The program, described as “extreme teaming” with industry partners, entered the phase with “unprecedented maturity,” Gen. Dale White, director of Critical Major Weapon Systems, said in a Wednesday keynote address at an event in Dayton, Ohio.

The engineering and manufacturing phase includes maturing, integrating and testing all parts of the F-47. It will produce a small number of test aircraft for evaluation and includes priced options for low-rate initial production. White did not specify the number of test aircraft being produced.

The first Boeing F-47 is on track for its first flight in 2028. The Air Force plans to buy at least 185 F-47s, matching the size of the F-22 Raptor fleet it intends to replace.

“The F-47 will fly in this administration,” White said during his speech at the Life Cycle Industry Days, hosted by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center.

White, who also acts as direct reporting portfolio manager to the deputy defense secretary, is tasked with managing weapons systems, such as the F-47 and B-21 programs.

In March 2025, President Donald Trump announced that the force will proceed with development of sixth-generation Boeing F-47s under the Next Generation Air Dominance program, or NGAD, intended to replace the F-22 Raptor.

“In terms of all of the attributes of a fighter jet, there’s never been anything even close to it, from speed to maneuverability, to what it can have, to payload,” Trump said at the time, insisting that the aircraft will be built and in the air during his administration.

“And this has been in the works for a long period of time,” he continued. “America’s enemies will never see it coming.”

NGAD is a “family of systems” that includes the F-47 and Collaborative Combat Aircraft designed to achieve air superiority. The F-47’s modular design is intended to accommodate emerging technology and integrate long-range strike capabilities to counter threats in contested environments.

The F-47 program was allotted $3.45 billion in fiscal year 2026 funding and over $5 billion in the fiscal 2027 budget request.

My little sister has been in the military for 19 years, serving in Germany, U.S. territories, South Carolina, and elsewhere. Since February, she’s called a base in the Middle East home.

I’ve known her location and her proximity to danger for months, but it had felt like she wasn’t really there. Iran seemed intent on attacking bases other than hers, and American casualties were rare. Our conversations were often about how bored she was. The lousy food. How unbearable the heat and the flies are.

Sometimes I send her articles and ask if what I’m reading about is happening near her. If she answers, it’s usually to tell me not to believe everything I see. But she doesn’t tell me much. She doesn’t want me to worry and can’t tell me information she’s not authorized to share. There are many reasons; none of them let me sleep better at night.

My sister and I couldn’t be more different. Growing up, I cared about good grades, college, and building a fairly traditional life, whereas she spent high school partying and then working while she figured out her path.

When we were young, our differences created distance in our relationship, but when my sister joined the Air Force — creating an actual, physical distance — it somehow brought us closer.

We haven’t lived in the same state in almost 20 years, but we talk and text almost every day. When she’s on leave from the military, it’s at my house. We’re now as close as two sisters can be. When her spouse suddenly died two years ago, I was in the car almost immediately, driving 13 hours to be with her.

It wasn’t until she was badly injured by a drunk driver while stationed overseas that I learned what it’s like to worry about her from so far away.

She was supposed to be home by Memorial Day. “Start looking for a lake house,” she told me. It made no sense without firm dates, but I still looked. Then Memorial Day passed, as did the next anticipated date in June. Now her departure date is at the end of August. But we both know that date isn’t any more real than the others.

On a Monday in July, I texted her a picture of the French toast I had cooked. She responded with a funny GIF and told me to fuck off because she’s tired of rice. She sent me a picture of some gray hair she found and I sent her a picture of mine. This is what middle-aged sisters send each other when they’re 6,000 miles apart.

Later that week, she video called me at 7:30 p.m. my time. It was 2:30 a.m. for her, and so dark that I could barely make out her helmet and vest. She calmly told me her base had just been hit. Her friend was in the dorm that was struck. He survived, but she didn’t know much more.

She turned around the camera for the briefest of moments to show me the dark sky and the pinkish-purplish smoke. She had heard over the radio that there were casualties.

The distance is not new, but the worry is different now. A few days ago, my sister was merely danger-adjacent. Now she has survived an attack on her base that killed three Americans. My heart and my concentration are gone. My phone’s primary use? News alerts and texts from my sister.

I don’t want to constantly ask if she’s alive. That’s morbid. But I need to know that she’s alive. I recently asked her if she was scared. In 19 years of service, it was the first time I ever asked her that.

“Yes, of course,” she wrote back. “Anyone saying different is lying.”

The news cycle is very slow. I knew what happened for almost 24 hours before it was in the media. So I scrolled through TikTok looking for something funny to send her — because when she hearts it, I know that she’s OK.

Here in the United States, we debate this war in the abstract — whether the Iranian regime is evil, if we should even be there, whether this administration made the right call.

My sister doesn’t get the abstract version. So I will keep sending her pictures of my food, the dogs, and funny TikTok videos — so she knows how much she is loved, and I know that she’s still there.

This War Horse reflection was edited by Kim Vo, fact-checked by Trey Strange, and copy-edited by Mitchell Hansen-Dewar.

Karen Marks is the founder of Design Your Support, where she helps e-commerce brands build better customer support. She lives outside Buffalo, New York, with her husband and two sons. Her sister has served in the military for 19 years, first in the Air Force and now in the Air National Guard.

The Defense Department is granting a collective $76.6 billion to General Dynamics Electric Boat for five Columbia-class submarines and to both General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding for nine Virginia-class submarines to be built in the coming years.

“This historic investment underscores the department’s continued commitment to undersea superiority and the recapitalization of our nuclear triad,” said Vice Adm. Robert Gaucher, director of submarine programs. “By securing the continuous production of both the Columbia and Virginia classes, we ensure we will continue to deliver the world’s most lethal, survivable and resilient combat platform.”

The contract includes $29.5 billion for Columbia-class Build II submarines, $42.1 billion for Virginia-class Block VI submarines and $5 billion for investments in nuclear shipbuilding programs and shipbuilding infrastructure for both shipbuilders.

The Navy currently has seven Columbia-class submarines under contract, 26 active Virginia-class submarines and 23 more Virginia-class submarines in the pipeline for future construction, the service said.

The Navy has made its newest submarine class a top priority over the last several years.

The Columbia-class has big shoes to fill: the ships are being built to replace Ohio-class submarines as they phase out of service.

The latter continues to play a big part in underwater military operations. An Ohio-class submarine participated in military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities during Operation Midnight Hammer on June 22, 2025.

The Columbia-class is expected to surpass the missile payload and stealth capabilities of the Ohio-class, as well as harness the Trident II D5 Strategic Weapons System and hypersonic missiles.

While construction began on the Columbia-class in 2020, the Virginia class has been around for some time, with the launch of its lead ship in 2003.

Virginia-class submarines, which were designed to replace Los Angeles-class submarines, can host special operation forces undergoing long deployments onboard in a reconfigurable torpedo room.

Despite Columbia-class fabrication beginning six years ago, the program has faced delays.

The lead ship in its class was originally slated for a 2027 delivery but has since been pushed back to 2028 after delivery postponement involving steam turbines and the ship’s bow and stern, according to USNI News.

Government watchdogs initially predicted a rocky construction timeline for the newest addition to the silent service.

