Author: thaobh.leo@gmail.com

There’s a little more control over how you assemble your mercenary squad in XCOM-Like Warhounds now. Update 1.0.2 is live, introducing the ability to choose your rookies’ classes alongside new Exoskeleton armor, a campaign progression rebalance, and a substantial round of fixes. It’s the latest update for Everplay DMCC and Brightika’s turn-based tactical game, which takes inspiration from XCOM and Jagged Alliance. The rookie class selection is the change that catches my attention here. Requested by the community, it gives you a direct say in each recruit’s combat role, which should make it easier to fill gaps in the squad…

A company that blanketed American roads with license-plate-reading cameras is now sending drones into the sky. Cities across America are grappling with their own debates about aid to law enforcement, coupled with concerns about privacy and surveillance. Flock’s Drone-as-First-Responder system, or DFR, launches remotely operated drones from automated rooftop docks. A drone can be sent to a location generated by a 911 call, a license-plate-reader alert, or a gunshot-detection alert. It will then stream live video to dispatchers, officers in the field, and a real-time crime center. The company entered the market through its 2024 acquisition of the drone firm…

Abstract This article examines how the rapid spread of aerial, surface, and subsurface uncrewed systems across the Pacific is creating new risks of miscalculation, particularly around Taiwan. It argues that existing mechanisms such as the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) are poorly suited to autonomous and remotely operated platforms, leaving unresolved questions of identification, attribution, human control, and escalation. The article proposes supplementary regional encounter protocols to reduce the risk that an ambiguous drone incident becomes the opening move of a wider conflict.  Introduction On June 16, a small autonomous surface vessel operated by the California-based company Seasats…

ST Engineering Terrex s5 Hybrid Electric Drive (HED) 8 X 8 armoured fighting vehicle displayed in Poland recognises the significant demand placed on combat vehicles to provide the electrical power essential to operating the increasing number of subsystems being integrated to meet the challenges of todays and future battlefields. It further envisions employing the system with AI-enabled functions, managing associated unmanned platforms, and maximising the capabilities of digital architecture and processing in prosecuting combat operations.Singapore’s ST Engineering showcased its innovation and forward-thinking at MSPO 2026 in Kielce, Poland, from 8 to 11 September 2026 with its Terrex S5 HED (Hybrid…

Phase III advances development of a modular, reusable, swarm based, precision-strike capability designed for U.S. Special Operations Forces, powered by XTEND’s operating system, XOS. TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 23, 2026 — XTEND AI Robotics, Inc. (NYSE: XTND), a leader in software systems and Physical AI, today announced that it has been awarded Phase III of the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Modular Kinetic Lethal Drone (MKLD) program, advancing the Company’s continued work in precision-strike unmanned systems for U.S. Special Operations Forces. The award is separate from, and follows, XTEND’s recent selection as a top performer in the Close-Quarters Battle segment of…

Early college high schools offer students many dual enrollment courses and the opportunity to earn an associate degree while in high school. In this paper, we assess the costs of the early college model in North Carolina relative to costs for typical high school education. We use three complementary approaches: one using administrative expenditure data from high schools and colleges across the state, one using the ingredients method based on in-depth subject matter expert interviews in five case study districts, and a third “hybrid” approach combining the two methods. Our findings suggest that educating an early college student incurs higher…

At a windswept gravel airstrip in eastern Greenland, a small Danish military detachment has quietly kept watch for decades.Now, under a new U.S. defense agreement signed this week, the outpost at Mestersvig could soon become a key American military foothold in the Arctic.Mestersvig sits 149 miles from the nearest settlement (population 330), at the edge of an uninhabited national park larger than Germany and France combined. The place is covered in darkness during winter, with average temperatures of around 14 degrees Fahrenheit.“This is as remote, as cold, and as extreme as you can find in the world. You have to…

The first serial-production KF-21 has been accepted into service with the ROKAF. It is seen here during its flight to its new home at Yecheon. (ROKAF screengrab)The first serial-production KF-21 Boramae fighter has been delivered to the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF), marking a significant milestone in South Korea’s development of an indigenous advanced combat aircraft.The twin-seat aircraft, tail number ‘26-001’, was flown from Korea Aerospace Industries’ (KAI) Sacheon facility to Yecheon Air Base in the province of North Gyeongsangon on 22 September.Major Han Jae-seok, one of the ROKAF’s lead KF-21 operational pilots, signed the acceptance documents at Sacheon,…

A photo can make a new aircraft look operational long before it actually is.That’s the trap with the FQ-42 Vengeance right now. General Atomics has shown the uncrewed fighter flying beside an F-35A and an F-15E Strike Eagle, and the image looks like the future has already arrived. It hasn’t. The flight was conducted in preparation for collaborative-control testing, not as proof that an F-35 pilot was already directing the FQ-42 in combat.Still, the picture matters.The FQ-42 is being built around a simple idea: put more aircraft into a fighter formation without putting another human pilot inside each one. The…

A.A. Kadochnikov. Some of you may remember the old Western cowboy television series with a masked man and his Indian sidekick where at the end of a show someone would ask as the pair rode-off, “Who is that masked man?” The answer was, “Well, he’s the Lone Ranger!” Many of us had the same question after viewing archival video footage of Russian hand-to-hand combat scenes with a white-haired man in both military and civilian dress who dominates all of his opponents regardless of the situation. “Who is that man with the white hair?” “Well, he’s Alexey Alekseevich Kadochnikov!” My journey…