The team attempted to return fire as they pulled back from a harrowing effort to target a cartel leader. Fajardo, then early into his military career, felt his adrenaline surge as he realized the team had been unsuccessful: A bullet had torn through the flesh of his friend.

Over a decade later, with the early autumn sun sinking over Panamanian base Aeronaval Cristóbal Colón, the 47-year-old, now a first sergeant, recounted the ordeal. His friend survived, but the horror changed Fajardo’s life.

The brush with death, he said, fueled him to learn as much as he could, militarily, and eventually led him to become an instructor at the U.S. Army’s Jungle Operations Training Course in Panama.

The class, offered for decades in the Central American nation before it was shuttered in 1999, has resumed in partnership between U.S. and Panamanian forces, with Panamanian service members teaching and attending the 18-day course.

As Panama’s troops have trained, lived — and in some cases, fought — in such environments, they are largely seen by U.S. personnel as the ultimate masters of the terrain.

Lt. Col. Andrew Eagen, who heads the U.S. Jungle Operations Training Center in Panama, said that as U.S. forces developed the course, they became quickly attuned to the deft tactics their Panamanian counterparts had developed for survival.

“They are the experts of this environment. We will never catch up,” he told Military Times in a mosquito-riddled interview at the jungle school.

“This does not exist in the continental United States,” he said, gesturing to the lush canopy, which was twinkling with the day’s last glimmers of sun and abuzz with the evening hum of jungle creatures. “We do not have an exposure to it. They do, and they have incredible techniques and an incredible level of comfort that the average American [does not].”

Fajardo is one of nine Panamanian instructors — from three branches of the country’s armed forces — who teach at the reestablished school.

The instructors assist in some parts of the course, but lead in areas where students learn about jungle survival, Eagen said.

In addition to the leading group, more than 10 Panamanian service members attended the course in which Military Times took part, according to Eagen.

Throughout each exercise, Panamanian troops sat interspersed with U.S. personnel and were placed in squads with a Spanish-speaking U.S. participant for course assignments.

Though the language barrier admittedly made some tactical movements difficult, U.S. personnel seemingly learned just from observing their Panamanian counterparts.

During one practical exercise, one squad had to hide in the jungle, cover their tracks to erase any disturbance to the foliage, and position themselves so they would be alerted to any incoming intruders.

The other squad’s job was to hunt down the hiding squad using tracking clues, the activity forming a tense game of tactical hide-and-seek.

The hunters ultimately won, thanks to one Panamanian squadmate who spotted a tiny vine that appeared slightly too parallel to the ground.

One rule of the jungle? Nothing is a straight line. The Panamanian student correctly identified the trailing plant, hovering inches above the muddy ground, as a hasty trip wire. Made using a vine and a piece of trash, it would have alerted the hiding squad to the hunters’ presence.

When the two groups gathered to discuss the interaction, the lanewalker found that the Panamanian student in the other squad had set up the tripwire; a particularly impressive development, considering a tripwire class was scheduled for later in the day.

During that class, an American instructor showed students how to create different forms of tripwires that could act as early warning systems. Some set off rattling cans. Others used fauna.

Before letting students practice, the instructor shared stories from Panamanian cadres who once operated in the Darién Gap, a roadless land bridge of brutally dense, remote jungle that spans 60-plus miles between Panama and Colombia and has been notoriously rife with human and drug trafficking.

Trip wires there are not historical relics of warfare from decades ago, the instructor said. Cartel members are using them now.

Several instructors, including Fajardo, have attended Panama’s own jungle school, called Panajungla.

Fajardo shook his head and shivered as he recounted the intense course in which participants were forced to survive on their own in the Teribe region of Panama’s Bocas del Toro province.

Students of the Panamanian course must shop at the “supermarket de la selva” — the jungle supermarket — to eat, using machetes to prepare or kill any nourishment they can find, Fajardo said.

Fajardo’s prized jungle delicacy is ñame, a tropical root vegetable similar to a yam. He also appreciates the taste of grubs, he said, which he likens to butter.

Tucked neatly into each Panamanian instructor’s backpack, razor-sharp machetes sat nestled in intricately carved leather coverings.

The U.S. Army teaches machete training in its jungle school, but some Panamanian instructors have attended a separate, more intensive course on using the long, daunting blade. It can clear brush, help prepare food, carve shelter and even help start a fire.

