Growing demand for air and missile defense systems amid conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East has strained U.S. weapons stockpiles, prompting the U.S. Army to award Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $58.6 billion in July to ramp up production of PAC-3 interceptors.

Lockheed Martin said PAC-3 Edge incorporates a new seeker, upgraded flight controls and a multi-pulse rocket motor supplied by Northrop Grumman, enhancing the interceptor’s ability to counter advanced threats, including hypersonic missiles, at longer ranges and higher altitudes.

“The cost of this would be about that of the existing PAC-3 MSE,” Tim Cahill, president of missiles and fire control at Lockheed Martin, told Reuters. “At full production, the annual rate would be about 2,000 units a year, comparable with PAC-3 MSE.”

In January, Lockheed Martin signed a seven-year framework agreement with the Pentagon to expand production of its PAC-3 missile interceptors, aiming to increase annual manufacturing capacity to 2,000 units from about 600.

The $6.3 billion contract, which provides two additional option years, will see Raytheon provide the Defense Department with a continuous supply of Standard Missile-3 Block IB interceptors manufactured primarily in Tucson, Arizona and Huntsville, Alabama.

“SM-3 Block IB has proven its relevance in combat and this contract helps ensure we can replenish inventories and keep pace with the evolving threats the U.S. Navy, MDA and their partners face around the world,” Raytheon President Phil Jasper said in a statement.

The SM-3 Block IB interceptor belongs to a larger family of “hit-to-kill” SM-3 missile interceptors, which seek and destroy incoming ballistic missiles using sheer speed and momentum.

The Block IB type can be used by land forces and ships and is frequently deployed on vessels due to its range and highly flexible steering. The interceptor tracks flying targets with a two-color infrared seeker and propels itself towards them in short bursts, giving it accuracy at high speed as it homes in on targets.

It is designed to knock short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles out of the sky when they are halfway to hitting their targets, and has long striking reach. It was used in combat for the first time in 2024 when the U.S. Navy destroyers USS Arleigh Burke and USS Carney fired them to intercept Iranian missiles aimed at targets in Israel.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies named the SM-3 Block IB among “seven critical munitions” in an April report detailing ammunition shortages, alongside Patriot missiles, Precision Strike Missiles, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles, Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and others.

The contract for more SM-3 Block IBs, announced by Raytheon on Thursday, was among five framework agreements the defense giant signed with the Pentagon this February.

The deal comes at a time when the DoD is seeking to avert diminishing munitions stockpiles. National security specialists, defense analysts and foreign policy pundits cautioned in March that the U.S. military’s increased use of missile interceptors during the war with Iran poses strategic risks to integral defense capabilities if fighting spills into a long-term conflict.

Raytheon stated in its release that the contract for SM-3 Block IB supply “supports urgent replenishment of missile defense inventory that has been successfully used in combat and remains central to protecting U.S. forces, allies and critical infrastructure.”

The battleship suffered more loss of life than any American ship during the attack, its 1,177 dead comprising nearly half the 2,403 killed at Pearl Harbor.

Of the ship’s dead, 277 of its sailors and Marines are buried in Honolulu’s National Memorial of the Pacific. The identity of 86 of those men remains unknown to this day.

The exhumations will begin with the disinterment of eight caskets from the National Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the “Punchbowl,” on Dec. 7 and will continue with about eight caskets removed each week until the total of 86 is reached, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Forensic specialists from DPAA will then seek to match DNA from the remains with DNA provided by the family members.

“DPAA is honored to be able to provide long-sought answers to families of these Unknowns,” Kelly McKeague, a retired Air Force major general and director of DPAA, said in a statement.

“Being able to disinter the 86 Unknowns associated with USS Arizona is singularly due to the determined initiative and extraordinary efforts of Operation 85,” McKeague said, referring to the group led by Kevin Kline, a Virginia real estate agent and grandnephew of Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Robert Edwin Kline who perished when the Arizona was hit by at least eight bombs dropped by Japanese warplanes.

Kline’s group began gathering DNA Family Reference Samples from the families of those listed as unknowns as part of the USS Arizona (BB39) Unknown Identification Project after the Navy and the Defense Department said the project could not be done and would cost too much to attempt.

Then last April, DPAA announced that Operation 85 had reached the 60% threshold of DNA Family Reference Samples for the Unknowns, allowing disinterments to begin.

”Reaching this milestone does not conclude the search for additional USS Arizona and associated Pearl Harbor family members who may be able to provide viable DNA Family Reference Samples,” DPAA said in the April announcement. “DPAA, Operation 85, and the service casualty offices continue to encourage any family member who may be related to a missing USS Arizona crew member to participate in this ongoing effort.”

In a phone interview with Military Times, Kevin Kline said the beginning of exhumations on Dec. 7 “doesn’t mean we’re done. We’re still looking [to] take those words unknown off those graves” remaining in the Punchbowl. “I think this is a problem we can fix.”

A total of 1,177 sailors and Marines from the Arizona were killed in the surprise Pearl Harbor attacks, and more than 900 of those killed remain entombed within the sunken hull of the ship beneath the stunning USS Arizona Memorial.

During his Monday morning commute to work at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington, Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Hytower spotted the crash on Interstate 5 and pulled over to assist. Then he saw the weapon. “I just jumped up, it was just instinct,” the practical nursing specialist instructor said in an Army release published Wednesday, adding “that’s when the training kicks in.”

Another soldier, Sgt. Ricardo A. Nunez, a soldier in the 7th Infantry Division (Multi-Domain Command-Pacific), arrived at the crash and helped Hytower disarm and restrain the woman.

Meanwhile, Sgt. Alex McKay, a Washington National Guard medic, got to work caring for one of the injured children, who she later described as “very afraid, but also very, very brave.”

McKay said she did exactly what she trained for.

“As a medic, my number one priority was pulling the child a safe distance away from the immediate threat, where she would be safe and not have to see the aftermath,” she said in the release, later sharing gratitude for the other two service members.

“Also knowing that I can trust the service men and women to my right and left with my life and my safety,” McKay said. “If it weren’t for the quick reaction of Soldiers, this would have ended in tragedy. It makes me proud to wear the uniform.”

Hytower also credited the trio’s success to their training. “With both my Soldier and medical training, you’re taught to quickly figure out what needs to be done and prioritize what’s most important,” he said.

“When the situation suddenly changed, we were able to react quickly and make sure everyone was safe. A lot of that comes from the training we’ve received and being able to fall back on it without really having to think about it.”

According to local reports, both children were hospitalized but expected to recover from their injuries. Investigators said their mother, Janieka Ellington, 35, intentionally rammed the car into a concrete barrier while traveling southbound on the interstate, local news reported, and court records showed she may have experienced suicidal thoughts while under the influence. A judge has ordered a mental health evaluation and Ellington is being held without bail.

If carried out as planned, death penalty experts said it would mark the first known broadcast or livestream of a lawful execution.

Executions are generally conducted behind prison walls, and internet platforms and governments have spent years trying to limit the circulation of violent execution footage.

Has a lawful execution ever been livestreamed or broadcast to the public before?

Death penalty experts consulted by Reuters said they were unaware of any previous lawful execution that had been livestreamed or broadcast to a public audience.

Execution footage has occasionally emerged after the event. The hanging of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in 2006, for example, was seen around the world after official and unofficial recordings circulated online and through broadcasters, though it was not shown live.

Broadcasts and livestreams today are common for court proceedings, parliamentary debates and other state functions, but not for judicial executions.

How unusual is this compared with modern execution practices around the world?

Public executions have become rare worldwide, with most countries that retain the death penalty carrying out executions away from public view.

According to Amnesty International, public executions recorded in recent years have largely been concentrated in Iran and Taliban-run Afghanistan.

The execution would also be notable in the United States. Public executions largely disappeared during the 20th century, and death penalty experts cited by Reuters said the last legally sanctioned public execution took place in 1936.

Hasan’s execution would be the first carried out by firing squad by the U.S. military since the 1945 execution of Eddie Slovik, who was convicted of desertion during World War II.

How has the internet changed the circulation of execution footage?

The internet has transformed execution imagery from a local event into content capable of reaching global audiences within minutes.

Militant groups, such as the Islamic State, became notorious for producing professionally edited execution videos that were distributed online as propaganda and recruitment tools.

Criminal organisations, including Mexican drug cartels, have also circulated violent footage to intimidate rivals and project power.

The ability of users to rapidly copy, repost and redistribute content has made it more difficult for governments and technology companies to control the spread of such material.

What has been the reaction from governments and tech companies?

