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Tag: military

  • Prominent Al Jazeera journalist among several killed in Israeli strike on Gaza press tent

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    AMMAN, Jordan — Israel’s military targeted a tent for journalists in Gaza City late Sunday, killing seven people, including Anas al-Sharif, a reporter for Al Jazeera who drew millions of followers on social media and emerged as a top voice in the Arab world for his chronicling of the war in Gaza over the last 22 months.

    Killed alongside the 28-year-old Al-Sharif were Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Moamen Aliwa and their assistant Mohammed Noufal. A sixth journalist, freelancer Mohammad al-Khaldi, who was in a nearby tent, was also killed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

    In a statement, Al Jazeera, which is funded by the government of Qatar and has long had a fraught relationship with the Israeli government, described the killings as a “targeted assassination” that was “yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom.”

    “The order to assassinate Anas al-Sharif, one of Gaza’s bravest journalists, and his colleagues, is a desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza,” the statement said, referring to the Israeli government’s recently approved plans for its military to take over the Palestinian enclave.

    “Al Jazeera emphasizes that immunity for perpetrators and the lack of accountability embolden Israel’s actions and encourage further oppression against witnesses to the truth,” the broadcaster’s statement said.

    Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani also excoriated Israel, saying in a statement on X that “the deliberate targeting of journalists by Israel in the Gaza Strip reveals how these crimes are beyond imagination.”

    Israel’s military confirmed it conducted the attack, issuing a statement shortly before midnight Monday saying it struck “the terrorist Anas Al-Sharif” who it said “posed as a journalist” but “served as the head of a terrorist cell” in the militant group Hamas.

    It claimed that “previously disclosed intelligence information” and “many documents found in the Gaza Strip” confirmed Al-Sharif’s involvement with Hamas. The documents, which the statement said included personnel rosters, lists of terrorist training courses, among others, “provide proof of the integration of the Hamas terrorist” within Al Jazeera.

    The documents were first released in October 2024 and accused six Al Jazeera journalists of involvement with Hamas or the Islamic Jihad militant group.

    At the time, Al Jazeera, along with a United Nations expert, the Committee to Protect Journalists and other groups cast doubt on the veracity of the documents. The U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of expression, Irene Khan, denounced Israel’s accusations against Al-Sharif in July as “unfounded” and a “blatant attempt to endanger his life and silence his reporting on the genocide in Gaza.”

    The Israeli military has previously made unsubstantiated claims that journalists it targeted and killed in Gaza were terrorists. In March, Israel killed Al Jazeera correspondent Hossam Shabat; in July 2024, it killed Ismail Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifi.

    Chief correspondent Wael al Dahdouh lost his wife, son, daughter and grandson in an Israeli airstrike in October 2023. Weeks after that, he was injured in a strike that killed Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa.

    Israel has barred international journalists from entering Gaza even as it has targeted local reporters. Health authorities in Gaza say 237 journalists have been killed since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023. The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 186 have been killed.

    Sunday’s drone attack came weeks after Israel stepped up its attacks on Al-Sharif, with the military’s Arabic-language spokesman accusing the Al Jazeera correspondent in July of spreading “propaganda” and taking part in “a false Hamas campaign on starvation.”

    Later that month, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was “gravely worried” about Al-Sharif’s safety. The group’s Middle East and North Africa director, Sara Qudah, warned that the smear campaign against Al-Sharif represented “an effort to manufacture consent to kill Al-Sharif.”

    In a statement on Monday, Qudah said, “Israel is murdering the messengers.”

    “If Israel can kill the most prominent Gazan journalist, then it can kill anyone. The world needs to see these deadly attacks on journalists inside Gaza, as well as its censorship of journalists in Israel and the West Bank, for what they are: a deliberate and systematic attempt to cover up Israel’s actions.”

    British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “gravely concerned” over the repeated targeting of journalists in Gaza; Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and other groups also issued condemnations. The U.S. government did not immediately provide comment.

    Al-Sharif’s killing drew tributes for a journalist who for many across the region came to embody Gaza’s suffering.

    On social media people shared poignant moments from his coverage, including when he covered his father’s killing in an Israeli airstrike in the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza City in December 2023; a video when he was reunited with his daughter this year; or when he almost broke down on air, his voice cracking.

    “Keep on going, Mr. Anas,” says an unseen passerby. “You are our voice.”

    Video posted to social media showed crowds massing at the Sheikh Radwan Cemetery for the journalists’ funeral. Video depicted mourners crying and embracing each other, while others in the crowd carried Al-Sharif’s shrouded corpse and chanted, “With our soul and blood, we will sacrifice ourselves for you, Anas.”

    Al-Sharif is survived by his wife, daughter and son.

    Minutes before the strike that killed him, Al-Sharif posted on X saying there was “intense, concentrated Israeli bombardment” of Gaza City for two hours.

    Al-Sharif’s final message, written in April to be posted in the event of his death, read: “If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.”

    He continued: “I have lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification — so that Allah may bear witness against those who stayed silent, those who accepted our killing, those who choked our breath, and whose hearts were unmoved by the scattered remains of our children and women, doing nothing to stop the massacre that our people have faced for more than a year and a half.”

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    Nabih Bulos

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  • South Korea dismantles its propaganda loudspeakers on the border with North Korea

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    SEOUL — South Korea has begun dismantling loudspeakers that blare anti-North Korean propaganda across the border, as President Lee Jae Myung’s liberal administration seeks to mend fractured relations with Pyongyang.

    In a statement, a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry said the removal was “a practical measure to ease inter-Korean tensions without impacting the military’s readiness posture.”

