Colombian contractor units operating in the Ukrainian theatre have been deployed to reinforce the Ukrainian Army 21st Separate Mechanized Brigade near the Velikaya Rybitsa settlement in the Sumy Region, where engagements with Russian forces are ongoing. This follows reports from a number of sources, including French war correspondent Laurent Braillard, that the number of South Americans participating in combat operations against Russia was “exponentially growing.” Colombians and Brazilians are by far the most numerous.

United States Congressman Ed Case has during a special Senate committee hearing confirmed that the United States lost 39 aircraft during hostilities with Iran which began on February 28. Questioning Pentagon Chief Financial Officer Jay Hurst about the extent of losses suffered during the conflict, Case asked whether the Pentagon had calculated “a retention cost on all those aircraft.” Alongside the destruction of 39 aircraft, a further 10 sustained varying levels of damage. Prior estimates for the extent of U.S. losses varied widely but were consistently high at several dozen.

Image AFP

Honolulu, HI – Today, I sat down with I Corps Commanding General Lt. Gen. Matthew McFarlane at the LANPAC Symposium and Exhibition. I was one of five reporters, so we had quality time with the General.
The main topic in front of I Corps today is the Army’s reorganization of its Pacific fighting force.
I Corps Public Affairs described the background of the media roundtable in the following manner:
I Corps, headquartered at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, is a globally deployable, combat-ready force that serves as the operational-level headquarters for the U.S.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force fighter jets has deployed three of its most capable fighter types, the J-20, J-16 and J-10C, for deep-desert exercises. Exercises were reportedly conducted with real-time electromagnetic jamming and radar suppression injected by commanders, without informing pilots of preset plans, to simulate real high intensity war time conditions. The mission reportedly specifically targeted multi-aircraft coordination gaps and system-of-systems vulnerabilities.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force has begun to transition a number of elite air brigades from operating baseline J-20 fifth generation air superiority fighters, to the heavily enhanced new J-20A variant, as the new fighters are prioritised for delivery to some of the most strategically located units the service. The latest unit confirmed to transition was the 41st Air Brigade based at Wuyishan, Fujian province, which had transitioned to field the older baseline J-20 only in 2023.

The Army recovered the body of the second of two soldiers who went missing this month after falling into the ocean while training in Morocco. 
U.S. Army Europe and Africa said that Air Force pararescuemen with the 406th Air Expeditionary Wing as well as Moroccan search and rescue teams located the remains of Spc. Mariyah Symone Collington, 19, on Tuesday, May 12, 10 days after she and another soldier were declared missing near the Cap Draa Training Area in southwestern Morocco during African Lion 26.

The UK Armed Forces rugby league team take on G

The Navy’s shipbuilding plan calls for 15

British paratroopers and US cavalry troops went

Celebrating 4️⃣0️⃣ years of Top Gun, we

The Army canceled a major deployment of a cavalry unit to Europe, just as soldiers began rolling out.
A U.S. official confirmed to Task & Purpose that the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division’s deployment to Poland was canceled by a Defense Department memo that was released on May 1. A portion of the unit that is already in Poland has been directed to return to the United States, the official said. The exact reason for the cancellation is unclear. 
Military Times first reported on the cancellation.

This video describes the military situation in

Ukraine’s Turkish-made Kirpi armored vehicle survives a strike from Russian fiber-optic FPV drone thanks to its anti-drone protection.
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Chinook helicopters stationed at RAF Akrotiri a

All active-duty Marines and reservists must complete a new Basic AI Course before the end of the calendar year, according to a MARADMIN message released May 8.
The announcement comes amid a broader push by the Marine Corps, and the Defense Department writ large, to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence capabilities for warfighting and back-office functions.
One of the strategic goals outlined in the Corps’ AI implementation plan, released last year, is to develop an “AI competent workforce.

The Air Force is planning to kickstart two programs in fiscal 2027 aimed at developing more hypersonic missiles, including a follow-on to the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) and the new Air-Launched Ballistic Missile (ALBM) effort.
The service is requesting $346 million in base funding for continued hypersonic weapons prototyping in FY27 — split between $296 million for ARRW Increment 2 and nearly $50 million to begin ALBM design activities, according to budget documents.