Governments and technology companies have generally moved in the opposite direction, attempting to reduce rather than expand access to graphic execution footage.

Major social media platforms have spent years removing execution videos linked to extremist organisations and other violent groups.

One of the first public governmental reactions came from New Zealand, whose chief censor said authorities would have little practical ability to prevent residents from accessing a livestream while it was taking place.

Livestreams pose particular challenges for platforms because footage can be viewed, copied and redistributed before moderation systems can intervene.

Even countries that still conduct public executions have often restricted filming and broadcast rights. Saudi Arabia historically carried out public executions before spectators, but recording them was prohibited, and such public executions had largely ceased by 2019.

The 4th Multi-Domain Task Force will focus on synchronizing long-range precision fires in the Indo-Pacific region “to deny, disrupt and disaggregate adversary capabilities” and create advantages for other units in the joint force, the Army said in a release.

The task force includes four battalions and is planned to grow to 2,100 soldiers.

Col. Hugh W.A. Jones assumed command of the task force during Thursday’s ceremony. He previously commanded the 2nd Stryker Brigade, 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, leading the brigade when it deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border last year.

“While we build this formation to deter aggression and preserve peace, if war comes, we must be prepared to fight and win,” Jones said during the ceremony. “We owe those in harm’s way every advantage we can give them, while leaving our enemy nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.”

The task force reports to the 7th Infantry Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

In June, the Army combined the 7th Infantry Division and the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force at Lewis-McChord into the 7th Infantry Division (Multi-Domain Command-Pacific), which serves as the multi-domain operational headquarters. Its mission is to integrate “maneuver, fires, air defense, cyber, space, electronic warfare, intelligence, unmanned systems, sustainment and command-and -control in support of the joint force across the Pacific,” the Army said in a release.

Maj. Gen. Bernard Harrington, commander of the 7th Infantry Division, attended the activation ceremony at Fort Carson.

“You are driving the change our nation demands today, to meet the changing character of war, to prevent conflict, and to maintain a free and open Pacific alongside our allies and partners,” Harrington told soldiers assigned to the new multi-domain task force.

The establishment of the 7th Infantry Division (Multi-Domain Command-Pacific) and the 4th Multi-Domain Task Force are part of a broader transformation initiative “to counter near-peer adversaries in an increasingly complex global landscape,” the Army said.

The initiative includes the service establishing five multi-domain task forces by 2028, according to a Congressional Research Service report. The Army activated the 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force in 2021 at the Clay Kaserne installation in Germany, and stood up the third in Hawaii in 2022. A fifth is planned for Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

The units are designed to operate across all domains — land, air, sea, space, cyberspace and information — and “provide combatant commanders with a versatile and potent array of options,” according to the Army.

“As we build this formation, we must never forget that technology earns its value in the hands of well-trained and disciplined soldiers,” Jones said Thursday. “A soldier who solves a difficult problem here may make the difference for an American fighting far beyond the horizon.”

The Defense Health Agency announced in mid-September that it was switching from the older login process, DS Logon, to a new program called myAuth for the MHS Genesis system.

DS Logon required lengthy passwords that had to be changed frequently, while myAuth promised a more “user-friendly experience” and improved security, according to DHA.

Following the transition, however, some patients have been unable to access their own medical records. Sponsors must grant access permission to their spouses and dependents, and in some cases, dependent children aren’t showing up on either parent’s accounts.

“Just stop changing things. Every time one system finally starts working and everyone gets used to it, you switch it up. Tricare online was fine. Genesis was fine,” an Army spouse wrote on Tricare’s Facebook page.

In response, DHA announced Sept. 25 that the patient portal would remain “fully accessible via DS Logon.”

But beneficiaries say when they use the old DS Logon system, they are redirected to the myAuth login page and still cannot access family records.

“I can log in and see all my stuff. I can send out messages and receive them … but nothing for my kids,” a military spouse said in a direct message to Military Times. “To message their doctor, I have to send a message through my name and put in the subject my child’s name.”

DHA spokeswoman Brenda Campbell said Thursday that DHA is working with the Defense Manpower Data Center to resolve the issues. DMDC manages the myAuth system and is responsible for the transition from DS Logon, she said.

“MyAuth is a new digital login that replaces DS Logon for accessing [Defense Department] websites and applications, like the MHS GENESIS Patient Portal. We are aware of the issues associated with the transition and are providing that feedback to DMDC to ensure appropriate fixes are applied,” Campbell said.

According to DHA, MyAuth will provide more ways to log in to the MHS Patient Portal, allow for use of a Common Access Card, verification through the Okta mobile app and other authentication choices.

It also has a simpler interface that is more user-friendly, DHA officials added.

“The switch to myAuth means a simpler, more secure experience in MHS Genesis Patient Portal,” they said.

Another change to the Defense Department’s information technology systems will affect Military Health System patients and Tricare beneficiaries this weekend: a planned outage of the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System, or DEERS, as it transitions to a cloud-based system.

DEERS will be offline from 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Friday, Oct. 9, to Sunday, Oct. 11, although the Pentagon has not specified a time.

During the outage, beneficiaries won’t be able to update their DEERS records and pharmacies and healthcare providers may not be able to check a patient’s Tricare eligibility.

The DEERS database contains information about military personnel, retirees, family members and civilian employees.

Measures to prevent environmental damage were proposed in only 22 of 74 civil works projects the Corps submitted to Congress for approval from 2020 to 2025, according to a report published Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office.

The Corps deemed that no such measures were needed for the remaining 52 projects and failed to provide detailed evidence as to why, the watchdog alleges.

The agency regularly works to improve water navigation channels to prevent flooding and restore aquatic habitats around the country through its civil works program. It is required by statute to make detailed reports to Congress outlining whether its projects will require measures to prevent possible harm to fish, wildlife and the environment.

The engineers are expected “to plan for environmental mitigation — that is, to take actions to avoid, minimize, or compensate for expected losses to fish and wildlife and damage to ecological resources,” which could include reinforcing riverbanks or restoring wetland areas to create new habitats for fish and wildlife, according to the report.

The Corps of Engineers may decide not to undertake conservation measures if it deems certain projects will not cause harm. However, the Army is expected to provide Congress with clear explanations for those decisions.

A chart published by GAO shows a sharp decline in the Corps’ decisions to make mitigation plans for wildlife and habitat protection from 2022 to 2025. In 2024, for example, the agency decided that only one of 13 projects would require measures to safeguard the environment.

The GAO’s chart shows zero mitigation plans made in 2025.

In its findings, the GAO alleges that the Corps failed to provide necessary details to Congress demonstrating the reasons behind its decision-making in cases when it deemed no environmental protection measures were needed.

The watchdog said the vast majority of documents sent to Congress during those five years contained broad and general language that failed to clarify how the Corps reached its decisions.

The GAO recommended that the Army establish clear guidance for the Corps to document how it reaches decisions to keep Congress and the public better informed.

The Army disputed the GAO’s recommendations in a Sept. 16 letter signed by D. Lee Forsgren, the senior official performing the duties of the Army’s assistant secretary for civil works.

“We do not concur with the recommendation in the draft that we need to create more guidance about mitigation decision making on Civil Works projects,” Forsgren wrote.

“The water resources project reports (including associated Chief’s Reports) produced by USACE have sufficient technical information for decision makers and the public and resource agencies to understand when habitat mitigation is or is not included in a final recommendation.”

A new U.S. Army poster depicts a soldier of the Iranian army. The graphics show a bearded soldier wearing sunglasses and a beret, with captions describing the various weapons he might carry and the uniforms he might wear.

That the U.S. Army has a quick-recognition guide for Iranian soldiers doesn’t mean America will invade Iran. The Army’s Training and Transformation Command has a library of graphical recognition posters for the armies of various nations, including China’s People’s Liberation Army.

The U.S.’s ongoing conflict with Iran has lasted nearly eight months. For now, both sides have waged war with aircraft, missiles and drones. But the possibility of American boots on the ground has always been present, such as seizing vital Iranian oil facilities on Kharg Island.

The new guide, published Sept. 24, isn’t focused on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the praetorian guard of the Iranian regime that grabs most of the headlines. The IRGC controls many of the weapons that have been fired at American forces and Iran’s neighbors, including ballistic missiles, drones and fast-attack boats.

Instead, the U.S. Army guide displays a soldier of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, also known as Artesh. It is a mainly conscript force of 350,000 personnel that is essentially the regular armed forces of the nation of Iran, including armored, infantry, special forces, air defense, aircraft and naval units, according to the research organization the Institute for the Study of War.