    The move follows the suspension of propaganda broadcasts in June on orders from Lee, an advocate of reconciliation who has framed warmer relations with North Korea as a matter of economic benefit — a way to minimize a geopolitical liability long blamed for South Korea’s stock market being undervalued.

    “Strengthening peace in the border regions will help ease tensions across all of South Korea, and increasing dialogue and exchange will improve the economic situation,” Lee said at a news conference last month.

    Elementary school students watch the North Korean side from the Unification Observation Post in Paju, South Korea.

    (Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)

    First used by North Korea in 1962, with South Korea following suit a year later, propaganda loudspeakers have long been a defining feature of the hot-and-cold relationship between Seoul and Pyongyang, switched on and off with the waxing and waning of goodwill.

    The last major stoppage was during a period of detente in 2004 and lasted until 2015, when two South Korean soldiers stationed by the border were maimed by landmines that military officials said had been covertly installed by North Korean soldiers weeks earlier.

    Played by loudspeakers set up in the DMZ, or demilitarized zone, a 2.5-mile-wide stretch of land between the two countries, South Korea’s broadcasts once featured live singing and propagandizing by soldiers stationed along the border. In recent years, however, the speakers have played pre-planned programming that ranges from outright opprobrium to more subtle messaging intended to imbue listeners with pro-South Korea sympathies.

    The programming has included K-pop songs with lyrics that double as invitations to defect to South Korea, such as one 2010 love song that goes: “Come on, come on, don’t turn me down and come on and approach me,” or weather reports whose power lies in their accuracy — and have occasionally been accompanied by messages such as, “It’s going to rain this afternoon so make sure you take your laundry in.”

    With a maximum range of around 19 miles that makes them unlikely to reach major population centers in North Korea, such broadcasts have come under question by some experts in terms of their effectiveness.

    Still, several North Korean defectors have cited the broadcasts as part of the reason they decided to flee to South Korea. One former artillery officer who defected in 2013 recalled being won over, in part, by the weather reports.

    “Whenever the South Korean broadcast said it would rain from this time to that time, it would always actually rain,” he told South Korean media last year.

    South Korean army K-9 self-propelled howitzers take positions in Paju, near the border with North Korea
    South Korean army K-9 self-propelled howitzers take positions in Paju, near the border with North Korea.

    (Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)

    North Korea, however, sees the broadcasts as a provocation and has frequently threatened to retaliate with military action. In 2015, Pyongyang made good on this threat by firing a rocket at a South Korean loudspeaker, leading to an exchange of artillery fire between the two militaries.

    Such sensitivities have made the loudspeakers controversial in South Korea, too, with residents of the border villages complaining about the noise, as well as the dangers of military skirmishes breaking out near their homes.

    “At night, [North Korea] plays frightening noises like the sound of animals, babies or women crying,” one such resident told Lee when the president visited her village in June, shortly after both sides halted the broadcasts. “It made me ill. Even sleeping pills didn’t work.”

    But it is doubtful that the dismantling alone will be enough for a diplomatic breakthrough.

    Relations between Seoul and Pyongyang have been in a deep chill after the failure of the denuclearization summits between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2018, as well as a separate dialogue between Kim and then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

    Tensions rose further during the subsequent conservative administration of Yoon Suk Yeol, who was president of South Korea from 2022 until his removal from office this year. Yoon is being investigated by a special counsel on allegations that he ordered South Korean military drones to fly over Pyongyang in October.

    Ruling party lawmakers have alleged that the move was intended to provoke a war with North Korea, and in doing so, secure the legal justification for Yoon’s declaration of martial law in December.

    During Yoon’s term, Kim formally foreswore any reconciliation with Seoul while expanding his nuclear weapons program.

    That stance remains unchanged even under the more pro-reconciliation Lee, according to a statement by Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s younger sister, published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency last month.

    “No matter how desperately the Lee Jae Myung government may try to imitate the fellow countrymen and pretend they do all sorts of righteous things to attract our attention, they cannot turn back the hands of the clock of the history which has radically changed the character of the DPRK-ROK relations,” she said.

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    Max Kim

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  • Warren wants to give military a ‘right to repair’

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    BOSTON — Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is leading a rare bipartisan effort in Congress to authorize the military to repair its own weapons and machinery, arguing the “common sense” move would save taxpayers’ money and improve readiness.

    The Warrior Right to Repair Act of 2025, filed Tuesday by Warren and Sen. Tim Sheehy, a Montana Republican, would require contractors to provide the Department of Defense with access to technical data and materials the military needs to repair and maintain its own equipment.


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    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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  • Battle of Bunker Hill reenactment includes sea operations

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    While most people saw the action on land during the reenactment of the Battle of Bunker Hill in Gloucester, some took part aboard ships reenacting the Royal Navy off Half Moon Beach.

    The ability to recreate an amphibious assault was a major reason Stage Fort Park was an ideal spot for the battle event, according to Maritime Gloucester Executive Director Michael De Koster.


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    By Ethan Forman | Staff Writer

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  • Sandy Bay’s Jabez Tarr fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill

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    When the Battle of Bunker Hill is reenacted at Stage Fort Park later this week, the Tarr family of Gloucester will be thinking about Jabez Tarr, a 15-year-old soldier who was among the Gloucester colonists who fought in the battle.

    Jabez is one of their ancestors and a descendent of first settler Richard Tarr, a founder of what was called Sandy Bay in the colonial era.


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    Gail McCarthy may be contacted at 978-675-2706, or gmccarthy@northofboston.com.

