In recent weeks, the U.S. and its allies have had some success in moving oil through the Strait of Hormuz by finding new routes to circumvent Iran’s control of the crucial waterway, as oil exports from the region have rebounded.

That’s according to an analysis published Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal, which also reported that Iran could seek to halt that progress by military means.

(July 28, 2017) An F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 approaches the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) for an arrested landing.

A new guidebook outlines the duties for soldiers in the barracks and offers management tips to noncommissioned officers on how to address emergencies in living spaces.
The “NCO’s Barracks Guidebook,” published Wednesday morning, includes recommendations and outlines steps for addressing issues ranging from maintenance needs to cleanliness in the barracks. 
The guide’s introduction notes that it is not setting policy but is meant to be a “professional tool, a resource built to educate, clarify, and strengthen the NCO’s ability to lead.

The European Council has approved five European Defence Projects of Common Interest (EDPCIs), making the cross-border initiatives eligible for funding through the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP).

The United States has embarked on an unprecedented campaign of maritime and financial isolation against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Following the escalation of hostilities in early 2026, Washington deployed a formidable dual-pronged offensive. First, the enforcement of a comprehensive naval blockade by Central Command, initiated in April, effectively sealed the Iranian coastline and crippled traditional maritime exports.

Milford Beagle Jr. had been in the Army for about a year when a new battalion commander took charge of his unit.
It was 1991, and Beagle and five other lieutenants waited nervously together for their one-on-one meetings with the colonel. The furniture was hard, and there was a faint smell of pine oil in the air, Beagle recalled last week at the 2026 Military Influencer Conference (MIC) in Tampa, Florida. The six young service members shared a collective sense that they were heading into the principal’s office.

This video describes the military situation in

Alison Bath, S&S
The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt departed San Diego on Sunday for a deployment expected to last more than seven months

NatDefMag
The Navy is taking on its largest-ever construction and restoration effort with its multi-billion-dollar Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program, but it lacks the consistent…

Navy T.
In the span of two months this summer, U.S.

Parth Satam, The Aviationist
The test validated the MV-22B’s as an alternative platform to the P-3C Orion for the Navy’s Sonobuoy Quality Assurance Program

DefScoop
Anduril unveiled the Pulsar-L last spring, billing it as a compact…

The Pentagon describes Golden Dome for America as a “system of systems,” an integrated air and missile defense architecture that combines space-based sensors, orbital interceptors, ground systems, and a command network designed to defeat any aerial attack. Eighteen months after its founding executive order, the program broke ground on its first operational site. Its architecture remains so closely held that the Congressional Budget Office cannot fully price it, and cost estimates span from $252 billion to $3.6 trillion.

Military doctrine gives officers a clear rule for manifestly unlawful orders: Refuse them. It offers no comparable rule when lawful action appears to threaten the constitutional structure the military serves. The first response is neither refusal nor resignation, but rather deliberative friction.Deliberative friction is the professional duty to raise a credible constitutional concern in a form that remains attributable and survives the decision to execute.

Analogies for artificial intelligence abound. In recent years, analysts have likened the development of AI to the advent of electricity, the Industrial Revolution, contact with extraterrestrials, and at least fifty other things. One analogy, however, appears to have won out over the rest: AI is like nuclear weapons.This comparison is now ubiquitous in government rhetoric, policy debates, and media accounts about AI. The risks of advanced AI are equated with the existential risk posed by nuclear weapons. There are several references to AI development as a modern-day Manhattan Project. The U.S.

This video describes the military situation in

The Republic of China Minister of National Defence Wellington Koo has confirmed that there are no financial penalty provisions attached to the delayed delivery of 66 F-16 Block 70 fighters ordered in 2019, while stating that Taipei and Washington are discussing compensation measures for the delays. Koo said the F-16 transfer has reached the stage at which some of the aircraft are ready for delivery, with preparations for accepting the fighters proceeding according to the schedule established by the U.S. program office.

Oil prices are rising again after the U.S. rejected Iran’s latest proposal to open the Strait of Hormuz.

“I reject their proposal…I rejected their deal,” President Donald Trump said on Saturday, claiming that the Islamic Republic was only proposing an agreement because “they’re losing so badly.”

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Bulkeley, right, and USS Mason participate in a strait transit exercise.

British police have arrested five men near Royal Air Force Fairford after three suspicious vehicles were reported travelling towards the military airfield, which is a major operating hub for U.S. Air Force B-1B and B-52H strategic bombers. The men were initially arrested on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act and were subsequently also arrested on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act. British counterterrorism authorities are investigating whether the suspects were acting on behalf of a foreign state.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Photo: DoD / Chad J. McNeeley (Public Domain)

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued a memorandum on September 28, 2026, directing U.S. Cyber Command and the entire Defense Intelligence Enterprise (DIE) to mobilize every authorized asset, capability, and partnership to defend America’s 2026 election infrastructure from foreign interference.
The memo, addressed to the Commander of U.S.

