Author: thaobh.leo@gmail.com

The U.S. Navy decommissioned half of its Avenger-class mine countermeasure ships last year and began replacing them with littoral combat ships that possess anti-mine capabilities.Naval mine warfare is a major tenet of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy military doctrine, according to a 2017 Office of Naval Intelligence report, and looks to be a factor in the ongoing Iran war.Iran reportedly began laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz this week, with U.S. Central Command announcing Tuesday that it had struck 16 Iranian mine-layers.The U.S. remains confident that it’s new phase of mine countermeasure capabilities can successfully thwart mine warfare.“The…

Why is Southeast Asia becoming more vulnerable to nuclear risk even as it remains formally non-nuclear?Southeast Asia’s Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone has long been treated as a stabilizing firewall in an otherwise volatile region. Yet despite the continued legal compliance and strong anti-nuclear norms, the region is increasingly exposed to nuclear danger.Across East Asia, nuclear dynamics are shifting in ways that extend beyond overt weaponization. The most consequential changes stem from the diffusion of nuclear-adjacent capabilities across maritime strategy, civilian nuclear development, and conventional military competition. Prevailing assessments have largely only focused on flashpoints in Northeast Asia — particularly the Korean…

The Environmental Protection Agency has shed too many employees to manage its large portfolio of grants, its inspector general found in a new report released on Thursday, and it has not taken steps to plan for the new workload it took on under President Biden. The Trump administration pushed back on the finding, saying instead that it was slashing grants and the workload would therefore decrease commensurate with staffing cuts. The inspector general did not accept that rationale, noting employees are handling more grants than the agency itself has recommended. About half of EPA’s budget each year goes to states, localities and…

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 A U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker supporting Operation Epic Fury against Iran crashed in western Iraq after an incident involving two aircraft March 12, U.S. Central Command announced. “The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury, and rescue efforts are ongoing,” CENTCOM said in a statement. “Two aircraft were involved in the incident. One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely. This was…

For tactical and competition shooters, the jump from close-quarters speed to longer targets can expose a gap in most LPVOs. Some load on features and length you don’t need. Others top out on magnification when the distance stretches to 600 yards and beyond. The new Strike Eagle® 1–10×24 FFP plants a stake in that versatile middle ground, delivering more reach and a compact footprint that saves space on your AR for rail-mounted accessories. 1-10x MAGNIFICATION RANGE – 1x for CQB speed. 10x for the reach and detail you need at distance. ILLUMINATED EBR-8 BDC MRAD/MOA RETICLE – First focal plane…

After wreaking havoc in Japan and capturing the 90kg World Grand Prix title, and earning a slew of first-round knockouts in various fashion. The new grand prix champion and holder of K-1’s silver belt, Lukas Achterberg, sat down with us for an interview after his historic and brutal run.With him winning via brutal left hook, a stabbing toe kick, and finishing the tournament with a crushing calf kick to claim the silver belt and make his brutal debut at the top of the sport of kickboxing. Lukas Achterberg’s comeback from injury and staying in the sport After his two-year layoff…

How to view Capcom Cup 12 Finals and Street Fighter League World Championship Finals for free in-game in Street Fighter 6 Update: This story is being updated with live results as they occur. Throughout the majority of this week, we’ll be seeing both Capcom Cup 12 and the Street Fighter League 2025 World Championship take place and it’s all happening in Tokyo, Japan. Players participating in Capcom Cup 12 are WBG|MenaRD, 2G|Blaz, Falcons|Xiaohai, DRX|Leshar, Reject|AngryBird, RB|Gachikun, Mouz|EndingWalker, Reject|Tokido,…

US-Israeli war on Iran, day 13: The U.S. military spent more than $11 billion in just the first week of Trump’s war against Iran, Pentagon officials told lawmakers in a classified briefing Tuesday on Capitol Hill. The New York Times reported the fiscal tally, which “did not include many of the costs associated with the operation, such as the buildup of military hardware and personnel ahead of the first strikes,” on Wednesday. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., attended the two-hour briefing behind closed doors Tuesday. “I obviously can’t disclose classified info, but you deserve to know how incoherent and incomplete these war plans…

Tye Ruotolo will defend his ONE welterweight submission grappling championship against Pawel Jaworski at ONE Fight Night 41 on March 13th in the co-main event. After a pair of impressive MMA bouts that saw him finish previously unbeaten professionals, when asked how it feels getting back to the submission grappling space and making another title defense here, Tye Ruotolo said [via Bowks Talking Bouts], “Yeah, it’s funny. I had so much focus on the MMA training and MMA in general. Coming back to jiu-jitsu for a second, I was kind of thinking about all the things that I was missing,…

Leonardo AW149 medium helicopter at Farnborough, 24 July 2024. Credit: John Hill. The UK has confirmed a timeline for the entry of the NMH fleet between 2030 and 2033 This timeline comes nine days after Leonardo UK was finally tasked to deliver 23 AW149 medium lift helicopters But there are currently too few AW149s being built to fill the capability gap across the armed forces The UK has confirmed a timeline for the entry of the NMH fleet into service with the British Army and Royal Air Force for the first time. In a parliamentary written statement on 11 March,…