Connecticut Army National Guard soldiers participate in a class to prepare them to retest and raise their Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB, scores, Maj. Gen. Maurice Rose Armed Forces Reserve Center, Middletown, Connecticut, August 6, 2020. Soldiers may take improvement courses in order to retest on the ASVAB after enlisting to become eligible for more job options and progression, to commission as a warrant officer officer and to commission as a commissioned officer. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Matthew Lucibello).

Host L Todd Wood speaks to French intelligence analyst Thierry Laurent on the situation in-country.
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Seen at a media event at the type’s Wattisham Airfield home operating station, the AH-64E will soon be declared to be ‘operationally ready’ by the British Army. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)
The British Army is to declare its Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopter force to be “operationally ready” in the coming days, a senior official said on 28 February.

MilitaryView

US Underwater Supremacy: Invisible Guardians of the Ocean
US Underwater Supremacy: Invisible Guardians of the Ocean”: this article explores the critical role of US Navy submarines in maintaining dominance beneath the waves.
The United States Navy leads this field with an unparalleled fleet of 71 submarines distributed in four classes: Ohio, Los Angeles, Seawolf, and Virginia.
Breakdown of the Ohio, Los Angeles, Seawolf, and Virginia classes, pillars of the United States maritime strategy.

FILE: A CV-22 Osprey assigned to Air Force Special Operations Command prepares to land during an aerial demonstration at Wittman Regional Airport, Wis., July 30, 2021. (Senior Airman Miranda Mahoney/U.S. Air Force).
V-22 Ospreys could soon be flying again in the coming week. That’s according to the Associated Press, which reported yesterday that the Pentagon is preparing to let different branches of the military implement plans to start Osprey operations in the next few days.

MilitaryView

Lancet: Russian kamikaze drone identifies its own targets
The Lancet, weighing approximately 11.3 kilograms, has the ability to neutralize tanks, artillery pieces and various vehicles at a distance of up to 48.3 kilometers.
In recent assessments, the Russian Lancet munition has been noted to have incorporated an advanced “targeting” capability.

An American C-130 cargo plane being loaded with supplies for Gaza. (Photo courtesy U.S. Air Force).
American and Jordanian C-130 cargo planes airdropped more than 38,000 meals into the Gaza Strip today, the first such American operation to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians there since the war in Gaza began. United States Central Command says that more are to come. 
The C-130s dropped 66 bundles over the Gaza coastline, containing more than 38,000 meals ready to eat as well as water for Palestinians in need of supplies.

Host L Todd Wood speaks to Maj Gen Joe Arbuckle (USA, Ret) on his time as an advisor to the South Vietnamese Army during the largest NVA offensive of the war.
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Lolita C.

Military Motivation – “DESTRUCTIVE”
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The U.S. Marine Corps’ stealthy XQ-58A Valkyrie has successfully completed its second flight test with the service. The Marine Corps is currently testing the drone against a whole range of potential uses, including as electronic warfare platforms, surveillance and reconnaissance assets, and wingmen for crewed fighters, including in kinetic roles.
The flight test took place on February 23, and was conducted from Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, where the Marine’s XQ-58A testing efforts are based. The test saw Marines working in conjunction with the U.S.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is reportedly preparing to take custody of what may be the remains of another spy balloon recovered by fishermen off the coast of Alaska. The news comes a week after the North American Aerospace Defense Command sent fighters to investigate another balloon over Utah, which was assessed to not be a threat to national security or a hazard to aviation. This all follows a string of similar incidents last year, including a Chinese spy balloon that intruded into U.S. airspace and was eventually shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

Germany is acquiring 60 Chinook helicopters, for which the first engine contract has now been placed. (Boeing via Janes/Gareth Jennings)
Germany has placed the first award related to its procurement of Boeing CH-47F Block II Chinook Standard Range (SR) air-to-air refuelling (AAR)-capable heavy-lift helicopters, contracting Honeywell to provide the engines.
Announced on 26 February, the award covers 105 T55-GA-714A engines for the EUR6.98 billion (USD7.57 billion) Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme to deliver 60 Chinook ER helicopters to the Luftwaffe.

MilitaryView

Why Did Russia Fail to Build a Robust Aircraft Carrier Fleet?
Why Did Russia Fail to Build a Robust Aircraft Carrier Fleet?: A Look at the Historical, political, and Technical Factors that Contributed to Russia’s Lack of a Robust Aircraft Carrier Fleet Despite its Military and Naval prowess during the Cold War Era.
Despite the outstanding military exploits and naval development of the former USSR during the Cold War era, the ambition to build a robust aircraft carrier fleet was never fully realized.

The Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office’s “embed” at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii — who is tasked with helping service members there more rapidly access and adopt data-driven and digital capabilities to support their missions — is Dan Tadevich, DefenseScoop has learned.

The Army is standardizing the way infantry platoons keep up with their combat vehicle skills with an initiative by the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Benjamin Hale).
The Army is standardizing the way crews of Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles keep up with their combat skills.
Brigades with the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia have taken the last month to train under a new set of qualification standards, or gunnery tables, against targets set at longer distances for their M1 Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles.

