Category Archives: modern military conflict

HST out, JFK (almost) in

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With a $20 billion outlay of taxpayer dollars this week, the Navy is getting two flattops, kinda.

This week, the service issued a big-fat Refueling and Complex Overhaul award to HII in Newport News for USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). The eighth Nimitz-class aircraft carrier was built at Newport News over 54 months, from November 1993 to June 1998, for $4.5B at the time.

Her RCOH, which will give her another 25-30 years of life, is expected to run (at least) 48 months until November 2031 and cost just under $5.2B.

Per DOD

Huntington Ingalls Inc., Newport News, Virginia, is awarded a $5,099,973,132 fixed-ceiling incentive contract for the accomplishment of the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) refueling and complex overhaul. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $5,183,380,744. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia and is expected to be completed by November 2031.Fiscal 2026 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $547,826,087 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. In accordance with 10 U.S. Code 3204(a)(1), this contract was not competitively procured. Only one responsible source, Huntington Ingalls Inc., Newport News, Virginia, has the knowledge, experience, and facilities required to accomplish this without an unacceptable disruption of Navy-wide overhaul and repair schedule. Portfolio Acquisition Executive Maritime, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-26-C-2175).

JFK, inbound

Also this week, HII announced that it had achieved preliminary acceptance of the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), the second Ford-class carrier, and, so far, has cost $13.2B.

Preliminary acceptance, the final step before formal delivery to the U.S. Navy, allows the Navy to begin underway test and evaluation of Kennedy’s unique systems and for the crew to gain operational proficiency. CVN 79 successfully completed acceptance trials in August.

JFK is expected to commission in March 2027.

Where are the other carriers?

The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group with CVW-11 aboard just got underway from the West Coast, bound for the Middle East, replacing her sister, the exhausted Abraham Lincoln, which has been underway for over 300 days.

USS George H.W. Bush and sister USS George Washington remain in and around the 5th Fleet’s AOR, conducting operations against Iran.

USS Carl Vinson is in San Diego and just completed her eight-month Planned Incremental Availability (PIA) in July. Expect her to deploy soon.

USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (Ike) is working up along the Virginia Coast, and recently lost a VAQ-130 Growler but not its crew.

Nimitz, the grand old lady, has officially finished her last cruise but is still “around” for training tasks out of Norfolk as she heads towards deactivation. Expect her to remain loosely available but running on two angry electrons duct-taped inside her reactors until JFK commissions.

Offline: 

USS Ronald Reagan is wrapping up a major 18-month Docking Planned Incremental Availability (DPIA) maintenance period at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, where she has been since last Spring.

USS Gerald R. Ford, suffering from a brutal deployment and a fire that was apparently bigger than anyone knew, just started her own at least eight-month PIA at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.

USS John C. Stennis is still mired in her RCOH at Newport News, which she started back in May 2021. Her expected redelivery is targeted for late 2026 / early 2027.

For Some Recruits, the M-1 Garand is still Used for Extra Motivation

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I always loved this July 1974 National Geographic image by David Alan Harvey of Sheila E. Denison, one of the first early coed Officer Candidate School class members at USCG TRACEN Yorktown, cleaning her M1 Garand while touching up her hair.

The 10.5-pound wooden-stocked Garand, officially the U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, was used by every class at the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey, for half a century, only replaced by the M16/M4 in the early 2000s.

However, for those (un)lucky enough to find themselves in Cape May’s Recruit Aptitude and Motivation Program, or RAMP, “The Greatest Battle Implement Ever Devised” gets pulled out of the armory to add some emphasis to the daily program.

As these images, captured in September, show USCG Company Commanders providing RAMP recruits with “enhanced and personalized training in order for them to succeed.”

(U.S. Coast Guard photos by Petty Officer 3rd Class Danielle Layton and Seaman Juliana Thornton)

According to the GAO, in 2024, the attrition rate for recruits at Cape May was about 15 percent —higher than in most of the larger services, which average about 11 percent. RAMP aims to turn that around a bit.

Of course, the Coast Guard isn’t the only service still using the Garand, as the WWII icon still often appears in service academy and ROTC training programs, in heritage events such as those hosted by the “Old Guard” of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment, at the CMP’s National Matches in the hands of military competitors, and, last but not least, with the Silent Drill Platoon of the Marines.

