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Will The F-14 Fly Again? Maverick Act Passes U.S. Senate 😃🫣

Russia claims it has doubled combat aircraft production since the start of the war in Ukraine, defense heavyweight Rostec chief Sergei Chemezov told President Vladimir Putin at a meeting, according to the Kremlin’s official website. Chemezov made the claim directly to President Vladimir Putin at a formal meeting, according to the Kremlin’s official website. The doubling […]View the full article

Turkish defense company STM has unveiled ALPAGU-B, a larger fixed-wing loitering munition with a 40-kilometer line-of-sight range and artificial intelligence-powered target tracking, making its global debut at SAHA 2026. STM, formally known as STM Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik ve Ticaret A.Ş., describes ALPAGU-B as the newest member of its fixed-wing loitering munition family and a direct […]View the full article

Turkey unveiled its first domestically built mini-submarine at SAHA Expo 2026, a milestone that Istanbul Technical University-based defense company Datum Submarine Technologies announced after completing the vessel’s first dive tests off the coast of Karamürsel on April 14, 2026. The Multi-Purpose Mini Submarine, developed with support from Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries, completed assembly at […]View the full article

The U.S. government threw open its classified UFO files on Friday, releasing never-before-seen documents, videos, and photos through a new interagency program and making them freely accessible to any American with an internet connection — no security clearance required. The Department of War announced the initial release as part of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting […]View the full article

The U.S. Army is sending high-altitude balloons over northern Europe this month, launching a Micro High-Altitude Balloon training exercise from Sweden that will conclude with recovery operations in Latvia after roughly 24 to 30 hours of flight. Soldiers assigned to Multi-Domain Command Europe are conducting the event in early May 2026 in coordination with NATO […]View the full article

Thing about Lou is that just a few years before, he was just another dude trying to figure it all out. Instead, he became something even a fiction writer would have trouble making up; 1 of only 3 US Aces to claim kills agains all 3 Axis powers, (3 main powers: Germany, Japan & Italy). The ONLY one to shoot down a USAAF plane as well, and definitely the only one to shoot down his girl friend He was a POW for awhile to boot. There are a lot of stories out there about Lou, but this one from AcesOfWWII catches it about right; Lt. Curdes was circling low over one of his P-51 pilots who was bobbing in his dinghy just off Jap field Batan Island. Another pilot whose plane had the lowest gas in his tanks headed for home. A fourth plane was circling at 20,000 feet sending out a distress signal. It had been a fairly good day, as fighter Mission days over Formosa go. Curdes’ flight had knocked down two planes over the target, Curdes getting his first Nip since he came to the Pacific from the MTO last December. They had blasted three more on the ground at Batan before flak caught one of his flight. Curdes looked down to the tossing dinghy and figured the chances of a Catalina coming in for a rescue before dark. It was getting along towards mid- afternoon, and the nights come fairly early off northern Luzon in the middle of February. Suddenly, Curdes noticed a black speck coming from the southwest toward a Jap landing strip at Batan. Then the speck became a dead ringer for a C-47. And, as the wheels came down on the transport, Curdes saw the American markings. “Those damned Japs have patched up one of our buggies and didn’t even have the grace to take the markings off” Curdes figured as he wheeled about to give the visitor a closer look. Then he read a familiar number on the tail. It was the number of one of the “Jungle Skippers.” At this point, the Jap ack-ack, opened up at Curdes’ P-51 but not at the transport. A quick run of thinking convinced Curdes there was only one thing to do since the plane would be Jap property as soon as it landed, if it was not already. The P-51 banked steeply, head on into the flak, and opened up with its fifties on the C-47’s right engine. As the transport headed out to sea, with one engine gone, Curdes made a 180 degree turn and cut loose on the other engine. The C-47 settled into the water within yards of the downed fighter pilot’s dinghy. Curdes dived in to do a little strafing after all occupants of the transport climbed aboard life rafts, but he observed in time that the survivors were white. So he went back to his low level circling. His water bound charges had grown from one to thirteen. When darkness fell and still no help had arrived, Curdes figured all would be safe until dawn and returned to his base. The next morning before daylight, he and his wingman took off. And they were circling over the survivors when a rescue Catalina arrived to pick them up. Back at base, Curdes learned that the C-47 had been American manned with 12 occupants including two Army nurses. The pilot had become lost during a flight from Art island in the southern Philippines and had been forced to head for the nearest visible strip because of a fuel shortage. Curdes gave a start and a shout when he glanced at the names of the survivors. One of the nurses was the “date” he had been with the night before at Lingayen. “Jeepers,” He exclaimed, “seven 109’s and one Macci in North Africa, one Jap, and one Yank in the Pacific -- and to top it, I have to go out and shoot down the girl friend.” A few weeks’ later, Captain Louis E. Curdes of the 4th Fighter Squadron. Third Air Commando Group was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for shooting down a C-47. Captain Louis E. Curdes was assigned to the 95th Fighter Squadron, 82nd Fighter Group. He was reassigned to the 4th Fighter Squadron, 3rd Air Commando Group (1945) where he flew the P-51), “BAD ANGEL”. A Jap flag and U.S. flag were added to the seven German and one Italian markings on the fuselage of his Mustang. Curdes made wheels up forced landing on a beach South of Naples, Italy in August 1943 when he ran low on fuel trying to return to N. Africa. He was interned as a Prisoner of War until October 1943. He escaped twice and evaded capture for about eight months before returning through enemy lines on May 27, 1944. Some say he got a DFC for downing that C-47, but that is bad gouge. He has two, but not for that. Retired in 1963 as a LtCol. Good work, good career - GREAT PIC. first posted SEP2016.Leave a comment Share This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. View the full article

