basis that MacLeish did the packing himself, according to a 2016 article on History.com.