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Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org Poor event planning and staffing contributed to a fatal mishap last April at Kadena Air Base, Japan, when rotor wash from an HH-60W helicopter knocked over a Japanese teacher from a Department of Defense Education Activity school attending a public aerial demonstration, according to an Air Force investigation.  The victim, a 60-year-old woman, was standing just 95 feet away from the helicopter’s landing zone when the sudden, powerful wind from the rotor wash knocked her…

Elbit Systems of America (Elbit America) received a delivery order valued at approximately $74.4 million for Squad Binocular Night Vision Goggle (SBNVG) systems from Marine Corps Systems Command. The SBNVG systems will be produced at the company’s facility in Roanoke, Virginia through 2027. The delivery order was placed under a multi-year Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract valued at roughly $500 million secured in 2023. “Squad Binocular Night Vision Goggles effectively boost the capabilities of our Marines, so they can make swift and smart decisions. Our SBNVGs incorporate white phosphor Gen 3 image intensification tubes, providing optimum resolution and clarity, along…

In 432 B.C.E., a year before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, the Megarians received an unusual decree from the Athenian assembly: They were prevented from accessing the vast Athenian Empire’s harbors and marketplaces due to their alliance with Sparta, a rising empire that posed a clear threat to Athens’ hegemony. While the official reasoning is lost to history, many scholars believe that Athens, fearful of the rising great power, used sanctions to force Megara’s economic decline.So began the deliberate use of economics as a tool of statecraft.In the millennia since, economics remained an important enabler of state power. Yet…

At DIMDEX 2026 in Doha, Qatar’s defense industry brought a new wave of unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and fresh efforts to bolster its navy. Noticeably missing from the conference was Iran, which stayed home this year amid domestic turmoil and geopolitical tensions following the Iranian strike on the US-run Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. Breaking Defense Middle East Bureau Chief Agnes Helou reports from the naval expo floor. Learn more on the latest episode of the Middle East Defense Digest.

This month, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney took the stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos and delivered a blunt verdict on the international order. For decades, he argued, Western countries prospered by invoking a rules-based system that they knew was hypocritical. They cited liberal ideals while routinely exempting themselves from adhering to them, championed free trade while enforcing it selectively, and spoke the language of international law and human rights while applying those principles unevenly to friends and rivals. “We participated in the rituals, and we largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality,” Carney acknowledged.…

Terry Gerton You’ve got a new report from GAO, a recent report, that highlights how aging public library facilities could be undermining vital community services. I’m a library kid, I always was. I love public libraries. But what specific challenges did you uncover as you looked at building conditions and accessibility? David Marroni Simply the amount of libraries in this country that have facility issues — at this point, most libraries are over 40 years old, which is exactly when you start to have maintenance and repairs issues with your buildings. There are so many different funding sources for libraries…

Rheinmetall has successfully deployed its Luna NG reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in the demonstration of a reconnaissance and operational network that only used unmanned systems, the company announced on 29 January 2026. The demonstration, which took place recently at the Bundeswehr’s Army Combat Training Centre in Saxony-Anhalt, saw a Luna UAV successfully integrated with the Bundeswehr’s Command & Control Unmanned Management System (C2-UMS Bw), allowing it to operate within reconnaissance and operational networks alongside other drones or loitering munitions. Overall, the demonstration at the Combat Training Centre was characterised by a high level of digitalisation and networking and showed…

MENASource January 29, 2026 • 6:30 am ET Print this page By Gregory Waters Syria’s political and security landscape has not stopped evolving in the one year after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. 2025 saw major security incidents across the country in conjuction with significant structural state-building initiatives by the new government, but the year ended with most of the Sweida governorate and the country’s northeast still outside of Damascus’s control. Months of negotiations between Damascus and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurdish-led armed group which controlled parts of Aleppo city and the northeast, had failed to achieve a…

Fire the cornermen? UFC lightweight contender Paddy Pimblett took an uncomfortable amount of abuse in his lopsided loss to Justin Gaethje atop the UFC 324 event last weekend in Las Vegas. In fact, the damage was so bad (see it here) that “Baddy” may need to take five or six years off from fighting to avoid permanent damage. That’s according to No. 2-ranked lightweight contender, Arman Tsarukyan. “He needs to take a break for five, six years after that fight,” Tsarukyan told Ariel Helwani. “He got dropped like 15 times. So bad for his brain. He was stupid, now he’s…

Former UFC champion Aljamain Sterling has spoken about his goals, and concerns, ahead of the rest of the year. It’s safe to say that Aljamain Sterling has been a bit more outspoken in recent months. Whether it be frustrations with the UFC or frustrations with the sport as a whole, the former king of the bantamweights hasn’t been afraid to speak his mind – which has earned him a lot of respect from some corners of the MMA world. RELATED: Aljamain Sterling calls out big featherweight contenders for fights in 2026 As we look ahead to 2026, it’s not clear…