In contrast, the IRGC protects an Iranian regime that doesn’t fully trust the regular armed forces, which date back to the days of the Shah. As in many authoritarian nations, such as Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, there is a deliberate rivalry between the regular and politicized armed forces, with the regime’s pet army getting the best equipment.

There have been numerous reports of low morale and harsh conditions for Artesh soldiers, including lack of food and medical care. One draftee said in a 2022 essay for the Atlantic Council, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, that most soldiers do menial work, rather than combat training.

The Artesh soldier in the U.S. Army poster — wearing the green beret of the Iranian special forces — doesn’t appear much different than the infantry in many other armies, with a mix of Soviet, Western and Iranian gear. He is shown carrying an AKM, Masaf-2 or Heckler & Koch G3A6 rifle. He can also be armed with an MG3 machine gun or an RPG-7, plus grenades, body armor, rucksack, canteen and gas mask, among other gear.

The image shows five different camouflage uniforms, including khaki and woodland, as well as three camouflage patterns for the special forces. Also shown are the insignia of officer and enlisted ranks.

Officials at Fort Bragg and Corvias, the privatized housing company that operates the installation’s housing, recently marked the renovation of the first of 21 historic homes that are ready for military families. They were built between 1928 and 1939, and feature elements including stucco walls, copper gutters, hardwood floors and basements.

Fort Bragg has 230 homes that were built before 1940, and all are designated as historic. But these aren’t even the oldest of Army housing. There are 867 houses built before 1919, located on 19 other Army installations in 13 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Army.

At Fort Bragg, about 2,300 of the base’s 6,104 homes were built before 1960, officials said.

The Army manages the largest inventory of historic housing in the federal government, with more than 30,000 historic homes that are more than 50 years old. These homes are subject to the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act, according to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

That federal agency’s mission is to promote the preservation of America’s historic places and has worked with the Army and the other services as they prepare plans to renovate these houses, making sure they preserve the historic character while meeting the needs of families.

“These residences are an important part of Fort Bragg’s history, but their greatest value is continuing to serve soldiers and families who live in these homes,” said Col. Luke Wittmer, the installation’s garrison commander, in an announcement. “This renovation preserves history while ensuring we continue to meet the needs of today’s families.”

Historic homes have long been a challenge to preserve and maintain for military families, with a variety of issues such as lead paint and asbestos, which are both hazardous and costly to remediate.

Most of the military’s historic homes were included in the inventory of military housing that was turned over to private companies to operate and maintain, starting in the early 2000s.

According to the Army, historic homes currently take an average of 18 days to prepare between occupants, compared to 15 days for a standard home. The average cost is $4,342, compared to $3,681 for a standard home.

Fort Bragg was designated a permanent Army post in 1922, and construction of the first permanent party officers’ family quarters along Alexander and Hunt streets began in 1927, officials said. Construction of noncommissioned officer family housing began in 1928.

Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, is set to become the first person to be executed by firing squad by the U.S. military since 1945, shortly after the end of World War II.

The Pentagon official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not offer more information and said details would follow.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier told the Human Events Daily podcast he planned to make Hasan’s execution public, according to video of his comments posted on social media on Thursday.

Hegseth said deciding to execute Hasan by firing squad at Fort Hood on a Thursday at 1 p.m. — the approximate time, day of the week and location of Hasan’s shooting — was a “no-brainer.”

“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public. Because people need to understand that ... there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth said.

Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell announced Monday that Hegseth had recommended death by Army firing squad for Hasan, and President Donald Trump approved the decision.

“He killed 13 people and wounded 32 others while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ during the attack,” Parnell wrote.

The date and location were announced Wednesday.

“The execution of Nidal Hasan by firing squad will take place at Fort Hood, Texas, on Thursday, December 3rd, 2026, at 1 p.m. CT.,” acting Army Secretary Adam Telle announced, confirming that the location would return Hasan to the site of the murders.

If the date and method of execution are carried out, it would mark the first such case for the service since Jan. 31, 1945, when Pvt. Eddie D. Slovik was executed by a U.S. Army firing squad in France for desertion during World War II.

The last death sentence carried out by the U.S. military was in 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was executed by hanging at the gallows in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, after he was convicted of raping and attempting to kill a young girl.

Hasan, who was born in northern Virginia, walked into a Fort Hood readiness processing center on Nov. 5, 2009, and opened fire using a semi-automatic handgun. Thirteen people were killed, including a pregnant soldier.

At his court-martial, Hasan, now 56, admitted to the shooting, and in 2013, said he carried out the attack in support of the Taliban.

Hasan was convicted by a military jury in August 2013, which recommended he be sentenced to death. He was subsequently transferred to Fort Leavenworth, where he has been incarcerated on death row.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., visited the Middle East this week on a Congressional Delegation trip, speaking with Gulf region leaders and visiting American facilities to assess damage done by the Iran war. Murphy was denied access to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, which had suffered damage from drone strikes during the conflict.

“They are using every tool they can, including withholding information about damages, slow walking the pace of reports about casualties and denying us access to see the damage as part of a campaign of cover-up, so as to mask the true cost of the war,” Murphy told reporters on Thursday.

The “unprecedented” base denial prepared Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Defense Appropriations Committee, in the coming days to draft language that would explicitly require the Department of Defense to grant members of Congress access to military bases overseas under all circumstances if needed.

“I don’t have any illusions that that’s going to pass between now and the end of the year, but I think that’ll be a really important part of the discussion around an appropriations bill next year and the defense authorization bill,” he said during the press call.

Prior to his trip, Murphy requested access to the base through a letter and direct appeal to U.S. Central Command leadership. But he was denied access even as the Department of State supported his trip to the region, with the Defense Department saying it was due to previously imposed travel restrictions.

“Senator Murphy’s office was informed before his trip to the Middle East that he would not receive Department of War support to access Al Udeid Air Base, consistent with the Secretary of War’s directive on travel restrictions in the region ordered on March 3, 2026,” a senior Defense Department official told Military Times on Thursday.

“That decision was communicated in advance by the Office of the Secretary of War for Legislative Affairs,” the official continued. “The Department applies the Secretary’s guidance evenly.”

In early March, the State and Defense departments issued travel guidance, calling on Americans to depart areas in the region and updating its travel advisory to recommend against visiting certain countries, including Qatar.

“It is absolutely ordinary for members of Congress to travel to areas of conflict and get to talk directly to the military leaders and the soldiers that are involved in the conflict and see for ourselves the damage that has been done to our bases and equipment,” Murphy said, highlighting how during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars he was able to visit operating bases.

He argued that since Congress decides funding and authorization for war, it is necessary to see the consequences, but he was unable to visit Al Udeid or have a briefing on the war with American military officials while in the region.

On the same day the travel advisory was issued in March, the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was hit ​by two Iranians drones, resulting in building damage and a fire. Murphy said that the drones impacted multiple floors of the embassy and part of the space is now “uninhabitable” with permanent damage.

The U.S. previously announced in 2023 plans to build a new embassy compound in Riyadh, which Murphy attributes the lack of repairs to.

Even though no injuries or casualties were reported from the strike, Murphy said that if the attack happened during the day it would have killed many Americans.

“[Secretary of Defense Pete] Hegseth is determined to hide the cost and the consequences of this war from the American public, and it is absolutely outrageous that I and Republican senators are being denied the ability to see the damage for ourselves,” he said.

The corps, which provides medical care for the U.S. Coast Guard and the Indian Health Services and supports health services and research across the federal government and around the world, is one of the nation’s uniformed services.

But most Americans “don’t know who we are,” said Adm. Brian Christine, head of the USPHS Commissioned Corps and assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, in an interview with Military Times.

Given the agency’s role supporting national dietary guidelines, promoting fitness, protecting public health and preserving the nation’s wellness, Christine wants them to know.

Today I am proud to officially launch Service Workout Wednesday, a new weekly opportunity for Public Health Service Officers to train together as one Service. Service Workout Wednesday is part of PHS Mission Fit, focused on readiness, resilience, and whole-person wellness so… pic.twitter.com/v2ygnX9ebb

— ADM Brian Christine, MD (@ADM_Christine) January 7, 2026

The admiral, a urologist by training, launched a public outreach campaign to call attention to the corps the day he was sworn in, starting with increased visibility among members of the armed services.

In meetings with corps officers, Christine said he learned they didn’t feel respected by other uniformed service members. So with his brother, Army Judge Advocate General Maj. Gen. Bobby Christine, he pledged to increase integration with the armed services, starting with joint exercise with soldiers at Fort Myer, Virginia.

