Author: thaobh.leo@gmail.com

The Pentagon will soon cover the cost for service members to freeze their sperm or eggs before they deploy to a danger zone or are separated from their significant others for more than six months on orders.In a notice expected in the Federal Register on Thursday, the Defense Department will launch a three-year pilot in September that will reimburse eligible troops to preserve their gametes before deployment.The benefit, required under the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, will pay service members up to $500 per year for sperm retrieval and cryopreservation and $10,000 per year for egg preservation services.Those eligible…

Editor’s note: This is a developing story.Two people are dead after an Apache helicopter crashed outside of Fort Hood, Texas, according to local authorities.Emergency calls reporting the crash came in around 1:34 p.m. Central Standard Time, said Cliff Coleman, a spokesperson for the Bell County Sheriff’s Office, during a news conference Wednesday afternoon. The individuals were pronounced dead at 2:30 p.m., he said, directing additional questions about the military statuses of the deceased to the Fort Hood Criminal Investigation Division. Fort Hood did not immediately respond to an inquiry.Earlier in the afternoon, Fort Hood announced that an Apache helicopter crashed…

CURV Tactical, A Cutting Edge Solution OSI offers CURV® Tactical, a game-changer in tactical gear. Available in Matte Black, in the following thicknesses .5mm, .8mm, 9mm, and 1.4mm, as well as Ranger Green and Coyote in .6mm, .8mm, 1.0mm, and 1.56mm. Lightweight yet incredibly durable, CURV® can be sewn, laser cut, or thermoformed for unmatched versatility. Ideal for military and law enforcement use, CURV® also offers impressive value compared to industry standards. “Our end-users rely on our gear to protect and support their mission-critical equipment in the most austere environments, from sensitive electronics to observational equipment and munitions. We use CURV® exclusively in our products…

The TWZ Newsletter Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy. When the general in charge of protecting American skies found out that drones had been swarming over Langley Air Force Base, he was hardly shocked. It was the kind of threat Glen VanHerck said that he and his predecessors had been warning about for years. TWZ was the first to report the December 2023 incursions over Langley, one of a select few bases hosting F-22 Raptor stealth fighters, and a particularly important installation for supporting the United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and…

The HK416 rifle was never supposed to be just another rifle wearing the familiar shape of an AR-15. Its real story is about taking a design that soldiers already understood and reworking the machinery inside it for a different set of demands.Developed by German firearms manufacturer Heckler & Koch, the HK416 combines the familiar layout of the M16/M4 family with an indirect gas-operated system and a locked rotating bolt. Chambered for the NATO-standard 5.56×45mm cartridge, the rifle was designed around modularity, ergonomics and military reliability rather than radical changes in how an infantry rifle looks. That approach turned out to be…

A shocked Islam Makhachev was left feeling bad after a former UFC champ revealed that he never made more than $1 million for a fight in the promotion. The fighter in question competed from 2011 to 2018 in the UFC, back when the payment landscape was quite different from how it is now. Demetrious Johnson reacts after his victory over John Dodson in their flyweight championship bout during the UFC 191 event inside MGM Grand Garden Arena on September 5, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images) The man who had Makhachev stunned…

COMINT Consulting are planning several enhancements for the company’s Krypto1000 signals intelligence software to help support counterintelligence, counterinsurgency and counter-trafficking missions.Armada’s monthly round-up of all the latest electronic warfare news in the product, programme and operational domains.QUIRIS In ServiceELT Group has shared with Armada that the company has won several undisclosed customers for its ELT/577 Quiris Directional Infrared Countermeasure (DIRCM). These customers are installing the equipment onboard rotary-wing attack, search-and-rescue and reconnaissance aircraft; and fixed-wing maritime patrol and airlift platforms. ELT Group continued that the ELT/577 replaces the legacy ELT/572 system which employed a fibre laser architecture. “Quiris utilises a…

The authors provide an interim review of Southern California Edison’s Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program, established after the Eaton Fire. Using administrative data and stakeholder interviews, they examine claims, offers, acceptances, and payments and identify factors affecting participation. They also highlight issues for future direct compensation programs, including program timing, insurance offsets, administration, and court processes. This publication is part of the RAND research report series. Research reports present research findings and objective analysis that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND research reports undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity.This…

The ROK Army has a growing fleet of K2 main battle tanks, with four batches ordered so far. Their protection levels are to be boosted. (Gordon Arthur)On 11 August 2026, the 177th Defense Project Promotion Committee met in Seoul to approve two new defence projects. One of these related to the K2 main battle tank (MBT) fleet of the Republic of Korea Army (ROKA).The new project’s aim is to improve the combat performance of the K2 and to enhance its protection against adversarial threats.The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) stated: “Through this project, K2 tanks will be equipped with active…

Bottom lines up front WASHINGTON—At what point does the United States stop treating the Strait of Hormuz as a crisis to manage and start treating it as an opportunity to permanently redraw the global energy map? For weeks, Iran has benefited from a basic strategic assumption: The Strait of Hormuz is too important to the global economy for the United States and its partners to tolerate its prolonged disruption. Tehran may not be able to defeat the United States militarily, so the thinking goes, but it can impose enough economic pain on Washington and its allies to force concessions at…