A U.S. Government Accountability Office report from January 2023 expressed concern that the building process would encounter hiccups because the ship’s contractor, General Dynamics Electric Boat, hadn’t conducted a “schedule risk analysis.”

The latter practice, which is recommended by the GAO and is part of the Defense Department’s guidelines for large acquisition programs, helps set expectations for a program’s completion.

The Navy’s fiscal 2027 budget request for $378 billion includes money for the purchase of one Columbia-class submarine and two Virginia-class submarines.

The exercise brought Army aviators and experts together in May at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, to test virtual versions of the MV-75’s cockpit, according to a Thursday release, which said the feedback will be incorporated into the aircraft’s design ahead of its first flight and ultimate delivery to the 101st Airborne Division.

The service’s new tiltrotor aircraft — named in honor of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribe — was designed for use in the Pacific theater. The Army has sped up its development timeline and announced in April that the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, is expected to field the MV-75 in 2027.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Julian Dilg, a UH-60 pilot who participated in the weeklong exercise, said there was a noticeable cockpit change from current aircraft.

“The displays are inherently different, so we were able to work together and bounce ideas off of each other and gain insight,” he said in the release.

The collaboration was critical for the participants to “find enough common ground to work with in order to decide what changes needed to be made to display the information needed to fly it most effectively,” Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jordan Brooks, a CH-47 pilot, said in the release.

Army and Bell engineers have begun incorporating the feedback into the aircraft’s cockpit design by adjusting display symbols, improving menu navigation and improving alerting. One recommendation prompted by the exercise was the push to group power and performance data together, a change they said would make decisions easier, per the release.

The evaluation comes as militaries prepare for future battlespaces defined by drones and inundated with data. Future pilots may be expected to contend with fleets of unmanned aircraft and sensors in a crowded airspace, meaning they will have to process unprecedented amounts of information.

Researchers at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System and Stanford University School of Medicine in California looked at VA disability benefits and Social Security Disability payments to veterans across 14 years.

They found that the average yearly payment rose from $17,286 in 2010 to $24,057 in 2024, while the percentage of U.S. veterans receiving compensation rose from 9% in 2010 to 22% in 2024.

The increases are likely attributable to a number of causes, the authors said. They noted the high rate of deployments and increased possibility of serious service-connected illness and injury for post 9/11 veterans, improved medical care that resulted in increased survivorship of combat injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan and VA policies that have made more veterans eligible and made it easier to receive benefits.

Over the same time period, meanwhile, annual Social Security Disability Insurance payments to veterans remained steady, averaging around $19,550. Veterans may be eligible for SSDI payments if they have a condition that affects their ability to work.

According to the study published Thursday in JAMA Network Open, college educated, married and younger veterans were more likely to receive VA compensation while older veterans with non-service-connected disabilities were more likely to receive SSDI.

The authors theorized that the challenges associated with filing VA claims — “administrative hurdles,” as they described them — and the draw of VA education benefits may favor those who can navigate the system.

The increase in the percentage of veterans receiving VA disability benefits as well as the rise in amounts paid comes at a time when the population of U.S. veterans is declining: In 2010, the country had 22 million veterans; by 2024, that figure had declined to 15.8 million.

The researchers described their study as “descriptive” and drew few conclusions.

“These findings can inform policy discussions about optimal fiscal payments and program structures needed to achieve and streamline federal programmatic goals, while underscoring the need to reduce growing disability burden among veterans and to ensure ease of benefits navigation,” they wrote.

The authors did not respond to a request for an interview by publication.

Semaglutide is approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat Type 2 diabetes and chronic weight management, but not alcohol use disorder.

VA researchers are studying whether the GLP-1 receptor agonist may affect parts of the brain involved in reward, potentially offering a new treatment option for veterans with moderate or severe alcohol use disorder if proven safe and effective.

The department cautioned veterans not to self-medicate or replace evidence-based alcohol use disorder treatments with GLP-1 medications without first consulting a health care provider.

The study, known as the Cessation or Reduction of Alcohol Consumption in Veterans (CRAVE) trial, will enroll more than 600 veterans ages 18 to 80 at 18 VA medical centers nationwide.

Participants with moderate or severe alcohol use disorder will receive weekly injections of either semaglutide or a placebo for 24 weeks, followed by a safety evaluation. Researchers will measure changes in alcohol consumption, overall health and quality of life.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have increasingly studied whether GLP-1 medications, originally developed for diabetes and later approved for obesity, could also help treat substance use disorders.

VA cited an analysis published in March that found patients taking GLP-1 medications experienced lower rates of alcohol use disorder and other substance use disorders than similar patients taking other diabetes medications.

The department said larger, controlled clinical trials are needed to determine whether semaglutide is safe and effective for treating alcohol use disorder.

In an official statement, VA Secretary Doug Collins said, “By exploring emerging treatment options like the use of a GLP-1 for AUD, we aim to expand the tools available to help Veterans take control of their health and recovery.”

Recruitment began July 28. Veterans interested in participating can contact their local VA medical center or search for the trial on ClinicalTrials.gov.

Using publicly available information on missile expenditures, production rates and estimated U.S. inventories, the Washington-based think tank estimates the U.S. has expended about 65% of its Patriot inventory, leaving fewer than 1,000 interceptors remaining. The analysis also estimates U.S. inventories of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, interceptors have declined by about 38%, leaving an estimated 234 to 278 interceptors.

CSIS concluded the greater strategic risk is not sustaining the current conflict but responding to another high-intensity contingency before Patriot and THAAD inventories can be rebuilt. According to the analysis, depleted inventories could force the U.S. and its coalition partners to accept greater operational risk during air-defense operations by conserving interceptors or prioritizing only the highest-value threats.

Patriot interceptors are among the U.S. military’s primary defenses against ballistic missiles and are used to protect troops, military installations and allied populations from incoming attacks. During the Iran conflict, Patriot and THAAD systems helped defend U.S. forces and partner nations against ballistic missile attacks, although some missiles penetrated air defenses and caused casualties and damage.

Patriot air defense interception is costly: Here’s how it works

In the assessment, CSIS analysts Mark Cancian and Chris Park wrote that U.S. forces expended large quantities of air-defense interceptors during the initial phase of Operation Epic Fury, leaving significantly fewer missiles available as operations resumed.

“There are no good alternatives to Patriot and THAAD for ballistic missile defense,” the duo concluded in their report.

Their findings further detail that rebuilding depleted interceptor inventories will take multiple years, raising readiness concerns for other theaters.

The Pentagon has not publicly confirmed the inventory estimates contained in the CSIS analysis and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Army this week awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $58.6 billion to produce Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement, or PAC-3 MSE, interceptors through fiscal 2032. The multiyear agreement is intended to expand production capacity as demand for the air-defense missile continues to grow.

“It takes several years to produce a missile. If you put money into the system today, you wouldn’t get a missile for three or four years. Sometimes even five,” Cancian told the BBC. “What we’re getting now are missiles that were funded in 2023.”

That production timeline, CSIS said, leaves a near- to medium-term window of risk if the U.S. is forced to respond to another major conflict before interceptor stockpiles are restored.