Last month, a Commissioned Corps team worked out with Christine and the Navy’s SEAL Team One in San Diego. And they are planning workouts in the coming weeks with Coast Guard men and women and hopes to team with the Space Force and other branches.

“Since we are preaching physical readiness, it seems natural for my officers to engage with and build bridges with the other uniformed services by doing physical training,” Christine said in an interview Wednesday with Military Times.

Members of the 5,400-member USPHS Commissioned Corps officers — doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, chemists, engineers, environmental health experts, veterinarians and more — who support public health and medical readiness in 38 government agencies.

They serve overseas — a team is currently in Kenya supporting the response to the Ebola outbreak — and deliver health care in remote locations, including the far reaches of Alaska.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, officers deployed to staff crowded clinics and supported vaccine distribution.

Their duties include deploying to crises, providing medical care to underserved populations, promoting prevention initiatives to fight chronic disease and supporting health education and “health diplomacy.”

But they also have a role in national security, promoting public health initiatives that encourage fitness among the recruit-age population, supporting the health of the armed services by promoting proper nutrition and fitness and ensuring the nation can respond to public health threats.

In that vein, Christine said he wants “my officers, PHS officers, to be out there as examples for diet and fitness and activity and wellness.”

He has instituted new physical fitness mandates, a program known as PHS Mission Fit, to ensure the Commissioned Corps is able to do their jobs.

“If we’re going to be advocating for Americans, men, women, and children, to be physically fit and ready to get the most out of life, then we need to walk that walk ourselves as the Public Health Service, as the Commission Corps,” Christine said.

Until last year, the officers were required to take annual fitness tests that required them to run or walk — or a combination — 1.5 miles “as quickly as possible.”

Alternatively, they could choose to swim, use an elliptical or stationary bike, and do push-ups and planks, with the ability to choose sit-ups or side bridges instead, and toe-touching for flexibility.

The new twice-a-year program includes a 2,000-meter row, expanded stationary bike options, and removal of the flexibility requirement.

The program also includes weekly physical training and motivational challenges.

The changes represent a cultural shift for the corps, Christine said, but “it’s a change we want.”

“I will get videos from my officers, literally around the world, and they’ll video a group out doing PT together,” Christine said.

Christine was appointed a four-star admiral during his ceremonial swearing-in as assistant secretary for Health and Human Services, a direct commission that is common for the position.

He earned his medical degree from Emory University and moved to Alabama to complete his residency in urology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He ran several urology clinics in Alabama specializing in erectile dysfunction.

With this background, he contributed to the development of the clinical practice guidelines to support Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s policies on testosterone screening and is part of an effort to draft clinical guidance on testing and hormonal treatment for female service members.

He is a committed supporter of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again initiative and believes the USPHS Commissioned Corps plays a role in ensuring that dining facilities in U.S. public schools, the military and the federal prison system provide healthy choices. Christine said the corps also has a place in determining that the Defense Commissary Agency’s stock also “reflects health foods and healthy choices.”

For now, the Commissioned Corps, he said, will lead by example.

“I think evangelizing to the members of men and women in uniform, like we’re doing with this format — to take these things seriously, to get out there, to get your exercise, eat the right diet, take your health seriously, hormonal health and otherwise — that’s part of the pathway forward,” Christine said.

The U.S. has six branches of the armed forces — the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force and Coast Guard — and two additional uniformed services, the USPHS Commissioned Corps and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps.

The latter is the smallest, with roughly 330 officers.

Both the USPHS and NOAA Commissioned Corps wear work uniforms similar to the Coast Guard operational dress uniform and service dress blues and dress uniforms that resemble Navy uniforms with insignia specialized for each service.

During his ceremonial swearing-in, Christine encouraged members to wear their uniforms at all opportunities.

“When someone says ‘Thank you for your service, use that time to explain who you are, what you are, and what public health officers do to keep America healthy,” Christine said. “Be seen, evangelize. Prove to Americans that when they see our uniforms, they see compassion, they see love, they see excellent service.”

The previously undisclosed report, completed in May, made a series of safety recommendations and said the key factor was two broken radio transmissions resulting in the helicopter crew not receiving critical details from air traffic control.

The report also found a number of other issues, including technical issues with the Black Hawk and a pattern of helicopter crews failing to fly semiannual minimum hours. It said many helicopters in the Army battalion — including the one in the January 2025 collision — did not have Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance systems.

The report also said Army work with the Federal Aviation Administration on helicopter incidents in the Washington area before the collision was lacking and a working group “did not discuss airspace violations, near-miss reports, or pilot deviations.”

National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said in an Oct. 1 letter to the Army that it had made significant progress in addressing its recommendations from the collision. It added, however, that it needed to do more work as “the Army’s aviation safety system failed to consistently detect, interpret, and act on signals of latent hazards, resulting in degraded safety assurance, organizational learning, and safety culture.”

The NTSB report on the crash in January found a series of failures by the FAA were largely responsible for the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster in more than two decades.

The Army report noted that the helicopter was not providing key safety location data, known as ADS-B Out, due to improper maintenance. After the incident, the Army issued an urgent safety message to inspect all Army aircraft transponders to ensure ADS-B Out functionality, and all 3,600 Army helicopters were inspected by July 2025.

The report also noted the Army had not addressed issues that led to the helicopter providing inaccurate altitude data and proposed a series of recommendations to address the issue. It also said the Army needs more advanced night vision equipment for pilots.

The Army report also faulted FAA air traffic control for using “non-standard terminology for directing air traffic and providing incomplete traffic advisories.”

The FAA did not immediately comment. The Army said in a statement on Thursday that it has implemented stronger training and surveillance checks and completed new helicopter safety inspections and testing on altitude awareness. It also said it was pursuing an FAA data-sharing agreement to help identify potential midair collision risks.

The report also called for improved training for military pilots around Washington and Baltimore commercial airports and for reviews of Army helicopter operations near major cities in the United States, South Korea, Japan and Germany.

Congress is still debating aviation safety legislation after lawmakers passed competing versions. The family of First Officer Sam Lilley, who was killed in the collision, said the Army report shows “the system failed everyone that night. The Army’s report acknowledges failures involving known altimeter issues, near-miss reporting, training, risk mitigation and safety culture.”

The M8, a compact alternative to Sig’s much-criticized M7 Next Generation Squad Weapon rifle, appears poised to take the M7’s place as the new standard weapon for soldiers, with significant weight reduction and key modifications that address troops’ concerns.

Among those changes is a 25-round magazine to replace the 20-round mag that shipped with the M7, said Josh Shoemaker, Sig’s product manager for defense.

The NGSW program marked a transition from the legacy M4 rifle’s 5.56mm ammo to the 6.8X51mm Common Cartridge, an internally designed caliber used both by the rifle and the coming M250 light machine gun. For some soldiers accustomed to the M4’s 30-round magazines, this has represented a major concern.

“Guys are coming from the 5.56mm system, where they’re used to being able to carry seven 30-round magazines into combat, so they have 210 rounds, roughly, going into a fight,” Shoemaker said in an interview. “Well, now that they’ve gone to this larger caliber, there’s 20-round magazines, so you’re reducing the volume of rounds that you have.”

Previously, Sig Sauer and the Army have emphasized that the 6.8mm round is heavier and carries greater kinetic energy and power, allowing troops to use fewer rounds to achieve the same effect on a target.

Last year, Brig. Gen. Phil Kinniery, commandant for the Army’s Infantry School and Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia, told Task and Purpose that the 6.8mm ammo “stops the enemy at one round” versus the several rounds the legacy system would require.

Regardless, Shoemaker said, that purported difference can’t be seen in training; paper targets respond the same to bullets of either caliber.

Early criticism has cited ammo-management challenges in training with troops who find themselves with only 140 rounds to fire instead of the 210 they’re used to.

“Guys are having to think, ‘OK, well, how much ammo do I have left?’” Shoemaker said. “Sig has already, in a year’s time, developed a 25-round mag solution to extend some of that mag capacity out of the gate.”

It’s not clear if that 25-round magazine will immediately ship with the M8 carbine when fielding of that weapon begins in December.

Shoemaker said the alternative magazines were in early soldier evaluations and feedback and had to complete a full Army evaluation before they could be approved for use by soldiers.

“But in terms of production and manufacturing, we’re pretty much ready to go here in the next few months, to start spitting those out,” he said.

Soldier feedback also pushed Sig Sauer to design a more rigid handguard on the M8, eliminating some of the flexibility in the M7 that had presented a problem for soldiers.