Huntington Ingalls Industries has secured nearly $37 million to keep its Lionfish underwater drone rolling off the production line, with the U.S. Navy exercising a contract option that locks in delivery through May 2027. The Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington awarded the $36,9 million modification to HII’s Unmanned Systems division on the existing contract […]View the full article

Slovenia’s Valhalla Turrets unveiled the MANGART 25 AD short-range air defense turret in its most operationally significant configuration yet, presenting the system integrated on a Patria 8×8 wheeled armored vehicle during a ceremony marking the Slovenian Armed Forces Air Defence Regiment’s 35th anniversary. The company announced the milestone on Friday, describing it as the first […]View the full article

Pakistan publicly unveiled the Fatah-3 supersonic cruise missile, a road-mobile precision strike weapon that pushes the country’s Fatah missile family into a new performance tier and positions Islamabad with a direct regional counter to India’s BrahMos, according to reporting by Clash Report. The Fatah-3 has been identified as a localized derivative of China’s HD-1 missile […]View the full article

Yuma Test Center has installed and fired a Proof Gun System for the first time, giving the U.S. Army a dedicated artillery testing platform that can swap gun tubes in and out without ever needing a complete howitzer on the range. The Proof Gun System was developed by the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command […]View the full article

Helsing, a German AI defense company, has conducted the first launch of its HX-2 strike drone from a coastal vessel in the waters off Plymouth, UK, the company announced, marking a new operational environment for a system it has been developing and deploying on the battlefield in Ukraine. The trial took place off a fast […]View the full article

Saab UK has completed its 100th Giraffe 1X radar at its Fareham facility and opened a new Integration and Verification testing facility at the same site, the company announced. The Fareham site in Hampshire serves as Saab’s UK centre of excellence for radar engineering, supporting production of the Giraffe 1X alongside the Giraffe AMB and […]View the full article

GM Defense took to social media to show off its Infantry Squad Vehicle’s sling load capability, posting footage of two ISVs being transported simultaneously by a CH-47 Chinook helicopter during training at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in March 29, as part of preparations for Operation Pathways 2026. The exercise involved soldiers from Alpha Company, 2nd […]View the full article

Aerostats, the tethered observation balloons that most people associate with World War II convoy protection, are getting a serious second look from the U.S. Army as a platform for counter-drone defense. One company’s second-generation tactical aerostat is now being evaluated as the foundation for a complete anti-drone architecture that could eventually carry and launch drone […]View the full article

Iranian forces attacked three U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers transiting the Strait of Hormuz on May 7 with missiles, drones, and small boats, and U.S. forces struck back, hitting Iranian missile and drone launch sites, command and control locations, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance nodes. U.S. Central Command announced that USS Truxtun (DDG 103), USS Rafael […]View the full article

The U.S. Army is evaluating a low-cost counter-drone system developed by SAIC in collaboration with Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace, installed on a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle chassis during Project Flytrap in Lithuania. The system, known as the Reconfigurable Air Defense system or RAD, is being tested as part of Project Flytrap, a counter-UAS exercise running […]View the full article

Northrop Grumman announced on May 7 that the B-21 Raider Combined Test Force cut its 180-day test plan to 73 days and secured $11.8 billion, with half the missions completed. “The B-21 Raider Combined Test Force, a partnership with the U.S. Air Force, cut a 180-day test plan to 73 days, securing $11.8B with half […]View the full article

Ukraine’s defense forces struck a Russian missile corvette in the Caspian Sea overnight on May 7, hitting a Karakurt-class vessel capable of launching Kalibr cruise missiles at its base in Kaspiysk, Republic of Dagestan, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced. “In the area of the basing point ‘Kaspiysk’ (Kaspiysk, Republic of […]View the full article

