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Space Force broadens security-launch roster with Relativity Space and Impulse Space
2 days ago•Source: SpaceNews
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2.48 min•9 days ago
Sailor Missing as Navy Helicopter Crashes Near USS George H.W. Bush in Arabian Sea
An MH-60S helicopter assigned to USS George H.W. Bush ditched in the Arabian Sea at 3:30 a.m. ET; three crew were recovered and are in stable condition aboard the carrier, while one aircrewman remains missing as searches continue; the cause is under investigation with no indication of hostile action.
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Submarine Torpedo Sinks Decommissioned US Ship During Multinational Pacific Drill
Defense News•10 days ago
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Japan Sub Torpedo Sinks Decommissioned US Ship in Valiant Shield Live-Fire Drill
Navy Times•10 days ago
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Carrier Tracker: June 29, 2026 — SINKEX, RIMPAC prep, and global naval movements
Carrier Tracker for June 29, 2026 shows a busy US Navy schedule: USS George Washington and CVW-5 conducted a live-fire SINKEX against the decommissioned USS Juneau during Valiant Shield 2026 near Guam; USS Theodore Roosevelt arrived at Pearl Harbor ahead of RIMPAC 2026; USS Nimitz led FLEETEX 250 in the Atlantic and is bound for the International Naval Review in New York, with MQ-25A Stingray and CMV-22B Osprey on deck; Eisenhower continues carrier qualifications off the East Coast; Carl Vinson underway on the West Coast; Abraham Lincoln and George H. W. Bush remain on station in the 5th Fleet; note positions are general approximations.
Arctic Sky Intercept: Norway’s F-35s Shadow Russian Tu-160 Bombers
Norwegian F-35A fighters shadowed two Russian Tu-160 bombers for a 16-hour patrol over the Barents, Norwegian, and Baltic regions, escorted by MiG-31Bs and an Il-78M tanker; NATO aircraft from Norway, France and Portugal conducted separate intercepts of related Russian assets, underscoring ongoing high-tension aerial activity near NATO airspace.
Allied Fleet Drills Kick Off Valiant Shield 2026 and RIMPAC in the Western Pacific
A week of major Western Pacific maneuvers sees the US-led Valiant Shield 2026 and Rim of the Pacific 2026 unfold with carrier strike groups, submarines, and advanced unmanned systems, involving Japan, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and other partners across Guam, Japan, the CNMI, and the Indian Ocean. The drills feature anti-submarine warfare, air and missile defense, joint air operations, and interoperability tests, set against continued regional tensions from China, Russia, and North Korea, as well as related transit and maneuver activities by PLAN, JMSDF, and allied forces.
Military Leaders Sought Flu Shots Ahead of Training-Base Outbreak
Weeks before a flu outbreak swept through an Air Force basic training wing in San Antonio, leaders from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for permission to vaccinate recruits after he lifted the flu vaccine requirement in April; approval arrived on June 16, by which time the outbreak was already underway.
Military Reinstates Flu Vaccination Mandate as Recruit Outbreak Expands
Amid a growing influenza outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base's Basic Military Training, the Pentagon is reimposing flu-shot requirements for new recruits across the Army, Navy, and Air Force; the current recruiting class will be vaccinated, and exemptions to the prior voluntary policy are expected to widen, with potential expansion of mandates to deployed troops and healthcare personnel.
Ukraine’s drones tighten the net on Crimea’s supply lines with precise bridge strikes
Ukraine’s expanding medium‑range drone campaign is delivering increasingly precise blows to Russian supply lines on the Crimea isthmus, repeatedly striking road and railway bridges including the Rozdolne north‑Crimean Canal crossing and disrupting repairs as Sevastopol experiences outages. The effort, tracked by OSINT channels, is shaping debate on whether Ukraine will target the Crimean Bridge itself while Russia reinforces with pontoon crossings and embankments. The report also covers related strikes on Voronezh and Bryansk targets with Storm Shadow/SCALP‑EG missiles and tallies of equipment losses on both sides, according to Oryx data.
Flu vaccine mandate returns as military battles outbreak at Lackland
After a flu outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base sickened about 222 recruits (four hospitalizations; one death, cause unclear), the Army, Navy, and Air Force reinstated mandatory influenza vaccination for basic trainees, reversing Defense Secretary Hegseth’s earlier stance that shots were optional. The Pentagon says exemptions were reviewed to protect readiness; the Air Force plans to vaccinate all recruits at the base, and the Army may extend the policy to other groups. Only about 40% of new Air Force trainees at Lackland were vaccinated, highlighting ongoing vaccination debates in the military.
Donahue to relinquish top US Army Europe-Africa post amid leadership shakeup
Gen. Christopher Donahue, who has led U.S. Army Europe and Africa since December 2024 and was famed as the last soldier out of Afghanistan in 2021, is stepping down amid a broader wave of senior military departures under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, with the change expected to be announced soon.
Frontline anti-drone corridors expand at about 9 km per day
Ukraine has built over 887 km of anti-drone road protection since early 2026, with 207 km in Kherson Oblast, and is expanding at about 9.2 km per day. The system uses overhead nets, wire-mesh canopies, and barriers to shield key front-line routes from Russian FPV drones, with more than 600 km of additional corridors planned across Donetsk, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Sumy. Between May and June 2026, 198 km of front-line roads were restored and 13 bridge crossings in Kherson re-opened after 2022 de-occupation. The cost is roughly $40,000 per kilometer, aimed at saving lives, safeguarding supplies, and evacuating the wounded.
China’s Shenlong spaceplane may have deployed an object into orbit, observers report
LeoLabs says China’s secretive Shenlong reusable spaceplane released an unknown object into a roughly 593-km circular low Earth orbit during its fourth mission, with the object first seen by Kiwi Space Radar in New Zealand and not yet catalogued in Space Force’s database as of reporting.