“We saw that with the guys jumping out of planes, and they were like, ‘Hey, man, we’re getting a lot of flex, and then our lasers don’t line up, and we can’t hit targets at night,’” Shoemaker said. “That’s a real problem.”

The new handguard uses a newly developed insert and additional screws to reduce unwanted movement to a minimum. It will come standard on the M8.

“The M4 was in service for over 60 years, and it had a lot of iterations in between that,” Shoemaker said. “There will be continuous improvements and evolutions of that as we go along. … And as the system matures, some of that feedback gets more and more nitpicky, you know, and we love it. The smaller stuff is just as important to us as the big stuff.”

The planned outage is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Friday, Oct. 9, and end Sunday, Oct. 11. As of Thursday, information was not available about what specific time the outage is expected to end on Sunday.

During the outage, beneficiaries won’t be able to make any updates to their DEERS record. Pharmacies and healthcare providers may not be able to check a patient’s Tricare eligibility.

Officials note that there are other benefits systems that rely on DEERS, and the outage may affect those systems, too.

The Defense Manpower Data Center is updating DEERS, and it will be moving to a new cloud environment.

“The Defense Health Agency is working closely with DMDC during this time,” officials said in an announcement about the planned outage. “The goal is to keep any disruption as small as possible.”

DEERS is a database of information about military personnel, Defense Department and military service civilians and their family members. To get Tricare coverage, beneficiaries must be registered in DEERS.

Beneficiaries who need to make changes, or who need to check their information in DEERS, should do so before the weekend by visiting milconnect before 9 p.m. Friday.

This year’s Tricare Open Season begins Nov. 9 and ends Dec. 8. During that time, beneficiaries can enroll in or change their health plan for the next year. Changes made during open season will take effect Jan. 1, 2027.

Now, the Air Force says it’s considering a similar move. In a forum hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies on Tuesday, the commander of the Air Force Test Center, Brig. Gen. Mark Massaro, said service leaders were “actively working with the Army” to understand how they could apply the concept.

“We’re … looking at how the Army has opened up some of their ranges to commercial access and understanding what it is that we can do, on the Air Force side, to maybe move forward in that direction,” Massaro said.

The Air Force, he said, has had discussions with leaders from Army Test and Evaluation Command to “understand where they have gone with their access to ranges … to open up opportunities for contractors,” he said. He added that in a previous posting as commander of the 96th Test Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., he had worked with Air Force officials and contractors to arrange smaller-scale test range access for specific tests. That experience, he said, had yielded “a lot of lessons” for how the arrangement could work.

He acknowledged the threat from adversaries gathering imagery from above – an existing and growing risk with the rise of drone incursions that such a move might exacerbate.

“We do understand that we have critical capabilities that we’re testing and we need to protect them,” Massaro said. “We do understand that there is a threat from an information security standpoint that we do pay attention to when we execute our tests, and we do work to design our processes and our ways of testing to account for that.”

But the advantages, he said, are also evident.

“Industry really is leading the way in a lot of ways on exploration and development, using their own internal research and development,” Massaro said. “And allowing them the ability to gain access to capabilities like the ranges helps … them to accelerate that learning to a point when it may become a useful, relevant technology for our military to consider using … So to to help them along that process in ways that we can through range or other assets, enable some of that work to help move the needle forward.”

Former Army Secretary Dan Driscoll made the opening of service test ranges to industry one of the centerpieces of his work to eliminate barriers to industry and drive efficiency in innovation. In a January interview with CBS, he described conditions that private companies couldn’t easily replicate on their own, such as a range set up to imitate a Ukrainian battlefield and space to test anti-jamming and hypersonic weapons technology. He also said that opening Army ranges would cut down the traditional range test process from up to 18 months to as little as 30 days.

“A company with a good idea shouldn’t need a team of lawyers and a program of record just to prove their equipment works,” Driscoll said in an August statement announcing the range openings. “So we fixed that. One front door … a real person to walk you in, and on the other side, everything the modern battlefield demands: contested airspace, degraded signals and the space to test at real scale.”

The ranges the Army made available to industry via an online application portal include Dugway Proving Ground, Utah; West Cibola Range, part of Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz.; Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center, Miss.; Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center, Mich.; and the Multidomain Training Area range complex within the Morocco-based Africa Multidomain Training and Experimentation Center.

The $1.1 billion program is the Pentagon’s effort to rapidly expand the domestic drone industry by having companies submit small unmanned aircraft systems, or sUASs, for competition and then building stockpiles of the systems that perform best for military use.

Erin Cherry, the program’s test lead, told Military Times in an email that DIU is looking to recruit about 100 pilots for the program’s next phase, known as Gauntlet III. But the larger goal is to create a standing registry of drone operators across the military services.

“There’s no cap on the registry,” Cherry said. “We want to hear from any warfighter with FPV experience.”

She explained that service members selected to participate will get “stick time” with some of the newest drones, including systems that are not yet in military service, and some will receive specialized training on one-way attack drones.

“Most importantly, Gauntlet results strongly inform which systems move forward, and these pilots are the ones flying,” Cherry said.

The DIU announcement specifically calls for troops with experience flying FPV drones, which are typically flown manually in “acro” mode and are used for missions ranging from reconnaissance and surveillance to kamikaze attacks and close-quarters combat.

But Cherry said DIU is looking for more than just experienced FPV pilots.

“‘Pilot skill’ isn’t just one thing,” she said. “Flying ability, tactical knowledge, payload experience, and specialized skills like long-distance navigation and urban flight are all distinct, so we look at each one.”

That variety is important because the drones will ultimately be used by more than just the military’s most experienced operators.

“A drone that only performs well in an expert’s hands isn’t ready for the force,” Cherry said, adding that “whether someone has been flying FPV for five years or five months, we want to hear from them.”

For service members interested in participating, DIU is asking them to complete a Pilot Interest Form. Officials will only respond to applicants using a valid .mil email address, and all pilot participation will be coordinated through the individual military services.

The U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach’s Stock Barracks in Illesheim houses the Illesheim Flight Simulator Complex, or IFSC, providing one-of-a-kind training opportunities ahead of the German Armed Forces preparing to field CH‑47F Block II Chinook helicopters next fall, according to an Army release.

The IFSC, which is operated by U.S. Army Europe and Africa, provides the necessary training needed to prepare German forces to receive 60 of the heavy-lift, tandem-rotor helicopters, the release says.

Two German Air Force pilots who will be part of the first cohort to fly the new aircraft once they arrive in fall 2027 recently trained at the IFSC.

“In the simulator you can train all the scenarios you do not want to experience while flying a real aircraft,” said Lt. Col. L, a visiting pilot whose name was withheld, as is standard in the German Air Force, or Bundeswehr Luftwaffe. “Emergency procedures, challenging landings and extreme weather operations can all be practiced safely.”

“Everything you can do in a real flight, you can also do in a simulator,” the other visiting pilot, Maj. H, said.

The fleet will be stationed at two Bundeswehr installations and is meant to boost Germany’s heavy-lift and transport abilities, per the statement.

The two German pilots also trained in the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

Fort Rucker is the Army’s largest helicopter training institution and trains more than 1,300 U.S. soldiers every year. Beginning in 2028, German Air Force aviators will also trek to Fort Rucker annually for initial helicopter training and complete “track training,” including the CH‑47 qualification.

The Army did not say how many German aviators are expected to train at Fort Rucker each year, but the release noted that the German Air Force plans to staff more than 200 trained pilots to operate its future fleet.

Germany has already begun sending helicopter pilots for conversion training to the CH‑47 platform, according to the release.

Since the IFSC simulator software is tailored to U.S. Army aircraft configurations and not the Bundeswehr’s, the German pilots will need additional learning to transition to their Air Force’s aircraft.

Instead of German Air Force pilots needing to travel across the Atlantic for advanced simulator training, the IFSC allows them to drive just three to five hours from their home station.

By using the existing U.S. Army facilities in Europe, NATO partners reduce costs by not needing to build their own simulator complex, the announcement says. Even though the IFSC schedule prioritizes U.S. Army soldiers, the complex routinely supports at least five NATO partners’ pilots.

“For NATO partners requiring up-to-date, quality aircraft simulation training, USAG Ansbach’s Storck Barracks continues to prove its value: a small installation delivering strategic impact through world‑class training,” the release reads.

The Oct. 5 revision adds jets damaged in a September Iranian strike on a base in Jordan, helicopter losses drawn from a Pentagon inspector general report and a sharply higher count of lost Reaper drones.

CRS cautions that the total is not a count of destroyed aircraft, noting, “Some damaged aircraft may have been returned to active service.”