The ship, along with over 5,000 sailors, sailed from the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea last week, several days after a July 20 hostile incident between the China Coast Guard and Philippine Navy in which Chinese personnel aboard an inflatable boat struck a Philippine Navy service member with a wooden baton, injuring the individual.

Four days later, hostilities continued between the two nations when the China Coast Guard attacked Philippine Coast Guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessels with water cannons in the vicinity of Scarborough Shoal.

U.S. State Department officials have criticized the escalatory actions by China and reiterated U.S. support for its Pacific allies.

A spokesperson for the department called for China to “immediately cease its destabilizing conduct.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on July 23 during the ASEAN Foreign Ministerial Meetings in the Philippines that the U.S. was “not going to abandon [its] allies” after appearing to reference the July 20 incident between China and the Philippines.

The USS George Washington, meanwhile, the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 5, was accompanied by the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls, Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Shoup and the embarked Carrier Air Wing 5 during its port call.

“While our ship represents the high-end capabilities of the U.S. Navy, our visit here to Vietnam supports a U.S.-Vietnam relationship that continues to grow stronger across an increasingly broad range of subjects, reflecting our shared interest in a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Capt. Nicholas DeLeo, commanding officer of the George Washington, said in a release.

B-21 Raiders, the service’s long-range stealth bombers currently in initial production, will be “on the ramp” at Ellsworth Air Force Base next year, Gen. Dale White, director of Critical Major Weapon Systems, said in a Wednesday keynote address at an event in Dayton, Ohio.

White, who also acts as direct reporting portfolio manager to the deputy defense secretary, is tasked with managing weapons systems, such as the F-47 and B-21 programs.

At the Life Cycle Industry Days, hosted by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, White confirmed that the first operational aircraft of the stealth bombers are on track for a 2027 Ellsworth delivery as initially projected in February.

The program, which White deemed “the physical proof our warfighting-focused acquisition mindset can and will work,” has increased its production capacity by 25%, boosting its delivery timeline.

The deal between the Air Force and Northrop Gumman, the defense company tasked with B-21 manufacturing in a 2024 contract award, first bolstered the program with already authorized funding of $4.5 billion in a reconciliation bill, which was signed in fiscal 2025 as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” part of the Pentagon’s fiscal 2026 defense budget.

For fiscal 2027, the historic $1.5 trillion budget request proposes $6.1 billion for the B-21 program.

The first next-generation stealth bomber began flight testing in 2023 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, with the second following in 2025 as the force moved to integrate weapons and critical mission systems into the aircraft.

The program contains a gradual increase in production, with an eventual production rate of approximately seven aircraft every year.

The force seeks at least 100 B-21s to replace the aging B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit fleets in the coming decades.

“This is what disciplined acquisition delivers,” White said in a February release announcing the expanded production capacity. “This decision reflects our confidence in the program’s performance and the stability of the industrial base. By increasing production capacity now, we are responsibly accelerating delivery of a critical, combat-effective capability to the warfighter.”

The purchase, valued at $60-$70 million, is one of Tehran’s largest-known efforts to strengthen its short-range air defenses since the outbreak of its war with the U.S. and Israel, which exposed gaps in Iran’s ability to protect military sites and strategic infrastructure.

The contract covers the purchase of between 300 and 400 man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS, including Chinese-made QW-12 and FN-16 missiles, the sources said.

The deal was signed with Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment, a Hong Kong-based company that the sources said was acting as an intermediary between the Iranian side and the Chinese supplier.

IRAN REARMING AFTER MONTHS OF WAR

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Iran’s foreign ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

“The relevant reports are completely groundless,” China’s Foreign Ministry said. “China has consistently played a role in promoting peace and ending the conflict.”

Queried about the deal at a regular press conference in Beijing on Thursday, Chinese defense ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin said he was “not familiar with the relevant situation”.

Beijing-based Zhong Qing Bao Shang Group, the parent company of Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment, did not immediately respond to an email request for comment on Tuesday.

Iran’s reported rearming efforts come after months of fighting in which the U.S. and Israel have struck facilities linked to its missile, drone and air defense programs, and Tehran responded with barrages of ballistic missiles and drones.

The conflict has highlighted the challenge of defending fixed military and strategic sites against advanced aircraft and precision-guided weapons.

Washington abruptly suspended two weeks of bombardment on Saturday, but President Donald Trump said strikes would resume if negotiations failed to end the five-month-old conflict, which has in theory been in a state of ceasefire since April.

Responding to this article, Trump said Iran receiving such equipment from China would be surprising given what he said were assurances from Chinese President Xi Jinping not to get involved in the war on Iran’s behalf.

“I mean, things like that happen, but that would be surprising. [Xi] told me very strongly he wouldn’t partake, but he knows I’d be quite disappointed,” Trump said on Wednesday in response to a question about this report.

The delivery of hundreds of MANPADS would significantly expand Iran’s inventory of short-range air defense weapons and underscore how military ties with China are deepening.

The sources cautioned that, although the agreement had been signed, delivery schedules, quantities and other implementation details could still change.

Under a plan agreed by the parties, deliveries will initially be by air from Urumqi in western China, then transiting through Pakistan to Iran, according to the sources, who did not clarify whether the transfers would take place by air or by road.

“Speculations of Pakistan being involved in supply of Air Defense weapons to Iran from China are absolutely concocted and false,” Pakistan’s military public relations wing ISPR said.

A spokesperson for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

SOURCES: CHINA, IRAN EYE LAND ROUTES FOR DELIVERY

While Iran has invested heavily in the past two decades in missiles, drones and radar, military experts say portable air defense systems are important because they can be dispersed quickly, operated by small teams and relocated frequently, making them less vulnerable than fixed air defense batteries.

A European security source said authorities in his country were aware of several contracts under discussion involving the possible sale of QW-series MANPADS to Iran, including QW-12, QW-18 and QW-19 systems.

A second security source, in the Middle East, said Iran had been seeking to purchase QW-12 and QW-18 missiles, but they were unaware that a deal had already been concluded.

The QW-12 and FN-16 are shoulder-fired, infrared-guided surface-to-air missile systems designed to engage low-flying aircraft, helicopters and drones. Their mobility allows them to be deployed rapidly around military installations, energy infrastructure and other sensitive sites.

Defense analysts regard the QW-12 as less capable than newer QW variants, including the QW-18 and QW-19, but say the systems can still provide an effective layer of short-range protection against drones and low-flying targets.

Two Western intelligence sources and an Iranian official said Tehran had also explored the use of overland routes to move Chinese military supplies and dual-use components more discreetly and reduce the risk of disruption.

The procurement highlights the Islamic Republic’s continuing reliance on a combination of domestic weapons production and foreign suppliers despite years of sanctions and restrictions on defense related imports.

Reuters previously reported that Iran was close to securing a separate agreement with China to acquire anti-ship cruise missiles, according to people familiar with those negotiations. Reuters could not determine whether the agreement went through.

While the standard Meal, Ready-to-Eat, or MRE, delivers nutritionally complete chow in a package weighing 1.5 pounds or less, that adds up for troops on the move: more than 30 pounds of supply per service member for a week-long patrol. And amid efforts across the services to prepare to operate independently in austere environments far from resupply, cutting down the weight and volume of food is a known need.

The fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act calls on the secretary of defense to boost these efforts with new partnerships to create the MREs of the future.

“It is the sense of Congress that requirements for the future battlefield include dealing with contested logistics that cannot be achieved with the size and weight of currently fielded rations; and could be mitigated by incorporating within rations, components produced with emerging and innovative technologies developed in partnership with the Department of Defense Combat Feeding Research and Engineering Program,” language in the House version of the bill, passed July 22, states.

It requires the secretary of defense to seek opportunities to enter contracts to procure rations, naming two specific space-saving food technologies: sonic agglomeration and vacuum microwave drying.

Sonic agglomeration uses sound wave vibrations to compress food ingredients and stick them together without the use of fillers and binders. The Army’s Combat Feeding Directorate has been working with this technology since at least 2016, even using the method to help NASA develop a more compact breakfast bar for astronauts on future Mars missions.

Vacuum microwave drying quickly dehydrates food at low temperatures, locking in fresh flavors and colors that more conventional drying techniques can’t capture, making lightweight, water-removed rations that are more palatable for troops on the go.

In 2018, the Combat Feeding Directorate released information about work being done to develop a “salad bar” — a vacuum-compressed pack of shelf-stable fresh greens with the dressing already mixed in.

And work is happening to field at least early versions of some of these rations to the fighting forces.

Last year, the Combat Feeding Directorate announced that a new Close Combat Assault Ration, specially designed for the sustainment of units on their own for 7-10 days, could now be purchased through the Defense Logistics Agency. The CCAR saw a 39% reduction in volume and 17% production in weight compared to the eat-on-the-move First Strike Ration — which contains about 24 hours’ worth of calories — and allowed troops to “carry five days’ worth of nutrition in a 3-day footprint,” officials said.

But efforts to conduct more robust testing around sonic agglomeration and vacuum microwave drying were limited by COVID-19 pandemic delays, officials said, leaving more work to be done.

“These and other novel technologies were evaluated during the CCAR’s development and CFD will continue to work with industry partners to identify new technologies and evolve existing ones,” a 2025 release stated.

The NDAA provision directs the secretary of defense to maximize the use of the two new technologies for ration components to help bridge the gap between research and evaluation and fielding.

“As operational needs allow, the Secretary shall prioritize clean-label, nutrient-dense components that do not contain unhealthy fats or artificial preservatives,” it adds.

The provision also calls for a report to Congress no later than 120 days after the NDAA passes that includes a description of any “emerging and innovative” food processing technologies being developed for use by the Department of Defense; the total amount the Pentagon has invested in sonic agglomeration and vacuum microwave drying tech; the results of warfighter field testing of proposed ration components using these technologies; and a breakdown of benefits and barriers to using them, along with a summary of what’s being done to advance their adoption.

The House NDAA must still undergo reconciliation with the yet-to-be-passed Senate version of the bill before it can become law.

The U.S. has supplied large quantities of ‌weapons to allies while also using munitions in its own military operations in Iran, raising concerns about inventories of key air defense and precision-guided weapons.

The Lockheed award converts a previous one-year deal worth $4.7 billion awarded in April into a seven-year draft agreement, creating a multiyear procurement plan for the interceptors from fiscal 2026 through 2032, the Army said.

Pentagon negotiators ​are pressing contractors to move much faster, with tentative production agreements struck earlier this year at the center of efforts to increase missile output. The administration of President Donald Trump has also steadily increased pressure on defense contractors to prioritize production over shareholder payouts. Trump signed an executive order in January to identify contractors deemed to be underperforming on government contracts while continuing to distribute profits to shareholders.

Industry executives have welcomed the production agreements, but said Congress must first appropriate funding before companies can invest more heavily in components and production capacity.

Exact terms and delivery dates for many Pentagon munitions deals are still under negotiation.

A similar framework deal had been struck with Raytheon’s parent company RTX to boost production of Tomahawk cruise missiles from the current rate of about 60 per year for the U.S. to eventually 1,000 units annually.

Lockheed, a Bethesda, Maryland-based defense contractor, said the funding would allow it to follow through on a promise to triple PAC-3 MSE production capacity by the end of 2030 and increase jobs at its Camden, Arkansas, plant by 50%, to about 1,850 from 1,200. Lockheed previously announced Patriot PAC-3 missile interceptor production would go to 2,000 units annually.

Lockheed Martin said it is investing $8 billion to $9 billion through 2030 to modernize more than 20 U.S. facilities, including new munitions centers in Alabama and Arkansas.

PAC-3 MSE is a hit-to-kill interceptor used within the Patriot air defense system to counter ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircraft.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, estimated this week that the U.S. military has fewer than 1,000 Patriot interceptors on hand and fewer than 250 THAAD interceptors -- two key air defense systems. Both have seen recent heavy use in the Middle East.

Phillip “Donna” Smith, the Lift Challenge program manager and a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, said that multirotor drones are limited in their usability because of their low payload-to-weight ratios, meaning they can only transport a payload equal to or less than their own weight.

“This means as payload requirements increase, so does the size and the cost of the drone,” he said. “With the Lift Challenge, our goal is to dramatically increase the useful load, which will then drive down the cost per pound of transported cargo.”

He described heavy vertical flight as the “next great technological inflection point that is economical for widespread adoption,” comparing its potential impact to the assembly line for automobiles and reusable rockets for spaceflight. He added that it could revolutionize industries like agriculture, logistics, construction, and more.

The competition aligns with the Defense Department’s Drone Dominance initiative, which aims to accelerate drone technology and reduce costs.

While Drone Dominance challenges a company’s ability to scale production, DARPA is open to anyone who can build a drone that meets the minimum standards.

The Lift Challenge has attracted more than 100 competitors for drones, ranging from drone manufacturers to engineers to academics to hobbyists.

One participant, YouTuber Hoarder Sam, who documents his DIY drone projects, said the challenge appealed to him because of its ambitious goal.

Sam recalled watching DARPA’s self-driving car challenge years before autonomous vehicles became commercially viable and said the Lift Challenge struck him in much the same way.

Competitors must build a drone capable of non-assisted vertical takeoff that weighs less than 55 pounds. During the competition, the drones will have to pick up a minimum payload of 110 pounds and move it back and forth on a 1,000-foot course 30 times, or five nautical miles, in less than 30 minutes.

“Carrying this much weight for that far of a distance isn’t going to be easy, and honestly, I think it might be almost impossible. That’s because DARPA is famous for setting the bar extremely high,” Sam said.

He added that when DARPA first held its self-driving car challenge, no team completed the course. “They had to run the challenge again the next year, and even then, only four cars finished the challenge,” he said.

Others see the challenge as a chance to advance research.

Hao Xu, an associate professor at the University of Nevada, Reno who is leading a team of five engineering students, called the challenge an “interesting opportunity” that will result in a “fruitful discussion among national partners for us to boost Nevada drone R&D and workforce development.”

Some have commercial goals. The Colorado-based company Alpine Combat Systems has been showcasing its design on social media as a way to highlight its products.

In an introduction video, Amanda Barron, who runs the business with her husband Jesus Barron, an Army veteran, said they entered the competition because they want to “network with DARPA and other agencies.”

