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Residents and airmen in the Washington, D.C., area will soon miss the familiar “whomp whomp” sound of UH-1N “Hueys” flying overhead as the aging aircraft depart Joint Base Andrews in the coming years.The U.S. Air Force recently selected Andrews to receive 26 HH-60W Jolly Green IIs, an advanced combat search and rescue helicopter, to replace the base’s 26 aging medium utility Hueys. The new aircraft are expected to reach initial operational capability by 2029, with full operational capability by 2030. In the meantime, the base will prepare for the additional aircraft through standing up the 5th Helicopter Squadron on Thursday…

The Navy is changing how enlisted advancement works. Eligible sailors in participating ratings are increasingly being connected to higher-paygrade billets, while nuclear sailors remain on a different advancement track.According to a Navy spokesperson, the programs have different functions, requirements and candidate pools. The differences are underscored by the service’s 2026 Nuclear Meritorious Advancement Program guidance, issued Aug. 19, which continues a quota-based advancement path for nuclear sailors, while 14 ratings are fully integrated into Billet-Based Advancement, or BBA. For the 14 ratings fully integrated into the BBA construct, advancement opportunities include Advance to Position and Command Advance to Position. The…

A former Navy SEAL who completed an illustrious career as a NASA astronaut and engineer over the last decade is returning to active-duty military service, according to NASA.Jonny Kim will continue serving as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy and work in naval aviation training once he leaves the government agency Thursday. “Contributing to space exploration and serving NASA has been the honor of a lifetime,” said Kim. “Throughout my career, I’ve learned that beyond the missions, the training, and the hardware, success always comes down to the people. They are our greatest asset, and leading with love and…

Sign up for the Deer Camp Newsletter Get everything from whitetail news and opinion pieces, to advanced hunting tactics and cutting-edge gear reviews. ditor’s Note: Richard P. Smith is a longtime outdoor writer and editor from Michigan. What follows is his perspective on the Rompola Buck, one of the most controversial whitetails of all time. The author has covered the story of this buck since the very beginning. Back in 1998, an experienced bowhunter named Mitch Rompola shot an enormous typical whitetail buck in Grand Traverse County, Michigan. The buck scores more than the buck that currently sits  atop the…

KYIV, Ukraine — The Department of Defense has awarded a contract worth almost $11 million to X-Bow Systems, a New Mexico-based rocket manufacturer, under a program aimed at developing a new anti-ballistic weapon for less than $750,000 a shot — roughly a fifth the cost of its top-tier equivalent, the Patriot missile.First issued one year ago, the government’s original solicitation from the Missile Defense Agency’s Rapid Response Small Launcher Technology program called on tenders that could “rapidly demonstrate very low cost, modular interceptor designs to counter ballistic and hypersonic threats.”Two companies, Northrop Grumman and L3Harris’ Aerojet Rocketdyne, have long held…

Sign up for the Outdoor Life Newsletter Get the hottest outdoor news from Outdoor Life. THE PUG MARKS in the dry sand were as round as a full moon. Though I’d never seen such tracks before, nobody had to tell me what had made them. The shape spelled cat, and there was only one kind of cat in India big enough to make such prints. They led down into the thick tangles of a ravine, or nullah. Everything down there was green and cool and dense, in contrast with the parched plain on both sides. There were rocky caves along…

Maintenance delays for U.S. Navy attack subs have resulted in boats that are frequently idle in port when they should be at sea. Over the last decade, “these delays resulted in an estimated $3.4 billion in costs to sustain crews and submarines that provided no operational capability,” according to the Government Accountability Office study. Perhaps even worse for a Navy already overstretched and exhausted, maintenance backlogs for attack subs between 2016-25 resulted in 15,000 lost operational days. This includes “active idle time,” when submarines and their crews “must remain pier-side because they are no longer certified to conduct normal operations…

Scott Einsmann is Outdoor Life’s gear editor. He oversees the gear team’s editors and writers who are subject matter experts in bows, knives, hunting, fishing, backpacking, and more. He lives in Richmond, Virginia with his wife and two bird dogs. Read the full article here

The National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday the crew of a military helicopter carrying President Donald Trump that came too close to a passenger jet on Aug. 4 failed to reach air traffic controllers before departing.The incident involving a plane departing Reagan Washington National Airport raised questions about why the passenger airplane was allowed to depart while ​Marine One was nearby, a time when commercial traffic is typically halted.The NTSB said the Marine One crew at least twice attempted to give controllers a required three-minute notice of departure but were hampered by communications issues. Read the full article here

Sign up for the Outdoor Life Newsletter Get the hottest outdoor news from Outdoor Life. As optics companies race to put electronics in their products and replace traditional glass with digital screens, it’s refreshing to see many brands are investing in heirloom-quality and budget-friendly hunting binoculars that don’t have power buttons or integrated circuits. Binoculars remain a robust product category because they’re so essential for our outdoor pursuits. The best binoculars for hunting can cover the spectrum from small compact models for bowhunters to 3-pound behemoths that require a tripod to stabilize, but provide picture-window images for hunters who sit…

The Navy announced financial incentives to keep specialized senior officers in the service that can pay up to $100,000.Chief warrant officers with 7151 and 7171 designators, otherwise known as SEALs and crewmen aboard special warfare combatant-craft, with between four and 16 years of commissioned service are encouraged to apply for the bonus.“CWOs will receive the bonus in a lump sum payment, effective from the date of contract execution,” a Navy administrative message said.Eligibility for bonuses began several weeks ago on Aug. 7. Senior service members will have to submit a personal letter requesting a retention bonus contract, along with a…

Sign up for the Quick Strike Newsletter The hottest fishing news, tips, and tactics Kim Anderson, 67, is an experienced big lake trout angler, but he’s never caught one quite like the giant laker he landed last month.  The retiree is a dedicated fisherman, so he and his pal Greg Ogden towed Anderson’s 20-foot boat 12 hours north from their homes in Richfield, Utah to fish Payette Lake in west-central Idaho. Payette is a 5,000-acre glacial lake trout hot spot, with cold, clear water and depths to over 300 feet. Anderson tells Outdoor Life that he used to be a…

Good Luck to us All As the Pax Americana recedes, the international system will revert to a harsh, Darwinian reality. I can’t shake the feeling that the world is headed to a consolidation of power, or to an era of the dissolvement of dysfunctional nation-states into small independent ethnic areas. Over the next three decades, as many as 30 to 80 nation-states risk losing functional sovereignty, economic independence, or territorial integrity. The shift is being accelerated by the democratization of precision strike warfare, autonomous robotics, and low-cost drone swarms that render traditional, legacy security guarantees obsolete. When multi-million-dollar interceptors are…