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SAN DIEGO – 15 April 2026 – The U.S. Army is upgrading its MQ-1C Gray Eagle® Extended Range (ER) with enhanced electronic intelligence capabilities via a contract awarded to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI). ELINT supports long-range sensing for the Integrated Air Defense System (IADS), providing critical information to ground commanders. This capability allows Gray Eagles to operate outside threat ranges while looking deeply into the battlespace and enables advanced manned-unmanned teaming to increase survivability for crewed Army aircraft. “Combining long-range detection with the range and persistence of the Gray Eagle platforms ensures that commanders always know when an adversary…

Welcome to The Adversarial. Every other week, we’ll provide you with expert analysis on America’s greatest challengers: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and jihadists. Read more below.***IranIn the space of less than 11 hours on April 7, President Donald Trump went from warning that “a whole civilization will die tonight” to announcing a two-week ceasefire with Iran. That whiplash-inducing turn was just a taste of the twists that would follow over the coming week. First came a resumption of negotiations mediated by Pakistan. With the presence of Vice President J.D. Vance and Iran’s parliamentary speaker, it marked the highest in-person engagement between the two sides…

Counselors are a common school resource for students navigating complicated and consequential education choices, but most students have limited access to them. We study one of the largest U.S. policies to increase access to school counselors. We use a variety of panel-based estimators to show that California’s Supplemental School Counseling Program increased the number of counselors on staff by about one and improved counselor to student ratios, but reduced average counselor experience. We find that increased funding for counselors led to large increases in high school graduation and measures of school climate. The policy also led to more modest gains…

In the era of mixed martial arts, it’s become clear that, whether you’re training for competition or the street, being competent in more than one way of fighting is a necessity. Inside the octagon, some of the most dominant fighters in MMA history—Fedor Emelianenko, Jon Jones, and Anderson Silva to name a few—have also been it is most versatile. Meanwhile, the least adaptable fighters (like Ronda Rousey) end up paying a heavy price when the fight strays outside their realm of expertise. Because of this, it can be tempting to stuff as many styles and methods into your training as…

IRIS-T SLM. Credit: Diehl Defence via LinkedIn. Ukraine and German defence firm company Diehl Defence have agreed on “concrete solutions” to strengthen Ukraine’s air defence and advance joint projects.  The partnership including air defence systems, missiles for F-16 aircraft, and counter-ballistic solutions, were discussed as Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov met with Diehl Defence CEO Helmut Rauch recently.   Discover B2B Marketing That Performs Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms. Find out more “We focused on increasing and accelerating the delivery of missiles for IRIS-T systems. These systems have already proven effective in combat and are a key component of a layered air defence architecture,” Fedorov said…

U.S. Air Force airmen operated a semiautonomous jet-powered combat drone in a series of sorties recently, boosting the service’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.The force’s Experimental Operations Unit conducted hands-on testing with Anduril’s YFQ-44A aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in an effort to utilize “principles of the new Warfighting Acquisition System,” according to a Thursday Air Force release.Previously, the concept employed by the force was fully human-piloted drones, and now, “there is no operator with a stick and throttle flying the aircraft behind the scenes,” Jason Levin, Anduril’s senior vice president of engineering for air dominance and strike, said…

Arman Tsarukyan was forced to exit an American Airlines flight ahead of his RAF 8 match in Philadelphia and now he’s sharing his side of the story.On Thursday, a video showing Tsarukyan being escorted off of a plane emerged online, courtesy of vlogger Adam Zubayraev, who claimed it was because the UFC lightweight contender was on his phone prior to takeoff. American Airlines later released a statement, stating that Tsarukyan’s removal was due to him and his friends not “staying seated while the aircraft is taxiing.”Tsarukyan and his friends then took a private jet to Philadelpha instead and Tsarukyan was…

The DHS shutdown is leading to unpaid utility bills at the Coast Guard, a vacuum of cyber planning activities at CISA, and grounded aircraft at CBP. Justin Doubleday@jdoubledayWFED April 16, 2026 6:37 pm 3 min read Department of Homeland Security officials are warning about a growing backlog of contracts, planning activities and more delays as a result of the two-month-long government shutdown. DHS officials, testifying before multiple committees on Thursday about fiscal 2027 budget requests, flagged the ongoing impacts of Congress failing to pass a 2026 budget for the department. The DHS-specific shutdown began Feb. 14. Adm. Kevin Lunday, commandant…

Gunboats and Cartels: The Return of Force in the Americas | Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University wpDiscuzInsert

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan April 16, 2026 On April 16, commencing at 4:30 p.m. for approximately 30 minutes, Mr. FUNAKOSHI Takehiro, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, held an exchange of views with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Permanent Representatives and others who are visiting Japan. The overview is as follows: Vice-Minister FUNAKOSHI welcomed the visit to Japan by NATO Permanent Representatives and others and stated his intention to further strengthen cooperation with NATO, a partner that shares fundamental values and strategic interests, and to build up concrete cooperation, under the shared recognition that the security…