The research service works from public information, drawing on news reports and statements from the Defense Department and U.S. Central Command. This version also draws on the inspector general report published Sept. 14. CRS said its count “may remain subject to revision due to multiple factors, which may include classification, ongoing combat activity, and attribution.”

The deadliest loss on the list remains the March 12 crash of a KC-135 Stratotanker. Two of the seven KC-135s in the report were involved in an incident over friendly airspace. One crashed in western Iraq, killing all six crew members. The other made an emergency landing at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, Defense News reported. Central Command said the loss was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.

A Navy squadron commander was lost when one of the newly listed aircraft went down. An MH-60S Sea Hawk from the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush made an emergency landing in the Arabian Sea on July 1. The Navy said there was no indication of hostile action.

Three of the four crew members aboard were recovered. The Navy identified the fourth as Cmdr. Gabriel Edwards, commanding officer of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 5, and suspended its search for him July 5 after more than 102 hours. Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao directed that Edwards be posthumously promoted to captain.

Several of the aircraft on the list trace to the April mission to recover the two-person crew of an F-15E Strike Eagle shot down over Iran. Both crew members were rescued in separate search-and-rescue operations. That jet is one of 12 Strike Eagles on the list.

An A-10 Thunderbolt II supporting the rescue mission crashed after taking enemy fire, Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. Dan Caine said. The pilot flew the damaged jet out of Iran and ejected over friendly territory, where he was quickly recovered.

An HH-60W Jolly Green II combat rescue helicopter in the same task force was damaged by small-arms fire, Caine said.

The second crew member was rescued nearly two days later in a separate special operations mission. Two MC-130J Commando II transports that had flown the commandos into Iran suffered a mechanical failure and could not take off, Reuters reported.

U.S. troops pulled the rescue force out in stages and destroyed the two transports and four helicopters rather than leave sensitive equipment behind. The inspector general later said U.S. forces destroyed four AH-6 Little Bird helicopters during rescue operations, likely those four. The May version listed no Little Birds, a gap Defense News noted at the time.

Iranian strikes on two air bases account for 15 of the aircraft on the list, all damaged on the ground.

An Iranian missile strike on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, damaged five KC-135s on the ground in mid-March, Defense News reported, citing two U.S. officials who spoke to The Wall Street Journal. Iran hit the base again on March 27, damaging an E-3 Sentry in what the CRS report, citing a September article, described as “a direct hit.”

The seven KC-135s on the list come from a fleet that was already stretched thin. As of March, the Air Force had 373 KC-135s and 103 KC-46As, the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, said in a June report. GAO found the fleet fell short of the Air Force’s own readiness goals every year from fiscal 2019 through 2025.

The E-3 fleet is far smaller. The Air Force operated only 16 E-3s before the war began, and six had deployed to Prince Sultan. CRS cites the E-3 as an example of aging, scarce aircraft where losses could leave the military short elsewhere in the world, and suggests Congress may want to weigh that risk.

The other base struck by Iran, Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, came under ballistic missile attack Sept. 8-9. The second A-10 on the list lost a wing, and eight F-15Es took light damage and were returned to service, a U.S. official told Reuters.

The official said U.S. forces fired roughly 30 Patriot interceptors to defend the base. Three Army soldiers were killed there in a separate missile attack in July.

Drones account for most of the increase since May. The report now counts 45 MQ-9 Reapers lost, citing an Aug. 13 article in which three U.S. officials said the military had lost “at least 45.” That is up from as many as 30 destroyed through June 30, according to the inspector general report.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach has called the Reaper perhaps the most valuable player of Operation Epic Fury. The Air Force had 135 MQ-9As as of May, down from 351 in fiscal 2022 as the service retired older models and lost aircraft to accidents and combat, according to a separate Sept. 23 CRS report.

The service had already stopped buying the drone in favor of a planned successor, and its fiscal 2027 request included no money for new Reapers, Military Times reported.

The remaining three of the 12 Strike Eagles on the list were the war’s first aircraft losses. A Kuwaiti F/A-18 Hornet mistakenly shot them down over Kuwait on March 1-2, Defense News reported. All six aircrew ejected and were recovered, Central Command said.

The list also includes an Army AH-64 Apache that the inspector general said was shot down over the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. officials said a Navy drone boat rescued its two-person crew after the June 8 crash, calling it the first rescue of its kind.

Iranian ground fire also damaged an F-35A Lightning II during a combat mission over Iran on March 19, forcing an emergency landing at a U.S. air base in the region. The aircraft landed safely, and the pilot was in stable condition, Central Command spokesman Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins said at the time.

The report also counts three MQ-1 drones downed by Iran, one confirmed by Central Command in May and at least two more reported by U.S. officials in September. Central Command has not specified which variant was lost. The Air Force retired its MQ-1 Predators in 2018, but the Army still flies the related MQ-1C Gray Eagle.

A Navy MQ-4C Triton surveillance drone crashed April 9 at an undisclosed location, according to Naval Safety Command data, which did not give a cause.

The revision leaves unresolved two discrepancies Defense News flagged in May.

The report still lists the E-3 as damaged. Multiple outlets reported the aircraft was destroyed. Photos published by The War Zone purportedly show tail 81-0005 with its rear fuselage burned through, and Air & Space Forces Magazine reported the damage likely renders the aircraft unrepairable.

The report also still counts one damaged HH-60W. At an April 6 news conference, Caine described two helicopters in the rescue flight taking fire, with a crew member on the trailing aircraft suffering a minor injury.

The war’s cost has also climbed significantly since May. Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst told House appropriators on May 12 that it was closer to $29 billion. The Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, estimated in September that the war had cost the Pentagon about $38 billion through Aug. 1.

That total includes the cost of replacing equipment lost in battle, which CBO put at $1.9 billion, or as much as $3.3 billion if the Pentagon sought emergency funding to replace all of it. Among that equipment is a THAAD missile defense radar Iran destroyed. CBO said its estimate relied on government databases and public reports because the Defense Department did not respond to its requests for information.

The White House asked Congress in June for $87.6 billion in emergency funding, including $67.1 billion for the Pentagon. Congress has not approved the request.

On board the submarine, the crew had assembled on the deck in dress uniforms, which were starkly different than what American sailors were wearing. A dashing figure in officer’s regalia bearing a row of medals across his chest stood at the conning tower. Suddenly, the larger vessel was bumped by a small motor launch with a reporter on board.

“Have you come here to be interned?” asked the curious newspaperman.

“No,” answered the distinguished officer. “But I’ve brought a letter for the German ambassador. Will you mail it for me?”

The submarine’s commander was Kapitänleutnant Hans Rose of the Imperial German Navy. On Oct. 7, 1916, while World War I raged across Europe, he boldly sailed his submarine, U-53, into the neutral port under the incredulous gaze of the U.S. Navy in an attempt to rattle the American public and convince the country to stay out of the conflict.

“Audacity,” says Ret. Rear Admiral Samuel J. Cox, director of naval history and curator for the Navy at the Naval History and Heritage Command. “That’s the only word I can think of to describe Rose cruising into Newport. The U.S. was still neutral then, but he did not know how the Navy would react to his arrival.”

That event 110 years ago made banner headlines in newspapers across the country and around the globe. Planned months in advance, Rose was under strict orders to sail across the Atlantic Ocean and show up at the Rhode Island naval base to introduce himself to American officers as a “goodwill” gesture. In reality, his courtesy call was a propaganda move designed to shock the United States into fearing the far-reaching dangers of German submarine warfare.

“Rose was basically trying to say, ‘My U-boat can reach your shores and you should be aware if you decide to get involved in the First World War,’” said David Kohnen, Naval War College professor, in a video posted on C-Span Classroom

At the time, millions of lives were being sacrificed on the killing fields of Europe as the Central Powers of Germany, Austria and Turkey tried to deliver a knockout blow to the Entente allies: France, England and Russia. With an impartial stance, the United States looked on as both sides became mired in the mud of trench warfare.

Though officially neutral, American factories were churning out armaments — mostly for Entente armies, but also for the Central Powers. Cargo ships of all registries transported this matériel from U.S. ports to the battlefront, prompting the Imperial German Navy to begin hunting freighters carrying “contraband” on the open sea.

Early in the war, Germany declared unrestricted submarine warfare — meaning its unterseeboots would attack ships without warning if they believed they were transporting munitions. That changed in 1915 with the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, a British luxury ocean liner. Some 128 American citizens were killed in the attack, prompting calls for U.S. intercession in the war.

To calm nerves across the Atlantic, Germany then intercepted ships and checked manifests for wartime supplies. If carrying such a cargo, the ship would be sunk after passengers and crew were offloaded onto lifeboats.

