Author: thaobh.leo@gmail.com

HELSINKI — Finland’s military said on Tuesday it had closed a section of Finnish airspace and restricted maritime traffic off the country’s southern coast near the Russian border due to a risk of stray drones in the area.Ukrainian military drones targeting Russia have strayed into the airspace of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania this year, raising concerns that the war in Ukraine is spilling over into NATO’s northern borders.RELATEDFinland was taking the steps “so that we can ensure the authorities are able to operate if drones were to stray into the area, meaning safe countermeasures and the safety of bystanders,”…

To say the military loves its challenge coin culture is an understatement. Chances are, if you spend any amount of time in the service, you’ll find you’ve accumulated a drawer full of them. There’s an entire cottage industry that does nothing but make displays for them; the same goes for places that make custom challenge coins.  Challenge Coin Culture Military coins are, at least in today’s military, an integral part of unit, branch, and service culture. There are many reasons for this. While they are fun to collect and display, they can also be part of a much deeper connection…

HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division has expanded its distributed shipbuilding strategy to include modular unit construction for the U.S. Navy’s amphibious transport dock program, beginning with Philadelphia (LPD 32). Huntington Ingalls Industries press release This expansion builds on the proven success achieved through distributed shipbuilding in HII’s destroyer program, further strengthening the company’s commitment to increasing throughput and supporting the national industrial base. “Expanding distributed shipbuilding into the LPD program is a critical step in scaling capacity to meet rising fleet demand,” Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Blanchette said. “By shifting selected structural units to trusted partners, just as we’ve successfully done in the Flight III…

The TWZ Newsletter Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy. The U.S. Air Force is “threaded in tight” with the work Australians are doing with the MQ-28 Ghost Bat uncrewed aircraft, according to the service’s top officer in the Pacific. This was underscored by the MQ-28’s participation at a major exercise earlier this year, lessons from which are feeding into the Air Force’s evolving plans for its forthcoming Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drone fleets. Deep integration between the U.S. Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) opens the door to…

A group of Senate Democrats on Tuesday demanded information on how staffing shortages and reassignments are impacting the Social Security Administration’s ability to keep its 1,200 field offices open to the public.Last year, after years of chronic underfunding of SSA’s administrative functions already brought its workforce to a 50-year low, the Trump administration shaved the agency’s headcount by another 7,500 employees. According to OPM data, SSA had around 49,500 employees as of May. Bisignano has also reassigned more than 1,500 employees from the field offices and other subcomponents to man Social Security’s 1-800 customer service line.Earlier this year, Bisignano wrote…

Magomed Ankalaev is catching a lot of heat for his performance this past weekend, and Chris Weidman thinks that’s misplaced.On Saturday, Ankalaev fought Bogdan Guskov in the main event of UFC Abu Dhabi, in one of the worst fights of 2026. For most of the fight, Ankalaev and Guskov circled the cage and barely engaged, ultimately ending in the fifth round when Ankalaev took Guskov down and scored a TKO with ground and pound.In the aftermath, fans and fighters were quick to trash the bout and Ankalaev’s performance, especially given that he already has a bit of a reputation for…

Question: Can you picture yourself doing Karate when you’re 70 years old? How about when you’re 80? History is filled with Karate masters who lived way beyond the average life expectancy. The Okinawan Health Secret Okinawa has the #1 life expectancy in the world. It’s one of only five places in the world that qualify as a “blue zone”, which means that life expectancy is higher than average. As you know – Okinawa is also the birthplace of Karate! According to research, old Okinawans are good at avoiding heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and osteoarthritis. They also have youthful arteries and superb mental health.…

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is continuing to shed staff, with acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte announcing the latest round of layoffs this week. Pulte was tapped to lead ODNI last month following the departure of DNI Tulsi Gabbard. He also serves as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. “Since becoming acting Director of National Intelligence, our team has been smartly, and carefully, reducing the size of ODNI, re-focusing ODNI on national security, the law, and the statute,” Pulte posted on X shortly after midnight on Sunday. “As of this evening, we just finished…

NEW DELHI — India has successfully tested a long-range surface-to-air interceptor missile, advancing development of a domestic air defense system to counter long-range aerial threats.The Defense Ministry said that the maiden flight test intercepted a simulated high-speed, high-altitude aerial electronic target successfully, marking a “key milestone” in the program’s development. It was conducted Thursday from the A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of India’s eastern Odisha state.Although India has developed short- and medium-range air defense systems, it relies heavily on Russia’s S-400 Triumf systems for long-range air defense. The Kusha, as the interceptor that was tested is called, could…

Editor’s note: This is the sixth article in a limited series celebrating American defense technologies born from wartime and their effects on broader national security, politics, and society. This series will run for several weeks to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary, and winners will be selected by a reader vote undertaken through our newsletter later this summer. Prior installments can be found at the Arsenal of Innovation page.The impact of chance and poor logistics on warfare is especially acute when a battle or campaign is a close-run thing, as it was over the skies of England in 1940. After all, for want of a…