When the American Revolutionary War erupted in 1775, the conflict was not only a struggle for political independence but also a visible clash between two distinct military cultures. Nowhere was that contrast more apparent than in what soldiers wore.
On fields clouded by black powder smoke, clothing served practical purposes such as durability, identification, and protection, but it also communicated power, ideology, and legitimacy.

Veterans will have their disability compensation evaluated based on whether their prescribed medication or treatment improves their illness or injury, according to a new federal rule.
The Department of Veterans Affairs will now take into account whether medications improve veterans’ quality of life when determining disability ratings. If so, their rating “will be based on that lowered disability level,” according to the new rule published in the federal register that went into effect Tuesday, Feb. 17.

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About 1,500 targets in a single day: that is the scale U.S. Army leaders say they are preparing for in a large-scale war in Europe.

A. Capaccio, Bloomberg
The U.S.

Defense News
The U.S.

Joseph Trevithick, The WarZone
LongShot drones are also seen as a new way for bombers and cargo planes to engage aerial threats and reduce vulnerability.

Mustafa Bilal, The Strategist (ASPI)
On

BAE Systems has completed a series of successful trials for its Autonomous Tactical Light Armour System (ATLAS) Uncrewed Ground Vehicle (UGV).

Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and Airbus have opened India’s first private-sector final assembly line for the Airbus H125 helicopter at Vemagal in the state of Karnataka.

This video describes the military situation in

What happens when the proxy network loses its patron but not its guns? We might be about to find out.Negotiations between the United States and Iran proceed, but the fact that the president has ordered a second aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf is a clear sign that force is not off the table. It is therefore important to consider the secondary consequences any regime change in Tehran would have in Iraq.Given the extent of Iranian influence throughout Iraq’s formal and informal institutions, a change in Tehran will immediately reverberate in Iraq.

Could China replace the United States atop the target list of transnational jihadist groups like al-Qaeda? A recent statement released by Sheikh Saad bin Atef al Awlaqi, the emir of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, directly threatened China, labeling its government as a “pagan, infidel” enemy whose actions against Uyghur Muslims justify future attacks. The statement marks a clear escalation in al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s anti-China rhetoric.

On Feb. 17, the Department of Veterans Affairs published an interim final rule that changes one deceptively simple question at the heart of disability exams. The VA’s answer will drastically lower disability compensation for millions of veterans, many of whom spent the last 20 years fighting two wars and an untold number of low-level conflicts.
Effective immediately, the VA will rate veterans based on how they function with medication and treatment, not based on how the condition actually affects them.

The Bangladesh Army has received a new batch of Chinese Type 15 lightweight battle tanks, otherwise known as the VT-5, which are expected to equip a second segment, after one regiment equipped with 44 of the tanks completed its rearmament in 2025. The vehicles are among a wide range of equipment that has recently been procured from China, with the purchase of SY-400 tactical ballistic missiles having been approved in November, while orders for J-10C and JF-17 Block III fighters are both reportedly under consideration.

A Ukrainian FPV drone films a near-miss with a Russian Mi-8 Hip helicopter in-flight, passing mere feat below the fuselage of the aircraft.
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Airborne Early Warning and Control is an essent

SAN DIEGO — The recent U.S. military operations in Latin America that culminated in the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro underscored the importance of “sequencing” cyber, intelligence, electronic and other weapons assets, according to the Navy’s so-called ‘IBoss.’
“I wish I could tell you more about that — but there’s goodness there that we’re going to unpack as we go forward,” Vice Adm. Mike Vernazza, commander of Naval Information Forces, told DefenseScoop last week.

Now that’s a matchday delivery!

The Pentagon released a solicitation Tuesday as it continues its quest for new artificial intelligence tools to assist with back-office functions.
While AI capabilities developed for battlefield use often garner headlines, the Defense Department also wants technology to help with more mundane activities. The call for solutions for a Joint Enterprise Task Management System (JETMS) is one of the latest examples.
Today’s tasking processes are fragmented across legacy systems, email and manual trackers, according to officials.

Think twice before picking up hitchhikers&#8230

US Air Force F-35As have been leaving RAF Laken

Under 20 pounds. Man-portable. Semi-autonomous. Able to launch and land vertically. These are some of the characteristics the Marine Corps is looking for in a new medium-range tactical (MRT) drone the service could equip its expeditionary forces with.
The Corps currently uses the hand-launched RQ-20B Puma for reconnaissance and surveillance, which is part of a family of drones that is nearly 20 years old.

A father of three Marines who faced deportation last year is, for now, clear of federal efforts to expel him from the United States after a federal immigration judge dismissed a deportation case against him last week.
But Narciso Barranco’s legal status remains tenuous, according to his family, and he generally remains at home to avoid contact with federal agents, who could arrest him again while he pursues legal residency.
“While the family is very, very happy and pleased with the judge, we understand that this is one step in a long journey still for Mr.

The Nazis drove Abraham Wald, a Jewish mathematician, out of Romania and Europe. He emigrated to the United States, where he would serve in the Statistical Research Group. The SRG was a bunch of eggheads that used math to make the military better at everything from firing rockets to shooting down enemy fighters.
Wald convinced the Navy that it was about to armor the completely wrong parts of its planes, saving hundreds of flight crews in the process.