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    By Gail McCarthy | Staff Writer

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  • Exhibits related to the upcoming Battle of Bunker Hill reenactment

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    Cape Ann Museum has a weekend of free activities taking place as the city prepares for the 250th anniversary of the reenactment of the Battle of Bunker Hill.

    On Saturday, June 14, and Sunday, June 15, there will be activities from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at CAM Green, 13 Poplar St., Gloucester, to learn about events that ultimately led to the American Revolution, such as the Stamp Act of 1765, the Saville Incidents of 1768 and 1770, the Tea Act of 1773, the Boston Port Bill of 1774 and more.


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  • National Museum of Nuclear Science & History Launches Campaign to Preserve Iconic Redstone and Terrier Missiles

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    Crowdfunding Historical Campaign Launches June 2


    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., June 2, 2025 (Newswire.com)
    –
    The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in Albuquerque, New Mexico, today announced the launch of “Preserving Pillars of American Strength: Restore the Redstone & Terrier,” a crowdfunding campaign to restore two significant artifacts in its collection: the Redstone Missile and the Convair RIM-2 Terrier Surface-to-Air Missile.

    These towering missiles represent pivotal moments in American history, embodying the nation’s ingenuity in rocketry and its commitment to defense during the Cold War. The Redstone, the first large liquid-fueled ballistic missile, paved the way for the U.S. space program and launched the first American astronaut. The Terrier played a crucial role in national defense as a vital surface-to-air missile.

    However, decades of exposure to the harsh desert climate have taken their toll. The vibrant insignia on the Redstone is fading, and the Terrier suffers from weathered paint and surface degradation. To prevent further deterioration and ensure these artifacts continue to educate and inspire, the Museum is undertaking critical restoration efforts.

    “The Redstone and Terrier missiles are more than just static displays; they are tangible links to our nation’s past and powerful tools for inspiring future generations in STEM fields,” said Jennifer Hayden, President and CEO of the Museum. “Preserving these iconic artifacts honors American innovation, reminds us of our nation’s strength, and upholds our responsibility as stewards of history.”

    The restoration plan includes meticulous touch-up of the Redstone’s insignia, gentle buffing of its surface, and comprehensive sanding and repainting of the Terrier. The campaign aims to raise $40,000 between June 2 and July 4 to cover the costs of specialized equipment, museum-grade materials, and the dedicated time and expertise of conservation staff and volunteers.

    The crowdfunding campaign will engage patriotic citizens and history enthusiasts nationwide, offering them the opportunity to directly contribute to preserving these vital pieces of American heritage. The campaign page will provide detailed information about the missiles’ historical significance, showcase their current condition, outline the restoration processes and costs, and offer various levels of engagement and recognition for contributors. Regular updates on the campaign’s progress and the eventual restoration work will also be provided.

    “We invite everyone who values American history and innovation to join us in this important mission,” added Jennifer Galloway, Director of Development. “Your contribution, no matter the size, will play a crucial role in ensuring that these pillars of American strength continue to inspire and educate for generations to come.”

    Visit our Indiegogo campaign page https://igg.me/at/pillarsofstrength/x/38576943#/ between June 2 and July 4 to learn more and become a part of this critical preservation effort. Donations can be made directly to the museum by visiting the website: https://www.nuclearmuseum.org/support/restore-the-redstone-and-terrier.

    Related Video

    https://vimeo.com/1088567303

    Source: National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

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  • ArmorSource Awarded Contract for 30,000 CREW II Helmets by U.S. Army

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    DLA places major new order for ultra-lightweight ballistic helmets, expanding ArmorSource’s role in military modernization


    HEBRON, Ohio, April 11, 2025 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Following the successful delivery of 14,000 units of its next-generation CREW II Advanced Combat Vehicle Crewman (ACVC) helmet system, ArmorSource has been awarded a major follow-on contract by the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). Valued at $18.6 million, the new order includes up to 30,000 additional ACVC helmets to be delivered over the next five years.

    The CREW II helmet is the only ultra-lightweight, Gen II ballistic ACVC helmet shell currently available worldwide. Engineered specifically for tank and armored vehicle crews, it offers superior ballistic and environmental protection at a significantly reduced weight compared to legacy systems. The shell is compatible with modern communication systems and noise-canceling technologies, supporting optimal performance in the most demanding battlefield environments.

    Already fielded by several NATO and allied armed forces, the CREW II has become the preferred choice for militaries seeking to modernize their vehicle crew protection without compromising comfort or operational efficiency.

    With a monthly production capacity of up to 15,000 advanced Gen II helmet systems – including the CREW II for armored vehicle personnel, the Aire II for general military combatants, and the Aire LE for law enforcement – ArmorSource ranks among the world’s largest manufacturers of protective headgear.

    “We view this latest order as a powerful vote of confidence from the U.S. government and military,” said Timothy McNeal, ArmorSource Vice President of Operations. “Our unwavering focus on safety and continuous technical innovation has enabled us to deliver what we believe is the most advanced combat helmet system available today.”

    ArmorSource continues to expand its global footprint, delivering cutting-edge protection solutions that meet the evolving demands of modern warfare – while maintaining its core commitment to mission readiness and soldier safety.

    About ArmorSource:
    ArmorSource is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of ballistic helmets and advanced head protection systems, serving military and law enforcement organizations across the United States, Europe, and beyond. ArmorSource Next Generation Helmets provide ultra-lightweight protection with enhanced ballistic, environmental, and mechanical performance.

    Contact Information

    Peter Costanzo
    Director of Sales – North America
    sales@armorsource.com

    shachar Bernhard
    VP Sales and Marketing
    info@armorsource.com

    Source: ArmorSource, LLC.