To Fajardo, it is the single most important tool for survival in the jungle. And with a smile, he jokingly referred to the machete as “mi esposa,” or my wife, in English.

To date, the U.S. Army is developing the course to dedicate at least 20 of its 120 spots to partner forces and at least 15 to Panamanians.

Though no other countries have sent soldiers yet, Eagen is confident that the school is close to having Colombian students join.

The U.S. has partnered with Colombia’s Lancero course, which is similar to Ranger School, and all three countries exchange information. Panama supports hosting Colombian forces, Eagen added, as “they have a direct relationship with the country.

“They have a lot of shared bilat right there at the Darién,” Eagen said, “so both Panamanian leaders and Colombian leaders want them to be first.”

Panama’s expertise in navigating such unforgiving terrain, meanwhile, has also prompted other countries, like Costa Rica and Brazil, to express interest in the course, Eagen said.

Other jungle courses worldwide have so far informed the new U.S. Army jungle school’s curriculum, and Eagen said the Army is designing a scenario construct for the school using threat characteristics seen by Panamanian service members.

And while Panamanian forces often confront small-team drug trafficking operations attempting to establish supply lines, Eagen was clear that the Army endeavored to replicate a potential combat environment, not the country’s security situation.

“That is not the premise of us being in Panama,” he said. “We try to make sure there are clear boundaries of understanding for the students that this is about the skills required of the environment, not about the situation in Panama.”

Though public sentiment between the countries has ebbed and flowed in the decades that followed Panama’s 1994 formal abolishment of its standing army — several years after a U.S. military invasion ousted military dictator Manuel Noriega — those tensions were absent from interactions Military Times observed among the service members during the course.

Eagen said the U.S. is mindful of the pride Panamanians take in their nation’s sovereignty. The Army, he added, has been purposeful in approaching the course’s renewed partnership with an emphasis on learning from — rather than simply teaching — its Panamanian counterparts.

In an unusually strongly worded statement, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who oversees the spiritual care of Catholic members of the U.S. armed forces, raised a series of objections to the unprecedented plan to broadcast the execution of Hasan, who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in a 2009 shooting spree.

Broglio said he presided at the funeral of one of Hasan’s victims, and lamented the shooting. But the Ohio-born archbishop asked whether the U.S. wanted to “imitate the terrorists of this world and make a public spectacle of barbarically killing our adversaries.”

“I oblige any Catholics assigned to the firing squad to request to be excused from this action contrary to the teaching of the Church,” Broglio said.

U.S. Army regulations do allow for soldiers to request religious exemptions or accommodations, and the Army has yet to say how it intends to select members of the firing squad.

Questions about the effect on young viewers

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced plans to livestream the shooting last week, triggering a backlash among Republicans in Congress, religious leaders and international observers. U.S. President Donald Trump approved Hasan’s execution by firing squad but has said he is still deciding whether to allow the livestreaming to proceed.

The event would be extraordinary, even for a country that has long employed capital punishment. A government execution has never been broadcast or livestreamed, according to death penalty experts, and the U.S. military has not executed anyone by firing squad since 1945. Hasan, now 56, requires a wheelchair, having been shot by police during his arrest.

Hegseth said last week he wants U.S. soldiers to execute Hasan at the time, day of the week and location of Hasan’s shooting spree. Hegseth has argued that making the event public will help serve as a deterrent.

Broglio questioned whether the effect of a livestreamed execution on young viewers had been considered. He said the U.S. military had a good reputation and asked if there was “really a value to throwing them in the same boat with terrorists by broadcasting the image of the execution of a man in a wheelchair to the whole world.”

Broglio’s statement was issued shortly after he met on Monday in Rome with Pope Leo, who has clashed with Trump and his Pentagon over issues including the Iran war. Leo on Saturday condemned the death penalty, without mentioning the Hasan case specifically.

Vice President JD Vance, a convert to Catholicism, has said that if it does ultimately get livestreamed, he would not watch it.

Under the new brand, the Texas-based defense firm debuted Primex, a lightweight wearable meant to provide soldiers with night-vision capabilities and augmented reality so they can “maintain awareness without distraction or cognitive overload.”

For the design, Twenty-Six Defense said it engineered Primex for sustained operational use by equipping it with “the lightest head-borne load and near-neutral center of gravity.”