Jesus Barron added that their “experimental” Samson drone was their “first drone build and it shows what Alpine Combat Systems can do when we put our minds to it.”

The competition begins Aug. 2 at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, and the final four days will open to the public. DARPA will also livestream the event on YouTube beginning Aug. 3.

The Charles Sexton crew and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force boarded a suspected drug-smuggling vessel about 80 miles southwest of Great Inagua, where they discovered 97 bales of suspected marijuana. The three people aboard the vessel were transferred to the Royal Bahamas Defence Force for prosecution along with the narcotics.

“This interdiction highlights the strength of our partnership and our shared commitment to combating transnational organized crime in the region,” Lt. Peter Fager, commanding officer of the Charles Sexton, said in a statement. “Working together, we continue to disrupt illicit trafficking and protect the security and stability of our maritime borders.”

The effort was carried out in coordination with the Bahamian government and U.S. Coast Guard Homeland Security Cutter-Ocean.

The Homeland Security Cutter-Ocean initiative is designed to use commercially operated vessels to provide logistical support to Coast Guard cutters while they remain at sea. The initiative aims to improve fleet readiness by delivering personnel, fuel and supplies directly to cutters, allowing them to remain on station longer without returning to port.

“As demands on the Coast Guard continue to grow, we must find innovative ways to sustain our fleet and keep our crews focused on the mission,” Vice Adm. Nate Moore, deputy commandant for operations, said in a statement. “Homeland Security Cutter-Ocean will help us deliver critical supplies and personnel more efficiently while increasing the endurance and effectiveness of our operational forces.”

Ukrainian F-16s have destroyed more than 2,500 Geran and Gerbera one-way attack drones, wrote airpower expert Justin Bronk in an analysis of the Ukraine air war for the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank.

“[The] use of fighters against such drones has consumed an unsustainable number of airframe flying hours and air-to-air missiles ... since mid-2024, when the Ukrainian Air Force received its first Western aircraft and trained crews,” the analysis reads.

“Russian industry produces more than 6,000 [one-way attack] drones per month, and fighter aircraft have only a finite number of airframe hours available before they need time consuming deep maintenance cycles to be performed at a factory by expert technicians.”

Ukraine’s fleet currently operates an estimated 39 F-16s, out of about 79 promised by various Western European nations. Ukraine also flies an estimated four Mirage 2000-5 fighters, out of up to 20 promised by France, plus a few Soviet-era Su-27 and MiG-29 fighters.

The F-16s have been a game changer in the Ukraine air war. They enable Ukraine’s small air force to launch stand-off attacks against ground targets using American-made JDAM and French-made AASM Hammer glide bombs. The threat they pose to Russia’s air force became evident earlier this month, when a Ukrainian F-16 reportedly downed an Su-35 over eastern Ukraine.

Ironically, the F-16 has proven such a capable aircraft that it has become a victim of its own success.

“The F-16 fleet has been over-tasked, mostly by C-UAS [counter-drone] interception duties, for which there is almost unlimited demand over time,” Bronk told Defense News.

The root of the dilemmas is that Ukraine is squeezed between multiple aerial threats.

In addition to drone strikes, Russia has launched numerous cruise and ballistic missiles at Ukrainian cities. Russia has become adept at launching massive combined strikes that begin with waves of drones, followed by cruise missiles, such as the Kh-101, and then ballistic missiles, such as the Iskander-M and Kinzhal.

Ukraine has managed to at least partially tame the drone threat by creating dense belts of short-range air defenses, or SHORAD. These SHORAD belts combine short-range anti-aircraft missiles, anti-aircraft guns, mobile machine gun teams and a variety of homegrown interceptor-drones.

The drawback there is maintaining dense SHORAD coverage along the 745-mile front line — plus defending cities in the rear — with short-range weapons.

“What unites all these mobile air defense teams and counter-drone teams is that their equipment and ammunition is relatively cheap and thus their operations are sustainable,” the RUSI analysis noted. “However, they are relatively personnel intensive to deploy at scale and require both force density and geographical depth to be effective.”

These limitations also point to the difficulties NATO would face in creating its own Ukrainian-style SHORAD system.

“NATO cannot replicate the density of SHORAD defenses that Ukraine deploys for C-UAS coverage, due to the huge personnel requirements of doing so on a sustainable basis,” Bronk told Defense News.

However, NATO could invest in radar-guided anti-aircraft guns to protect key installations, such as airbases and headquarters, and develop cheaper drone-killing munitions for aircraft such as the APKWS II rocket.

Nonetheless, this still leaves Russia’s cruise and ballistic missiles, against which SHORAD is largely ineffective.

As with the U.S. and Israel versus Iran’s missiles, Ukraine must carefully manage limited stockpiles of air defense interceptors like the American-made Patriot and the European-made SAMP/T.

Ideally, Ukraine should rely on SHORAD to stop the drones, while reserving its F-16s for other missions, Bronk argues.

“Other systems need to be used wherever possible for [one-way attack] drones so that F-16 capacity can be used to intercept cruise missiles and deliver strike missions,” Bronk explained. “Within the Ukrainian Air Force inventory, it is by far the most efficient asset for this.”

Bronk believes that F-16 stand-off ground attacks could be even more effective — if Ukraine’s high command was less rigid.

“There is potential for the Ukrainian Air Force to have greater effects if squadrons and wings are given more authority to plan strikes themselves rather than being centrally tasked by Army-centric headquarters elements,” he said.

The Cutter Healy, which recently completed drydock repairs at the Swan Island shipyard in Portland, Oregon, lost propulsion during sea trials off the Washington coast July 13 and was towed to port without incident. Coast Guard officials said no personnel were injured in the mishap.

The 420-foot ship underwent a $18.3 million overhaul earlier this year that included restoring propulsion components such as shafts, bearings, seals, rudders and its bow thruster. Vigor Marine LLC also upgraded the ship’s sonar system and infrastructure, according to a company release.

An investigation into the incident is underway, and the Healy is expected to need “major repairs,” the Coast Guard says.

The Coast Guard did not provide information regarding the extent of the damage or an estimated time for repairs.

“[The Coast Guard] will provide additional information regarding the casualty aboard CGC Healy as it becomes available,” the service told Military Times on Wednesday.

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday praised the Healy crew for acting “with speed and skill in responding to this casualty.”

“The nation needs a highly capable icebreaking fleet operated by the Coast Guard to ensure year-round access to the region to protect our northern border in Alaska and maritime approaches in the Arctic,” Lunday said in the release.

The Coast Guard icebreaker Storis, a commercial vessel that was purchased by the service and converted for Coast Guard use last year, is patrolling the Arctic region in Healy’s absence as is the national security Cutter Munro, which began tracking two Chinese vessels earlier this month as they passed through the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone and the extended U.S. continental shelf in the Bering Sea, service officials said.

“Munro’s efforts advanced Operation Frontier Sentinel, which is designed to protect American sovereign rights, ensure consistency with international law, and position the Coast Guard to rapidly respond to any detected malign activity,” a spokesperson told Military Times.

The transits marked the first incidents in 2026 of Chinese vessels in the region.