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  • Video: What We Know About Israel’s Strikes On Iran

    Video: What We Know About Israel’s Strikes On Iran

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    After military-on-military attacks, will Israel and Iran be able to contain their conflict? Maria Abi-Habib, an investigative correspondent for The New York Times, looks at an unprecedented new chapter in the Middle East.

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    Maria Abi-Habib, Christina Shaman, Nikolay Nikolov and Laura Salaberry

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  • Harris’ Hitler comments were not from a ‘debunked hoax’

    Harris’ Hitler comments were not from a ‘debunked hoax’

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    Former President Donald Trump praised Adolf Hitler, according to news from The Atlantic and The New York Times. Some social media users have questioned the reports’ veracity.

    “BREAKING: Kamala Harris instantly seizes upon an already DEBUNKED hoax from the Atlantic and weaponizes it to attack Donald Trump,” read an Oct. 23 Threads post that shared a video of Vice President Kamala Harris speaking in front of her Washington, D.C., residence.

    “So, yesterday,” Harris says in the clip, “we learned that Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, a retired four-star general, confirmed that while Donald Trump was president, he said he wanted generals like Adolf Hitler had.”

    This post and others like it were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

    Kelly, a retired U.S. Marine Corps general who was Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff and his Homeland Security secretary, told The New York Times and The Atlantic that Trump spoke favorably of Hitler. Those stories have not been debunked, as the post claims, and Harris clearly cited those statements in her remarks.

    Sign up for PolitiFact texts

    The New York Times story published Oct. 22 included embedded audio clips of Kelly telling a reporter that Trump “commented more than once that, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things, too.’” Asked whether he believes Trump is a fascist, Kelly said, “Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators — he has said that. So, he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist.”

    Separately, X owner Elon Musk, a Trump supporter, shared a falsified image of a story from The Atlantic with the fake headline “Trump is literally Hitler.” The X user whose post Musk shared said twice the image had been created as satire. Although that image was debunked, the sources of Harris’ statements were not.

    We rate the claim that Harris’ statements about Trump invoking Adolf Hitler were based on a “debunked hoax from The Atlantic,” False.

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  • Distinguished U.S. Navy admiral, Lowell native to keynote Parker Lecture Series event

    Distinguished U.S. Navy admiral, Lowell native to keynote Parker Lecture Series event

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    LOWELL — The fall schedule of the Moses Greeley Parker Lecture Series begins Wednesday evening with Lowell native and retired U.S. Navy Adm. Michael Gilday serving as the keynote speaker and roundtable participant at UMass Lowell’s Comley-Lane Theatre at 6:30 p.m.

    Gilday served as the 32nd chief of naval operations from 2019 to 2023. He has also served as naval aide to the president, and is a recipient of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Navy Distinguished Service Medal, four Defense Superior Service Medals, three Legion of Merit awards, a Bronze Star, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and the Combat Action Ribbon.

    “We are thrilled that Admiral Gilday has graciously accepted our invitation to be a part of the Parker Lecture Series,” said Parker Lectures Chair John Carson. “With his background as a native Lowellian and a distinguished career serving our country, he is exactly the type of speaker that Moses Greeley Parker had in mind when he started the trust in 1917. We are pleased to offer our audience the opportunity to interact with Admiral Gilday in a roundtable discussion.”

    Gilday will participate in a panel discussion with Carson, City Manager Tom Golden and Mayor Daniel Rourke. After the panel, Gilday will deliver his keynote address, during which he said he will talk about the U.S. military by drawing on his experience in the Navy.

    “I’ll talk about why I think it’s important for people to understand what we do, and why we do it,” Gilday said in a phone call Friday afternoon.

    Gilday grew up in Lowell’s Centralville neighborhood as the oldest of five children, and said the city provided all five siblings “a fantastic foundation for the rest of our lives.”

    “We all benefited from growing up in Lowell,” said Gilday.

    Gilday now lives in Alexandria, Virginia after retiring last year, but he said he comes back to visit the Mill City once or twice a year as his mother and two of his siblings live in the region.

    Following the keynote address, Gilday will engage in a Q&A session with the audience. Before the event on Wednesday, Gilday will also be bringing a younger sailor with him to the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lowell and Lowell High School. He said it is “one thing for an old guy to talk about his experience in the Navy,” but he also wants the youth to be able to see and talk to someone about their experience much earlier in their naval career.

    “We are incredibly honored to welcome Admiral Gilday back to Lowell,” Golden said in a statement Friday. “His extraordinary service to our nation and his deep connection to our city make this a truly special event. It’s not every day we get to hear firsthand from a leader of such stature, and I know our community will benefit greatly from his insights.”

    Rourke said in a statement that Gilday “embodies the spirit of service that defines the city.”

    “He has made Lowell proud on the world stage, and we look forward to hosting him for this event,” said Rourke.

    UMass Lowell Chancellor Julie Chen said Gilday “has had a profound impact serving the U.S. Navy, our nation’s top leaders and the people of our country.”

    “I look forward to hearing his views on leadership and the lessons he learned during an impressive and distinguished career in uniform,” Chen said in a statement.

    Admission to the lecture is free for all, with a seating capacity of about 400.