The company explained Primex uses low-light sensors, thermal imagery, and real-time processing to produce an ultra-low-latency digital perception that enables operators to better interpret the surrounding area even amid challenging environmental conditions.

What separates Primex from other advanced lightweight heads-up display units for operators, according to Twenty-Six Defense, is that its design was built on mature technologies that have already been fielded.

The company said it already produces AN/PSQ-44 Enhanced Night Vision Goggles, which contain features that allow for rapid target acquisition and augment reality to enhance visual clarity.

In August, Ernie Basic, Twenty-Six Defense’s senior director of research and development, explained how his company was developing equipment for the Soldier Borne Mission Command, a project to deliver augmented reality wearables to soldiers.

He said the technology combines fighter-pilot displays with night-vision systems, so soldiers get “the full operational picture.”

“You are not only seeing what is in front of you. You can leverage a feed coming from a drone or from other assets,” he said. “You can start seeing what is going on behind a house or another structure, cue a squad to a different location, and continuously update them.”

In addition to Primex, Twenty-Six Defense showcased defensive weapons and equipment like the XM1168 mobile 120mm mortar system, Autonomous Relocatable Surveillance Tower and SkyStriker Block 4E.

During the ceremony, 10 warrant officers were formally introduced as 390A robotics technicians. They will now serve as subject-matter experts on all aspects of using robotic and autonomous systems, including programming, building and repairing them, plus integrating them into combat.

The 390A inauguration is the result of a lengthy process that has been in the works since 2024, when U.S. Army Special Operations Command announced its aim to train experts in using autonomous systems.

The Army deemed it necessary to introduce robotics as a separate specialization to avoid overburdening special warfare operators with having to master an additional, highly complex skill set, in addition to their existing knowledge.

“What we’ve determined is it cannot be an additional task or an additional hat for someone on the ODA,” Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jerry Brown, command chief warrant officer for 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne), said in a release, adding that the new specialists will be able to leverage their specific field of knowledge within robotics to help the force as a whole.

The new 390A technicians will be assigned to tactical formations at the brigade and group level. As experts in autonomous warfare, they will advise commanders on how best to deploy autonomous systems during operations.

They will also be required to think quickly in the field to instantly propose solutions to any problems that may arise with robotics in the field, and to use their expertise to come up with innovative ways of using drones to reach objectives.

To prepare them for this role, 390A candidates are required to complete a 19-week course, where they must build drones from scratch that do not require GPS or radio frequencies to navigate.

The Army stated in a release that robotic systems assembled during the course will rely primarily on artificial intelligence and machine learning to navigate to targets.

Fiber optic cables also provide a way for drones to reach targets while being invulnerable to external signal interference, such as jamming. Known as “tethered drones,” cable-linked unmanned aircraft systems can use artificial intelligence for targeting and navigation while having a direct physical connection to their operator.

At the time of publication, the Army had not responded to questions about whether 390A candidates would be learning to build and field tethered drones.

“The Army is implementing changes in force structures, adding a multi-domain task force equipped with autonomous long-range fires,” Gen. Christopher LaNeve, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, said in a statement.

“These technical experts will help command teams understand integration across the force. We are scaling this across the Army.”

On March 27, when a missile hit Prince Sultan Air Base in Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia, Staff Sgt. Kalob Mitchell, Spc. Nicholas Cabo and Sgt. Xavier Jones, all with the 6th Battalion, 56th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division Artillery, sprang into action.

A 550-pound ballistic missile exploded yards from a bunker on base, filling it with dust and debris.

“We’re sitting there talking, and then all of a sudden, we didn’t hear anything, no sound at all. Everything went black, so we were hit,” Mitchell said in a recent release.

While expecting just another missile warning, the soldiers were thrown from their position and slammed against the opposing interior wall, forcing all three to lose consciousness. They had their initial medical evaluation later that day at the Role 2 Medical Facility on base.

“Woke up, checked on them. They were good. At that time, we heard screams from the opposite side of the bunker. Two Soldiers, I’m not too sure who they were, who had significant injuries; ran over there, applied tourniquets, T Triple C (Tactical Combat Casualty Care), everything,” Mitchell recounted.

Mitchell, Cabo and Jones applied a tourniquet to a severely wounded soldier, treated another with a neck injury and helped keep a disoriented soldier safe until it was safe to evacuate the bunker, per the release.

