Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked North Korea April 28 for fighting alongside his troops against Ukrainian forces and promised not to forget their sacrifices, hours after North Korea confirmed its deployment for the first time.
China and the Philippines have displayed their national flags in competing photo opportunities on a disputed sandbank in the South China sea, ratcheting up longstanding regional tensions between the two countries. The dispute played out at Sandy Cay, which is part of the disputed Spratly Islands, and comes days after the U.S. and the Philippines launched their annual joint military drills called “Balikatan”, or “shoulder to shoulder”, which this year will include an integrated air and missile defense simulation for the first time.
The Russian spring offensive is under way, Ukrainian military commanders say, as changing weather is hardening ground and increasing foliage. The scenes from a Russian assault earlier this month, captured on aerial-drone videos by the 14th Brigade of Ukraine’s National Guard, show how Russia’s military is seeking to regain momentum after Kyiv’s forces put the brakes on their advances since the start of this year.
A Navy fighter jet fell overboard April 28 when the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier veered to avoid fire from the Houthis, according to two defense officials. The military was using the $60 million jet as part of its weekslong campaign against Houthi fighters in Yemen, who have attacked commercial and military shipping in the waterway for the past two years.
Amazon successfully launched its first operational satellites in its planned Project Kuiper broadband constellation, under development by billionaire-owner Jeff Bezos to compete against rival Elon Musk’s Starlink mega-constellation. The 27 satellites were lofted to low Earth (LEO) orbit by a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 551 rocket and will eventually migrate to their stationing orbit of some 630 kilometers (392 miles).
Over the past several months, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin has repeatedly stressed a key message: The Air Force has roughly 30 percent excess infrastructure, and if the service is going to free up funds necessary to spend on top priorities, officials must be able to shrink installation footprints where prudent. Speaking at the Apex Summit held in National Harbor, Md. last week, Allvin once again hit on the topic, while putting a marker down that he’s ready to go to the mat over what he views as Congress exacerbating the issue—leading to scathing pushback from Senate Armed Services Committee Republicans, but a more receptive response from its House counterpart.
Thousands are turning to the Defense Department’s artificial intelligence-fueled GigEagle platform to identify talent, expand their professional networks and explore short-term work and research opportunities relevant to unique skillsets, according to a military innovator who helped create the app.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants individuals with certain medical conditions to be disqualified from joining the military, according to a new memo released April 28. ... The directive, addressed to senior Pentagon leadership, orders the undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness to review existing medical standards for enlistment and induction into the military services and identify any conditions that should be ineligible for a medical waiver.
The U.K. Royal Air Force officer in charge of defining requirements for the Tempest future fighter says the program’s top priority is a large payload—roughly twice that of the F-35A stealth fighter. The same officer says the service is eyeing “really extreme range” for the new aircraft, with potentially enough internal fuel to fly across the Atlantic without refueling.
It began with one used golf club, sent to a British military pilot detained in a German POW camp during World War II. Arriving in a Red Cross parcel but with no balls to hit, Sydney Smith had to get creative.