A Rough Winter Is Coming for Americans Thanks to the Iran War – Americans are about to face an expensive winter, with higher costs for heating their homes, traveling home for the holidays, and shipping packages to loved ones. Those prices will skyrocket largely because of the war in Iran, with disruptions to oil and gas shipments raising fuel costs and, in turn, increasing prices for everything from airfares to goods.

The increases will differ by households, of course. A family that heats with oil, for example, will face a different bill than one that heats with electricity.

Speaking at the Labour Party Conference, Defenc

U.S. Africa Command is hustling to adopt AI assets, unmanned systems and other modern technology products as it pivots to do “more with less” of a physical force presence on and around the sprawling continent.
For example, “the command is examining commercially available vessel data and sensor technologies that could help identify illicit maritime activity, including illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and narcotics trafficking,” Africom’s first Chief Innovation Officer Lt. Col. Jared “CLiF” Bindl recently told DefenseScoop.

The Marine Corps awarded $15.7 million to Anduril for its Pulsar-Lite electronic warfare system, according to a recent public notice, fulfilling a sole-source purchase the service was eyeing for months over an “urgent need” to equip its amphibious vehicle fleet with drone-zapping technology.
Anduril unveiled the Pulsar-L last spring, billing it as a compact version of its family of EW systems capable of detecting and defeating drones, including swarms.

How Do U.S. Military Vets Feel About the Iran War? – Seven months after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, American veterans, and indeed supporters of the president, are still divided over the war – and whether the costs, which have extended well beyond the battlefield, have been worth it. Some support the campaign against Iran’s nuclear program and the regional threat it poses, while others question its duration and the burden it places on those serving, and the damage done to American bases in the Middle East.

Space Force guardians are now getting certified in jungle warfare. This month, two officers with the Space Force became the first guardians to graduate from the U.S. Army’s Jungle Operations Training Course-Panama.
Maj. Alyson Gleason and Capt. Stephen Brown graduated from the jungle warfare school on Sept. 25, having finished the 18-day course alongside other U.S. and Panamanian troops.

Boxers from every company in 4th Battalion The

Dramatic last-gasp try clinches victory!

This video describes the military situation in

President Trump has rejected Iran’s new proposal for opening the Strait of Hormuz and ending the seven-month clash, while leaving room for talks.

“I reject their proposal,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Saturday. He said Tehran wanted a deal because “they’re losing so badly,” adding: “We’re winning tremendously.

Russian attacks killed at least five people in Ukraine on Sunday, September 27, including two at a market outside Kyiv, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The strikes continued throughout the day, as is becoming increasingly common, after an overnight assault that started on the night of September 26.

Putin November 2022. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Putin on Direct Line Back in 2019. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Then, a separate Russian drone barrage began on Sunday evening and ran into the morning of Monday, September 28, according to the Ukrainian air force.

Welcome to The Ukraine Compass, a weekly digest of Ukrainian commentary and analysis from across the political spectrum, only for War on the Rocks members. Each Monday, we bring you a curated selection of articles from Ukrainian media offering insight into how Ukrainians themselves debate the issues shaping their country.American coverage often narrows the view to the battlefield — these pieces widen it, revealing the texture of daily life, politics, and public argument in a nation at war.

Air Vice-Marshal Adrian Burns on why Esports ca

The U.S. Navy’s newest destroyer, the future USS Ted Stevens has arrived in Alaska, bringing the latest Flight III configuration of the Arleigh Burke class to a region directly adjacent to Russia. The destroyer arrived in Whittier on September 27 ahead of its formal commissioning ceremony on October 3, marking the first U.S. Navy ship commissioning held in Alaska since 2013. The arrival places one of the U.S. Navy’s most advanced surface combatants in the immediate vicinity of the Russian Far East.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday that Moscow has no intention of scaling back its objectives in Ukraine, and that its army will continue fighting until they are resolved.

Lavrov, during his speech, outright rejected a pause in fighting during negotiations and told the world that the war was a fight for the security and rights of Russians and people living in regions of Ukraine that Moscow considers Russian.

What Lavrov Said

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

Tu-160 Bomber Russian Air Force.

Getting the gun to fit the shooter🎯
BFBS For

Russia plans to increase defence spending to 17.1 trillion roubles ($202.6 billion) in 2027, representing an increase of approximately 27 percent over the 13.5 trillion roubles originally allocated for the year, according to Russian government budget documents reviewed by Reuters. The planned allocation would be the highest level of Russian defence spending in over 30 years. The documents indicate that Russia expects to spend approximately 50 trillion roubles on defence over the three-year 2027–2029 budget period.