The Coast Guard has stepped up acquisitions of icebreakers in response to growing concerns of foreign interests in the region and an executive order signed on Oct. 8, 2025, by President Donald Trump that ordered the Department of Homeland Security to increase the number of icebreakers available for patrolling the Arctic.

Bollinger Shipyards is building the first of three polar security cutters, but that program has faced a number of delays as a result of changes in contractors and engineering and design alterations.

The first of the class is now expected to be delivered in 2033, nearly a decade after its original target date, according to the Government Accountability Office.

To accelerate acquisition of additional icebreakers, the service awarded a contract in February to Davie Defense, Inc., for five additional cutters, bringing the total number under contract to 11.

The 27-year-old Healy has previously been sidelined by engine issues. In 2020, it suffered a fire in a propulsion motor, ending its planned deployment and experienced another fire in August 2024, also while underway.

The Defense Department has put out a solicitation for robot boats that are capable of launching small attack drones — with technology mature enough to be deployed to the field within 120 days.

The goal for the Suitable Warfighting Adaptive Payloads, or SWAP-USV, project is to find “mature, market-ready [unmanned surface vessels] fully integrated with two or more mature, market-ready aerial drones to detect, identify, track, and defeat hostile threats,” according to the Defense Innovation Unit solicitation. The call out set a response deadline of Aug. 10.

To make this happen, DIU created a year-long contest backed by $100 million in prize money. DIU wants to “partner with established maritime manufacturers, autonomy developers, sensor manufacturers, and UAS developers to execute a multi-phase Prize Challenge.”

The SWAP-USV project is billed as a solution to a problem that has also plagued missile and drone defense on land: the economics favor the offense.

“The cost-exchange ratio for detecting and neutralizing asymmetric maritime threats in contested environments is heavily skewed in favor of the adversary,” the DIU solicitation states. Nor can the U.S. military continue to rely “on exquisite, multi-million-dollar naval and aviation assets to intercept these inexpensive targets.”

The solicitation paints the picture of a drone boat that can carry, launch and control at least two small UAVs. The UAVs together should be capable of conducting kinetic strikes with a combined payload of at least 2 kilograms, or just over 4 pounds.

DIU wants a mix of recoverable and one-way attack drones that can patrol ocean, coastal and riverine waters, and loiter on station. The drones, according to the solicitation, should “support one or more operational effects, including ISR, comms relay, electronic warfare, payload delivery, or precision engagement of moving or stationary, as applicable, under operator command.”

The Pentagon also wants the system to be mobile enough to fit into a standard cargo container, on road trailers or on C-17 and C-130 transports.

“Solutions that can launch from unimproved locations or provide additional launch flexibility, i.e. remotely from a container, will be looked upon favorably,” DIU noted, adding that the UAVs should be “technically mature and have an established production line.”

Interestingly, among the maritime threats the DIU solicitation cites are “‘go-fast’ smuggling boats, and semi-submersibles.” Drug cartels have used semi-submersibles to transport contraband from South America to the U.S., and such pseudo-submarines are hard to detect.

The SWAP-USV project calls for robot craft capable of “autonomous surveillance and interdiction of defined maritime operating areas, maximizing operational coverage, probability of detection, interdiction effectiveness, and time on station while minimizing daily operating cost, logistics burden, and required personnel.”

The surveillance elements of the solicitation state that the drone boat must be able to “autonomously follow or shadow a vessel of interest, and autonomously intercept a noncooperative, maneuvering vessel. Autonomous execution of these functions is desired but not required.”

The SWAP-USV Challenge, meanwhile, comprises three “sprints,” or phases, each with separate prize money. To sweeten the pot further, companies that pass the test in each phase will be eligible for procurement contracts backed by a $200 million budget.

Sprint 1 calls for in-water testing in fall 2026, with a goal of deploying a system in the field within 120 days.

“Solutions must include a complete mission ready USV with integrated drone capability system available for testing and evaluation within 29 days of down-selection for Sprint 1,” the solicitation specified. There will be $40 million in prize money.

Sprint 2 will have a fall 2026 deadline and in-water testing in early 2027, with the focus on “expanded payloads, upgraded autonomy, and multi-vendor integrations.” The prize money for that timeframe will also be $40 million.

Sprint 3 will take submissions in early 2027, with in-water testing in summer 2027. The goals of this phase will be announced later, but there will be $20 million in prizes.

Companies must specify which phase they want to join. “The government reserves the right to assign applicants to [Sprint] cohorts based on technical and manufacturing maturity,” the solicitation noted.

Maj. Collin L. Welch, 40, pleaded guilty to unlawfully introducing aliens to enter and remain in the U.S. and the theft of around $54,000 in government money, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, D.C. He is scheduled for sentencing in December.

As a married man, Welch was posted in 2019 to the U.S. Embassy in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where he kindled a relationship with a Mongolian woman. By creating a fake divorce decree, he convinced the woman he was single and in 2022, he married her in Mongolia, federal prosecutors said.

In 2024, Welch brought the woman and her minor daughter to the U.S. on tourist visas and in October of that year, he married the woman for a second time in Virginia, according to the attorney’s office. Welch was still legally married to his initial wife at each of his subsequent nuptials.

When his guests’ tourist visas expired in early 2025, Welch continued to house and financially support them and he, once again, took to fabricating documents, creating permanent residency approvals, Social Security cards and a letter showing military health benefits for dependents, the office said. He never filed any paperwork with any government agency.

To fund the travel and living expenses of his new bride and her daughter, Welch racked up tens of thousands of dollars on his government travel card, creating fraudulent travel vouchers using fake hotel and rental card receipts.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, with help from the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Investigations Unit.

Welch, who is from Arlington, Virginia, previously served in the Alaska and D.C. National Guard, and he deployed to Afghanistan and Djibouti.

The D.C. National Guard has not responded to a request for comment.

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby announced on X Tuesday that the Defense Department had “kicked off” the review Hegseth unveiled during the NATO defense ministerial in Brussels on June 18. Hegseth described the effort at the time as “a real review” of America’s force posture and basing in Europe.

Neither Hegseth’s announcement nor Colby’s statement announced troop reductions, unit movements or installation changes as part of the review. The Pentagon also has not said when the review’s recommendations will be released.

The review follows repeated calls by Trump administration officials for European allies to assume greater responsibility for NATO’s conventional defense as the administration reassesses U.S. force posture worldwide.

Hegseth said the review is expected to take up to six months, but it “could be less.” He shared that the review will include input from U.S. European Command as well as consultations with Congress and U.S. allies.

Colby said the review is designed to ensure NATO is “moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe taking primary responsibility for its conventional defense.” He explained the outcome of the review is intended to accelerate NATO’s transition to what he described as “a stronger, more equitable, and sustainable alliance.”

The Pentagon review aims to ensure U.S. force posture in Europe reflects the 2025 National Security Strategy and the 2026 National Defense Strategy. Colby said the department will develop a range of options based on “strategic rigor, a strong empirical baseline, and a clear sense of the geopolitical and military realities.”

Colby also said he looks forward to working closely with Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, on the review. He noted that the Defense Department plans to have “extensive consultations” with European allies, Congress and other parts of the U.S. government throughout the process.