Royal Navy Type 23 frigate HMS Sutherland left

An airman who set himself on fire two years ago in Washington, D.C. to protest Israeli military actions in Gaza did so with a clear head, and not because of a mental health crisis, his wing commander said in newly obtained documents.
With that determination, the senior leader overturned an Air Force investigating officer’s conclusion that Aaron Bushnell’s final act was brought on by psychiatric problems.
Instead, the commander wrote, Bushnell’s death was due to his own “misconduct” and “Not In the Line of Duty,” a rare reversal of an investigating officer’s findings.

In 2016, Ben Friedman wrote, “The Trump Administration Will be Hawkish,” where he argued that despite Trump’s non-interventionist campaign rhetoric, structural forces, hawkish appointees, and an entrenched foreign policy bureaucracy would push him closer toward conventional military interventionism. Ten years later, we asked Ben to revisit his arguments.Image: Max Goldberg via Wikimedia CommonsIn your 2016 article, you argued the Trump administration would adopt a hawkish foreign policy, namely towards Russia, China, and Iran.

This video describes the military situation in

Footage sent to BFBS Forces News shows Ukrainia

Team Lionstrike – GM Defence, BAE Systems and NP Aerospace – have added a new truck to its British Army Light Mobility Vehicle offering.

Just as all Marines are riflemen, they must now also be proficient in a new battlefield technology: Artificial intelligence, or AI.
All Marines have until Dec. 31 to complete a roughly 45-minute online course about the basics of AI, according to a recent Marine Administrative Message, or MARADMIN. Civilians working for the Marine Corps are also “highly encouraged” to take the course, the message says.
“Designed for Marines of all ranks and occupational specialties, the course emphasizes AI awareness and practical application rather than technical expertise,” said Maj.

Leidos has won a $2.7bn contract from the US Army to transition hypersonic weapons work from prototyping to production.

Elbit Systems’ subsidiary Elbit Systems of America has won an order worth around $212m to supply the US Army with ENVG-B systems.

“It must not be killed or shot at except in an emergency arising out of self-defense.”
That was one of the U.S. State Department’s cardinal rules for American fortune seekers, proto-cryptozoologists, and/or adventurers who were making the trek into the Himalayas and hoped to encounter the Abominable Snowman—also known as the Yeti. 
Also Read: Some US troops reportedly saw Bigfoot in Vietnam
The Yeti, like its legendary North American relative Bigfoot, is a mythical ape-like creature that many have claimed is real.

Honolulu, HI – AFP is onsite reporting from the LANPAC 2026 conference.
Gen Xavier Brunson CO US, UN Forces in South Korea Talk at AUSA Conf LANPAC 2026.

The post VIDEO: National Security Is Industrial Power – Gen Xavier Brunson CO US, UN Forces In South Korea appeared first on Armed Forces Press.

Calvin Graham faced the biggest test of his young life when he tried to enlist in the United States Navy in 1942.
The baby-faced Graham was only 12 years old at the time and did everything he could think of to make himself appear older. As a Smithsonian magazine article in 2012 explained, Graham arrived clean-shaven, wore his older brother’s clothes and a fedora, and spoke in a deep voice.
Also Read: The story of 4 brothers who served on the Juneau with the Sullivans
Graham, whose friends forged his mother’s signature on his military paperwork, could do nothing about his teeth.

A&SF Mag.

Kris Osborn, Warrior Maven
Pentagon planners are doubling down on sixth-generation dominance

L. C.

Stefano D’urso, Aviationist
GA-ASI and the U.S.

J. Trevithick, The WarZone
The USAF is moving to start work on a new ARRW variant able to hit moving targets with an eye toward future fights in the Pacific.

This video describes the military situation in

On May 4, 2026, a South Korean vessel came under fire in the Strait of Hormuz, leading President Donald Trump to urge the government in Seoul to join the U.S.-led operation to secure the waterway. The South Korean government politely replied it would “review” the American proposal. The event crystallized a major paradox of the ongoing conflict: The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the worst maritime crisis in decades, is fundamentally an Asian problem, yet Asia is almost entirely absent from the debate over how to resolve it.

An old adage claims a marine’s career came down to the “two or three minutes of a promotions brief.” Turns out that was a little optimistic. In practice, the Marine Corps promotion system decides the institutional worth of a 20‑year career in about 12 minutes of board attention.Imagine the National Football League compressing the seven primary drills of the Scouting Combine — the 40‑yard dash, bench press, vertical and broad jumps, three‑cone drill, 20‑yard shuttle, and 60‑yard shuttle — into a single 12‑minute window.

