The 1st Battalion Royal Welsh Battlegroup in Es

The Army plans to host civilian-run data centers on its bases, according to recent federal contracting documents and official statements. 
In late March, Army officials announced that it “conditionally selected” global investment firms to build, operate and manage commercial data centers on “underutilized” land at Fort Bliss, Texas and Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. The data centers are being built under an agreement with private developers to use available acres of Army property in exchange for access to computing power.

Could Trump Be Removed by the 25th Amendment to the Constitution?
President Donald Trump has people on edge again; his news conference on April 6 left many questioning whether he has gone too far.

Trump set a deadline on April 7 after which, he threatened, he might order the U.S. military to destroy civilian electrical power plants and bridges. Such acts would punish ordinary Iranians and could kill or harm civilians—they would potentially constitute war crimes. He has also warned that “a whole civilization may die tonight.

Rank is no longer the only factor in defence ro

Trump Threatened to Destroy a Civilization. Iran Cut All Contact. What Happens Now? 
President Donald J. Trump’s deadline for the Islamic Republic of Iran to end its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is rapidly approaching.

It is evident that the forty-seventh president believes that issuing serious threats to the Iranian regime is the best way to end this conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

F-22 Raptor In the Air. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

The F-22’s New Fuel Tanks Don’t Have to Be Dropped Before Combat — That Single Change Adds 850 Nautical Miles of Range and Solves the Raptor’s Biggest Weakness
The US Air Force’s fifth-generation fighter, the F-22 Raptor, remains the world’s stealthiest aircraft. Introduced in 2005, it is the world’s first mass-produced fifth-generation fighter jet and has been a cornerstone of the US Air Force’s air superiority strategy.

Currently, there are 178 F-22 fighters in service. And it is still the benchmark against which all fighters are measured.

A U.S.

The war with Iran has had ripple effects across the Middle East and North Africa. The Gulf Arab states, Iraq, and Jordan have suffered direct attacks from Iran, and Iraq also faces violence from Iranian-aligned militias. In response to an attack from Hizballah, Israel has intensively bombed parts of Lebanon and launched an expanded ground invasion in the south.

The annual Sikh military festival Holla Mohalla

Every March, 68 men’s college basketball teams punch their tickets to the NCAA Tournament. Schools load up on NIL-funded rosters, raid the transfer portal for plug-and-play talent, and circle Selection Sunday like it’s a holy day.
Meanwhile, Army, Navy, and Air Force are mostly watching from the couch.
That needs to change.

UKAF women face the French Armed Forces for the

Israel’s Ministry of Defence (IMOD) has received approval to accelerate Arrow interceptor missile production.

Right now, thousands of our military-connected communities are experiencing high levels of angst and uncertainty, as government contracts are being terminated without warning and deployments increase alongside geographical separations, food insecurity, and mobilization of Guard and Reserve components—all while our Coast Guard service members and their families navigate the financial stress while continuing to work full-time without pay.
This seems unfathomable, but unfortunately, this kind of realness is gravitating towards the norm nowadays.

A new digital app launched by the Ministry of D

A Pentagon Report Found the F-15EX Eagle II ‘Operationally Effective’ Against Surrogate 5th-Generation Aircraft in Air Superiority Testing
Pure airspeed, sensing, next-generation weapons, and an expansive payload are just a few of the attributes recognized in Boeing’s F-15EX, an aircraft thought to bridge a capability gap between 4th- and 5th-generation aircraft.

Junior enlisted service members would see the largest of a three-tiered pay raise for troops next year under the latest proposed budget from President Donald Trump’s administration.
Troops at the lowest five enlisted ranks — E-5 and below — would receive a 7% increase in their basic pay, according to the White House. Service members between the ranks of E-6 and O-3, which includes senior noncommissioned officers, warrant officers, and company grade officers, would receive a 6% raise; and all other commissioned officers would get a 5% raise.

GO HARD OR BREAK | Military Motivation
✓ Link

Nigerian-manufactured MRAPS and UAVs demonstrate the country’s evolving defence industry. However, a reliance on the licensed production of foreign designs will continue.

Elbit Systems has received a contract to supply Precise & Universal Launching System (PULS) artillery to the Hellenic Armed Forces.

When millions of Americans tune in to the 2026 NFL draft on Thursday, April 23, they’ll have two military veterans to thank for the league’s biggest offseason spectacle.
Seeking to jump-start the Philadelphia Eagles’ fortunes, owner Bert Bell tried to sign a hotshot running back from the University of Minnesota in 1935. Stan Kostka, who became a U.S. Navy lieutenant commander during World War II, wasn’t going to come cheaply.
Related: This Medal of Honor recipient came up with the idea for the Super BowlAs Bell and Kostka negotiated terms, the asking price kept increasing.