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    Peter Currier

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  • What the US Army’s 1959 ‘Soldier of Tomorrow’ Got Right About the Future of Warfare

    What the US Army’s 1959 ‘Soldier of Tomorrow’ Got Right About the Future of Warfare

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    Then there’s the matter of the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), the Army’s futuristic “smart” goggles. Currently based on a ruggedized version of the Microsoft HoloLens 2 augmented reality headset, the IVAS is both night vision goggles and futuristic heads-up display, capable of feeding sensor inputs into a soldier’s line of sight. The Army has long experimented with helmet-mounted displays for decades as part of various “future warrior” programs, and the IVAS hasn’t been immune to the pitfalls of previous efforts—namely, complaints from soldiers about “mission-affecting physical impairments” like headache, nausea, and discomfort associated with prolonged use. And the future of the long-delayed headset now appears uncertain anyway: According to Breaking Defense, the service may end up going back to the drawing board with a new primary contractor for the sophisticated system as part of its IVAS Next initiative after auditing its existing night vision goggle capabilities. Still, between the ENVG-B and IVAS, helmet-mounted night vision devices have progressed far beyond anything Sawicki’s chain of command had previously imagined.

    Armor Up

    The bulletproof vest and camouflage suit combination that Sawicki donned for his AUSA debut, referred to in contemporaneous publications as “layered nylon armor” and “layered nylon vest,” is actually a bit closer to modern Army personal protective equipment than the flak jackets that were accompanying soldiers downrange during the Vietnam War. Currently under development, the Soldier Protection System (SPS) offers modern soldiers a “lightweight modular, scalable and tailorable suite of protective equipment,” according to the Army’s description. What this really means is that the protective ensemble comes in several different pieces that work together to maximize soldier survivability without impairing mobility; in terms of body armor, this refers primarily to the soft armor Torso and Extremity Protection subsystem and the hard armor Vital Torso Protection subsystem that, using reinforced ceramic plates, offer improved ballistic protection against small arms fire.

    Protecting soldiers from bullets is one thing, but protecting them from the effects of nuclear explosions, as Army leaders told The New York Times Sawicki’s suit would, is another thing entirely—at least, in terms of equipment. While the well-worn Mission Oriented Protective Posture (MOPP) ensemble has been safeguarding Americans service members against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats for years, it’s an entirely separate system of personal protective gear rather than one integrated into the SPS or the standard-issue Army Combat Uniform. And while the 1959 design calls for specially designed “‘welded’ combat boots” and “molded plastic gloves” to help protect soldiers on an irradiated battlefield, modern troops must, unfortunately, go into battle with their Army Regulation 670-1-authorized boots and tactical gloves, apart from what’s in their MOPP kit. Then again, if the nukes do start flying, nobody will survive long enough for ground combat anyway.

    Bullet Time

    While the 1959 “soldier of tomorrow” appears armed with an M14, advances in firearms technology have long since left the beloved battle rifle in the dust. The Army began replacing the M14 with the lighter-weight 5.56-mm M16 assault rifle in the late 1960s, which was itself replaced by the shorter-barreled M4 carbine during the Global War on Terror in the 2000s. Replacing the M16 and M4 family of rifles has proven difficult in the past, but it’s safe to say that the promises from Army brass in 1959 of a lighter standard-issue rifle for soldiers have, for the most part, come true in the intervening decades—even if the new XM7 rifle, recently adopted under the service’s Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) program, is actually noticeably heavier than the M4.

    So, too, has the promise of “new high-velocity bullets.” While the Army in the early 2000s fielded the 5.56-mm M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round for improved performance over the standard M855 ammo previously adopted in the 1980s, the service undertook a major small arms study in 2017 to determine whether soldiers required a different caliber ammunition to deal with the sudden proliferation of body armor among adversaries. The study determined that the Army’s next rifle should come chambered in 6.8 mm, which would purportedly offer significantly improved performance at range compared to both 5.56-mm and 7.62-mm rounds. From there, the Army ended up selecting Sig Sauer to produce its two 6.8mm NGSW systems in 2022, weapons the service began officially fielding earlier this year. It may have taken several decades, but the Army’s new high-velocity round is finally here.

    Rocket Man

    While certain elements of Sawicki’s combat kit are clearly represented in recent military innovations, others simply never came to fruition. The automatic foxhole-digging charges, for example, never materialized as an effective replacement for the beloved handheld entrenching tool, despite their prevalence among military futurists at the time. But if there’s one vision that has persisted in military and defense circles, it’s that of jetpack-equipped troops.

    The Defense Department has pursued the militarized jetpack for decades, starting with research and development in the 1950s and culminating in October 1961 with the successful demonstration of Bell Aerosystems’s Small Rocket Lift Device (or, colloquially, the “Bell Rocket Belt”) for President John F. Kennedy at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The Army ended up abandoning development of the Rocket Belt over fuel constraints that limited its potential tactical applications, but US military planners would revisit the concept time and again in subsequent decades.

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    Jared Keller

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  • FEMA says it’s prepared for Hurricane Milton as it continues Helene response

    FEMA says it’s prepared for Hurricane Milton as it continues Helene response

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    Eleven days after Hurricane Helene tore through the Southeastern United States, leaving a 600-mile path of destruction, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is deploying aid to the region while simultaneously preparing for expected fallout from another hurricane poised to make landfall in Florida this week.

    What You Need To Know

    • On Monday, the Department of Defense announced it has deployed 1,500 personnel to the Western part of North Carolina, much of which is still without power and largely inaccessible because of the destruction from Hurricane Helene

    • The DOD has sent 41 aircraft (including helicopters) and 918 vehicles (including all-terrain vehicles) to help clear roads, deliver commodities, provide medical care and search for missing people

    • In North Carolina, home to about half of the 227 fatalities from the storm so far, FEMA has more than 800 staff on the ground and 1,200 urban search and rescue personnel
    • More than 1,000 National Guard troops are also in the state, helping to deliver food, water and other supplies, some of which is being air dropped into isolated communities


    “This is a complicated event, but let me be clear: FEMA is good at complexity,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said during a media briefing Monday in North Carolina, where hundreds of people are still missing and 500 roads and 50 water systems have been impaired or destroyed. 