In May 2025, as Indian BrahMos missile strikes hit Pakistani air bases — targeting runways, parked aircraft, and critical infrastructure — Islamabad faced a choice. It had the capability to respond with its own long-range systems, but it chose not to. Pakistan deliberately withheld the Babur cruise missile, not because it lacked options, but because using a dual-capable system risked signaling nuclear escalation.That moment captures the changing logic of conflict in South Asia. The four-day crisis was intense but contained, defined less by what was used than by what was held back.

CEO of Palantir Technologies Alex Karp has announced that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been using the firm’s technologies as an “operating system for war,” stating that this allowed the battlefield to be managed just like a technology company serves its clients. The only difference is “How many Russian soldiers are killed per square kilometre? Why and how, what means were used, what worked and what didn’t?” This applies right down to the level of individual units, he added. “Ukraine has created one of the most important military defence systems in the world.

The Russian Armed Forces on May 13 conducted a successful test launch of the world’s largest missile, the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental range ballistic missile (ICBM), which was confirmed by Commander of the Strategic Missile Forces Sergey Karakayev. The commander commented on the launch: “The test results confirmed the correctness of the design and technological solutions, as well as the missile system’s ability to achieve its quality conformance characteristics.

United States intelligence sources speaking to The New York Times have confirmed that Iran has retained approximately 70 percent of its missile arsenal, and has successfully restored operational access to 30 out of 33 missile facilities along the Strait of Hormuz, or 91 percent, and approximately 90% of underground storage facilities and launch pads. New intelligence data indicates that Washington has likely significant overestimated the extent of the damage caused to the Iranian missile arsenal by U.S.

The Austrian Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the Austrian Air Force scrambled Eurofighter combat jets twice in two consecutive days to respond to violations of the country’s airspace by U.S. military aircraft, which entered without clearance. Defence Ministry spokesman Michael Bauer confirmed both incidents publicly, with the first involving a Priority A alert and the deployment of two Eurofighters after two U.S. Air Force PC-12 surveillance and special operations support aircraft aircraft crossed into Austrian airspace at 12:31 on May 10.

The Israel Defence Forces have confirmed repeatedly violating a ceasefire agreed with Iran and the United States in early April, announcing that it has struck over 1,100 targets belonging to Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah, killing more than 350 personnel. “The IDF has eliminated more than 350 terrorists in southern Lebanon who posed a threat to Israeli civilians and IDF troops, as part of operations carried out within the framework of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon, alongside more than 1,100 Hezbollah terrorist organization targets that were struck,” it reported.

Anti-drone technology continues development as Ukrainians arm devices with shotguns, and it seems to work.
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The U.S. Air Force has revived the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) program, after development was cancelled in 2023 due to serious delays and multiple failed flight tests. In its Fiscal year 2027 budget request, the U.S. Air Force requested over $296 million to support the development of the missile, which was designed as a two stage boost-glide hypersonic weapon.

Honolulu, Hawaii – I sat down today with General Ronald Clark, Commander of USARPAC, the U.S. Army component command of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) at the LANPAC Symposium and Exhibition where allied Pacific land forces network for interoperability.
Beyond the obligatory pleasantries and declarations of teamwork, there were some golden nuggets from the General’s comments.
I’m paraphrasing below:
“With long-range strike capability and development, we aim to see first, sense first, and strike first to sustain the land force forward in theater.

When a British national was suspected of having

Several bills slated for markup Wednesday by lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee include provisions that aim to make American defense products easier, faster, or more enticing for foreign partners to purchase.
Senior committee staff previewed the newly proposed foreign military sales and financing reforms on a call with a small group of reporters Tuesday.
Allies’ ability to buy American-made military equipment and related assets have historically faced challenges associated with lagging administrative processes and bureaucracy.

The price tag for the Golden Dome for America could reach $1.2 trillion to develop, deploy and operate over 20 years, according to a new report published Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office.
The updated cost estimate is based on a “notional” missile defense architecture that broadly includes capabilities outlined in President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order calling for Golden Dome’s development.

Japan is opening up its defense industry to the

Every separating veteran’s situation is unique, so it’s hard for the military to supply a list of your personal benefits when you get out. What’s so great about the HonorEarned tool: it gathers everything you could be eligible for and takes about 20 seconds. It includes links to apply for those benefits and even has the option to download a printable PDF.