It has been just about a year since the “new normal” following the defenestration of the divisive and sectarian secular religion of DEI from the Pentagon. Riding on a wave of court cases that continue to take apart decades of sanctioned bigotry, the change was abrupt and— except for the high priests and rent seekers whose entire worldview was bounded by their religion—not really missed all that much. Do not be complacent. It is easy to think that this is a permanent “new normal” but that would be an error. The action in the courts are important. The new leadership’s priorities in the Executive Branch are also important. However, without legislation, the latter is ephemeral. You are one election away. Just one. As the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia have discovered, a new chief executive can drastically change things. People are policy; law is law. Even with the law on your side, like we have seen with the recent news from Georgetown and Penn State, the clever will find ways to get back to their preferred discriminatory ways. Do not think that our Navy will be immune to this from the U.S. Naval Academy to the Naval War College to BUPERS—the three worst offenders when it came to fully embracing the absolute worst cultural Marxism projects. As one of the non-political professionals at one of those institutions reminded me last year, …the problematic faculties are just burrowing down like cicadas for the next few years, ready to spring forth when conditions are favorable. What will spring forth? Well, let’s take a very short trip down memory lane to a few years ago at all three of these locations. I’ve stated often that the “woke Navy” reached its peak power between 2018 and 2022. Much like its ideological sister, the Soviet Union, it appeared at its strongest right before it collapsed. That doesn’t mean it is dead. No. Not at all. The Soviet Union may be dead, but communists continue strong. Heck, we have one running Los Angeles and another running New York City. Back to the topic at hand. Let’s bookend that low point with a couple of examples along the USNA/NWC/BUPERS axis. From 2019, let’s look at something that can cover both USNA and NWC. The editors of the Naval War College Press express their gratitude to the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation, whose generous financial support made possible the publication of this historical monograph. So, congrats to those who give money to the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation (total assets $369 million), you helped pay for, New Interpretations in Naval History, Selected Papers from the Twenty-First McMullen Naval History Symposium Held at the U.S. Naval Academy 19–20 September 2019. There are 14 papers in the publication. Three of the papers are…interesting for the purposes of this discussion. That represents 21.4% of the papers. A bit more than one in five. Climate, Disease, and Colonialism, by Costanza Bonelli. Ms. Bonelli seems to specialize in seeing things through a colonialism/racism lens. Her PhD thesis was on Climate, Race, Colonization. Of course. This might be a two-fer: colonialism and climate. The Road to Democracy: Racial Integration in American Military Service from World War II to the Korean War, by William A. Taylor. Mr. Taylor appears to be a straight-stick history professor just trying to survive the zeitgeist. “Unsuitable” and “Incompatible”: Ensign Vernon “Copy” Berg, Bisexuality, and the Cold War U.S. Navy, by Heather M. Haley That was actually her PhD dissertation topic. To help her pursue this topic critical to national security, she got a grant from VMI via, “The John A. Adams ’71 Center for Military History & Strategic Analysis at the Virginia Military Institute will award a $5,000 grant to a graduate student in history or a related field working on a doctoral dissertation in Cold War military history, broadly defined.“ Quite broadly, it appears. Congrats VMI alumni. Right after she completed her PhD at Auburn, Ms. Haley (who in her bio insists on putting everyone on notice that her pronouns are (she/her/hers) ), on the strength of her scholarship was hired on at the Naval History and Heritage Command. Of course. The other 11 papers represent the traditional, exceptional scholarship you would expect from a naval history symposium. I don’t have to tell anyone that “colonialism, racism, climate, and sexuality” are four of the major parts of the woke catechism of the left. I will note that 0/14 of the articles could even remotely be considered “right-coded” in topic. That is not by accident. Well, USS Constitution’s Preservation and the Colonial Revival Movement in America, by Margherita M. Desy might be right-coded. IDK. Should +20% of scholarship be focused on “left-coded” socio-political topics that The Party approves of? Should it be 0%? Should it be a higher percentage? Just a few years ago, the answer would have been, “barely sufficient” after a struggle session on the fact that 11 of the 14 authors were assigned the male gender at birth. Of course, as late as 2023 people of substance in the naval arena of ideas were quite insistent that The Navy Isn’t Too Woke, so perhaps I’m just imagining things. Non-zero chance. Now, let’s shift to the other end of the Window of Peak Wokeness™, 2022. As we all know, accession, promotion, and selection are zero-sum games. To give to one, you have to take from another. Never forget that. The heart of the Navy’s personnel management is in Millington, TN. They control who gets the “right jobs” etc. What priorities are for selection boards, and so on. This brief by the then Director of Surface Warfare Assignments is from 2022. Notice what is the top priority. By 2022, this was old hat. This was already up and running at full speed when I was a Midshipman in Reagan’s second term in office. It just got deeper and wider roots over time. In 2009, Admiral Roughead as CNO started his road show visiting Sailors in Afghanistan by telling them, “Diversity is my #1 priority!” By 2022, it was in a full lather. We are only a year into a long-awaited correction of unknown longevity. People are policy, correct? Roughead is long retired, but never forget, the Zampolit and Red Guards during the worst of times have not gone anywhere. Sure, they can delete their twitter accounts, return to sea duty, and get promoted into big-boy flag officer N-codes at OPNAV. IYKYK. Or, they can return with more power to continue their prior work. During the darkest years, who was a true believer, who was just following orders, and who was just trying to survive? In a few cases, it is clear, but for most, I don’t know. Each will have to explain things for themselves as best they can. On balance, the cadre have not gone anywhere. Some are right back at the levers of power, even more powerful than before. Of note, then Captain Kevin Kennedy, USN gave the brief above. Where is he four years later in 2026? Well, he is back at Millington. This time as he is Rear Admiral Kevin Kennedy, USN, Deputy Chief of Naval Personnel. I hold no brief for or against Admiral Kennedy. Nothing personal. I’m just noticing a trend; he just happens to stick out. It was decided that he did such a good job his last tour, he was invited back to the command as its number two. Who made that call? Leave a comment Share This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. 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Ukraine’s Celebra Tech has integrated its Tryzub laser system into a mobile counter-drone platform capable of engaging targets from FPV drones to reconnaissance unmanned aircraft, the company told Militarny. The Tryzub (the Ukrainian word for trident) was first publicly mentioned in December 2024 by Vadym Sukharevsky, the first commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces. Since […]View the full article