“The United States Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon, Alpha Company, Marine Barracks Washington, execute the ‘bursting bomb’ sequence at the UFC Freedom 250 Fan Fest at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., on June 13, 2026. The 24-Marine rifle platoon executed a series of calculated drill movements and precise handling of their hand-polished, 10.5-pound M1 Garand rifles with fixed bayonets, all without a single verbal command. The unique precision drill exhibition showcased the uncompromising attention to detail and rigid discipline that exemplify the United States Marine Corps.” (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Brynn L. Bouchard)

A South of the Border Option for the Marine Rocket Batteries?

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In the aftermath of Hurricane Polo in the Pacific, which crossed over Baja California, the Mexican Navy has dispatched a relief force to include the 2,933-strong Brigadas de Respuesta a Emergencias and the camouflaged Buque de Apoyo Logístico (Logistics Support Vessel) ARM Isla Tiburon (BAL-01), complete with an Fuerza AeroNaval Mil Mi-8 “Hip” aboard, of which the service owns 22.

Thus:

While she looks like a WWII-era LST, Isla Tiburon and her sister, ARM Isla Holbox (BAL-02), are fairly new, built in 2010-13 at ASTIMAR in Oaxaca.

At 3,600 tons and 327 feet overall, they are the largest Mexican Navy ships built domestically.

Powered by twin 1,750 BHP diesels, they can make 12 knots and remain underway for 60 days. Carrying two LCVPs in addition to a bow ramp for beach landings, they have a large central helipad for a decent-sized helo or two (see previously mentioned 12-ton Hip).

They have an 80-man crew and sufficient weight and space to carry five WWII-vintage 40mm L60 Bofors for self-defense.

Note the LCVPs alongside her stern and her bow ramp in a very shallow sand beachline, along with three helos on deck. 

The country has a long history with LSTs, having acquired three LST-542/LST-491-class ships (ex-USS Park County, Clearwater County, and Megara) from the U.S. surplus in the early 1970s, which they operated for 30 years. They still run two 1970s-vintage Newport-class LSTs they picked up in 2003: ARM Rio Papaloapan (A 411), ex-USS Newport (LST-1179), and ARM Usumacinta (A 412), ex-USS Frederick (LST-1184).

Currently, the U.S. Navy is moving forward with a Dutch (Damen) design for the first of up to 35 very similarly sized LSMs to schlep Marine Littoral Regiments around the Nine-Dash Line in the near future. A program sure to be a boondoggle if NAVSEA has its way, and it historically has.

The Damen LST 100 design, which was picked last December to be the Navy LSM– coming to a shipyard near you

Perhaps a proven design from south of the border could be a better option.

Scratch another Fig-7

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Gaze upon this beautiful new “long hull” Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided missile frigate USS Klakring (FFG 42) underway on 28 June 1983 during her builder’s trials off Maine prior to commissioning later that August.

Gotta love that “one-armed bandit” launcher on her bow.

Bath Iron Works Corp. photo via National Archives, Identifier 6405085, Navy Assigned Identifier DNSC8605676

The first naval vessel named for famed WWII submarine skipper and Yankee Wolfpack leader RADM Thomas Burton “Burt” Klakring who earned three (3) Navy Crosses and a Silver Star during WWII, the frigate herself made a bit of history, participating in Earnest Will/Prime Chance during the Iran-Iraq War, made 20 overseas deployments, was one of the first ships to vet the MQ-8 FireScout VTOL-UAV at sea, and in seizing 3,850 gallons of liquid cocaine while on JTF-South/4th Fleet tasking in 2013.

Decommissioned and stricken in 2013, she has been in mothballs for the past 13 years and, as part of Op Atlantic Thunder 2026, was expended during a SINKEX on 21 September 2026 by the U.S. and Royal Navy in deep water (+1,000 fathoms) some 150 miles off the coast of the Hebrides in Scotland.

The Flight IIA Burke-class destroyer USS Paul Ignatius (DDG 117) opened the engagement with an SM-6 fired at its maximum (undisclosed) anti-surface range. The 140-pound frag warhead is seen doing a good bit of damage and would probably have been an effective “mission kill” on its own against the 4,000-ton FFG.

The Type 23 (Duke) class frigate HMS Portland (F 79), fresh out of a mid-life LIFEX overhaul, fired a Naval Strike Missile (NSM). Of note, Portland is only the second RN ship to carry NSM.

A Royal Navy Wildcat helicopter launched an MBDA Sea Venom/ANL, the first time the Royal Navy’s new light (275-pound) anti-ship missiles have been fired at a real warship.

USAF F-15E Strike Eagles also struck the target with undisclosed ordnance before the Virginia-class submarine USS Massachusetts (SSN 798) administered the coup de grace with a Mk 48 (or higher?) torpedo.

For this sinking, the UK Defence Journal noted, “Particular interest is placed on uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs) able to perform underwater battle damage assessment after the strike.”

