A senior defense official said Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks was not notified until Thursday that Austin had been hospitalized since Jan. 1. A soldier critically injured in a drone attack in Iraq on Christmas is slowly recovering. A wearables pilot will track an entire brigade's fitness through smart wrist devices, chest straps and rings. The Army will pare down its fleet of Black Hawk helicopters as end strength falls and the service prepares to field its replacement. After an early test, crews have scheduled more experiments for next year. The accident safety report on the April 27 crash near Healy, Alaska, was released in response to a records request from The Associated Press. A platoon at Fort Moore, Georgia and another at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California, lead experiments. Hay serves as a cavalry scout with 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment, 173rd Airborne. Staff Sgt. Tanner W. Grone was one of five Army special operations aviators killed when their helicopter crashed in the Mediterranean Sea on Nov. 10. Soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division recently wrapped a two-week island-hopping exercise in Hawaii. Load More