    The White House says federal support has surpassed surpassed $210 million and FEMA has so far distributed $137 million in assistance to Hurricane Helene survivors. As of Monday, almost 7,000 emergency responders have been deployed and 15.6 million meals have been shipped, along with 13.9 million liters of water, 157 generators and more than 505,000 tarps. 

    In North Carolina, home to about half of the 227 fatalities from the storm so far, FEMA has more than 800 staff on the ground and 1,200 urban search and rescue personnel. More than 1,000 National Guard troops are also in the state, helping to deliver food, water and other supplies, some of which is being air dropped into isolated communities.

    On Monday, the Department of Defense announced it has deployed 1,500 personnel to the Western part of North Carolina, much of which is still without power and largely inaccessible. Army General John Morrison said the DOD has sent 41 aircraft (including helicopters) and 918 vehicles (including all-terrain vehicles) to help clear roads, deliver commodities, provide medical care and search for missing people.

    The number of missing “is rapidly dwindling,” according to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. “We know a lot of reunifications have occurred that have not been reported back. We know that a lot of people have finally gotten cell phone service and talked to the people who made the report that hasn’t gotten back to us.” 

    He said he will have an update on the list of missing by Tuesday morning.

    More than 104,000 people in North Carolina have registered for FEMA assistance, he said; $31 million in aid has so far been distributed in the state. About 1,700 people are currently sheltering in hotels.

    Cooper discouraged tourists from traveling to Western North Carolina.

    “We need to preserve roads for the commodities that are coming in, for utility workers, for cell phone workers, for people who are providing medical assistance,” he said. “There’s a lot of work going on to make sure that people are getting their oxygen, making sure they’re getting their regular medical supplies, so we don’t want people coming right now.”

    He said it will take time to repair the hundreds of roads that were damaged by the storm. On Friday, the Biden-Harris administration sent $100 million in emergency funding to North Carolina to repair roads and bridges damaged by the hurricane. Cooper said the state legislature will approve additional funding this week for road repairs.

    FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell encouraged anyone affected by the hurricane to apply for assistance, including $750 in immediate monetary aid to help pay for medicine and food. 

    “Then we’re going to give additional money for the repairs to your homes and the items that were lost,” she said. “We’re going to help with any rental that they incur or any of the displacement costs if they stayed at a hotel. All of that will be reimbursed, but I can’t give it to them if they don’t apply.”

    With Hurricane Milton poised to make landfall in Florida later this week, FMEA said it has the resources and capacity to address multiple disasters simultaneously. 

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    Susan Carpenter

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  • Not a scam: VA texting veterans to encourage them to apply for earned benefits – The Cannabist

    Not a scam: VA texting veterans to encourage them to apply for earned benefits – The Cannabist

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    This story — a somewhat personal one — starts as many do nowadays, with an unsolicited text message from an unknown number.

    If you’re anything like me, then you would probably react much as I did when the text from “468311” came in early one morning last week.

    “Afghanistan Veteran: You’re likely eligible for VA monthly compensation. Visit VA.gov/PACT or call 1-800-698-2411 & press 8, then 2,” the message read, the number and website hyperlinked.

    Read the rest of this story on TheKnow.DenverPost.com.

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    The Cannabist Network

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  • Protesters gather outside Raytheon

    Protesters gather outside Raytheon

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    ANDOVER — Massachusetts Peace Action and Merrimack Valley People for Peace held a peace protest Thursday outside defense contractor Raytheon’s plant, 362 Lowell St.

    The two groups were stationed outside the plant’s front gate as a statement against nuclear weapons and Raytheon’s involvement in developing weapons for the U.S. military.

    Planned protests mark the International Days of Action Against Nuclear Weapons.

    Another protest is set from noon to 1 p.m. Sunday in Shawsheen Square at the intersection of Routes 28 and 133.

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    By Angelina Berube | aberube@eagletribune.com

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  • Palmer Luckey Is Bringing Anduril Smarts to Microsoft’s Military Headset

    Palmer Luckey Is Bringing Anduril Smarts to Microsoft’s Military Headset

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    When Palmer Luckey was hacking together virtual reality headsets at his startup Oculus VR in the mid-2010s, he would sometimes imagine a future in which US soldiers used the technology to sharpen their battlefield senses.

    That vision is now virtually a reality after a deal that will bring software from his defense startup, Anduril, to a US Army head-mounted display developed by Microsoft.

    “The idea is to enhance soldiers,” Luckey tells WIRED over Zoom from his home in Newport Beach, California. “Their visual perception, audible perception—basically to give them all the vision that Superman has, and then some, and make them more lethal.”

    Luckey cofounded Anduril in 2017, after selling Oculus VR to Facebook for a reported $2 billion. His new company set out to challenge incumbent defense contractors by moving swiftly and efficiently, focusing more on software, and adapting technologies from the tech industry for military use.

    While known primarily for drones and air defenses, Anduril’s core offering is Lattice, a suite of software that powers those tools and a platform that can integrate with third-party systems. With today’s announcement, Lattice will be implemented in the Integrated Visual Augmentation System headset. Developed by Microsoft for the US military in 2021 and based on the company’s Hololens system, IVAS is an augmented-reality display that blends virtual information with a user’s view of the real world.

    Lattice will surface a lot more live information—pulled from drones, ground vehicles, or aerial defense systems—for soldiers wearing IVAS. This would include data showing the movement of drones and loitering munitions, electronic warfare attacks, and the activities of autonomous systems, Anduril says. It could alert them to incoming drones beyond their visual range that have been detected by an air defense system, for instance.

