We know it’s infuriating that many of our readers, once again, are facing a potential gap in their paychecks. That’s especially true for the Coast Guard peeps who are funded under a different bill than the Department of Defense. But have you ever wondered why the DFAC or mess stays open during shutdowns? Who’s buying that food?
Well, the military is, and the authority to do that comes from an 1861, Civil War-era law originally written to protect cavalrymen and their horses.
The laws, including the 1861 Food and Forage Act
Government shutdowns follow a set path.

Thomas Kenneth Mattingly II was a Naval aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot and NASA astronaut who flew on both Apollo and Space Shuttle missions. Portrayed by Gary Sinise in the 1995 film Apollo 13, Mattingly was replaced by astronaut Jack Swigert on the Apollo 13 crew after exposure to measles. Instead, Mattingly flew on Apollo 16.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 17, 1935, Mattingly’s father’s job with Eastern Airlines moved the family to Florida soon after. As a Boy Scout, the young Mattingly obtained the rank of Life Scout.

In the tumultuous and often bewildering realm of Middle Eastern geopolitics, Iran has emerged as a central player, orchestrating and nurturing armed groups that collectively form what’s commonly referred to as the “axis of resistance.” These groups, often openly hostile to Israel, have forged a complex web of alliances and rivalries, making the region a melting pot of intrigue and tension.
On October 7, the leader of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, rallied support from across the Arab and Muslim world, with a particular emphasis on Iran and allied organizations.

Host L Todd Wood speaks with former US Army officer Mark Bashaw on the effort to hold senior U.S. military officers who tyrannically pushed the vaccine accountable.
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Zachary Bell, better known as Veteran with a Sign, launched the After Action Podcast with guest Michael Collazo, a Metro Nashville police officer that responded to the tragic Covenant School shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 23, 2023. Photos courtesy of Zachary Bell. Task & Purpose composite image.
Marine veteran Zachary Bell, better known as ‘Veteran with a Sign,’ started an online craze by floating veteran-savvy cardboard signs along roadways. Now he has launched his next venture: the After Action Podcast.

Lockheed Martin
We have explored the possibilities related to the existence of a high-altitude, long-endurance stealth drone, the so-called ‘RQ-180,’ and how it’s likely poised to eclipse the crewed U-2S Dragon Lady and uncrewed RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance platforms and become one of the most important military aircraft of a generation.

The aircraft carriers Gerald R. Ford and Dwight D. Eisenhower along with their strike groups operating together in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea on Nov. 3, 2023. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Janae Chambers/U.S. Navy).
Whenever the United States wants to let bad guys know that now is not the time to test us, nothing gets the message across better than having two aircraft carriers operate in a region simultaneously.
The Navy sent that message on Friday by releasing pictures of USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower operating in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.

(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
In a fiery speech from an undisclosed location, Hezbollah General Secretary Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah fell short of promising an immediate full-scale escalation of hostilities on the northern front with Israel. Any future response, he said, depends on what takes place in Gaza and what the level of attacks Israel carries out in Lebanon.

🚨#Hezbollah leader #Nasrallah warns of potential escalation on #Israel–#Lebanon border as conflict spreads to multiple fronts.

After reaching legal limits on import and export loans, South Korea is rallying local banks to help Poland buy $22 billion worth of arms in Seoul’s biggest arms sale, people told Reuters familiar with the matter.
“Local banks are evaluating a syndicated loan as a support measure” to help Poland finance its purchase of South Korean rocket artillery systems and fighter jets, a South Korean government official said.
Likewise, two managers of a Korean defense company confirmed the syndicated loan plan.

Hamas released an intense video yesterday, Thursday, showing a real-time example of one of the biggest concerns that Israeli military planners undoubtedly had for their invasion of Gaza.
The 84-second video is recorded from a helmet-mounted camera. It shows a Hamas fighter hiding in the shelter of bushes after emerging from a tunnel or hiding as an Israeli Merkava main battle tank rolls along a dusty road east of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City.

Although not without problems, the decision to integrate the missiles expanded the anti-tank capabilities of the Russian tactical helicopter aviation.
Russian forces have begun deploying Mi-28NM attack helicopters equipped with Vikhr anti-tank guided missiles. The missile has a range of 10 km and was recently integrated into the helicopter arsenal.
This causes strange things to happen: during launch, the screens flash caution signals as if the helicopter was illuminated by enemy radar or targeted by an anti-aircraft missile.

