The two top officers of the U.S. Navy released a video Tuesday assuring sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt that their impending deployment would incorporate valuable lessons learned from the USS Abraham Lincoln’s historic deployment to the Middle East.Following the Lincolns’ nearly 10-month deployment that saw 264 days without a port visit, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John Perryman said the Roosevelt will maximize its loadout of food and hygiene products before setting sail, among other improvements.“As one carrier returns home, we listen to its sailors and families,” Perryman said…
Author: Tommy Grant
Editor’s note: This article first appeared on The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public on military service.If not for what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, Valeria Casillas probably would not have joined the military. But in the surge of patriotism following deadly terrorist attacks on New York City and outside Washington, D.C., she saw service as a chance to give back to the country where her father — a truck driver and naturalized citizen from Mexico — had carved his own path.“My dad loves this country so much. … He came to the U.S. and made…
The Pentagon has codified sweeping changes to military fitness requirements, some of which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered last fall. The new regulations, published Aug. 31, spell out testing timelines, standards for troops in combat arms specialties, guidelines for pregnancy and postpartum fitness and establish tracking mechanisms for testing results across the services. The policy incorporates directives issued throughout 2025 into a set of standards for the services. Among them: commanders must allow time for physical fitness every duty day and troops in jobs designated as “combat arms” must be held to male fitness standards on regular fitness tests. Many…
The U.S. Air Force is looking to turn its cargo planes into launch platforms for drone swarms.Or more specifically, the service would like transport aircraft and their retinue of drones to deploy to Air Force bases. Once there, this swarm of AI-controlled drones would autonomously defend the bases — and any aircraft parked there — from attack.The goal is to transform cargo planes into “adaptive, force-multiplying launch platforms” that provide “a rapidly deployable swarm for base security,” according to an Air Force Small Business Innovation Research solicitation. The deadline is Oct. 21.The Air Force is looking for a 3-for-1 deal.…
The Pentagon has decided which company will make the U.S. Navy’s next-generation stealth fighter and could announce the winner in the coming weeks or sooner, two people briefed on the matter said.Boeing and Northrop Grumman are competing for the contract, which previous programs of similar scope suggest could be worth tens of billions of dollars over its lifetime.The program, currently unnamed but designated F/A-XX, has been buffeted by delays and funding disputes for years. Some Pentagon officials had sought to delay it by up to three years, citing concerns about engineering and supply chain capacity. Congress pushed back, earmarking $750…
When Andy Markoff deployed to Mosul with the U.S. Marine Raiders in 2016, one of the challenges they faced as they pushed ISIS fighters back along a hundred-mile front was that they never had enough munitions, he said.Markoff explained that calling in air support was an effective way to clear an area, but with thousands of potential targets and few available weapon systems, he constantly had to calculate whether a particular target was worth it.“Even if that target wasn’t active, knowing that it might be and maintaining availability of that type of a weapon system on station in case it…
The Short Answer Butter can sit safely at room temperature for one to two days according to official USDA and FDA guidance, though the exact window shifts depending on whether it is salted, how warm your kitchen runs, and how it is covered. This is not a guess or an old wives’ tale. It comes directly from the two federal agencies responsible for food safety in this country. That said, “safe” and “at its best” are two different questions, and most of the confusion online comes from people mixing them up. This guide walks through the real numbers, why they…
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday it had captured a U.S. uncrewed submarine at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, offering a rare glimpse into how underwater drones are being used in military operations.Iranian state media said the vessel was a Dive-LD, a large autonomous underwater vehicle built by California defense firm Anduril. The 19-foot (5.8-metre) submersible can carry out missions including mine countermeasures, seabed mapping, intelligence gathering and the inspection of underwater infrastructure such as cables and pipelines, the company has said.“We trapped one of the most modern, intelligent and unmanned submarines of the terrorist American army at…
The U.S. Air Force’s fighter fleet is nearly 50 aircraft short of the number required by Congress, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report that outlines questions lawmakers face as the service plans its future fighter force.The fighter fleet inventory currently falls short of the statutory requirement of 1,145 fighters, with 1,098 aircraft currently in the fleet. The service also operates an aging and “heavily used” fleet, with aircraft averaging 27.4 years old, according to the report. The authors highlighted that the fighter inventory may continue to decline until 2030 before it begins to grow again. Although Congress has…
Ukraine is contracting a supply of around 1,000 missiles for U.S.-designed Patriot air-defence systems with the help of allies and through a European Union loan, Kyiv’s defense minister said on Tuesday. Speaking at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Yevhenii Khmara also said that the majority of the missiles would only be shipped in the coming years, and called for more urgent aid.In comments posted later by the Defence Ministry, Khmara said Ukraine was asking its Western partners to provide more air defense missiles from their stocks in exchange for improvements in missile performance under contracts signed with…