    Luckey notes that he was far from the first person to envision such futuristic combat scenarios. As is often the case, he drifts between science fiction and reality without much pause. “This is a classic sci-fi concept,” Luckey says. “Robert Heinlein was the one who pioneered the application of heads-up displays as applied to infantry in the 1950s novel Starship Troopers.”

    The Anduril cofounder certainly looks like a new kind of defense tech executive, wearing his customary Hawaiian shirt and sporting a bold hairstyle combo of both a mullet and a goatee. He is, however, quite confident in his ability to shake things up. “I am one of the smartest people in the VR industry, I think,” he says. “And if that sounds arrogant, remember that it takes arrogance to start a company like Anduril.”

    At the time of Anduril’s founding, some people scoffed at the idea of Silicon Valley engineers mastering military technology. But with the Pentagon increasingly keen on low-cost, autonomous, and software-defined systems, Anduril has made a name for itself. The startup recently beat several major companies, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, to win a contract to develop an experimental “collaborative” robotic fighter jet for the US Air Force and Navy.

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    Will Knight

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  • The US Navy Is Going All In on Starlink

    The US Navy Is Going All In on Starlink

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    “Having the ability to reach out to friends or family allows our sailors the opportunity to decompress for a few minutes, and that in turn allows them to be able to operate more efficiently,” Richard Haninger, the Ford’s deployed resiliency educator, said following the installation of the SEA2 system aboard the carrier in February 2023. “It’s not just about reaching back to friends and family, the ability to pay a bill online, take an online class, or even just check the score of the game […] all of this allows our Sailors the chance to access something that lowers their stress level, then return to work after a quick break more focused and able to complete the mission.”

    But beyond morale-boosting applications, SEA2 also purportedly offers major benefits for “tactical and business applications” used by sailors on a daily basis, like, say, those used for air wing maintenance or for tracking pay and benefits. As White explained in a May release from the Navy on the initiative, most of these applications function at higher classification levels and are encrypted, but they’re still designed to operate on the commercial internet without jeopardizing information security.

    “The fact that we’re not making use of that opportunity with modern technology to allow classified tactical applications to ride the commercial internet is where we are missing out, so we built [SEA2] to be able to do that in the future,” as White put it. “We’re close to demonstrating a couple of those applications, and I am fully confident it will be game changing.” (As of June, the Navy had not authorized the use of classified data with the system)

    The Navy also expects to see broad “tangible warfighting impact” from the proliferation of SEA2 across the surface fleet, namely on “recruitment and retention, mental health, cloud services, and work stoppages due to slow and inaccessible websites,” as one service official told DefenseScoop in April.

    The Navy isn’t the only service embracing Starlink to enable faster, persistent internet for deployed service members. The US Space Force signed a $70 million contract with Starlink parent company SpaceX in October 2023 to provide “a best effort and global subscription for various land, maritime, stationary and mobility platforms and users” using Starshield, the company’s name for its military products. The US Army currently remains reliant on Starlink, but the service has been casting about for fresh commercial satellite constellations to tap into for advanced command and control functions, according to Defense News. And SpaceX is actively building a network of “hundreds” of specialized Starshield spy satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office, Reuters reported earlier this year.

    But Starlink is far from a perfect system, especially for potential military applications. According to a technical report obtained by The Debrief, Ukraine has claimed that Russia’s military intelligence agency has conducted “large-scale cyberattacks” to access data from the Starlink satellite constellations that have proven essential to the former’s military communications infrastructure since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022. Indeed, significant hardware vulnerabilities have imperiled Starlink terminals at the hands of experienced hackers, as WIRED has previously documented.

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    Jared Keller

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  • Russia launches a barrage of drones and ballistic missiles at Kyiv

    Russia launches a barrage of drones and ballistic missiles at Kyiv

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    Russia launches a barrage of drones and ballistic missiles at Kyiv

    Russia launched a barrage of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles at Kyiv, Ukraine’s air force said early Monday.Several series of explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Monday, sending residents into bomb shelters.Video above: Ukraine unveils ‘Unmanned Systems Forces,’ its newest military branchKyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said emergency services were called to the Holosiivskyi and Solomianskyi districts of Kyiv. One person was reportedly injured by falling debris in Shevchenkivskyi district, Klitschko said.“There will be an answer for everything. The enemy will feel it,” the head of the Presidential Office, Andrii Yermak, posted on his Telegram page following the attack.According to the air force, Russia fired several groups of cruise missiles accompanied by ballistic missile launches and a few drones, targeting Kyiv.Serhii Popko, head of Kyiv’s city military administration, said over 10 cruise missiles, about 10 ballistic missiles and a drone fired at the Ukrainian capital and its suburbs were destroyed by Ukraine’s air defenses.An explosion also rang out in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, according to Ukrainian media. Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv region, confirmed an early morning strike on Kharkiv’s Industrialnyi district and said it set a residential building and several others on fire.The barrage comes a day after Russia’s military reported intercepting and destroying 158 Ukrainian drones targeting multiple Russian regions in one of the biggest Ukrainian attacks of the war that has raged for about two-and-a-half years.It also comes weeks after Ukrainian forces’ incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, which Moscow’s forces have struggled to push back so far and to which the Kremlin has vowed to respond.

    KYIV, Kyiv city —

    Russia launched a barrage of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles at Kyiv, Ukraine’s air force said early Monday.

    Several series of explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Monday, sending residents into bomb shelters.