Kratos
Kratos has provided a rendering of its Thanatos drone, seen at the top of this story, for the first time. The company says it hopes to have gotten a contract by next year related to this stealth drone, the most advanced design the company has unveiled to date. Though the potential customer remains unnamed, the artist’s conception includes a U.S. Air Force logo, suggesting this could be tied to the service’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program or other advanced drone projects.

In a video circulating on social media, an Air Force Security Forces airmen fires a bullet into a charging barrel, an accident known as a “negligent discharge.” Screen capture from Instagram.
A video circulating on social media appears to show an Air Force security forces airman  incorrectly unloading his M240 machine gun into a clearing barrel, causing it to discharge a live round in a crowded room. 
The video prompted hundreds of comments about weapons safety, negligence and training for troops from every service.

Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that Israel would not agree to a “temporary ceasefire” at the call of the US and many other parties if Hamas did not release hostages in the Gaza Strip.

“We are continuing to advance with all our forces. Israel refuses a temporary ceasefire agreement that does not include the release of hostages,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on television on March 3. 11. “Israel will not allow fuel to be sent to the Gaza Strip and opposes money transfers there.

A new U.S. security assistance package for Ukraine, announced Friday by the Pentagon, includes funding for additional weapons to take down Russian unmanned aerial systems.
The equipment is part of a $425 million tranche of military aid, which includes $125 million worth of equipment from Defense Department stocks, plus $300 million in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) funds.

Wagner private military corporation began recruiting troops again in some Russian cities, more than 4 months after the rebellion of tycoon Prigozhin.

Russian media reported on November 1 that representative offices of the private military corporation Wagner in the cities of Perm and Novosibirsk have begun to resume member recruitment activities. However, this group has changed its recruitment policy, only signing contracts with Russian citizens without criminal records instead of recruiting prisoners as under Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Page 59.

Russia has bombed more than 118 Ukrainian settlements in the last 24 hours, the highest number of attacks since the beginning of the year. Kyiv also reported the Russian attack on an oil refinery in Kremenchuk, a central industrial city.
No casualties were reported, but it took nearly 100 firefighters several hours to put out the resulting fire, Ukrainian Interior Minister Oleg Klymenko said in a social media post.
«During the last 24 hours, the enemy shelled 118 settlements in 10 regions.

The Israeli army launched several attacks on Hamas positions at night, killing a battalion commander and several members of the group.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on November 3 that fighters, armed helicopters, and artillery attacked under the instructions of the 933rd Nahal infantry brigade and killed a number of Hamas members in the Gaza Strip at night.
Mustafa Dalloul, commander of Hamas’s Sabra-Tel al-Hawa battalion, was killed in an Israeli airstrike. According to the IDF, Mr.

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. Wishes for a new Middle East seem cursed to come true in the worst possible way. On Sept. 22, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the U.N. General Assembly with a map of “The New Middle East,” extolling the blessings it would bring.

At-sea trials of the VSR700/SDAM were undertaken from the frigate
Provence
between 2 and 9 October.
(Naval Group)
Airbus Helicopters, Naval Group, and France’s Direction générale de l’armement (DGA) procurement agency have completed a first trial of the Airbus VSR700 vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) from a French Navy multimission frigate (Frégate multimission: FREMM).

U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command is conducting market research ahead of an anticipated purchase of up to 100 handheld drone jammers for international partners.
The move comes as unmanned aerial systems are proliferating on battlefields around the world and U.S. military forces and their international partners are coming under attack.
SkyWiper technology can jam navigation, visual transmission and control systems in UAS.
U.S.

U.S. Coast Guard
USCGC Argus, the first of the U.S. Coast Guard’s future Heritage class cutters, was launched last week in Panama City, Florida. The event represents an important step towards fielding this new cutter class — which will replace the Coast Guard’s aging medium-endurance cutters that currently form the backbone of the service’s cutter fleet. With the Coast Guard increasingly tasked with conducting activities far beyond U.S.

Sea trials of the first Hugin Endurance in progress. (Kongsberg Discovery)
Norway’s Kongsberg Discovery has started sea trials of its Hugin Endurance long-range autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), the company confirmed on 26 October.
Launched in 2021, Hugin Endurance has been specifically designed for extended operations in deep sea environments and can be deployed directly from shore or a vessel of opportunity. Powered by lithium-ion batteries, it has an endurance of 15 days at sea, an operating range of 2,200 km or 1,200 n miles, and a depth rating of 6,000 m.

SitaWare Headquarters – seen here in use with Germany’s Bundeswehr – is in widespread service. The British Army has acquired 1,400 new licences for the software. (Bundeswehr/Marco Dorow)
The British Army is expanding its use of Systematic’s SitaWare Headquarters command-and-control (C2) software, the company announced on 1 November.
In total 1,400 new licences for SitaWare Headquarters have been acquired for use across the army.
A company spokesperson was unable to disclose the value of the contract.

