Author: thaobh.leo@gmail.com

The U.S. Army’s rotation in the Philippines is easy to overlook. Experts say that might be the point.The service confirmed this week that in July 2025, it established a rotational presence in the Southeast Asian nation. The roughly 50-person force is operating under U.S. Army Pacific with coordination through Task Force Philippines, a spokesman said Wednesday. The move marks a change in how the Army engages with the sprawling archipelago, the service said.“While the rotational force is not permanently assigned, this represents a shift from previous year’s iterative engagement cycle to a more sustained rotational presence, enabling deeper and more…

The Department of Veterans Affairs agency that provides burial benefits and memorial services for veterans and their dependents has once again earned the highest recorded customer satisfaction score by the American Customer Satisfaction Index in 2025, according to data released on Thursday.VA announced that the National Cemetery Administration, the small VA unit that operates and maintains 157 national military cemeteries, received a 98 out of 100 score, based on feedback from retired servicemembers and their families who received services through the agency. NCA has consistently outpaced other surveyed entities and agencies, with 2025 marking the eighth consecutive time that the burial services…

The parties to the Danish Defence Agreement have decided on a distributed construction strategy for five new Arctic patrol vessels for the Danish Navy. This was announced in a press release by the Danish Ministry of Defence on 02 February 2026. Thomas Lauge Nielsen / Hartpunkt The distributed construction strategy involves construction at multiple facilities across Denmark, with a single ”assembly facility” to be located in Frederikshavn in northern Jutland. Part of the decision is also that the Danish government will own the assembly facility, and that the facility will be designed so that it can be used for the…

The president’s decision to deploy the National Guard in Washington, D.C., is costing taxpayers $1.65 million daily, a total of more than $330 million since August, according to a report released Thursday by Senate Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee. The lawmakers said they investigated the matter “after the Department of Defense failed to respond to questions about the deployment.”Recap: Trump ordered Guard troops to Washington, D.C., seven months ago, citing false and exaggerated statistics about crime in the district, which was at a 30-year low. The effort includes nearly 2,500 servicemembers from nine states and the District, and that deployment…

We’re getting the third character of Street Fighter 6 Season 3, Alex, on March 17, 2026. Alongside Alex’s release, we’re also getting a major balance patch featuring changes for every character. Capcom recently noted the community’s dissatisfaction with the frequency and impact of previous patches. We’ve heard this type of messaging from Capcom before, but many fans are hopeful that things might actually be different going forward this time. Street…

Hey folks, Fireside this week! I have ended up a bit behind in my work and as always it is the blog that much suffer first. In this case, we have in two weeks twice managed to have snow which only increased my workload (it didn’t cancel any of my classes, but did require me to offer a bunch of makeup quizzes and complicate daycare solutions). So we’re doing a fireside – next week we’ll be looking at a primer of the strategies of the weakest groups to take on the state: protest, terrorism and insurgency. On the upside, we…

05 February 2026 14:20 On 5 February, at 21:59, the Russian State Test Cosmodrome (Plesetsk Cosmodrome) successfully launched a Soyuz-2.1b medium-class carrier rocket with spacecraft in the interests of the Russian Ministry of Defence. After being launched, the Soyuz 2.1b medium class carrier rocket was monitored by the ground automated control system of the Titov Main Test and Space Systems Control Centre. At the estimated time, the spacecraft were launched into the target orbit and taken over by the ground means of the Russian Aerospace Forces. Stable telemetry communication has been established and maintained with the spacecraft, and their on-board…

On Saturday, Magomedov made his official Professional Fighters League (PFL) debut at PFL Dubai from inside Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Magomedov trains under the tutelage of former UFC lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, who is widely regarded as one of the best fighters of all time and now one of the best coaches in mixed martial arts (MMA).In other words, fight fans had high hopes for Magomedov as he stepped inside the cage early Saturday for his PFL debut.Fortunately for Team Khabib, Magomedov did not disappoint. The talented lightweight needed just 37 seconds to score a powerful takedown…

News February 06, 2026 Dan Taylor Technology Editor Military Embedded Systems Image via Lockheed Martin–Sikorsky TEL AVIV, Israel. The Israel Ministry of Defense signed an approximately $130 million agreement with Elbit Systems to integrate Israeli command-and-control, avionics, electronic warfare, and directed infrared countermeasure capabilities onto 12 Israel Defense Forces Israeli Air Force CH-53K “Pereh” helicopters, the company announced in a statement. The helicopters are being acquired through a Foreign Military Sales agreement between the Israel Ministry of Defense and the U.S. government, the statement reads. The aircraft are being built by Sikorsky and are currently in assembly at the manufacturer’s…

The U.S. Air Force is prohibiting the use of smart glasses while airmen are in uniform, citing security concerns.In a dress and appearance policy update, the service banned the use of smart glasses with photo, video or artificial intelligence capabilities while in uniform.The Jan. 9 memo did not specifically list the reasoning behind the move, but an Air Force spokesperson told Military Times Friday that the change is being made for operational security purposes.Other statements from Air Force leaders signal the concern for operational security requirements in military environments.Dana Thayer, 104th Fighter Wing information chief, wrote in a statement on…