The British Royal Navy Type 45 class destroyer HMS Dragon has made port in the Mediterranean due to an unspecified “technical issue,” marking the latest of multiple incidents in which the ships have been forced out of action for similar reasons. The availability rates of the Type 45 class ships have been notoriously poor, at times as low as 17 percent, as they have been prone to frequent breakdowns particularly when operating in warm waters.

This video describes the military situation in

An HH-60W Jolly Green II hoists a simulated survivor during an aerial demonstration for Saluting Our Aviation Roots, Feb. 25, 2026, at Moody Air Force Base, Ga. The demonstration highlighted combat search and rescue capabilities for students and families. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman Bre Lewis)

The dramatic and sprawling two-day operation to save the crew of an F-15E Strike Eagle shot down over Iran on April 3 involved hundreds of personnel, dozens of aircraft—and multiple close calls.

USNI News
The latest Pentagon budget request calls for massive purchase increases of two key missiles the Navy has relied on for the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and the U.S.

IntEngineering
The U.S.

Global Defense News
The reported mission drew immediate attention because it suggested that Washington had fused time-sensitive intelligence, strategic long-range aviation, and…

Mikayla Easley, DefScoop
If approved by lawmakers, the Air Force’s budget request would kick off procurement of CCA Increment 1

P.

Israeli footage has shown a successful strike on components of an Iranian Air Defence Forces S-300PMU-2 long range air defence system, as part of a broader air campaign launched against Iran on February 28. The operation is notable as it follows claims by a wide range of Western sources from October 2024 that all Iranian S-300PMU-2 systems had been destroyed during Israeli attacks that month – a claim that was widely questioned due to the speed with which it was allegedly achieved, and the need Israel had at the time for a public relations victory.

In October 2022, Unitree Robotics joined Boston Dynamics, Agility Robotics, and three other firms in signing an open letter pledging not to weaponize their machines and to review customers’ intended applications. This Chinese startup based in Hangzhou had earned its place in that group. Founded in 2016 by a 26-year-old engineer named Wang Xingxing, who quit his job at the drone maker DJI during his probationary period, Unitree set out to build affordable quadruped robots. It worked. By 2023, the company held over 60 percent of the global quadruped robot market by unit sales.

During last summer’s 12-day war between Iran, Israel, and the United States, the U.S. military supported Israeli air and missile defense operations by utilizing its regionally deployed air and missile defense assets to intercept Iranian missiles and drones. By the time the shooting had stopped, CNN reported that the United States had expended 100 to 150 upper-tier, terminal-phase missile interceptors against Iranian missiles.

This video describes the military situation in

In past wars, commanders worried about what would happen after crossing the line of departure. Today, the concern is whether they can cross it at all. Surely this is a concern as the United States considers sending a Marine expeditionary unit into the Persian Gulf. Before they enter, whether by air or sea, the fight will already be underway. Meanwhile, closed shipping routes are increasing the costs of shipping, America’s Gulf partners are under continued pressure, and the Houthis fired a missile to underscore the point. The path to the battlefield is the battlefield. No longer a prelude.

The U.S. Department of War’s Fiscal year 2027 Procurement Programs document has confirmed that the U.S. Air Force is set to receive 38 F-35A fighters under the new defence budget request, as the previously planned procurement rate of 48 per year continues to be missed due to new budget priorities. This compares to just 24 aircraft requested in 2025 for Fiscal Year 2026, the year the F-47 sixth generation fighter program was announced, and 40 aircraft requested for the preceding year.

The French Air Force has deployed Rafale fighters to Siauliai Air Base, a facility located 130 kilometres from Russian territory, to take the lead in NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission in Lithuania. Rafales at the airbase are capable of firing air-to-air missiles deep int Russian airspace, and can easily conduct cruise missile strikes deep into the country including thousands of kilometres beyond Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The U.S. military surged more than 150 aircraft deep into Iran’s territory this weekend in a search-and-rescue mission President Donald Trump initiated to recover an airman who hid in a mountain crevice for almost 48 hours to evade being captured after ejecting from his F-15E fighter jet that was hit by enemy fire.
When it was struck Thursday night, that F-15E — known by call sign Dude 44 — marked the first confirmed shootdown of an American military aircraft by Iran since the war began a little over a month ago.

Donald L. Miller spent years tracking down the men of the Eighth Air Force; haunting reunion halls, poring over diaries at England’s Mass Observation Archive, and sifting through declassified records at Maxwell Air Force Base. He wasn’t thinking about slipcovers or gilt-blocked cloth bindings. He was thinking about the 25-year-olds who climbed into B-17 Flying Fortresses at 25,000 feet, without long-range fighter escort, and somehow kept doing it until they had flown 25 missions or died trying.