New programs have launched at Naval Station Norfolk and the Hampton Roads area in Virginia, as well as at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. Programs launch within the next few weeks at installations in the San Diego, California, area and around Seattle and Tacoma, Washington.

The additions will bring the total number of installations served by MFAN’s Fresh Funds program to 17 across six states.

The other areas where the Fresh Funds program operates are Fort Hood and Fort Bliss, Texas, and Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and MCAS New River in North Carolina.

Families in the areas can request the assistance from MFAN directly through its website.

The program was established in response to MFAN’s research over the years that has found military families often face significant out-of-pocket costs when making permanent change of station moves, which can exacerbate financial problems. In the nonproit’s most recent survey, MFAN found that more than 40% of military family respondents reported low or very low food security.

MFAN’s recent research found that more than 60% of active-duty families who made moves in the past two years paid more than $1,000 out of pocket for expenses related to their move, over and above what the Defense Department pays to move them.

For example, during these relocations, families must replace food, cleaning supplies and other items they couldn’t bring from their previous locations.

MFAN is partnering with Instacart, an online grocery delivery and pickup service, and the program includes delivery of the items to the families.

“Meeting military families where they are — especially during the disruption of a relocation — requires partners like Instacart who share our commitment to making food easier to access,” said Shannon Razsadin, chief executive officer of MFAN, in a statement to Military Times. “Our research shows food insecurity remains a serious challenge for too many military families, and partnerships like this are an important part of the solution.”

How it works

The program starts with MFAN’s PCS Pantry Restock Box to newly arriving families who have signed up. Service members with at least one dependent are eligible, regardless of rank.

The box is stocked with pantry staples, cleaning supplies and paper goods and delivered to families’ homes. Those who need help with additional food can receive a one-time Fresh Funds code for a $125 grocery stipend, for up to three months, to order groceries and essentials through Instacart. The program doesn’t include military commissaries.

Instacart has partnered with MFAN since 2024, with more than 6,000 military families benefiting from the PCS Box program to date.

“Moving a family is difficult enough. We should make the transition as easy and seamless as possible for military families, and that starts with making sure there’s food in the fridge when they arrive,” said Casey Aden-Wansbury, vice president and head of global public policy at Instacart.

The contractor has faced setbacks in delivering two Air Force One aircraft for presidential use by its initial projected timeline due to a lack of properly cleared workers and supply chain issues, causing President Donald Trump to use a Qatari-donated jet in the interim.

Trump first traveled with the modified Qatari aircraft in early July, but just a couple weeks later, revealed that it would be “maxed out” for upgrades since the plane lacks necessary security features, like missile-defense capabilities, for a presidential aircraft.

The absence of the security features caused Trump to instead fly with an older Air Force One out of Turkey after the recent NATO Summit as tensions escalated with Iran.

Plans for the new Boeing VC-25Bs have been in effect for about a decade and were originally slated for 2024, but are now expected in 2028.

The contract was signed in 2018 with a fixed $3.9 billion price tag, but the delays have cost Boeing billions of dollars extra as the company rushes to deliver the jets to the executive airlift fleet alongside the VC-25A and C-32 fleets.

The company attributes the $280 million in second quarter losses on the VC-25B program to an investment in “additional production and certification resources,” per the earning report, but it still anticipates the first delivery to occur in 2028.

The added amount now has caused the entire project to cost over $3.1 billion, according to CNN reporting, but the contract’s ceiling has been altered to $4.5 billion to allow for other equipment.

Boeing’s total second quarter loss was $428 million, a stark increase from the $7 million loss reported in the first quarter.

Just a little over two weeks after U.S. Central Command utilized three Corsair unmanned surface vessels to strike a submarine and ship maintenance facility at the Bandar Abbas naval base in Iran, marking the “first time American forces have employed sea drones in combat operations,” the Navy confirmed its first live-fire training exercise of its Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft uncrewed surface vessel.

Two former U.S. warships, the amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu and the cruiser USS Mobile Bay, were sent below the seas off the coast of Hawaii during a live sinking exercise, or SINKEX, event during the biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise.

On July 24, the Navy released footage of the sinking, including the USV targeting the hulk of the USS Peleliu.

Sarah Weinstein, a surface warfare officer currently serving as the first Commanding Officer of Unmanned Surface Vessel Division 32, confirmed that her division, USVDIV-32, was behind the execution of the Navy’s first GARC live fire.

“It was incredible to watch my team execute with precision and we were thrilled to provide a perspective of the former USS Peleliu that often isn’t often captured in a SINKEX,” the officer wrote on LinkedIn.

The sinking, which took place on July 17, found the GARC at the center of the Peleliu SINKEX. Created by the Baltimore-based BlackSea Technologies, the company touts the GARC as the “most proven tactical sUSV on the water.”

With a payload capacity of up to 1,000 pound and a range of 700 nautical miles at a speed of 22 knots, BlackSea writes that the 16-foot GARC “combines modular payload flexibility, advanced autonomy, and rugged endurance.”

In addition, operators can control the vessels individually or as a swarm. It’s driven manually or given a target to follow by using radar.

In August 2025, the Navy announced that it was “experimenting with the Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft (GARC)” to support naval operations. And just last month, USVDIV-32 utilized the drone boats during Exercise BALTOPS 2026, one of NATO’s premier maritime exercises.

“We are at the beginning and we don’t even know where we’re going to take it yet,” Weinstein told The Wall Street Journal in June. “The GARC originally was designed to kind of do a limited skill set, and we’ve turned it into something that can do escort, that can do surveillance, intelligence, maritime domain awareness, and we’ve already with one platform been able to expand what is in the realm of possible.”

Now, with its hand in sinking the USS Peleliu, the GARC continues to surpass its testing milestones as it inches its way toward operational deployment.

With the acceptance of the 359th — and final — tiltrotor aircraft, the Marine Corps marked the end of the MV-22B Osprey program of record, a milestone that will now shift efforts towards “sustaining and modernizing the fleet for decades to come,” the V-22 Joint Program Office, which manages the Osprey program, said in a statement.

“The MV-22B ... fundamentally changed the way the Marine Air-Ground Task Force generates combat power,” Lt. Gen. William Swan, the Marine Corps’ deputy commandant for aviation, said in the statement. “It provides commanders with decision space that only speed and reach can provide, connecting ships, bases and distributed forces in ways previous generations could only imagine. Today, Marine commanders build operations around the assumption that the MV-22B will be there.”

Though the Navy and Air Force also use variants of the Osprey, the Marine Corps maintains the majority of the fleet.

The Corps intends to keep the Osprey operational through 2055 with efforts that include improving wiring, working towards pro-rotor gear boxes, standardizing the fleet and redesigning parts of the aircraft for better safety.

The aircraft has a history of safety issues and accidents that have led to the deaths of over 60 service members since 2000, according to prior Military Times reporting, and in 2023, the Defense Department grounded the aircraft after eight service members were killed when an Air Force Osprey crashed.

A 2025 government watchdog report found that the services had not appropriately shared information about Osprey issues amongst each other.

The Osprey was developed to reduce the gap between rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft. Since going operational in 2007, the platform has been involved in 114 deployments and flown more than 683,300 hours, according to the program’s office, which also said the Osprey represents three quarters of all Marine Corps rotary wing support.