Israel sent ground troops to cut across the Gaza Strip, isolating the northern region to besiege and tightening its grip on Hamas gunmen in the stronghold of Gaza City.

“The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have completely surrounded Gaza City, the stronghold of Hamas,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, IDF spokesman, announced on November 2.
Gaza City, the largest city in the northern Gaza Strip, was besieged after the IDF sent a column of infantry and tanks into the central region of the strip and gradually pushed out towards the Mediterranean coast.

The  B-1 Lancers completed the carefully planned mission with complete success, thus demonstrating the reach and global versatility of these aircraft.
Strategic Operation of the  B-1B Lancers  in Allied Territory
B-1B bombers from US Air Force Base Dyess, currently stationed at  RAF Fairford, United Kingdom, performed an integral  Bomber Task Force mission. This operation was carried out in close collaboration with combat aircraft from NATO allies, specifically from the  Czech Republic and Hungary, covering the airspace of Eastern Europe on October 26, 2023.

A KS-1 5.56 mm rifle equipped with Vortex LPVO, Aimpoint Micro red dot, and a KAC suppressor. This configuration will be used by the British Army’s Ranger Regiment. (Janes/Amael Kotlarski)
Further details of the status of the British Army’s efforts to replace and introduce new small arms were revealed during Defence iQ’s International Dismounted Soldier 2023 conference in London.

HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding has turned over about 70% of ship compartments on aircraft carrier
John F Kennedy
to the US Navy.
(Janes/Michael Fabey)
HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding has turned over 70% of aircraft carrier John F Kennedy (CVN 79) compartments to the US Navy (USN), but the delivery of carrier Enterprise (CVN 80) will be delayed, Christopher Kastner, HII CEO and president told investment analysts on 2 November, during a quarterly earnings call.

The collaboration between Airbus Helicopters and Naval Group has led to successful tests of an innovative drone system on a French Navy frigate.
Defense Innovation: Airbus and Naval Group Test Drone on FREMM Frigate
Airbus Helicopters and  Naval Group have marked a milestone in aviation and naval defense. Through a joint effort with the DGA and the French Navy, they have carried out tests of the  SDAM system aboard the frigate  Provence, demonstrating its effectiveness in the Mediterranean Sea.

The US House of Representatives has approved advancing $14.5 billion in military assistance to Israel.
However, the project faces an uncertain future, as both the Democratic Senate majority leader and the White House have signaled their refusal to sign a law that does not include support for Israel and Ukraine simultaneously.
The bill, pushed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, proposes that aid be funded through cuts to the Internal Revenue Service and excludes humanitarian assistance for Gaza.

The White House called for a “local, temporary” ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to allow civilians to evacuate and humanitarian aid to reach the area but did not support a complete cessation of fighting.

During the November 1 election campaign, an attendee urged US President Joe Biden to call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Mr. Biden replied, “I think we need a pause in fighting.

With a focus on maritime surveillance,  Northrop Grumman has been awarded a major contract for MQ-4C Triton Production.
Production of  MQ-4C Triton  for Maritime Surveillance
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., located in  San Diego,  California, has been awarded a contract worth  $542,926,499. This resource allocation ensures the manufacturing and supply of the sixth batch of the  MQ-4C Triton system, which will include three  UAVs for the   US  Navy and one destined for the Australian government, in addition to a main operational station for the  Navy.

In a significant development, Hungary strengthened its security by integrating the NASAMS system into its defense arsenal.
Acquisition of the NASAMS Missile System by Hungary
October 26 marked a milestone for Hungary with the official addition of the NASAMS air defense system. The ceremony took place at the 205th Air Defense Regiment in Győr. Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, Minister of National Defense, highlighted the critical importance of such systems to protect the country’s sovereignty and security.

Hosts L Todd Wood and Col John Mill (USA, Ret) discuss CCP information operations, Panama, the Philippines situation, and more!
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Armasuisse has signed an agreement with the US government to procure PAC-3 MSE missiles. (Lockheed Martin)
Armasuisse, the Swiss Federal Office for Defence Procurement, signed an agreement with the US government on 30 October to procure Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) missiles and related support equipment, the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) and Lockheed Martin announced in separate press releases on 31 October. The US company said Switzerland thus became the 15th PAC-3 partner nation.