New Zealand has identified Japan’s Mogami-class frigate and Britain’s Type 31 as the two candidates under consideration for its naval frigate replacement program, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced on May 7, 2026, putting Tokyo’s warship design in contention for a second Pacific ally’s fleet within months of Australia selecting the same platform. New Zealand Defence […]View the full article

OP: Geoaegis, UNFILED, VerRep: 2025.25 I did a fresh install from the comprehensive patch to make sure any of my tinkering on the database does not cause a/the problem. There are some differences in unit loadouts, so I will repeat the issue I am seeing with the current loadouts. There is a Kongo class destroyer (BMD option) stationed northwest of Iwakuni, Japan. I included an E-3C at Iwakuni in case the Kongo radar did not pick up the incoming missiles. There is a RED unit located at the southeast tip of South Korea. The unit includes two TELs: Hwasong-5 and Hwasong-6. The current database has Hwa-5/6 traveling at Very High altitude. The Kongo has onboard both SM-2MR Block IIIB and SM-3 Block IA. Since the HWA-5/6 are not traveling at suborbital, I would not expect the SM-3 to be used to engage. With air and surface search radars on, the Kongo picks up the incoming at about 51 nm. The Kongo shoots a series of SM-2s. However, as the HWA-5 and 6 are traveling at 3999 knots, after the second volley from the Kongo, the SM-2s cannot catch up to the HWA-5 and 6. The Kongo though keeps shooting the SM-2s. The SM-2s then appear to self-destruct and then another volley from the Kongo. This cycle repeats until the Hwa-5/6 hit Iwakuni. I would expect the Kongo to stop shooting once the HWA-5/6 could not be run down since the ship is then just wasting its onboard loadout. Test scenario and saved game attached. Out of curiosity, I went into the database and swapped out the SM-2MR BIIIB's in the 29 cell VLS on the Kongo BMD with SM-6 ERAMs, changed the speed of the SM-6 to 4500 knots, then repeated the test. Considering the velocity of the revised SM-6 could overtake the HWA-5/6, I would think the AI would choose the SM-6 at some point. However, the AI just continued shooting the SM-2s. Missile Test.BKq Missile Test.scq Missile Test.scq.xml missile test.hpq

A Chinese vehicle-mounted laser weapon system designed for counter-drone operations has been spotted at the Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates, images circulating in open-source defense channels show, marking an apparent export of Chinese directed-energy technology to a Gulf state that has been actively expanding its counter-UAS capabilities. The system visible in the […]View the full article

F-22 Raptors from Alaska and Virginia have arrived at Kadena Air Base in Japan, the latest rotation of America’s premier air superiority fighter through the island base that sits at the geographic center of U.S. air power in the Western Pacific. The aircraft come from two squadrons: the 90th Fighter Squadron at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, […]View the full article