“Americans were concerned by the sub threat,” Cox says. “Newspapers carried stories of how freighters were being sunk, some not far off U.S. shores. There was a great deal of tension since ships were the way most people traveled distances then.”

Rose received his orders from Cmdr. Hermann Bauer, who was in charge of the German U-Boat fleet. Bauer had cleared the plan with German leader Kaiser Wilhelm II, who believed it would shock the United States into staying out of the war.

“Convinced the Americans were essentially spineless, [the Kaiser] reasoned that a German U-boat sally into a U.S. naval harbor would be so intimidating as to keep the United States out of the war,” wrote journalist Wellington Long in a 1966 article.

On the mission, U-53 was supposed to escort the Bremen, an unarmed merchant submarine designed to carry cargo under the British blockade of Germany. However, the two vessels failed to rendezvous, so U-53 crossed the Atlantic on its own (the Bremen was later presumed lost at sea, possibly sunk by a British mine or torpedo).

It took U-53 three weeks to make the trip. On Oct. 7, Rose and his crew surfaced in American territorial waters just off the coast of Rhode Island. According to neutrality laws, belligerent warships were allowed into neutral ports for 24 hours, usually for food, water, fuel, repairs or to surrender. Rose needed none of those things, but was concerned how he would be received in the American port, home of the Navy’s Atlantic destroyer fleet.

“There I was, a 31-year-old German naval officer… heading my submarine for Newport naval harbor, and no one really knew how neutral those American destroyers would be,” the U-53 commander told Long in an interview.

Uncertainty was prevalent that day. Telegrams flew between Newport and Washington, D.C., as local commanders sought guidance on how to respond to the unusual situation. Eventually, the commander of the Second Naval District arrived to find out what was going on in his homeport.

A confused Rear Admiral Austin M. Knight asked if Rose required repairs, fuel or anything else, only to be told no. Finally, the American officer stammered, “Well, then, what the devil do you want here?”

“I only wanted to visit you, Admiral,” Rose responded.

U-53 became a spectacle in Newport Harbor. Yachts and pleasure craft tied up next to the German submarine for a closer look. Citizens and reporters walked her deck and were greeted by friendly German sailors. Officers of anchored American destroyers, including USS Jacob Jones, stopped by to see the U-Boat. Even Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, commander of the destroyer flotilla at Newport, came aboard — along with his wife and daughter. They were given a tour below decks of the submarine.

That afternoon, Rose left the U-53 by water taxi and visited Coasters Harbor Island. He strolled up the steps to the Naval War College and knocked on the door, according to Kohnen. When greeted, Rose answered, “I’m here to mail a postcard.” It was addressed to his mother back in Germany.

Eventually, Rose sensed his welcome was wearing thin, so he bid farewell to his hosts and left the harbor. He anchored off of Nantucket Lightship that evening. At first light the next day, he was underway and cruised past the U.S. 3-mile territorial limit. Then it was back to war as he began hunting for cargo ships carrying contraband.

U.S. Navy destroyers left Newport and stayed a short distance away as U-53 intercepted, inspected and sank five freighters. The American ships rescued 216 survivors from British, Canadian, Dutch, Norwegian and U.S. freighters.

Before the mission, Rose said he was informed by Cmdr. Bauer that the Kaiser planned to announce a return to unrestricted submarine warfare — something Rose believed was necessary if Germany was to win the war. That didn’t happen until 1917. The Kaiser was reticent to do so, fearing it would provoke the Americans into joining the war, which it did. A year later, the United States declared war on Germany.

Rose would go on to become one of Germany’s most successful U-boat captains, sinking 81 merchant ships with a gross weight in excess of 200,000 tons. He was also credited with sinking the USS Jacob Jones, whose officers toured his submarine in Newport Harbor. It was the only U.S. destroyer to be lost in enemy action in World War I.

Designed to strike fear into the American public, the arrival of U-53 in Newport had the reverse effect. If anything, it confirmed U.S. suspicions that Germany was dangerous and forced many isolationists to reconsider their neutral stance. It also proved to the United States just what was at stake in the Atlantic with German submarines on the prowl.

“U-53 demonstrated that the U-boat commanders were audacious and a foe that deserved to be treated with respect,” Cox says.

The “immediate, temporary pause in flight operations,” announced Oct. 2, affects the latest variant of the Apache and is specific to helicopters equipped with Improved Drive System transmissions.

“This action follows ongoing Army technical and airworthiness assessments of the Improved Drive System transmission, including information developed through prior Safety of Flight actions, inspection results, maintenance reporting, and ongoing engineering analysis,” officials said in the announcement.

An Army official told Military Times that about 400 of the Army’s roughly 700 Apaches are affected, and aircraft from every active-duty and National Guard Apache unit are included in the grounding.

The move follows a brief grounding of the entire Apache fleet in August after an AH-64 from Fort Hood, Texas, crashed in a field Aug. 12, killing both pilots.

Defense One reported in May that an Army investigation had found that the AH-64E’s improved drive system main transmissions “can experience an internal failure resulting in loss of accessory gearbox drive, which can result in loss of tail rotor thrust, electrical power, and hydraulics,” though it added the cause was still unclear.

The Army official who spoke with Military Times Tuesday said the Army had been able to “very quickly ascertain” that transmission issues hadn’t caused the Fort Hood crash, which involved an older variant of the Apache. But Army safety reports show four major flight mishaps for the AH-64E in the last fiscal year, and officials noted one “catastrophic transmission failure” among them.

The official said the Army had earlier issued a safety-of-flight message calling for inspections of all the AH-64E transmissions, which ultimately led to the decision to ground the aircraft.

“That triggered a decision point for Army senior leaders who said, you know, let’s accelerate this and just put us on a glide path to do this as quickly as possible while maintaining operational readiness — let’s just go ahead and inspect and repair these as quickly as we can,” the official said. “So that’s where we are now.”

With so many Apache helicopters grounded indefinitely, the official said the Army expected to need to complete a “rebalancing” to meet minimum capability requirements and continue to meet Army missions. Aviation leaders, the official said, will assess how many aircraft in a unit are affected and how long inspections and follow-on actions are expected to take for those aircraft to determine how to move Apaches between squadrons.

The grounding comes a year after Army officials began moving out on a plan to accelerate retirement of its older AH-64D Apaches en route to developing a “pure fleet” of AH-64E helicopters.

“The execution of Nidal Hasan by firing squad will take place at Fort Hood, Texas, on Thursday, December 3rd, 2026, at 1 p.m. CT.,” acting Army Secretary Adam Telle announced, confirming that the location would return Hasan to the site of the murders.

A memo Telle shared on X stated that President Donald Trump approved the execution order on Oct. 2.

“The execution officer will be the Commandant, United States Disciplinary Barracks,” the memo states.

Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell first announced the execution order on Monday, stating, “Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has recommended — and President Donald J. Trump has approved — death by U.S. Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan, the jihadist who opened fire on unarmed American soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009.

“He killed 13 people and wounded 32 others while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ during the attack,” Parnell wrote.

If the date and method of execution are carried out, it would mark the first such case for the service since Jan. 31, 1945, when Pvt. Eddie D. Slovik was executed by a U.S. Army firing squad in France for desertion during World War II.

The last death sentence carried out by the U.S. military was in 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was executed by hanging at the gallows in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, after he was convicted of raping and attempting to kill a young girl.

Hasan, who was born in northern Virginia, walked into a Fort Hood readiness processing center on Nov. 5, 2009, and opened fire using a semi-automatic handgun.

Thirteen people were killed, including a pregnant soldier.

Former Army Staff Sgt. Patrick Zeigler, a two-time combat veteran, was shot four times in the attack and spent nearly a year recovering in various hospitals.

“He looked me straight in the eyes as he pointed the gun at me, and a split second later, I’m on the floor with a hole in my head,” he told the Killeen Daily Herald in 2023.

At his court-martial, Hasan, now 56, admitted to the shooting, and in 2013 said he carried out the attack in support of the Taliban.

At the time, Hasan requested a delay in court proceedings so he could ready a new legal strategy that would show he acted “in defense of others.”

Asked by presiding Judge Col. Tara Osborn who he was defending, Hasan replied, “The leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Taliban.”

Hasan was convicted by a military jury in August 2013, which recommended he be sentenced to death.

He was subsequently transferred to Fort Leavenworth, where he has been incarcerated on death row.

Fielding of the M8 carbine, which appears set to replace Sig Sauer’s M7 as the Army’s standard rifle less than three years after the M7’s initial fielding began, will begin in December with some units at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, company executives confirmed to Military Times Monday.