The Air Force is asking for nearly $1 billion in fiscal 2027 to initiate procurement of the first Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones, according to newly published budget documents. 
The Trump administration released a record-breaking $1.5 trillion defense budget proposal Friday, comprising $1.15 trillion of discretionary funds for FY27 and $350 billion from a future reconciliation bill. The request would allocate $30.6 billion in total for Air Force aircraft procurement, which for the first time includes the CCA program.

The Defense Department is asking Congress for about $20.2 billion in the next fiscal year for a loan program designed to help eligible companies working in certain technology areas of interest.
The funding request for the Defense Strategic Capital Credit Program, which is overseen by the Office of Strategic Capital, was included in fiscal 2027 budget documents recently released by the Pentagon and seeks to boost spending on the initiative by more than an order of magnitude.
The program was allotted less than $1.5 billion for fiscal 2026, according to budget documents.

This video describes the military situation in

The Marine Corps awarded a second prototyping phase for its Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle (ARV) program last week, driving an expensive, high-stakes competition between two major defense companies to replace a decades-old platform and shape part of the service’s amphibious repertoire.
The Marine Corps announced April 1 that General Dynamics Land Systems and Textron Systems “will be building and delivering” three pre-production variations of the ARV by 2028: a command and control model with drone capabilities, one with a 30mm autocannon and a third for logistics.

A new Pentagon policy for veterans still in the Individual Ready Reserve puts a sharper tone on how the Pentagon views inactive soldiers, moving from a last resort to a backup source for manpower.
“First and foremost, the [Individual Ready Reserve] is a mobilization asset. Deliberative plans will be in place that account for the use of the IRR, especially in plans for full mobilization,” according to a Department of Defense instruction released March 23.

A Tomahawk Costs $2 Million — The LUCAS Drone Does the Same Job for $35,000, and the Pentagon Can Build Hundreds for the Price of a Few Missiles
Nothing demonstrates the greatest military superpower like having to reverse-engineer a drone from the Islamic Republic of Iran. But that’s exactly what the Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) is.

It’s a dynamic, deadly, and cost-effective system.

Cheaper is Better in Modern War
A one-way attack “Kamikaze” drone is designed to loiter then dive into targets. They are built to be cheap, mass-producible, and expendable.

China Launched 10 Nuclear Submarines Between 2021 and 2025 — Surpassing the U.S. Production Rate for the First Time
A series of reports and analyses of satellite imagery of activity at China’s submarine construction facilities indicates that Beijing is accelerating the production of nuclear-powered submarines at a pace that is beginning to draw serious attention in Washington.

The expansion of infrastructure at shipyards like Bohai is part of a larger increase in output of both attack and ballistic missile submarines. It reinforces conclusions already laid out in U.S.

The pilot of an A-10 Warthog had to eject due to damage and a helicopter was hit during the rescue on Friday of one of two F-15 crew members who were shot down over Iran, Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on Monday.
At 4:40 am local time, the F-15 with the call sign “Dude 44” went down over Iran, prompting President Donald Trump to immediately order a rescue mission, Caine said at a White House briefing.

Aircraft Carrier HMAS Melbourne Served 27 Years in the Australian Navy — It Deployed to Vietnam and the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation 
As a former U.S. Army infantry soldier, I admire the Australian military for its strength in anti-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations. The Australians have their own Special Air Service Regiment modeled after the British, and these Tier One operators can punish the enemy. Ninety of the commandos may be in the Middle East now.

Department of Veteran Affairs case managers failed to refer veterans experiencing homelessness to the VA’s supportive housing program, due to understaffing, high turnover and staff burnout, according to a recent watchdog report.
The Government Accountability Office’s report found that the VA, during a time period covering both the first Trump administration and the Biden administration, suffered from high case manager turnover that left many veterans not properly supported. As a result, just over 174,000 veterans were not referred to a federal voucher program between 2020 to 2024.

Two retired U.S. admirals with deep experience at sea and in the air joined Ryan to discuss the military challenge of reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Adm. (ret.) Jamie Foggo and Vice Adm. (ret.) John “Fozzie” Miller unpack how Iran has been able to throttle one of the world’s most important waterways and what it would actually take to restore freedom of navigation. The conversation explores mines, drones, missiles, escorts, air strikes, how a Marine expeditionary unit might raid Kharg Island, and (of course) the strategy. Hours before this was recorded, news had broken that a U.S.

Despite spending billions of dollars on weapons

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.

All seemed peaceful as Union Army Pvt. Commodore Smith lay asleep on the steamship Sultana on April 27, 1865.
Smith, who was on the vessel’s lower deck, didn’t stay unconscious for long. Three boilers exploded, killing hundreds of passengers instantly and setting the vessel ablaze.
Related: This is how the Titanic was discovered on an unrelated top-secret missionSmith recalled later that he could hardly move initially. Dead and wounded passengers covered him, along with various body parts and pieces from the Sultana’s upper decks.