Author: thaobh.leo@gmail.com

For the first few years of the war in Ukraine, Russia’s hybrid warfare attacks in Europe remained just below the threshold that might trigger a collective response. As the United States’ permanent representative to NATO from 2021 to 2024, I watched the campaign develop: undersea cables cut, incendiary devices hidden in cargo packages, and arson attacks on weapons factories and depots across Europe. To address the threat, allies reinforced critical infrastructure, increased patrols in the Baltic Sea, and expanded intelligence sharing. But NATO’s approach remained largely defensive: these attacks were scattered, small in scale, and just deniable enough that Moscow…

Story October 06, 2026 U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Raul Sotovilla Protecting military systems where critical information resides requires extending cybersecurity beyond traditional network defense toward architectures designed to preserve classified data after physical compromise. The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) requirement for two independent encryption layers, together with specific Commercial NSA cryptographic standards, gives engineers concrete design criteria rather than conceptual security objectives. Layered full-disk encryption, independent preboot authentication, and architectures aligned with Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) data-at-rest guidance can protect information even when the network disappears and the hardware itself is lost. Artificial intelligence (AI),…

A federal judge in Connecticut last week ordered the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to restore its collective bargaining agreements with the nation’s largest federal employee union, after he found the decision to terminate those contracts last year were likely “entirely pretextual.”The 32-page preliminary injunction marks the latest in a string of rulings that examined not whether President Trump’s 2025 executive orders banning collective bargaining for most federal workers are legal, but whether the agencies complied with the Administrative Procedure Act’s requirement that decisions be well-reasoned when they implemented the edicts.At the heart of U.S. District Judge Vernon Oliver’s ruling was…

Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump told a group of African leaders that the United States would be “shifting from aid to trade.” Washington had already begun to close USAID, the world’s biggest development agency, and many U.S. allies followed suit, cutting their own aid programs in Africa.Amid the humanitarian cuts, however, international business interest in Africa is growing. The continent possesses huge reserves of the critical minerals the world needs. Foreign investors are eyeing Africa’s young workforce, growing consumer base, and ports located along vital global trade routes. And competition among China, the United States, Europe, India, and the…

Milrem Robotics and Hanwha are expanding their cooperation in unmanned ground systems, with the THeMIS Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) at the centre of new initiatives in South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Hanwha has acquired two THeMIS platforms for separate initiatives in South Korea and Australia, while the companies’ cooperation also establishes a framework for broader THeMIS activities in Australia and New Zealand. In South Korea, a THeMIS UGV will be used in multiple R&D projects in which Hanwha is participating. The platform will contribute to the development and evaluation of advanced unmanned and autonomous ground capabilities. In Australia and…

Misgav, Israel, October 07, 2026 – Semi Conductor Devices (SCD), a global leader in the development and manufacture of advanced infrared detector technologies, today announced three new contracts totaling approximately $40 million for its Mid-Wave Infrared (MWIR) solutions. The contracts span airborne, space and homeland security applications, with deliveries beginning in 2027. The contracts come as MWIR technology is becoming increasingly critical across the modern battlefield. The rapid proliferation of UAVs and emerging aerial threats, together with growing requirements for border protection, tactical maneuvering systems and long-range stand-off detection, are driving global demand for high-performance infrared sensing across a much…

The F/A-18 Hornet should have been yesterday’s fighter by now.Its first flight came in 1978. The U.S. Navy began receiving production Hornets in 1983. By fighter standards, that makes the original F/A-18 a very old machine.Yet the Hornet refuses to disappear.That tells you something.The usual answer is that the F/A-18 Hornet was simply a great aircraft. True, but incomplete. Plenty of good fighters have had short careers. The Hornet lasted because its designers made a series of choices that still make sense decades later.It was built to fight and attack from an aircraft carrier. It could switch between air-to-air and…

Back in February of this year, Netflix backed out of a bidding war with Paramount for the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Needless to say, Paramount was in a prime position to expand their company. JB Perrette, the person in charge of WB Games and streaming, declared that “2025 was a year of reset.” Indeed, it felt like their division got “distracted going after too many IPs with too broad a set for studios.” …

UFC BJJ 12 happens on THURSDAY (October 8, 2026) inside the UFC’s Meta Apex venue in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event will be topped by two title bouts. The promotion will conclude a four-woman tournament to crown their inaugural UFC BJJ flyweight champion, and they will now host what is clearly the best possible match up for the belt in Cassia Moura vs. Adele Fornarino.In the co-main event, Renato Canuto will get another title shot in a lighter division as he faces Polaris champ Ethan Crelinsten for the vacant UFC BJJ lightweight title. Longtime UFC fighter Gilbert Burns will also…

This is an advanced navigation fibre-optic gyroscope inertial navigation system, with worldwide demand for such sensors growing. (Advanced Navigation)From its centre of gravity for research and development and production in Australia, Advanced Navigation is establishing a presence in the USA via a centre of excellence in Huntsville, Alabama.“This is a key part of our global expansion that we’re in the midst of now,” enthused Michelle Toscan, Head of Asia-Pacific at Advanced Navigation.As the company’s name suggests, it produced advanced positioning, navigation and timing technologies. With the USA joining the roster, Advanced Navigation will have greater speed and scale when it…