The NGSW new weapons rollout also includes Sig’s M250 machine gun, which will replace the aging M249 Squad Automatic Weapon and is expected to reach troops in the first half of next year, said Dave Buehler, the company’s vice president of manufacturing.

Both weapons share an ammunition caliber: the 6.8×51mm Common Cartridge developed by Sig Sauer with a hybrid design intended to withstand high chamber pressure.

The M7 stumbled out of the gate, generating complaints from soldiers about its unwieldy weight and length and undue wear they said the high-pressure rounds were putting on components, including barrels and suppressors.

While Sig Sauer pushed back at the time on a number of the most strident complaints, the company is now casting the transition from the M7 to the M8, also previously called the XM8, as a success story that highlights its ability to act quickly on soldier inputs.

“From our perspective [the M8 is] a far superior rifle to the M7,” Buehler said. “On the M7, our hands were kind of tied [with what] the design criteria or characteristics of the contract required – even if we didn’t like them, we had to meet them. So now, the M8 considers our feedback, the soldiers’ feedback. And we can’t wait to get it out there.”

The new rifle is more than a pound lighter than the M7 and sports a barrel that’s 3.5 inches shorter. It replaces a less-popular folding stock with a fixed stock and includes feedback-based adjustments like added rigidity for the handguard. For soldiers who previously received the M7 rifle, the M8 should be a smooth transition, said Josh Shoemaker, Sig Sauer’s product manager for defense.

“The fundamentals are all the same, really,” Shoemaker told Military Times in an interview. “If guys that have had the M7 already are pretty familiar with that, the M8 will be a well-received transition.”

The foremost design challenge, he said, was achieving weight reduction from the M7, which weighed more than eight pounds unloaded, and nearly 10 pounds with the included suppressor – a radical difference from the legacy M4A1 carbine, which weighs 6.34 pounds unloaded.

Shoemaker said Sig Sauer had reduced the weight difference between the M4 and M8 to a little less than a pound, though that doesn’t include the M8’s suppressor.

“We worked really hard to reduce weight where we could and where it matters. So there’s lots of lightening cuts around the receiver. We pulled some weight out of the barrel, but we’re very careful to do that, because a lot of times when you pull weight out of the barrel, you have risks of some performance decreasing, whether that be barrel life or cook-off,” Shoemaker said. “We’re very sensitive to that, so it’s a long process to be able to figure out where your left and right limit is and how much weight [you can] kind of pull off of that before it’s too much.”

Reducing barrel size and thus altering the weapon’s center of gravity helped in that effort, Shoemaker said.

“When you pick up that M8, the balance of it feels a lot better, with that suppressor being on a shorter weapon system,” he added.

As for the M7, budget documents released earlier this year show the Army is curtailing its procurement, with none additional requested for Fiscal Year 2027 and about 50,000 previously delivered to the force.

The Army hasn’t said what it plans to do with the M7s already in inventory, particularly if it opts to put M8s in the hands of all troops who previously got the M7.

Shoemaker said there were “tons of options” for the Army with regard to M7s, including sending the weapons to basic training units or reassigning them to Guard or Reserve units.

But there’s another option, he said: the Army could ask for conversion kits to turn all the M7s already in its inventory into M8 carbines.

“The barrel is two screws that come out, and the hand guard is two more screws … the lower-end serialized item is the same,” he said. “All in, you could probably convert [an M7 to an M8] in under five minutes.”

If that’s an option Army leaders are considering, they have yet to address it publicly.

“There’re lots of options that the Army is well aware of,” Shoemaker said, “and making decisions on what direction they’ll go with that.”

“I just got tired of watching my friends die” without recognition, Kerr said of what drove him two years ago to found the Utah Agent Orange Veterans Foundation, a non-profit with the mission “to honor veterans of the Vietnam War who were exposed to the deadly herbicide known as Agent Orange.”

In a phone interview with Military Times, the 78-year-old Kerr said, “We’re just a bunch of old guys trying to get this done” by Veterans Day.

Kerr served two tours in Vietnam with the 412th Munitions Maintenance Squadron, whose members have a presumption of exposure to Agent Orange based on the locations in which they served. Since leaving the service, Kerr said he has dealt with a bout of testicular cancer and heart disease, and will soon face an operation to remove three tumors on his bladder.

But what angers Kerr most is the treatment of veterans who came back from Vietnam with medals for valor and were told that their illnesses were not service-related.

“We’ve had so many survive, come back with Purple Hearts, Silver Stars, and then come back here to die of Agent Orange — that’s what really burns my butt,” Kerr said.

Kerr’s push to honor Agent Orange victims led Mayor Scott Wiggill and the city council of Sunset City, Utah — a town of 5,400 about 25 miles north of Salt Lake City — to grant permission to the Utah Agent Orange Veterans Foundation to put up a memorial in Sunset City Veterans Park.

“We were more than proud to do it,” Wiggill, whose office is non-partisan, said in a phone interview with Military Times. He added that “It’s a shame our federal government failed to recognize the Agent Orange victims for such a long time.”

The Memorial will mark one of the great tragedies to come from the Vietnam War that began with the approval in 1961 by the administration of President John F. Kennedy for the military to conduct defoliation and herbicide spraying missions.

On Jan. 18, 1962, Operation Ranch Hand was launched using twin-prop Air Force C-123 Provider aircraft. The initial spraying missions focused on transportation routes and the perimeters of U.S. bases.

Soon, the Ranch Hand aircrews began engaging in gallows humor about their missions, claiming that their new motto was “Only you can prevent a forest,” a takeoff on the Smokey the Bear public service announcements of the National Park Service.

The operation quickly expanded beyond Agent Orange to include other herbicides, code-named Agents White, Purple, Blue, Pink, and Green. In all, more than 20 million gallons of tactical herbicides and defoliants were sprayed in Vietnam between 1961 and 1971. Roughly 61% of the total came from Agent Orange, which was contaminated with the highly toxic chemical compound dioxin, according to the National Institutes of Health.

The strategy behind the use of the defoliants was intended to deprive the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese regulars of the cover provided by the forests and jungles; make them more vulnerable to ground and air attack; and also destroy the crops that sustained them.

Army field manuals at the time stated that the agents were “relatively non-toxic to man or animals,” which led commanders to drop precautions when spraying was nearby.

In his memoirs, Army Gen. William Westmoreland, the former commander of all U.S. forces in Vietnam, defended the use of Agent Orange as a tactical necessity: “The enemy used the jungle to hide, to ambush, to move troops. We had to find a way to deny him that cover.”

Following the war, veterans continued pressing for a service connection to the illnesses they developed after the conflict and for disability compensation that would come with the service connection. However, the VA maintained that “there is no positive evidence for deleterious effects on the health of individuals exposed to these herbicides which is of a permanent nature,” according to a 2024 VA report.

Yet the military discontinued use of Agent Orange and the other herbicides in 1971 and, tellingly, it gathered up the remaining stocks of Agent Orange and shipped them to Johnson Atoll, about 825 miles southwest of Honolulu, where they were incinerated in 1977.

In 1984, Vietnam veterans and their families filed in Brooklyn federal court what would become a landmark class-action lawsuit against seven chemical companies, including Dow Chemical and Monsanto, which resulted in a $180 million settlement for the veterans while allowing the chemical companies to continue denying any liability for the health problems of the veterans.

At the time, Victor John Yannacone Jr., the Long Island lawyer who first filed the class action suit for the veterans in 1979, said that the settlement should spur more action in Washington: ‘’I hope that the President of the United States directs the Veterans Administration to honor the claims of the Vietnam combat veterans and recognizes that chemical bullets are just as deadly as lead bullets — they just take longer to kill."

Finally, on Feb. 6, 1991, President George H. W. Bush signed into law the Agent Orange Act to establish a group of “presumptive” conditions for Vietnam Veterans exposed to herbicides, meaning that veterans with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, soft tissue sarcomas and chloracne could now receive medical benefits from the VA as a result of service in Vietnam.

Since the signing of the Agent Orange Act, the VA has added to the list of “presumptives,” and there are now roughly 19 specific presumptive conditions linked to Agent Orange and other herbicides.

Now, Kerr and his fellow veterans in Sunset City, Utah, are working to recognize the decades-long fight to recognize and honor Agent Orange victims.

The inscription on one of the panels being put up by Kerr succinctly speaks to the veterans affected by Agent Orange:

“This memorial stands as a promise that their sacrifices will never be forgotten, their voices will never be silenced, and those who follow will be protected.”