Despite their own injuries, the trio continued to assist others, carrying others out to an ambulance and helping a soldier whose leg was severely damaged, speculating that the soldier could have lost their life if not for the group.

Capt. Tyler Ritter, commander of 6-56 ADAR, 1st Cav. DIVARTY, received messages from the injured soldier saying, “Sir, your Soldiers saved my life. I thank God every day that these gentlemen survived. Their actions brought great credit upon the 6-56 Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division and III Armored Corps. These Soldiers are my heroes. May God bless them.”

Mitchell, Cabo and Jones’ service, described as the “ultimate description of what we mean when we talk about warfighting, readiness, grit and taking care of our Soldiers,” earned them each a Purple Heart during an Oct. 1 ceremony at the III Armored Corps headquarters building at Fort Hood, Texas.

“So honestly, it’s kind of cool,” Jones said in the release. “I don’t think any of us was like going for a Purple Heart because it actually sucked. Like that situation was horrible … When I saw it on my STP (Soldier Talent Profile), I was like, man, I never would have thought I would have got a Purple Heart. I never thought I was going to see anything like we saw.”

To his likely irritation, hordes of uniformed soldiers had gathered beneath the petite primate, filling his muddy underbrush with the heaving sound of heavy rucksacks and the smell of body odor that had been brewing in the moist terrain for days.

The soldiers, some wearing days-old green face paint, had congregated amongst the moist fauna to complete their final task in the U.S. Army’s Jungle Operations Training Course in Panama: The Green Mile.

The notorious event — in the thick of Panama’s “Green Hell” — is the 18-day course’s culminating exercise, testing participants’ newly learned jungle maneuver techniques, survival measures and fighting skills.

By that point in the course, the soldiers had run a days-long jungle reconnaissance and attack operation. That portion of the field exercise was complete, and perhaps to the howler monkey’s dismay, so were the soldiers’ attempts to stay quiet.

The course in 2025 returned to Panama at Base Aeronaval Cristóbal Colón, formerly known as the U.S. Army’s Fort Sherman, decades after it was originally shuttered.

The new course is a joint U.S.-Panamanian partnership, with Panamanian instructors leading lessons on jungle survival.

With staggered start times, each squad took off running down a soggy, uneven path. Squads in the September course had participants from across the U.S. force, including those from the Army, Marine Corps and Space Force.

Some squads had Panamanian soldiers. Other countries, such as Colombia, have expressed interest in sending soldiers in the near future.

In classes with Panamanian students, instruction is given in English and Spanish. When the course is English-only, the duration shrinks to 12 days, but without partners, officials say U.S. students can miss out on opportunities to connect with other forces.

Spc. Duncan Vaupel, a member of September’s jungle school course, said he talked with and learned from Panamanian troops who described treating soldiers who had lost legs and fighting gun battles in the jungle that stretched into the night.

“These guys not only teach it, but they live and breathe it, too,” he said.

The squad’s first major Green Mile task was to carry some of the service members’ rucks in a litter made from whatever they could find. Logs or long branches coupled with issued wet weather equipment — a poncho — did the trick.

During the course, participants are provided instructions on jungle first aid. They also practice with medical evacuation helicopters, transporting a casualty to some sliver of open sky where a medical team can send a rappel line down to hoist the injured soldier up. Jungle landing zones are few and far between.

Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Reeves, a combat medic and an instructor at the school, said that heat injuries are common because of the oppressive humidity and temperature.

Animal-related injuries are also widespread, he said. Wild, territorial bees are sensitive to loud noises and will defend their hives by attacking the camouflaged intruders.

“We do have wild bees down here that tend to get a lot of the students as they move throughout the jungle,” Reeves said. “I know we’ve had to evac a handful of students before to the aid station for bee stings, scorpion stings and a variety of insect bites.”

Once the section of muddy pathway came to an end, there was the sea to deal with.

Muddy boot after muddy boot sank into the swirling sand beneath unforgiving waves. Soldiers were instructed to file one behind the other, sometimes sinking waist-deep into the water as they skirted rocky outgrowths and navigated dense mangroves.

Fewer troop formations work in a jungle environment, said Lt. Col. Andrew Eagan, who oversees the Jungle Operations Training Center. Wedge formations, for example, do not work, he said.

“Here you fight in a column, you fight in a line, and the reason for that is the environment,” Eagan said. “The environment is so punishing.”