Back on September 9, Al Jazeera reported that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had claimed to have captured a Dive-LD vessel, an unmanned U.S. submersible, near the Strait of Hormuz, during the early-September period when the U.S. and Iran were exchanging attacks.

What We Know 

A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the United States Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron “Thunderbirds” performs during the 2026 Sioux Falls AirShow: Power on the Prairie at Joe Foss Field, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, July 17, 2026.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt departed San Diego on Sunday for what is anticipated to be an extended Middle East deployment, which would make it the fifth U.S. aircraft carrier to have been committed to operations connected to the Iran war since it began seven months ago.
According to an Aug. 26 report by USNI News about the Roosevelt’s deployment, the carrier’s 5,000-strong crew is expected to head to Central Command’s area of responsibility, where the aircraft carrier will relieve the USS George Washington.

The last month has been a comparatively quiet period in the Iran War, with The Wall Street Journal recently describing the last few weeks as occupying a “liminal space between war and peace.”

However, that period has nevertheless taken a toll on United States service members.

According to a report Monday by Task & Purpose, which cited an update to the Defense Casualty Analysis System, nine Marines and 29 sailors were wounded in the month of September in “overseas operations,” as part of their support of the Iran War.

Local communities have expressed frustration over rising diesel prices as fuel costs hover near record highs. Prices have shot up in recent weeks due to the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz and repeated attacks on oil refineries as part of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The rise has prompted some Republicans to call for a ban on diesel exports ahead of the forthcoming midterm elections.

Prices Rising
The average price of diesel reached a record high of $6.53 per gallon on Tuesday, 22nd September, and stayed around $6.50 over the weekend.

President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s latest proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend. By Monday, however, there was less agreement on whether a new round of talks was planned.

“I reject their proposal,” Trump said to reporters Saturday.

A B-1 Bomber, 77th Weapons Squadron, Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, performs a fly by for the crowd during an Air Force Firepower Demonstration at Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, Nev., Oct 8.

Russia Launches Major Drone Strikes Against Kyiv: Russia attacked the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, with drones again on Monday. The drones hit the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine building, setting it on fire.

One Person Killed 

Vladimir Putin in Syria. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Putin in Briefing. Image Credit: Russian Government.

Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko said that as a result of the attack on the academy, one person was killed and three were injured.

“The time is right now for us to improve the pe

Donald Trump’s Approval Rating Continues to Reach New Lows – U.S. President Donald Trump’s approval rating remains at uncomfortable lows just five weeks before the midterm elections.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week found that the President’s approval rating stood at just 32% — the lowest of his political career under any Reuters/Ipsos survey.

President Donald Trump holds a Cabinet meeting, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in the Cabinet Room.

The Army has a saying, “Ain’t no use in looking down, ain’t no discharge on the ground.” But for some old World War II sailors, looking down might have revealed a DD-214—just not the kind of DD-214 that are discharge papers.
That’s because the destroyer and minesweeper USS Tracy was commissioned as DD-214, the Navy’s 208th destroyer, so numbered because DD-200 through DD-205 were canceled.
Also Read: Bulova recreates iconic A-11 World War II watch for ‘Jimmy’ movie
USS Tracy actually predates World War II.

Everyone remembers the SignalGate scandal in March 2025, when journalist Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic was accidentally added to a Signal group chat that included Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other top government officials.

Just as he would later that year with the Iranian nuclear program, President Donald Trump claimed that he had “decimated” the Houthis, the Iran-backed militia who were the targets of the attack that was being planned in that Signal chat.

Modern CASEVAC operations in Ukraine are hampered by new types of battlefield lethality, particularly massed use of drones.

The Iran War Puts America’s Middle East Bases Near the Strait of Hormuz in Question – For decades now, the United States has relied on its bases throughout the Middle East for military support, whether that’s launching aircraft and moving supplies or directing naval operations to respond quickly to regional crises. Those bases are a fixture of American foreign policy, but the war with Iran has exposed those facilities in ways many thought weren’t possible.

Iran Is “Fully Prepared for War,” Foreign Minister Says: Iranian top officials last week made a rare visit to the United States, with the nation’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, addressing the United Nations General Assembly, becoming the first foreign leader ever to do so while his country was at war with the United States.

In his speech, Pezeshkian urged the United States to return to the June Memorandum of Understanding framework, which temporarily halted the war before the deal collapsed the following month.

President Donald J.

By the time Lance Corporal Grace Cussons reache