Of the 71 FFG-7s completed for the U.S. and allied fleets, 35 are still in service overseas (both Turkey and Taiwan, for instance, have eight apiece), with just five laid up stateside in the NISMF, awaiting disposal.

  • ex-USS Taylor (FFG-50)
  • ex-USS Elrod (FFG-55)
  • ex-USS Simpson (FFG-56) (The final U.S. Navy FFG-7 to decommission)
  • ex-USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58)
  • ex-USS Kauffman (FFG-59)

The snuff film of Klakring being taken out, with terrible music, is below from Navy Lookout.

Grey Wolf has achieved IOC

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A 582nd Helicopter Group MH-139 Grey Wolf takes off near Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, Feb. 19, 2026. The 582 HG supports USSTRATCOM’s strategic deterrence mission by enabling airborne security and rapid response capabilities for missile wings across Air Force Global Strike Command. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Nicholas Rowe)

Air Force Global Strike Command announced that the MH-139A Grey Wolf officially achieved Initial Operational Capability on August 10, ushering in a new era of modernization for AFGSC’s nuclear security operations.

An American-made (by Boeing) Leonardo AW139, the Air Force is buying 84 of these sleek choppers at about $21M a pop (although commercial AW139s run like $11M) to replace its elderly Hueys in the three operational squadrons (37th, 40th, and 54th) of the 582nd HG for ICBM field security and convoy use, with extras flown for training/support by the 703rd HS and 413th FTS.

Not sure why $15M UH-60s or $11.5M UH-72s couldn’t do the task, but you have to admit they look sweet. Oh, and they cost a bit less than the $28M fly-away of a UH-1Y Venom as flown by the Marines.

This milestone marks the historic transition from the Vietnam-era UH-1N Huey, a platform that served the Air Force for more than five decades.

The MH-139 Grey Wolf boasts significant capability upgrades: it is nearly 50 percent faster, can carry twice as many troops, and features enhanced defensive systems. These advancements allow security forces to mobilize combat power and arrive on-site sooner than the legacy platform.

Cue that beautiful viz-modded Bell 222. You know you are already thinking it.

Dusting off the Moonlight Charge and putting an IR net on it

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This is the world-famous and instantly recognizable Household Cavalry Regiment, a unit which dates back to 1660, if not earlier.

The HCR is made up of The Life Guards and The Blues & Royals, divided into the Household Cavalry Regiment and the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.

For reference, the last time the HCR rode horses during wartime was when patrolling British Palestine in 1940, just prior to becoming mechanized.

Their last horse-mounted cavalry charge was the famed “Moonlight Charge” at Kassassin in the Anglo-Egyptian War in August 1882, “just” 144 short years ago.

The Moonlight Charge of Kassassin by the Household Cavalry, 1882 by G. W. Bacon. The outcome of the battle was in the balance until the arrival of British reinforcements just as darkness began to fall. The Household Cavalry composite regiment charged the Egyptian infantry, who soon abandoned their guns. The composite regiment consisted of a squadron from each of the 1st Life Guards, 2nd Life Guards, Royal Horse Guards and 7th Dragoon Guards with four guns of the Royal Horse Artillery.

This is also the HCR, who, when they aren’t on public service duties with the London Garrison, run around in Ajax and Warrior AFVs performing an armored recon role in the British 3rd Deep Strike (Armored) Brigade.

The horse barracks is in Hyde Park, while the Ajaxes run out of Bulford Camp (Ward Barracks), about 75 miles to the west of London.

In recent memory, the HCR served in the Falklands, Bosnia, and the Sandbox.

FV101 Scorpion light tank, of the HCR’s Blues and Royals, at San Carlos during the Falklands War, May 1982. 

However, this is also the HCR recently, running about the Longmoor Training Area in Hampshire and in the woods beside Sandhurst, where they have been exploring mounted reconnaissance, concealment, and moving through tough terrain where horses can outperform armored vehicles.

Via the Times

Via the Times

Via the Times

Yup, the force is exploring the possibility of using horses on the battlefield in the near future. It doesn’t sound so strange when you think of it.

With the rapid expansion of IR optics down to the individual soldier level and drones over every treetop, it turns out that good old-fashioned tech like horse cavalry and towed field guns are now back in fashion.

“The infrared thermal imaging is now pretty ubiquitous,” HCR Lieutenant-Colonel Ben McNeil told the Times.  “A horse can move in a more natural profile than any armoured vehicle can.” It might be mistaken for wildlife. In woodland, with drones patrolling overhead, “there’s a better chance of you getting from A to B with a horse than … with a Challenger 2 tank,” he said.

