Caitlyn Burchett, USNI News
Nimitz was the first in a series of nuclear-powered super carriers that have remained the centerpiece of American power projection

Lindsay, Military.com
Medal of Honor recipient Clint Romesha says veterans aren’t broken and calls for more opportunity, connection and support after service.

C. Allen, American Thinker
In July 1776, Congress proclaimed independence—and George Washington prepared an army to defend it.

The WarZone
NASA will lead waves of aircraft, from stealth bombers to VIP helicopters, over the Mall to celebrate America’s 250th birthday.

Ukraine’s program of medium-range strikes on Russian military targets in occupied Crimea and southern Ukraine is now fatally disrupting Moscow’s military logistics chain. The lack of any logistical support or transport is now forcing some Russian infantry units to walk up to 19 miles to reach their frontline positions.

This development was reported by Ukraine’s Defense Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, on Wednesday, 1 July. Fedorov was speaking at a joint press conference in Kyiv with Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson.

Today’s 4th of July celebration in Washington, D.C. will feature a nine-hour airshow involving waves of fixed and rotary-wing aircraft from across the military, including historic F-5s to modern fighter jets.
Freedom 250, the organization behind many of the events in the capital for the nation’s 250th birthday, released the schedule for the 4th of July airshow, which includes more than 30 specific waves of aircraft spanning almost every branch of the armed forces, minus Space Force.

In spring 1968, Jim McCloughan signed a contract to teach and coach two sports at a high school in his native Michigan.
The next week, McCloughan received a letter that the United States military needed him more. Drafted into the Army, McCloughan reported to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for basic training. He then went to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio to become a combat medic.
Also Read: How the US protected ‘utterly irreplaceable’ documents during World War II
McCloughan (pronounced Muh-clue-in) became an exceptional medic.

There continues to be confusion about just what weapon Ukraine fired at Moscow on Tuesday, 30 June, during a missile alert. Russia’s Defense Ministry (MoD) has claimed that Ukraine used a ballistic missile in an attack on Moscow for the first time, although the model and type of missile remain to be identified.

In the MoD Thursday daily briefing, the Russia briefer stated that Moscow’s air defenses had intercepted what it called a “long-range operational-tactical missile” within the past 24 hours.

“Moscow Will Fall” – The Overnight Strikes Just Got Worse –  Overnight on July 2, Russia and Ukraine endured another night of long-range strikes overnight, with Moscow continuing its devastating aerial bombardments of Kyiv as Ukrainian forces struck more energy infrastructure in Russia and Russian-occupied territory. While Russia relied on overwhelming missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities, despite Moscow claiming the strikes targeted military sites, Ukrainian forces continued to target the fuel infrastructure that economically supports the war in Ukraine.

Iran has begun a week-long state funeral for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, almost five months after he was killed in U.S. and Israeli airstrikes that initiated the war among the three countries. The upcoming ceremonies, which Tehran says will attract millions of mourners from across the country, will honor the country’s longest-serving leader. Tehran has also described the planned events as a demonstration of resilience in the face of threats from the United States and Israel of a return to military operations.

Plans are already in place for the first-ever U

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As Russia’s battlefield progress stalls,

A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has concluded that the U.S. Department of War continues to struggle to deliver major weapon systems on schedule and within budget, highlighting that it frequently begins acquisition programs before critical technologies are sufficiently mature.

Editor’s Note: Few rivalries in American history have been as consequential — or as personal — as the one between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.  The two men could hardly have been more different. Adams, the stocky and combative Massachusetts lawyer, was blunt to a fault and quick to suspicion. Jefferson, the tall, elegant Virginia planter, was reserved and idealistic. The two held diverging political philosophies as well. Adams preferred a strong, central government while Jefferson favored states’ rights and limited government.

China has achieved a significant milestone in electric propulsion for satellites by successfully demonstrating a new 750-newton Hall-effect thruster, which completed a record-breaking orbital transfer mission and surpassed the performance of all comparable preceding systems. The engine powered Communications Technology Experiment Satellite 26A from its initial transfer orbit to geostationary orbit through five orbit-raising manoeuvres, firing for a cumulative 11,617 seconds (approximately 3.2 hours) during its maiden mission.

The AN/APG-85 radar scheduled to be introduced into service on U.S. Armed Forces F-35 fifth generation fighter aircraft has been assessed by a number of analysts to be likely to have a directed-energy attack capability, transforming the aircraft’s primary sensor from a purely sensing system into an offensive electronic weapon.