When the Green Mile took the service members back inland, the soldiers traded the wet coastline for brutal terrain.

Their next challenge? A hill so steep that it required crawling on hands and knees. With a grade impossible to climb with waterlogged rucks, the scrappier soldiers scaled ahead, breathlessly anchoring a rope bridge from the top so other soldiers could cling to it as they ascended while lugging the squad’s wet gear.

Soldiers slipped, ripping pants and filling scraggly fingernails with brown mud. Weapons became caked with slippery earth as they reached the peak.

During Eagen’s interview, he said Panama’s environment was the part of jungle school that U.S. students underestimated most. During The Green Mile, the true magnitude of the jungle’s hazards was revealed — relentlessly.

There was no walking down the other side of the hill, for instance. Course participants scooted or slid down on their rears, praying that their nether regions would not cross the path of a black palm — one of the treacherous plants students learn about in the jungle, in addition to the school’s flora and fauna blocks of instruction.

With pointy spikes that can reach up to 8 inches long, flaring from every inch of its trunk, soft flesh is no match for nature’s black needles.

Other plants, students learn, are edible and can help them survive in such harsh environs. Some of nature’s bounty, however, keeps the jungle students’ digestive systems unusually active.

2nd Sgt. Rubén Rodríguez, a Panamanian instructor for the course, said American students are often particularly hungry. They love to pick and eat coconuts for extra nourishment, he said.

Though delicious and healthy in moderation, coconuts can be laxatives in large quantities. The Americans’ frequent snacks, Rodríguez said, send them straight to the jungle bathroom.

As the troops progressed through the course, lanewalkers added full water jugs and ammo cans to soldiers’ loads. The extra weight pushed boots even deeper into the muddy ground.

Red-faced and exhausted, the squad hoisted the extra weight over and under the first leg of an obstacle course that represents the final, brutal stretch of the Green Mile.

The squad dragged themselves — and their equipment — through sticky, brown goop as they low-crawled beneath barbed wire. Soldiers tossed gear over a high wall before hurling their own bodies over after the dumped equipment.

Before the finish line, the squad trekked up another uneven hill — even more slowly than any hill they had summited before.

Once they hit concrete — and the familiar terrain near the schoolhouse’s campus — the jungle-battered squad had just minutes to sprint the last stretch of what was actually a four-plus-mile endeavor.

The instructors imposed a time cap on the event (because what is Army training without the addition of some artificial stress?).

As the afternoon sun beat down on the squad, the sprint slowed to a heavy shuffle.

One participant, who had been carrying extra weight, stifled a gag as he trod onwards.

In a haze of instructor-cracked purple smoke, the squad finished, collapsing in a heap under the shade of a cluster of trees.

Some soldiers emptied the water jugs over each other’s heads. Others lay spread-eagled in a lukewarm puddle of mud.

Two participants — one with a ripped pant seam exposing a dirty, pale leg — reveled in their success.

“It was a good time,” one said, looking at his friend.

After a millisecond of hesitation, the friend responded.

“Nah,” he said, shaking his head with a smile.

On Monday, his successor, Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle, took things back to the biblical book of Genesis in his first public speech to troops since assuming the role.

“Controlling land is fundamental to humanity,” he told a packed ballroom at the Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting. “The Army does it better than anyone, and it’s on us, the people in this room, to keep it that way. Humanity’s connection to the land is biblical, and it even transcends faith, since the dawn of creation, as recorded in Genesis.”

Telle, who previously served as the assistant secretary of the Army for public works, enlisted the Old Testament to preach a message of simplicity of purpose, invoking the sacred ground of past battlefields and the Army’s long history of protecting American territory.

“It makes me wonder why the United States Army, again the most lethal and dominant institution in human history, struggles to explain in common terms who we are in 2026, who we really are,” Telle said. “We’ve drowned ourselves and the public in buzzwords, strategies, slideshows, government acronyms and bureaucratic doublespeak — things that are advertised as revolutionary. But the Army’s value proposition is actually too fundamental for goofy corporate jargon.”

Though Telle’s rhetorical approach differed from Driscoll’s, he quickly made it clear that the Army was holding the course set by his predecessor, who resigned Aug. 31 over growing disagreements and friction with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Telle hailed the Army’s work to streamline acquisition and reduce roadblocks to getting soldiers the gear they need, citing the Army’s work to reduce service “fiefdoms” from thousands to a few newly named portfolio acquisition executives.

