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The TWZ Newsletter Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy. The U.S. Air Force is exploring new ways to protect aerial refueling tankers and other high-value support aircraft by physically defeating incoming threats rather than trying to jam them or otherwise throw them off course. The service says a “kinetic” self-defense option could provide a valuable last line of defense against anti-air interceptors that might be resistant or even immune to certain kinds of electronic warfare attacks or decoys. Kevin Stamey, the Air Force’s Program Executive Officer (PEO) for Mobility and the…

Danny Sabatello will headline RIZIN LANDMARK 13 for his first defense of the bantamweight title on April 11, taking on Joji Goto at the Marine Messe Fukuoka in Fukuoka, Japan.RIZIN announced the news on Friday, also confirming the return of former Bellator champion Patricky Pitbull to Japan and the promotional debut of James Gallagher.Bellator veteran Sabatello (17-4-1) parted ways with PFL in 2024 and went on to win three in a row under the RIZIN banner this past year, dethroning Naoki Inoue via split decision on the final card of 2025.Goto (20-8-1) earned a shot at the belt after going…

With no agreement on funding for the Department of Homeland Security by Friday and Congress on recess until Feb. 23, the U.S. Coast Guard is expected to undergo a shutdown beginning at midnight on Friday. For more than 41,000 active-duty and activated Reserve members, the lack of funding means working without pay, although they likely will not feel the effects until the next scheduled military payday Feb. 27, which they could miss if Congress can’t reach an agreement immediately after reconvening. Coast Guard Vice Commandant Vice Adm. Thomas Allan said Wednesday that a shutdown of more than a few days…

Most people have a favorite fighter including the greatest fighter of all time. Former two-division UFC champion Jon Jones named his favorite fighter of all time and his favorite currently active mixed martial artist in a recent interview with Helen Yee Sports.”My favorite fighter to watch, it’s always been Anderson Silva,” Jones said. “He’s unbelievable.”Silva held the undisputed UFC middleweight championship for 2,457 days, the longest title reign in UFC history. He defended the middleweight belt a record 10 consecutive times . He was inducted in the UFC Hall of Fame in the Pioneer Wing in 2023 and in the…

The Homeland Security Department is set to shut down over the weekend after lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on funding it, leaving most of the DHS workforce on the verge of missing more paychecks. Every other agency in government has received full-year funding for fiscal 2026, but Democrats have withheld their votes for DHS as they seek reforms to President Trump’s immigration enforcement crackdown in the wake of multiple citizens being fatally shot by department employees. Most DHS employees—about 92%—will continue to work, while around 23,000 will be sent home on furlough. Department officials have noted that Immigration and Customs Enforcement…

The United States Marine Corps has awarded Kodiak AI a contract to support development of autonomous military ground vehicles by integrating its AI-powered driving system into the Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary Fires (ROGUE-Fires) platform, according to the monitoring group Counter Unmanned Systems. Counter Unmanned Systems reported that Kodiak will integrate its dual-use autonomous […]

Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland believes Anthony Hernandez will be the toughest fight of his career next weekend. UFC middleweights Sean Strickland and Anthony Hernandez are two of the toughest fighters in modern Mixed Martial Arts. Both fighters put on entertaining fights inside the cage, while showcasing a hard persona outside of the Octagon. For Strickland, his upcoming showdown with Hernandez at UFC Houston is paramount to potentially earning another title shot. Strickland will return to the cage for the first time since falling to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312 last year. Hernandez enters UFC Houston on a…

Here we go again. Someone is trying to increase the federal chief information officer’s authorities. This time it’s the Office of Management and Budget who, according to Federal CIO Greg Barbaccia, wants to “make sure you have ultimate decision-making authority over all your agency’s IT acquisitions.”  This will be accomplished by making sure that all agency contracts, which will be provided by agency CIOs, have “appropriate clauses.” This isn’t the first time that someone has tried to increase the authorities — and by inference, the accountability — of CIOs. Let’s take a quick trip down memory lane and review some…

The unemployment rate for all veterans bumped up to 4.5% in January from 3.8% in December, while the post-9/11 generation of veterans saw their jobless rates balloon over that span to 5.8% from 5.1%, an indication that veterans were having difficulty adjusting to the new “low hire, low fire” jobs market.The numbers from the monthly report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday also showed that the jobless rates for veterans had exceeded those for the general population for the second time since President Donald Trump took office.The first BLS jobs report of Trump’s second term showed a rise…

SAN DIEGO, California—Boston-based Blue Water Autonomy aims to take its 190-foot robot patrol craft from prototype to production this year, joining a newly crowded field of startups and established players trying to get their unmanned surface vessels in front of U.S. Navy buyers, commanders, and operators.“Right now, the focus really should be on the suppliers” so the Navy can “see the performance of these vessels,” CEO Rylan Hamilton told Defense One ahead of the WEST 2026 conference here. He said the Navy needs to know industry’s offerings are reliable and “see these vessels in the water operating every single day…