The Army is doing market research for mobile weapons platforms that can shoot down unmanned aerial systems, while the Marine Corps is soliciting advanced technologies that can help defend installations against small drones.
UAS and counter-UAS technologies have played a significant role in recent conflicts, including in Ukraine and the Middle East.
On Friday, the Army published a sources-sought notice on Sam.

MilitaryView

Russia Deploys RS-28 Satan-2 Intercontinental Missiles
Putin has highlighted the assignment of the first set of these heavy ICBMs to military units, noting enigmatically: “Soon, we will deploy them on the fronts where we are currently fighting.”
In a speech addressed to the federation, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, made public the integration and prompt activation in war contexts of the RS-28 Sarmat heavy-type intercontinental ballistic missiles, known colloquially as Satan-2.

It’s no secret that Russia’s fleet of A-50 Mainstay airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft has taken a beating in the war in Ukraine, with two examples shot down under still-mysterious circumstances and another damaged by a drone strike. But a recent proposal to restart production of these high-value aircraft is questionable, to say the least. It also sheds further light on the significant problems Moscow has faced in fielding a new-generation AEW&C platform, the A-100, which remains in limbo, for the time being.

Newly confirmed Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Jim Slife has made leveraging data one of his type priorities — and he’s looking for industry’s help to improve how the service collects and exploits it.
Speaking to a crowd Thursday at a luncheon hosted by AFCEA, Slife outlined what he perceives as the Air Force’s biggest hurdles when it comes to taking advantage of data for operations, training, maintenance and more.

A U.S. Marine Corps C-130 drops container delivery systems with water cargo. Marine Corps photo.
U.S. military planes will begin airdropping humanitarian aide into Gaza in the coming days, President Joe Biden announced Friday, as Israel’s military assault on the region reaches the end of its fifth month.
Announcing the drops, President Biden referred to an incident on Feb. 29 that killed at least 100 Palestinians when Israel forces fired on civilians around a convoy of food trucks.

MilitaryView

Is NATO Really Prepared for a War with Russia?
In recent weeks, French President Emmanuel Macron has hinted at the possibility of sending Western troops to fight in Ukraine, a move that has sparked significant debate and speculation. As the tensions between Russia and NATO continue to escalate, many are left wondering: Is NATO truly prepared for a war with Russia?
The Current Situation
Currently, NATO has refrained from directly confronting Russian forces in Ukraine, instead focusing on training Ukrainian military forces and providing them with defensive weapons.

The U.S. Air Force has released pictures of a live AGM-183 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon hypersonic missile, or ARRW, under the wing of a B-52H bomber during a training event at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam. This very public showing of ARRW at a highly strategic base in the Pacific comes despite the Air Force announcing its intention to axe the program last year. It prompts new questions about the increasingly ambiguous future of this weapon.
A live AGM-183A ARRW hypersonic missile under the wing of a B-52H bomber on Guam on February 27, 2024.

Head to http://hensonshaving.

MilitaryView

More F-35 stealth fighters heading to China’s doorstep
The announcement of the acquisition of the F-35s is accompanied by a significant increase in Singapore’s defense budget, which will reach $15 billion in 2024.
Singapore increases its arsenal with eight additional F-35As, adding a total of 20  F-35s  to replace its F-16 fleet by 2030. This strategic move, accompanied by a budget increase to $15 billion, seeks to consolidate its position as a regional power and modernize its defense without encouraging an arms race.

Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible. *** Over the years, I’ve seen way too many ads for websites purporting to show the best examples of data visualization. Well, the following, I’d suggest, is one of the weirdest. Emma Willard, “The Temple of Time,” 1846, A.S. Barnes & Co.

Hessen
is pictured departing Wilhelmshaven naval base on 8 February to join the EU’s new maritime security mission to protect commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
(Bundeswehr/Julia Kelm)

The German Navy’s Type 124 Sachsen-class air-defence frigate FGS
Hessen
(F 221) successfully repelled two one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the Red Sea launched by Yemen-based Ansar Allah (commonly known as the Houthis) militants on 27 February.

Airborne students board a C-130 cargo aircraft as they prepare to make their second jump during the Basic Airborne Course. (Staff Sgt. Dustin Biven/U.S. Army).
The Army’s Basic Airborne Course at Fort Moore, Georgia, is meant to prepare students for the challenges of life as a paratrooper.
What you may not have heard until now is that service members who attend the course are no longer required to complete a 5-mile run to graduate. That requirement went away several years ago, but many graduates of the course remember it as an essential part of earning their Airborne wings.

Poland signs an agreement for IBCS air and missile defence C2 capability for phase two of the Wisła programme and the Narew short-range air-defence system. Pictured is the interior of the IBCS Engagement Operations Centre, which Poland will receive under phase two of Wisła. (Northrop Grumman)
Poland has signed a USD2.53 billion agreement with the US government for the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS).

The US Department of Defense issued two contracts to General Dynamics and Textron for prototypes for an Autocannon Reconnaissance Vehicle.