The service, he said, is moving away from what he called “compound self-interest,” or bureaucratic risk avoidance.

“We’re empowering a small number of teams to address our biggest mandates to make difficult trade-offs around speed, manufacturability and supply chain realities early, often and together,” he said. “This is how you generate compound soldier-interest. That’s the opposite of compound self-interest.”

He demonstrated the Pentagon’s new small drones online marketplace, likening it to Amazon.com and showing how soldiers could access it on their smartphones and leave reviews for future soldiers based on how well their gear worked.

Likewise, he compared the Army’s new online test range reservation system for industry, initiated under Driscoll, to the hotel reservation site Booking.com.

The site, he said, is like a “white-glove concierge service that allows innovators to get a reservation on the range faster.”

Officials have previously said the new system can accelerate companies’ range-testing schedules from as much as 18 months to 30 days.

Telle also reasserted the Army’s commitment to what the military has called a “right to repair,” meaning that it will demand open-architecture systems from all future vendors and limit industry’s ability to control intellectual property and charge a premium for fixes and spare parts.

“Right now, we’re sprinting to field low-cost interceptors with open architecture built in from the outset. We need these low-cost interceptors to shoot down missiles and drones headed our way,” Telle said. “We know we need thousands of these things, but they have to seamlessly connect to our network.

“If the data is trapped behind proprietary moats, and we have to call a contractor to decode the data, our superintelligent command and control doesn’t matter,” He continued. “Everything we buy from here on out will have open architecture; it’s non-negotiable.”

A ‘manufacturing rodeo’

Next, he said, the Army will launch a new project: a “manufacturing rodeo,” to be held early next year, that will put the service’s industrial base suppliers in competition with each other.

“We’ve invested a lot in our organic industrial base. Now we need to strain it in the nation’s larger industrial base,” Telle said. “We’re going to stress-test the supply chain, the manufacturing processes and see where it breaks.”

Telle did not provide specifics, such as the precise mechanism for competition or the challenges in which companies would be asked to compete.

“We’re going to learn by doing, not by sitting around postulating at the Pentagon,” he said. “We’re going to find the weak links. We’re going to make them stronger, and we’re going to keep iterating.”

Telle did not refer to Driscoll or allude to the fact that the service has no current Army secretary nominee. He did, however, address the “beautifully chaotic” system of American government, saying that while it wasn’t efficient, it centered human freedom and allowed for creativity and innovation.

“The United States Army laid the groundwork for that, and will continue to guarantee that it’s never extinguished. Meanwhile, the other team’s human spirit, its imagination, is bounded and boxed and regulated,” Telle said. “The United States of America is where the magic happens, where brilliant people turn science fiction into science fact, and you can’t flip a switch to turn that on.

“The Army’s work over the course of history has been so fundamental, so successful that the American spirit it unleashed is now the most important and potent force we have,” he continued. “It’s a potent force that the other guys don’t have.”

The announcement, made at the annual exposition for the Association of the United States Army, means the service will be increasing its fleet of ISVs by roughly 1,750%.

Company President Steve duMont praised his GM Defense’s ability to deliver on the fast-paced needs of the Army, touting the company’s ability to meet the demands of the “modern defense landscape” with “advanced capability, rapid fielding and sustainable scale.”

“By transferring GM’s world-class engineering, supply chain and manufacturing scale directly to the service member, we are transforming customer needs into mission-ready capability faster than ever before,” duMont said.

To illustrate the pace at which it operates, the company referenced how it delivered PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement housing components to Lockheed Martin in just 22 days. The company said the feat shows how “GM’s advanced casting and precision-fabrication capabilities can immediately scale” to deliver critical components.

Ahead of development of the ISV, GM worked closely with the Army to identify “a clear operational gap,” according to the company. It then used the information to self-fund the creation of an ISV-Utility prototype. In turn, the GM Defense delivered seven prototypes of the “highly versatile five-soldier variant” for unit-level assessments “at no cost” to the Army.

The company added that those variants will be fielded across 39 active-duty and National Guard mobile brigades.

Unlike traditional combat vehicles, the ISV does not have armor. In fact, the standard design doesn’t even have doors or windows.

