Author: thaobh.leo@gmail.com

“The Thrill is Gone,” sang the late blues legend B.B. King, and two-time UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland can relate. Strickland recently stated he’s considering relinquishing his 185-pound world title, fighting out his UFC contract and leaving the organization for boxing. His biggest complaint centers around fighter pay but in an Instagram story, “Tarzan” said he’s “over MMA.” “I crashed out a little. Let me explain my frustration,” Strickland wrote on Instagram. “I think I’m just over MMA. My body is wrecked from 21 years of training … Boxing is just easier and way more fun. “I’ve always been a…

A day after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a speech from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, congratulating the crew on proving doubters wrong, the Navy’s No. 2 officer sounded a warning note, saying the full readiness impact of a deployment double extension and other combat commitments had yet to be felt.Speaking at a hearing before the congressionally created National Commission on the Future of the Navy on Thursday, Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James Kilby said the Navy faced difficulties that weren’t all immediately visible when it came to sustaining and resetting after such combat…

The Sukhoi Su-57 looks like a stealth fighter, but that description misses the most interesting part.Russia did not build the Sukhoi Su-57 Felon around stealth alone. Its designers wanted an aircraft that could hide from radar, turn hard at high angles of attack, carry long-range weapons, and attack targets far beyond visual range. Those goals pull in different directions. The Su-57 is the result of trying to make them coexist in one airframe.That makes the aircraft unusual.Take its shape. The Sukhoi Su-57 uses internal weapon bays, carefully aligned edges, radar-absorbing materials, and other measures to reduce its radar signature.Yet its…

When it comes to Iran, the Trump administration has a decidedly dismal record. It failed to wear down the Islamic Republic with months of intense bombings. It could not bend Iran’s will at the negotiating table. Yet despite seven months of setbacks, U.S. officials believe that they have turned the page. They have implemented fresh sanctions while maintaining the existing American blockade of the country’s southern coast, throttling its access to outside commerce. As a result, they have concluded that the Islamic Republic will soon either concede or be downed. “We are going to economically asphyxiate this regime,” Treasury Secretary…

The collision of an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport last year that killed 67 people was the result of several systemic failures, according to a U.S. Army investigative report seen by Reuters.The previously undisclosed report, completed in May, made a series of safety recommendations and said the key factor was two broken radio transmissions resulting in the helicopter crew not receiving critical details from air traffic control. The report also found a number of other issues, including technical issues with the Black Hawk and a pattern of helicopter crews…

The head of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service says his officers no longer want to “feel invisible.”The corps, which provides medical care for the U.S. Coast Guard and the Indian Health Services and supports health services and research across the federal government and around the world, is one of the nation’s uniformed services.But most Americans “don’t know who we are,” said Adm. Brian Christine, head of the USPHS Commissioned Corps and assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, in an interview with Military Times.Given the agency’s role supporting national dietary guidelines,…

New model of maritime surveillance built on distributed autonomy La Ciotat (France), October 9th, 2026 – Exail unveils Neptis, its new integrated autonomous maritime surveillance system designed to coordinate distributed autonomous assets. Built around the new Oryx family of Uncrewed Surface Vessels (USVs), defense-grade payloads and an integrated mission command-and-control system, Neptis is designed to extend the reach and persistence of maritime surveillance. Designed for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Critical Undersea Infrastructure Protection (CUIP) and Counter-Uncrewed Aerial Systems (C-UAS) missions, Neptis acts as a force multiplier while preserving high-value crewed platforms for the missions where they…

It could be 24 years between contract signature and delivery of the final Littoral Combat Ship to the Royal Malaysian Navy. (Lumut Naval Shipyard)Malaysia’s troubled Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) programme is facing further delays, with the country’s Auditor-General reporting that the five-ship programme was 7.55% behind schedule as of June 2025.The programme was 78.99% complete overall, with delays across individual activities ranging from 30 to 108 days, according to the Auditor-General’s report.The physical handover of the first vessel, Maharaja Lela, has also been pushed back from August 2026 to April 2027. The ship could potentially be delivered without its full…

In this episode, Colonel Mike Rosol joins MWI’s Charlie Faint in the West Point Class of 1974 Recording Studio to reflect on a career spanning armored warfare, multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, teaching and scholarship at West Point, interagency work, and his recent service leading the commander’s Action Group for Security Assistance Group–Ukraine (SAG-U). The discussion begins with Mike’s recollections of the leadership lessons he learned as a young officer in Iraq, before turning to the value of education and intellectual development for military professionals and how Mike’s experiences in West Point’s Department of Social Sciences shaped his approach…

SEOUL, Republic of Korea — October 2026 — South Korea is placing greater emphasis on artificial intelligence, manned-unmanned teaming, advanced command and control and new interception technologies as it moves to reshape its armed forces for a more technology-intensive battlefield.In an Armed Forces Day address on October 1, the South Korean government identified AI, drones, robotics, space and cyber technologies as forces that are changing the nature of warfare and called for the accelerated development of future military capabilities.The government specifically highlighted plans to advance AI and manned-unmanned teaming systems, restructure the force around a more technology-intensive model, and accelerate…