The Indian Air Force is seeking to withdraw all Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 Bison aircraft from service in 2025. (Indian Air Force)
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is transferring Sukhoi Su-30MKIs from other operational squadrons to ensure that a former Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 squadron remains in active service.
On 31 October the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced that the IAF’s No 4 Squadron (Oorials) was converting from MiG-21s to Su-30MKIs.
A senior officer in the IAF told Janes that the Su-30MKIs re-equipping No 4 Squadron are not newly acquired aircraft.

HII prepares to deliver Virginia-class submarine
New Jersey
as the company looks to open new markets through AUKUS deal.
(Janes/Michael Fabey)
HII sees the AUKUS agreement made by Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States for submarine programme development as a vehicle for new international business.
“We actually see that as an opening of markets,” Christopher Kastner, HII CEO and president told investment analysts on 2 November, during a quarterly earnings call.

The US has information that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has agreed to provide the terrorist organization Hezbollah with a Russian-made missile defense system, CNN reported on Thursday, citing two people familiar with the information.
According to the report, the Russian mercenary organization Wagner Group, which operates in Syria, has been tasked with carrying out the delivery of the SA-22 surface-to-air missile system.
It is not clear if it has already been delivered or how close it is to being delivered.

Hope Hodge Seck, National Defense
In late 2011, as the war in Afghanistan entered its 10th year, Gen.

Jon Harper, DefenseScoop
A USV operated by Task Force 59 successfully attacked a target boat with a “Lethal Miniature Aerial Missile System” during an exercise last week, according to U.S….

Forbes
The idea is simple: give all U.S. warfighters access to the same high-speed network so they can share vital information and select the optimum response to any threat.

MWI
As the pace of artificial intelligence’s advancement increases, U.S. defense planners put a premium on the overmatching capabilities AI technologies portend for command and control….

Travis Pike, Sandboxx News
Last year, Sandboxx News reviewed the Flux Raider and speculated it could be a great sidearm option for special operations forces; now, the 19th Special Forces…

The global aerospace, defence and security sector experienced a 1% drop in company filings sentiment in Q3 2023.
The post Signal: HII records revenue high as defence sector sentiment dips appeared first on Army Technology.

The Israeli army said its infantry completely surrounded Gaza City, the largest city in the Gaza Strip, and was not considering a ceasefire.

“Our soldiers have completely surrounded Gaza City, the center of Hamas operations,” Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said on November 2. “The idea of ​​a complete ceasefire has not been discussed at all.”
Gaza City, the largest city in the Gaza Strip located in the northern region, became the focus of Israel’s attack in the campaign to respond to Hamas.

The US Navy fired its first live munitions from an unmanned surface vessel during an exercise. (US Navy)
Unmanned surface vessels (USVs) of the US Navy (USN) fired live weapons on 23 October during Exercise ‘Digital Talon’ in the international waters surrounding the Arabian Peninsula – the first use of lethal munitions from USVs in the Middle East region, US Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) confirmed on 1 November.

The Chilean Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16AM Fighting Falcon fighter. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)
Chile has awarded Lockheed Martin USD177 million to perform M6.6 tape upgrades on its F-16 fleet. The 31 October award was conducted via the US Department of Defense (DoD) Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme.
The upgrades, which include identification friend-or-foe (IFF) transponders and Link-16 datalinks, are to be installed on Chile’s full fleet of F-16s, Lockheed Martin told Janes on 1 November.
“The M6.

As diplomatic efforts in Europe and Asia intensify, so too should U.S. military planning and preparations for a world that is drastically different and more dangerous than it was just a decade ago. For the past decade and a half, wargaming and analysis have pointed to the conclusion that the U.S. defense strategy and posture have become insolvent. The tasks that the U.S. government and its citizens expect their military forces and other elements of national power to do internationally greatly exceed the means available to accomplish those tasks.

Netline’s C-Guard Modular ManPack RF jammer counters both UASs and IEDs and is based on the C-Guard series of C-IED systems. (Netline Communications Technologies Ltd)
Israel-based Netline Communication Technologies launched its new manportable counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) called C-Guard Modular ManPack on 31 October.

The radio frequency (RF)-based jammer provides on-the-move, omnidirectional, tactical protection to counter UASs as well as protect forces from improvised explosive devices (IEDs), a company spokesperson told
Janes
.

Best known for being the “Veteran With A Sign,” Marine veteran Zachary Bell just launched “The After Action Podcast.” And just like Bell, it’s awesome.
“I, like all men in my thirties, am avoiding therapy so I decided to start a podcast,” Bell said in his opening line of the first episode. “It’s a place where I hope people are able to share their raw truths, tell their stories, and life afterwards.” In the first episode, sponsored by REE Medical, Bell interviews Michael Collazo.