The ISV and ISV-Heavy, which are modeled after GM’s Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 and Chevrolet Silverado HD 3500 ZR2, respectively, are designed to be adapted to changes on the battlefield rather than specific mission sets.

Using lessons learned from Ukraine, Army officials say the ISV will serve as a platform for newly established Mobile Brigade Combat Teams, or MBCTs, which are designed to quickly respond to evolving threats and the demands of large-scale combat operations.

At AUSA, GM Defense also unveiled concepts for an unmanned ground vehicle, or UGV, and an expeditionary energy storage system.

The UGV uses what the company described as “Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD dual-rear-wheel skateboard architecture” and is intended for “silent logistics and casualty evacuation.” GM Defense aims to begin testing the vehicle in 2027.

The company also showcased the EPIQ Hybrid prototype, an Army-inspired expeditionary energy storage system. According to GM Defense, the 60-kilowatt, 100-kilowatt-hour system is paired with an onboard generator designed to reduce thermal and noise signatures.

The brigade completed the Army’s first-ever helicopter test flights using the Advanced Inflight Relief Universal System, or AIRUS, at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, from Oct. 5 to 7. The testing examined the system’s airworthiness for use on Army helicopters.

Aircrews from 1-101 Attack Battalion “No Mercy,” 6-101 Assault Helicopter Battalion “Eagle Assault” and 7-101 Heavy Lift Battalion “Eagle Lift” completed human-factors surveys, checked AIRUS for fit and tested its ability to let them relieve themselves in flight. The crews believe AIRUS will help them stay in the air longer.

The brigade’s Holistic Health and Fitness, or H2F, team sought out AIRION, the aerospace medical systems company that developed AIRUS, to help reduce the number of pilots purposefully dehydrating themselves to limit the need for restroom breaks during missions.

“We had pilots tell us they tactically dehydrate,” Capt. Gena Baisa, lead dietitian for the 101st CAB H2F team, said per an Army release. “So, we thought, how can we get a system specifically designed to allow them to use the bathroom in air so they can stay hydrated and optimize their performance?”

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Collin McAllister, an AH-64 Apache pilot who tested AIRUS, said the system differs from previous systems that used bags containing coagulant, according to an Army account of the testing.

“As we look to fight in contested environments where we will need to stay a lot longer to support the ground force, this could be a great contribution,” McAllister said in the account.

Representatives from Redstone Arsenal observed the test to provide recommendations on AIRUS’ flight suitability. A critical aspect of the evaluation involved assessing how aircrews with different body types could move while wearing the system.

“We tested AIRUS to see its airworthiness and started with egress testing,” said Elizabeth Rhonenus, a human-factors engineer with the Aviation Flight Test Directorate, in the release. “We took our smallest participant around the fifth percentile and our largest around the 95th percentile and saw if they could get in and out of the aircraft safely.”

The testing marked a developmental milestone, transitioning the system into the Army’s rotary-wing fleet, according to the Army. It was AIRION’s first time testing with the Army and its first time testing the system on helicopters, according to Colt Seman, the company’s founder and chief executive officer.

“We tested to get the system integrated into the Apache, Black Hawk, and Chinook helicopters,” Seman said per the release. “The pilots were able to put on AIRUS, wear it, and be able to use it. It was comfortable, and it worked.”

Baisa said the brigade is preparing for upcoming missions, including the Long Range Large Scale Air Assault concept and the new MV-75 Cheyenne II helicopters’ ability to stay in flight longer.

“We are setting the foundation now to support the upcoming missions our Soldiers will face,” Baisa said. “Looking at L2A2 and the new MV-75 Cheyenne II helicopters’ ability to stay in flight longer, we want to improve Soldier readiness. The AIRUS is a capability that could help us achieve it across the enterprise.”

Speaking to reporters ahead of the Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting, the Army’s leader for offensive fires said that the mobile tactical cannon, made by Hanwha Defense USA, was on display at a first-of-its-kind “Army Modernization Day” held on Capitol Hill earlier this month.

“We’re excited to have that and get ready to test it,” said Brig. Gen. Robert J. “RJ” Mikesh Jr., portfolio management executive for offensive fires. “And get that soldier feedback, that we think is so important.”

The Army in August announced it had entered a prototyping contract with Hanwha for the Mobile Tactical Cannon, a 155mm self-propelled howitzer intended to replace the legacy M777 155mm howitzers that have been in service since 2005.