The Ukrainian Defence Ministry has placed its first order for MIM-104 Patriot long range air defence systems, after United States officials made clear that donations of the systems would cease. Approximately 100 interceptor missiles, likely a variant of the PAC-3, are being financed through a $1 billion European Union-backed loan, with an urgent diplomatic appeal to nearly 40 partner countries for immediate transfers of missiles from existing stockpiles.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s fleet of J-20 fifth generation fighters is estimated to have exceeded 500 fighters, with recent accelerated deliveries to new air brigades providing confirmation of years of reports of a significant expansion of the type’s scale of production. Eighteen air brigades are confirmed to have now received the aircraft, with each brigade typically fielding 28 fighters, for a total of 504 fighters. A further 40-60 fighters are estimated to be allocated for training operations.

The Ukrainian mobilization effort has been documented as cruel and without due process, without any legal protection at all as men are dragged into non-official private armies and sent to the front. Now nets are being used to snare men on the street without as much hassle.
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Following the first confirmation that the Russian S-400 long range surface-to-air missile system had been used to intercept a Ukrainian ballistic missile strike against Moscow, significant questions have been raised regarding the systems’ anti-missile capabilities. Unlike specialised ballistic missile defence systems such as the Russian A-235 and S-500, the S-400 is a balanced multirole system designed to be capable of engaging all types of in atmosphere aircraft, and both ballistic and cruise missiles.

New Armed Forces Commissioner Polly Miller-Perk

Jonny Ball, an Afghanistan veteran, assesses th

The United States has withdrawn most of the troops sent to Nigeria earlier this year, after wrapping up a combat operation against Islamic State fighters in the country.
Gen. Dagvin Anderson, head of U.S. Africa Command, confirmed the drawdown of “much of our forces that were just there for that operation.” Speaking at the 2026 African Chiefs of Defense Conference, Anderson said that the campaign around the Lake Chad Basin in the spring “not only helped the countries in that immediate region; it also helped countries globally as that disrupted the ISIS network.

Russia’s indiscriminate aerial attacks ha

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The Ukraine War Gets Worse: Russian forces unleashed an enormous drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv early Thursday morning.

At least 30 people were killed, and over 100 were wounded in Kyiv, local authorities said, in what the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, called the most massive Russian attack on the capital during more than four years of air assault on Ukraine.

Exercise Artemis Strike is a German-led tactical live fire exercise with live Patriot and Stinger missiles at the NATO Missile Firing Installation in Chania, Greece from Oct. 31-Nov. 09. Over 200 U.S.

The Thursday, 2 July, attack on Kyiv was one of the most massive ever launched on the Ukrainian capital. One key indicator being cited as evidence of the ferocity of the attack is the number of persons who were forced to take refuge in the city’s underground.

Kyiv Metro authorities reported that 52,500 people, including 4,500 children, had sheltered in these underground stations overnight. That figure, they stated, was the highest number in “recent years”.

Skyfall Missile Russian Flying Chernobyl. Russian Government/Screenshot.

The Navy beat its recruiting goal for new sailors this year, signing up 45,000 new recruits. The service announced the milestone on Thursday. It’s the highest number of people signing up for the Navy in roughly two decades.
“Today’s Navy is stronger because tens of thousands of Americans chose to answer the call to serve,” Rear Adm. Jim Waters, the head of Navy Recruiting Command, said.

The new Armed Forces Commissioner has said she

Russia and Ukraine Are Promising to Escalate: Both Ukraine and Russia are vowing to escalate and intensify the war after Moscow launched one of its biggest missile and drone attacks of the conflict, causing chaos in Kyiv and destroying residential buildings. The large-scale attacks prompted new Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russian territory overnight.

Rescue crews continued their search through the rubble in Ukraine’s capital city on Friday as the death toll from the Thursday night attack climbed to at least 30 people, with more than 90 injured.

Ukraine’s long-range strikes against Russia continued overnight, while reports suggest the U.S. is warning Poland that Russia may be planning a new assault that tests NATO’s resolve. It’s clear that Russia is beginning to panic, and it’s all thanks to what some might describe as “asymmetric” warfare tactics being deployed by Ukraine.

Warrant Officer Class 1 Johnson Beharry, who wa

NBC News reported that Iran and Oman presented the United States with a proposal to administer the Strait of Hormuz, including jointly collecting fees from ships passing through the waterway.

The New York Times earlier reported that Iran and Oman are moving forward with plans to collect transit fees from ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, despite public objections from the United States, according to an Iranian official and four diplomats involved.