The Air Officer Commanding No 1 Group has reaff

This video describes the military situation in

Jason Leisey served nine years as an infantryman and received a Purple Heart after he was severely injured by a car bomb in Iraq. John Beasley served as an intelligence soldier in Afghanistan and had to leave after 17 years when he developed sarcoidosis. Austin Chapman was hit by an improvised explosive device while serving as a combat medic in Afghanistan, leaving him with nerve damage and a post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis after six years of service. 
All three were medically retired and had their military careers cut short by life-changing injuries and illnesses.

Despite a long-standing policy of neutrality, Ireland has recognised Russia as a threat, and is following Europe in rearmament.

Production of Ajax will continue unchanged despite defects reported by training crews and with three investigations ongoing.

All or Nothing — Rise Through the Fire | Mili

The Army is one step closer to turning the AH-64 Apache helicopter into a drone hunting tool. Soldiers recently carried out live-fire tests of a new explosive round specifically designed to take out enemy drones at the Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona. 
The tests involved Apaches firing the new 30x113mm XM1225 Aviation Proximity Explosive rounds at multiple types of small drones.

If you listen closely to the sounds coming from the Donbas on this frigid Winter day, you won’t just hear the whistle of incoming 152mm shells or the persistent buzz of drone engines in the sky. You will hear the sound of Ukrainian men and women’s fingers tapping away, in a muddy dugout near Bakhmut, as they stare at a cracked tablet screen.
These warriors aren’t scanning Netflix or a social media profile. They are looking at a leaderboard. To the left of the screen, a stack of empty crates represents the “freedom weight” of a unit that has run out of thermal optics.

L3Harris Technologies has been awarded a contract worth around $400m to power the US Missile Defense Agency’s THAAD interceptors.

TTTECH North America has secured a contract to supply advanced TSN solutions for the US Army’s HADES aerial ISR initiative.

Dylan Malyasov, Defence Blog
The TRV-150 belongs to a family of cargo drones designed to improve rapid resupply operations across dispersed battlefields

Mikayla Easley, DefenseScoop
The command is interested in industry’s offerings for small cruise missiles following a successful demonstration of Leidos’ Black Arrow weapon from an…

Bill Rivers, RealClearDefense
It Looked Bad for America in the Winter of 1813

Joseph Trevithick, The WarZone
The F-35’s vendor locked software is becoming a greater concern as relations between the U.S. and longtime allies falter.

Carter Johnston, Naval News
A joint urgent requirement identified in the U.S.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has published new images showing its rare J-11BSH long-range twin seat fighter aircraft conducting a flight training exercise under the Southern Theatre Command. The Command is responsible for operations in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, with the PLA remaining in a state of civil war with the Republic of China Armed Forces based on Taiwan Island in the former, while safeguarding territory amid often heated maritime disputes in the latter.

The French security outlet Intelligence Online has reported that a squadron of veteran U.S. Air Force and Royal Netherlands Air Force pilots are flying F-16 fighters for the Ukrainian Air Force. A shortage of trained Ukrainian pilots was identified at an early stage as the main obstacle to integrating F-16s into the Air Force, which has throughout its history operated only Soviet origin fighter types.

If there’s one firm fact about military service, it is that you will eventually get out. Whether you retire or simply leave after a certain amount of time is, for the most part, your decision. The majority of service members actually do just that: they get out when their first contract is over.
Also Read: The grunt’s 250-year quest for a weapon that actually works
Every veteran’s separation story is different. Many leave with education benefits, and some go with disability benefits. Some simply return to civilian life with the unique experience they had while serving.

This video describes the military situation in

The Department of Defense’s acquisition and sustainment culture is pathologically risk-averse. The greatest threat to acquisition transformation is not the Federal Acquisition Regulation. It is not congressional oversight, statutory constraints, insufficient training, or an absence of strategy.The greatest threat is fear. Not fear as emotion, but fear as architecture.The defense acquisition system is not broken. It is functioning precisely as designed. It produces compliance. It produces documentation. It produces defensible process. It produces career survivability.

In the wake of 9/11, the newly established Office of the Director of National Intelligence produced the nation’s first National Intelligence Strategy, a document explicitly intended to guide reforms to the intelligence community and help prevent another terrorist attack on the U.S. homeland. The challenges U.S. intelligence faces today are no less dramatic. While crises in Ukraine, Iran, and Venezuela have each been driven by their own internal logics, together they reflect profound shifts in the balance and nature of power as a new international order begins to take shape.

The most consequential infrastructure decisions in Panama today are often not made at the locks of the canal, but in conference rooms where aviation security software, cargo-routing platforms, and port-scheduling systems converge. Sustained observation of Panama’s logistics and regulatory environment — reinforced by long-standing professional relationships within its institutions — points to a shift in how influence is accumulating.Panama’s strategic relevance is no longer confined to maritime geography.

The U.S. Central Command has published images and operational details showing EA-18G Growler air defence suppression aircraft from Electronic Attack Squadron 133, and F-35C fifth generation fighters from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 operating from the Nimitz class supercarrier USS Abraham Lincoln while on forward deployment near Iran. The U.S. Naval Forces Central Command reports that the carrier and its air wing are conducting continuous flight operations in support of regional security objectives.

15 shells a minute. Moving at 500mph.

This video describes the military situation in

The British Ministry of Defence has detailed plans to significantly expand the country’s military presence int he Arctic, including doubling the Royal Marines’ presence in Norway from 1,000 to 2,000 personnel over the next three years, and taking on a central role in NATO’s new Arctic Sentry mission.