The four-year contract, worth up to nearly $263 million, covers procurement of up to 18 of the systems for “rapid prototyping, testing, and Soldier experimentation,” the Army said in August. It calls for “accelerated delivery” of the first six system prototypes and allows the Army to execute options for up to a dozen more.

While the service hadn’t released full details about the testing regimen, officials said a series of operational experiments would take place to ensure the systems could perform reliably in “realistic combat conditions.”

The Mobile Tactical Cannon, which was contracted through an Other Transaction Authority agreement, is based on Hanwha’s K9 mobile howitzers, which have been employed by the South Korean military since 1999 and now have variants operating in 10 other countries, making up more than half of all self-propelled howitzers in service around the world.

The company announced at the time of the contract award that it was building an integration and test site in Opelika, Alabama, to develop and roll out the cannons.

“What enabled that was this close partnership under the PAE construct and trying new and novel ways of contracting,” Mikesh said Thursday. “In this case, we were not going after a clean-sheet design; we were looking for mature and available technologies. We opened our aperture for companies around the world, knowing that they’d have to onshore production within two years. That howitzer is now on contract.”

The Army has said in budget solicitations that its fielding effort for the new self-propelled howitzers will focus initially on Stryker Brigade Combat Teams, followed by Mobile and Infantry Brigade Combat Teams. And while the solicitation that received the Hanwha contract is for a wheeled self-propelled howitzer, the Army in late August published a new solicitation for a tracked variant of the Mobile Tactical Cannon. Hanwha officials told Breaking Defense they’re seeking to fill that requirement as well.

Army budget request documents for fiscal 2027 illuminate an additional testing role for the Mobile Tactical Cannon: It will facilitate work in the Army’s 155mm Artillery Propulsion Modernization project, designed to improve range and performance by pursuing novel propulsion technologies and advancements in “propelling charge, modular charge, ignition systems, propellant, and packaging solutions.”

“Solutions will be integrated into a system of systems capability to ensure interoperability, closing fires capability gaps to destroy or neutralize artillery targets out to 70 kilometers,” the document states.

The M777 has an effective range of under 24 kilometers, or about 15 miles, and up to 40 kilometers, or 25 miles, with the extended-range Excalibur round. The K9, a 52-caliber system, has a range of more than 60 kilometers, or about 37 miles.

Army leaders have said they want to field a ready version of the Mobile Tactical Cannon by 2031.

The companies first teamed up earlier this year to pair Nammo’s munitions with Vector’s unmanned aircraft. The expanded agreement aims to scale that work to help address what the companies describe as a growing need for drones that can deliver more than just explosive payloads.

Andy Yakulis, Vector’s chief executive officer and co-founder, called the partnership “highly complementary” because together they produced a system that reflects “the realities of how warfighters will employ them.”

“The battlefield is demanding unmanned systems that can do more than simply carry a payload,” he said, adding that their systems will be produced at scale and “continuously improved based on real-world requirements.”

According to Vector’s website, the Utah-based company launched in 2024 with three veterans, including Yakulis, as well as the founder of Teal Drones, which was later acquired by Red Cat and awarded millions in military contracts for short-range reconnaissance drones.

Vector also supplies a High Voltage Electronic Safe Arm Device, or HV-ESAD, that serves as the electronic interface between the drone and its munition. According to both companies, the device enables the safe integration and controlled use of compatible munitions.

Vector has a drone listed on the Defense Department’s Blue List, which includes unmanned aircraft systems that have undergone the department’s relevant assessment and approval process for military use.

The company also placed in the top five in the latest round of the Defense Department’s Drone Dominance program, a billion-dollar initiative to procure affordable small drones that can be manufactured at scale.

Andy Schreiner, the president and general manager of Nammo, said the “expanded agreement will benefit warfighters defending freedom globally” because it combines “Nammo’s proven expertise in munitions, energetics, and advanced manufacturing with Vector’s unmanned systems capabilities.”

Nammo, a Norwegian defense manufacturer with U.S. operations headquartered in Arizona, specializes in ammunition, shoulder-fired weapons and rocket motors. According to its website, its products range from small-arms ammunition to tank rounds.

“We are bringing together complementary strengths to accelerate the development and production of integrated solutions that can evolve with warfighter requirements,” Schreiner said.

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.”

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.”

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.

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 $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.