The Osprey is produced jointly by Bell and Boeing and according to a Wednesday release from the companies, has been involved in various high-profile missions, including the ongoing Venezuela earthquake response, the 2022 earthquake response in Haiti, operations to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips in 2009 after his ship was hijacked by Somali pirates.

Any crackdown on mobile communications would add a new dimension to the conflict for the thousands of U.S. troops in the region, many of whom still rely on phones to periodically message loved ones and assure them they are well.

Adm. Brad Cooper, in a previously unreported letter, said Iran was benefiting from being able to see the success or failure of its strikes in near real-time by searching news reports or online posts by journalists referencing “reactions, photos, and footage from the cellphones of our troops.”

“The direct, unavoidable cost of this open-source intelligence could be measured in the lives of American service members and civilian residents in targeted Gulf countries,” Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, wrote in his July 28 letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

He called on troops to “redouble our focus on operational security,” without prescribing specific steps in the memo.

The warning underscored the mounting tensions between real-time news reporting on the war, often aided by satellite imagery and first-person accounts, and the desire by the U.S. military to restrict any information that could aid Iran as it tries to kill and wound U.S. troops.

In Jordan, which has been a frequent target of Iranian strikes, some troops have been told their phones will be confiscated in the coming days, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

A third source said such a move was being considered in the region due to operational security concerns but did not present the confiscation as a certainty.

Asked for comment, U.S. Central Command spokesperson Captain Timothy Hawkins said: “The message is a general reminder to our service members on the importance of maintaining operational security. This is one of many opportunities Admiral Cooper has used to convey operational priorities.”

Running for shelter during Iran attack

In a video posted online this month, a U.S. service member recorded a video as soldiers ran for shelter during a deadly Iranian attack on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan on July 17.

Cooper appeared to reference the footage in his letter, saying it had been recorded on Meta smart glasses with a built-in camera.

“Video captured from a service member’s Meta glasses was posted on Instagram showing where and how the individual had evacuated to a bunker during an Iranian missile and drone attack,” Cooper wrote.

Iran would normally have a tough time determining the success or failure of its strikes, were it not for such accounts, Cooper said, thanks to the U.S. military’s electronic jamming or other tactics used in war zones.

“Iran knows the weapons were fired; however, their forces do not know if they missed by 50 meters, hit an empty tarmac, or successfully struck a crowded facility,” he wrote. “Detailed lists, descriptions, and analyses of what was hit, openly published by news outlets are essentially performing Iran’s Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) for them, free of charge,” Cooper said.

Some 18 U.S. troops have died in the conflict with Iran that started on Feb. 28 and more than 600 have been wounded in the fighting, casualties that have deepened Americans’ concerns about a war that just one in three Americans support.

Democratic lawmakers have called for more information about the war, including details about damage to U.S. infrastructure on bases including radar towers, barracks and aircraft hangars. They have also called for the release of a U.S. military investigation into a likely U.S. strike on a girls’ school in Iran, first reported by Reuters, on the opening day of the war on Feb. 28.

Cell phones being taken?

Rules surrounding cell phone use for deployed troops can vary widely across the military, officials say. Many troops have to lock them away and cell phones can be banned on particularly sensitive missions by special operations forces, for example.

But the possible seizure of phones has stoked anxiety among some family members, already on edge in recent months as they read Iranian claims of deadly strikes on bases throughout the Middle East, two of the sources said.

U.S. officials have cautioned for years that certain applications on mobile devices, like fitness applications, can be exploited by adversaries to aid adversary targeting because of location data. Reuters reported in May that commercially available location data harvested from smartphones or other devices has been used to target or surveil U.S. forces.

At the same time, the Pentagon has sought to carefully control the release of information due to what it says are operational security concerns, often declining to comment on Iran’s attack claims or detail individual incidents that led to injuries of U.S. troops.

Cooper said details on strikes can help Iran mount follow-up attacks.

“Detailed public disclosures can become an immediate green light for Iranian forces to launch a secondary, much more devastating wave of attacks,” he said.

But that may not be a bad thing, according to an epidemiologist who coauthored the latest report.

The survey data, published in June in the Pentagon’s Medical Surveillance Monthly Report, shows that heatstroke cases are up from 471 to 518 from 2024 to 2025. It’s a significant climb from 2023, which had 407 heatstroke cases. While cases dropped slightly in 2022 and 2023 from 2021’s total of 459 cases, 2025 was the worst year for heatstroke since 2018. That year, which saw 578 heatstroke cases — an alarming peak for documented data — helped prompt the founding of the Army Heat Center and other structural changes to protect troops.

Last year’s reported heatstroke cases were also notable in that there was a steep increase in hospitalizations, both those reported by the Defense Department health system and those only reported at a later point by troops. Reported hospitalizations were up from 132 to 173; while those initially unreported were up from 198 to 228. The cases that received ambulatory care at the scene were down, from 141 to 117.

Dr. Alexis Maule, who works at the Defense Health Agency-Public Health Disease Epidemiology branch in Aberdeen, Maryland, said that the rise in hospitalizations might be interpreted as a positive trend. While the increase in heatstroke could be a sign, she said, that early signs of heat exhaustion are being missed in the field, it could also mean that dangerous symptoms are being flagged and diagnosed more consistently.

“There are two hallmark symptoms that distinguish heat stroke from heat exhaustion. Those are a core temperature equal to or above 104 degrees Fahrenheit, and a change in mental status, whether that be extreme confusion, delirium, and in some cases, loss of consciousness,” Maule told Military Times.

“So it’s possible that the increase in heat stroke identification is related to an increase in field medics or other medical providers in the field acquiring core temperatures prior to service members being seen by medical providers in a healthcare facility, or accurately assessing individuals’ changes in mental status and noting that prior to their transport to medical care,” she continued.

Total heat illness diagnoses saw a slight decline in 2025, with 2,751, down from 2,859 in 2024. The Marine Corps and Air Force saw steep reductions in heat exhaustion cases that appear to account for the difference. What’s less clear is whether any of the interventions the military has taken in recent years are having their desired effect.

The Army and Marine Corps in 2024 debuted the wearable Heat Illness Protection System, or HIPS, using the devices at specific training events and locations such as Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, to monitor troops’ vitals and flag “wobbles” that could predict danger.

Earlier this year, Army Heat Center Director Lt. Col. Dave DeGroot said at a forum focused on heat injury prevention that the devices could detect heatstroke as much as 12 minutes sooner than conventional observation methods. But not every unit and formation is using the devices. It’s also likely that more years of data are needed to discern the impact of new prevention efforts.

To that end, the Marine Corps earlier this month released new interim guidance on heat and cold injury prevention that stressed data collection and rigorous reporting.

“We do see fluctuations in data every year, so that’s why it’s important to not only look at the current year that you’re reporting on,” Maule said.

“The reality is that the military has to continue to train warfighters in all environmental conditions, you know, 365 days a year, and the surveillance data tries to provide commanders with an objective and highly specific picture of the magnitude and severity of the threat of heat illness. And then we hope that leaders can deploy evidence-based prevention and mitigation strategies where they’re needed to preserve readiness, but without compromising training rigor,” she concluded.