The Pentagon has decided which company will make the U.S. Navy’s next-generation stealth fighter and could announce the winner in the coming weeks or sooner, two people briefed on the matter said.Boeing and Northrop Grumman are competing for the contract, which previous programs of similar scope suggest could be worth tens of billions of dollars over its lifetime.The program, currently unnamed but designated F/A-XX, has been buffeted by delays and funding disputes for years. Some Pentagon officials had sought to delay it by up to three years, citing concerns about engineering and supply chain capacity. Congress pushed back, earmarking $750…

Transition or reload. Old argument, worth hearing out.

The U.S. Air Force is looking to turn its cargo planes into launch platforms for drone swarms.Or more specifically, the service would like transport aircraft and their retinue of drones to deploy to Air Force bases. Once there, this swarm of AI-controlled drones would autonomously defend the bases — and any aircraft parked there — from attack.The goal is to transform cargo planes into “adaptive, force-multiplying launch platforms” that provide “a rapidly deployable swarm for base security,” according to an Air Force Small Business Innovation Research solicitation. The deadline is Oct. 21.The Air Force is looking for a 3-for-1 deal.…

When Andy Markoff deployed to Mosul with the U.S. Marine Raiders in 2016, one of the challenges they faced as they pushed ISIS fighters back along a hundred-mile front was that they never had enough munitions, he said.Markoff explained that calling in air support was an effective way to clear an area, but with thousands of potential targets and few available weapon systems, he constantly had to calculate whether a particular target was worth it.“Even if that target wasn’t active, knowing that it might be and maintaining availability of that type of a weapon system on station in case it…

Turns out the secret mission was the diversion.

A Secret Service agent describes what he saw inside the Twin Towers on 9/11. Hear it from a man who was actually in the building instead of secondhand.

A live Q&A on the weapon Iran is said to have turned on U.S. troops. Watch the full breakdown here before this one gets spun in every direction.

The combat reload is the one you will fumble if you have never drilled it under pressure. Here is how it is done. Watch it, then go practice it.

The argument here is blunt: it never ended, it just moved closer to home. Hear the case laid out in full before you decide what you make of it.

A Tomb Guard weighs in on the Arlington Cemetery drama. When a man who actually stood that watch decides to talk, it is worth hearing all the way through.

Russia launches what is being called a horrific attack, and North Korea moves in fast behind it. Press play for the full breakdown before this one gets spun in every direction.

Reloading with one hand is the skill nobody drills until the day they have to. Here is the key to getting it right. Watch it, then go put in the reps.

The grid goes down and most households find out the hard way what they are missing. Here are the numbers and the gear list. Watch it, then go check your own supplies.

Black ops activated in Iran and a major leader gunned down. Here is the full breakdown of what is being reported, before this one gets spun in every direction.

Cardinal Burke on the Old Testament, at length. If you have ever wondered how the oldest book on the shelf still shapes duty and conscience, start right here.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday it had captured a U.S. uncrewed submarine at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, offering a rare glimpse into how underwater drones are being used in military operations.Iranian state media said the vessel was a Dive-LD, a large autonomous underwater vehicle built by California defense firm Anduril. The 19-foot (5.8-metre) submersible can carry out missions including mine countermeasures, seabed mapping, intelligence gathering and the inspection of underwater infrastructure such as cables and pipelines, the company has said.“We trapped one of the most modern, intelligent and unmanned submarines of the terrorist American army at…

Ukraine is contracting a supply of around 1,000 missiles for U.S.-designed Patriot air-defence systems with the help of allies and through a European Union loan, Kyiv’s defense minister said on Tuesday. Speaking at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Yevhenii Khmara also said that the majority of the missiles would only be shipped in the coming years, and called for more urgent aid.In comments posted later by the Defence Ministry, Khmara said Ukraine was asking its Western partners to provide more air defense missiles from their stocks in exchange for improvements in missile performance under contracts signed with…

Advocacy groups joined together to continue a push to halt President Donald Trump’s plans to construct an arch that would obstruct the ability to view Arlington National Cemetery.VoteVets, a Democratic veterans group, was joined by Home of the Brave, a political advocacy group, and the Cultural Landscape Foundation, a nonprofit focused on landscape heritage, in an effort to halt the build of the planned arch as the anticipated date of construction nears. Last week, it was announced on social media that construction would soon begin for the arch, which would be 250 feet tall and sit at Memorial Circle on…

A Georgia naval base agreed to revise its social media policy as part of a settlement with a military spouse who sued after officials blocked him from the base’s Facebook page over comments questioning its handling of a power outage.In the agreement filed last month, Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay agreed to no longer block or remove comments based on their expressed viewpoints, which aligns its policy with the Navy’s social media handbook.While there was no monetary award, the base agreed to admit that it violated the Navy’s policy and the plaintiff’s constitutional rights. Officials also had to update the…

Sign up for the Deer Camp Newsletter Get everything from whitetail news and opinion pieces, to advanced hunting tactics and cutting-edge gear reviews. While the South has plenty of excellent hunting and fishing opportunities, most of us still look at it as the little brother of the whitetail deer hunting world. Many even rank it below the Northeast region, let alone the Midwest, where big bucks seem to lurk around every cornfield. But is that an accurate assessment? If you analyze the deer harvest data, the conversation changes. A variety of metrics show the South is making big strides in…

The U.S. Air Force’s fighter fleet is nearly 50 aircraft short of the number required by Congress, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report that outlines questions lawmakers face as the service plans its future fighter force.The fighter fleet inventory currently falls short of the statutory requirement of 1,145 fighters, with 1,098 aircraft currently in the fleet. The service also operates an aging and “heavily used” fleet, with aircraft averaging 27.4 years old, according to the report. The authors highlighted that the fighter inventory may continue to decline until 2030 before it begins to grow again. Although Congress has…

Sign up for the Quick Strike Newsletter The hottest fishing news, tips, and tactics Alligator gar have all the major characteristics of a trophy gamefish. They’ll eat a variety of baits and lures, they pull like hell, and, most importantly, they’re giants. The species now has its own cult following in the angling community, with more and more people wanting to catch and release an 8-foot-long, 300-pound dinosaur. There’s also a growing contingent of bowfishermen who are eager to shoot these fish. But the species hasn’t always been this popular. Until recently, alligator gar were vilified by most sportfishermen. In…

A Georgia National Guardsman told police that an argument over U.S. Army hair regulations was just “playful banter” when he pointed his loaded service pistol at another soldier during a break from patrol in Washington, D.C., according to court records. Spc. Zion Mitchell was arrested after the Aug. 25 confrontation, which occurred inside a van carrying seven Guard members. Six of the soldiers later gave police their accounts of the incident, and several described Mitchell drawing his weapon as the argument escalated. Mitchell told law enforcement that he pulled out his pistol but kept it pointed at the ground. According…

The deaths of a Delta Force soldier and an Army veteran found shot in the woods of a North Carolina base have for years garnered speculation that culminated in the form of a bestselling book about drugs, violence and the culture of U.S. special forces troops at Fort Bragg. Nearly six years later, a man has been sentenced to three life terms plus 83 years in federal prison after a jury convicted him of their murders. Kenneth Maurice Quick, Jr., 26, was convicted in May of eight federal charges from the December 2020 killings of Master Sgt. William “Billy” Lavigne,…