Generic Oil Tanker Image. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Oil Platform. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Pressure is mounting on the Kremlin as Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes have had tangible effects on the economy. With gas shortages reported across the country and long lines forming at gas stations, there is a general feeling of unease and discontent in Russia. Vladimir Putin’s response? Basically nothing. Rather than easing up on the war in Ukraine or looking for a ceasefire, the Kremlin has instead doubled down on the war. As the Russian Army advances at a snail’s pace in the Donbas, Moscow continues to launch large combined missile/drone attacks against Kyiv.

Nato is behind certain member states in adopting cloud technology, revealed a commander within the Romanian Defence Staff.

Russia’s indiscriminate aerial attacks ha

Pro-Russian milbloggers have reported on the Telegram app that its air defenses may have intercepted a “long-range operational-tactical missile” launched by Ukraine.

While Russian and Ukrainian authorities have not publicly confirmed any such launch, what is known is that Russian air defense systems engaged and intercepted a target at an unusually high altitude during an alert on June 30.

Ukraine Cruise Missile 2026. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Rheinmetall has obtained a contract for its Skynex air defence systems from an unnamed international customer.

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Western news media outlets are awash with enthusiasm for Ukraine’s successes in the most recent phase of its ongoing drone and missile wars against Russia.  Photos and videos of a blazing Russian oil refinery on the outskirts of Moscow were especially prominent in late June 2026.  However, nearly every Ukrainian drone or missile attack that inflicts damage on a Russian target receives maximum coverage in Europe and the United States.

Ukraine will loom large over the July 7-8, 2026, NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey. The war in Ukraine is now well into its fifth year. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s gamble has cratered Russian conventional power. The frontline is a meat grinder. Russia loses in just one month what it lost over nearly a decade in Afghanistan. Putin dismissed the notion that Ukrainian culture and identity were anything more than contrived; he could not envision that Ukrainians would rally around the flag and lay down their lives for a false ideal. Arrogance predominated.

Russia Unleashes One of the Largest Air Assaults of the Ukraine War: As one conflict simmers down, the Iran War, another–the Ukraine War–is boiling over. After a series of Ukrainian drone attacks on critical Russian energy infrastructure, causing massive disruptions to the civilian economy inside Russia, Moscow retaliated with a thunderous cacophony of violence. Russia’s recent airstrikes on Kyiv resulted in tragedy: nearly 27 people died, and countless other Ukrainians were injured.

NO MERCY MODE | Military Motivation 2026
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In yet another devastating attack by Ukrainian drones on Russian-occupied territories, Kyiv knocked out power to 13 different power stations in Crimea, Luhansk, and the Donetsk regions during a 48-hour period.

The strikes severely impacted the energy grid in those occupied territories as the Ukrainian military continues its campaign targeting the energy architecture supporting the Russian military.

Su-57 Felon Fighter from Russia. Creative Commons Image.

The Next Shock After Oil: How the Iran War is Reshaping the Global Food Supply – Let’s file this next one under “More Tales from the Golden Age.” A spate of recent reports tracking the economic implications of the Iran War highlights just how bad the global economic situation is becoming.

By the way, the Strait of Hormuz has not been fully reopened. And as we’ve been warning you in this publication, the longer the Strait remains blocked, the worse the global economic fallout from the war will be.

The People’s Liberation Army Navy, or PLAN for short, recently notched what was for it a long carrier deployment, with the Liaoning completing 40 days at sea, during which it conducted a number of training exercises.

Though notable for the PLAN, it pales in comparison to the Gerald R. Ford, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, and that ship’s post-Cold War record of nearly 300 days at sea.

The Liaoning’s Origin Story

China New Carrier Type 003 CCTV Screencap Photo.

Although the Liaoning is China’s first aircraft carrier, it was not built in China.

The ongoing war in Ukraine is approaching its fifth year, a remarkable marker for what Russia’s leader initially anticipated to be a very short “special military operation” that would quickly decapitate Ukraine’s leadership and see the country absorbed into Russia. With Russia newly on the back foot, thanks to Ukrainian ingenuity and the Kremlin’s ability to finance the war, much has changed on the battlefield. But some things, particularly Putin’s objectives, have remained the same.

BAE Systems has completed delivery of 19 Cold Weather All-Terrain Vehicles to the US military, bringing the total number handed over to 58.

The initial reaction to Kengo Kuma’s design for the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) Memorial has not been kind. Criticism seems to fall into three buckets: its abstract design, the absence of a clear heroic tribute, and a lack of a “roll call” or list of names of the fallen. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a retired Navy SEAL now in Congress, called it a “jazz hands monument to our fallen brothers and sisters.” Sen. Jim Banks, another Navy veteran-turned-lawmaker who served in Afghanistan, referred to it as “disconnected abstract art.