    Video above: Ukraine unveils ‘Unmanned Systems Forces,’ its newest military branch

    Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said emergency services were called to the Holosiivskyi and Solomianskyi districts of Kyiv. One person was reportedly injured by falling debris in Shevchenkivskyi district, Klitschko said.

    “There will be an answer for everything. The enemy will feel it,” the head of the Presidential Office, Andrii Yermak, posted on his Telegram page following the attack.

    According to the air force, Russia fired several groups of cruise missiles accompanied by ballistic missile launches and a few drones, targeting Kyiv.

    Serhii Popko, head of Kyiv’s city military administration, said over 10 cruise missiles, about 10 ballistic missiles and a drone fired at the Ukrainian capital and its suburbs were destroyed by Ukraine’s air defenses.

    An explosion also rang out in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, according to Ukrainian media. Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv region, confirmed an early morning strike on Kharkiv’s Industrialnyi district and said it set a residential building and several others on fire.

    The barrage comes a day after Russia’s military reported intercepting and destroying 158 Ukrainian drones targeting multiple Russian regions in one of the biggest Ukrainian attacks of the war that has raged for about two-and-a-half years.

    It also comes weeks after Ukrainian forces’ incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, which Moscow’s forces have struggled to push back so far and to which the Kremlin has vowed to respond.

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  • The US Navy Has Run Out of Pants

    The US Navy Has Run Out of Pants

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    The United States Defense Department has ideas about a dramatic strategy for defending Taiwan against a Chinese military offensive that would involve deploying an “unmanned hellscape” consisting of thousands of drones buzzing around the island nation. Meanwhile, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology announced a red-team hacking competition this week with the AI ethics nonprofit Humane Intelligence to find flaws and biases in generative AI systems.

    WIRED took a closer look at the Telegram channel and website known as Deep State that uses public data and secret intelligence to power its live-tracker map of Ukraine’s evolving front line. Protesters went to Citi Field in New York on Wednesday to raise awareness about the serious privacy risks of deploying facial recognition systems at sporting venues. The technology has increasingly been implemented at stadiums and arenas across the country with little oversight. And Amazon Web Services updated its instructions for how customers should implement authentication in its Application Load Balancer, after researchers found an implementation issue that they say could expose misconfigured web apps.

    But wait, there’s more! Each week, we round up the security and privacy news we didn’t cover in depth ourselves. Click the headlines to read the full stories. And stay safe out there.

    US Navy officials confirmed to Military.com this week that pants for the standard Navy Working Uniform (NWU) are out of stock at Navy Exchanges and are in perilously low supply across the sea service’s distribution channels. The Navy’s Exchange Service Command is “experiencing severe shortages of NWU trousers” both in stores and online, according to spokesperson Courtney Williams. Sailors have been noticing out-of-stock notifications online, which state that pants are “not available for purchase in any size.” Williams said that current stock around the world is at 13 percent and that the top priority right now is providing pants to new recruits at Recruit Training Command in Illinois, the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Rhode Island, and the officer training schools.

    The shortage seems to have resulted from issues with the Defense Logistics Agency’s pants pipeline. Military.com reports that signs currently inside Navy Exchanges say the shortage is “due to Defense Logistics Agency vendor issues.” Williams said the Command has “been in communication with DLA on a timeline for the uniform’s production and supply chain.”

    Mikia Muhammad, a spokesperson for the Defense Logistics Agency, told Military.com that the first pants restocks are scheduled for October, but these supplies will go to recruits and training programs. She said that Navy exchanges should expect “full support” beginning in January.

    A joint statement on Monday by the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency formally accused Iran of conducting a hack-and-leak operation against Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Trump himself had accused Iran in a social media post on August 10, following a report from Microsoft on August 9 about Iranian hackers targeting US political campaigns. The Iranian government denies the accusation.

    “The [Intelligence Community] is confident that the Iranians have through social engineering and other efforts sought access to individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both political parties,” the US agencies wrote. “Such activity, including thefts and disclosures, are intended to influence the US election process.”

    Politico reported on August 10 that Iran had breached the Trump campaign, and an entity calling itself “Robert” had contacted the publication offering alleged stolen documents. The same entity also contacted The New York Times and The Washington Post hawking similar documents.

    The popular flight-tracking service FlightAware said this week that a “configuration error” in its systems exposed personal customer data, including names, email addresses, and even some Social Security numbers. The company discovered the exposure on July 25 but said in a breach notification to the attorney general of California that the situation may date as far back as January 2021. The company is mandating that all affected users reset their account passwords.

    The company said in its public statement that the exposed data includes “user ID, password, and email address. Depending on the information you provided, the information may also have included your full name, billing address, shipping address, IP address, social media accounts, telephone numbers, year of birth, last four digits of your credit card number, information about aircraft owned, industry, title, pilot status (yes/no), and your account activity (such as flights viewed and comments posted).” It also said in its disclosure to California, “Additionally, our investigation has revealed that your Social Security Number may have been exposed.”

    Since European law enforcement agencies hacked the end-to-end encrypted phone company Sky in 2021, the communications they compromised have been used as evidence in numerous EU investigations and criminal cases. But a review of court records by 404 Media and Court Watch showed this week that US agencies have also been leaning on the trove of roughly half a billion chat messages. US law enforcement has used the data in multiple drug-trafficking prosecutions, particularly to pursue alleged smugglers who transport cocaine with commercial ships and speedboats.

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    Lily Hay Newman

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  • This Woman Secretly Tries to Stop War

    This Woman Secretly Tries to Stop War

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    Gabrielle Rifkind was trained as a group analyst and psychotherapist. Now she sits down with groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and state actors in Ukraine and Russia, trying to end global conflicts.

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    Maria Streshinsky

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