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It’s easy not to think too much about life insurance when you are in the military since your coverage is automatic. In fact, the military ensures that all servicemembers are covered from day one – with $500,000 of Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance Coverage (SGLI) and up to $100,000 in Traumatic Injury Protection (TSGLI) – for $31 a month.
If $500,000 seems like a lot of money, you are right. It is often more than enough coverage for young, single servicemembers.

A GAO report has found 7 of 16 weapon system projects have exceeded operation and cost growth beyond legal thresholds.

The DGA ordered 3,000 multispectral camouflage nets from Saab Barracuda on 21 January. (DGA)
The Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA), France’s defence procurement agency, announced on its website on 27 February that it had ordered 3,000 multispectral camouflage nets from Saab Barracuda on 21 January under its Filet écran radar-IR (Fenrir) procurement programme.
Under the EUR30 million (USD32.

The Indonesian Army’s Harimau tank on display at Indo Defence 2022. The tank uses a modular armour for protection and is armed with a 150 mm Cockerill main gun and a 7.62 mm co-axial machine gun. (Janes/Andrew Galer)
The Indonesian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has handed over 52 armoured vehicles manufactured by PT Pindad to the Indonesian National Armed Forces (Tentara Nasional Indonesia: TNI).

CRS
From the report
Introduction
Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO) is the operating concept of the Department of the Navy (or DON, which includes the…

Blane, MWI
“The history of failure in war can almost always be summed up in two words: ‘Too late.

M. Adams, S&S

Paparo, who now commands the U.S. Pacific Fleet, was approved along with 25 other military promotions in an unanimous consent vote.

Thomas Newdick, The War Zone
The swing-wing F-111 was capable of reaching far higher speeds than most realize, and it did so on multiple occasions.

Audrey Decker, Defense One
The company is in the running to build collaborative combat aircraft for the Air Force.

The German Minister of Defence has implemented a new Infrastructure Turnaround Action Plan to expedite the construction of Bundeswehr sites.

Rheinmetall announced a series of deals for land platforms to European customers, including modular mobile medical facilities and air-defence.

Denmark has 44 CV90 IFVs in its inventory, and is also helping supply vehicles to Ukraine for use against Russia.

Gautam Adani has responded to Modi’s call for a self-reliant weapons industry with a $362m investment and new defence complex.

The Indian Army has been seeking to replace its ageing Maruti Gypsys and Mahindra MMs with new light vehicles since the early 2010s in a phased manner. As part of this, the service awarded a contract to Tata Motors to supply 3,192 4×4 Safari Storme vehicles (pictured above) in 2016. (Janes/Kapil Kajal)
The Indian Army has issued a tender to procure 4×4 ‘light vehicles’ to perform general service (GS) roles.

The XQ-67A in flight (location unknown). (GA-ASI)
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has flown the XQ-67A unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for the first time, the company announced on 29 February.
“Flight demonstration of this system is a major first step towards showing the ability to produce affordable combat mass,” said Trenton White, Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL’s) Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS) programme manager, in a statement announcing the flight.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping closed his annual New Year’s address with a pledge to build a “community with a shared future for mankind” and “make the world a better place for all.” A great deal hinges on whether countries in the Global South believe him. Xi’s language might be dismissed as a rhetorical flourish at the end of a speech noted for reiterating Beijing’s longstanding insistence that Taiwan will “surely be reunified” with China.

VSHORADS – pictured above from a DRDO test in March 2023 – is a tripod-launched missile system designed to strike moving aerial targets such as unmanned aerial vehicles, helicopters, and fighter aircraft. (DRDO)
India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) test-fired two of its very short-range air-defence system (VSHORADS) missiles from a ground-based portable launcher, the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in a press release on 29 February.

An Indian Navy Scorpene submarine. Indonesia has begun negotiations to procure the Scorpene Evolved variant of the boat, which will be equipped with lithium ion batteries. (Naval Group)
Representatives from French shipbuilder Naval Group have arrived in Jakarta to begin contract negotiations for two lithium ion batteries-equipped Scorpene Evolved diesel-electric submarines (SSKs).

The Bundeswehr has ordered Skyranger 30 air-defence systems mounted on Boxers, Rheinmetall announced on 27 February 2024. (Rheinmetall)
The Bundeswehr has ordered Skyranger 30 air-defence systems mounted on Boxer armoured vehicles, Rheinmetall announced in a press release on 27 February. Under the EUR595 million (USD644.8 million) worth of contract, the prototype will be delivered at the end of 2024, followed by 18 production vehicles, with an option for 30 more.

The U.S. Air Force has disclosed substantial new details about its secretive Off-Board Sensing Station program, or OBSS, and related developments. This comes after the drone developed under OBSS, General Atomics’ XQ-67A, took its first flight. We now know about the existence of a previously undisclosed companion drone, with higher-performance and weapons deployment capabilities, called the Off-Board Weapon Station, although the exact status of that aircraft remains unknown.
The Air Force Research Laboratory announced the first flight flight of the XQ-67A earlier today.