The Brits are just taking cues from the rest of Europe right now.

Besides reports that the Russians are using horse-mounted infantry in assaults on Ukrainian outposts and the fact that countries like Austria, Poland and Switzerland still have specialized tactical units using horses.

Check out these images of Swiss Militärpolizeischule patrols, complete with horses in multi-spectral camo netting, designed especially to defeat NV and IR.

Everything old is new again…

Digesting the Bay of Little Piggys

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While the failed CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion by 1,400 Brigade 2506 Cuban exiles in April 1961 is a well-known Cold War fiasco, the much more recent February 2026 shootout between 10 Floridamen on a 24-foot boat and Cuba’s Border Guards is much murkier.

At least until now.

The story, from The Belly of the Beast, includes being recruited on TikTok (welcome to 2026), coordination on WhatsApp, training on a 13-acre farm in South Florida, and packing 25 guns and 13,000 rounds of ammo (none of it loaded into said firearms!) into a 24-foot Pro-Line and blundering right into a Cuban Border post at Cayo Bahía de Cádiz just after dawn, then firing first on said Cuban Border toughs.

Sigh.

It makes for an interesting read.

Locate, close with, and destroy

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You have to love this line of the Camp Lejeune-based 3/6 Marines in a slow-walk live-fire line while underway in the Caribbean.

Official caption:

Sighted In! U.S. Marines with Battalion Landing Team 3/6, 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), conduct live-fire drills aboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7), while underway in the Caribbean Sea, Sep. 17, 2025, during Deployment 25-26. U.S. military forces are deployed to the Caribbean in support of the U.S. Southern Command mission, Department of War-directed operations, and the President’s priorities.

CARIBBEAN SEA - U.S. Marines with Battalion Landing Team 3/6, 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), conduct live fire drills aboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7), while underway in the Caribbean Sea, Sep. 17, 2025. U.S. military forces are deployed to the Caribbean in support of the U.S. Southern Command mission, Department of War-directed operations, and the president’s priorities. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Tanner Bernat)

USMC Photo by Sgt. Tanner Bernat.

Rifles all seem to be the M27 IAR (HK 416 piston gun assembled in Georgia), almost all are seen with PEQ-15 target pointers, the Squad Common Optic (Trijicon VCOG 1-8×28), and KAC QDSS NT4 suppressors. Also note the near-universal use of a single belt-mounted mag carrier off-hand (in addition to the six on the plate carrier) as well as a left-rear SSE bag/dump pouch.

Formed 14 August 1917, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines deployed to France just two months later and earned its “Teufelhunden” (Devil Dogs) nickname against the Germans, fighting eyeball-to-eyeball at Aisne-Marne, Saint-Mihiel, and the Meuse-Argonne with the 2nd U.S. Infantry Division– keeping an Indian Head on its patch to mark this time. They also earned a French Croix de Guerre and Fourragère for their war “Over There.”

Reactivated for WWII, the unit initially garrisoned Iceland, then was folded into the 2nd MarDiv for Guadalcanal, the Southern Solomons, Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa. Cold War operations included Lebanon, the DR for Power Pack in 1962, Panama for Just Cause, Desert Sheild/Storm, Mogadishu in 94, the Haitan Vacation (also in 94), and numerous trips to the sandbox during GWOT.

As with every Marine unit, their stated mission is to

Locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver or repel the enemy’s assault with fire and close combat

The future of war?

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Kind of scary-looking, not going to lie.

Official caption: A drone swarm launches during the XVIII Airborne Corps’ Exercise Scarlet Dragon 26-3 at Fort Bragg, N.C., Sept. 16, 2026. The exercise used layered aerial attacks to test sensor, command-and-control, and air defense integration under realistic conditions.

Photo by Army Sgt. Noe Cork, VIRIN: 260916-A-UV759-1725

During the event:

Coordinated swarms of 25 to 100 drones flew in tactical formations to stress sensors, software, and air defense crews. Scarlet Dragon’s operational stress test stacked those threats with other unmanned aircraft system profiles to evaluate the network under battlefield-like pressure.

Drones synchronize before a swarm flight during the XVIII Airborne Corps’ Scarlet Dragon 26-3 at Fort Bragg, N.C., Sept. 16, 2026. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Noe Cork)

At least the Army is “looking to the sky,” so to speak.

Wouldn’t be a bad idea to take it nationwide, down to the USCG Aux, CAP, NWS SkyWarn Spotter, and JROTC level…

Fall 2026 issue of Armor Magazine is here

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The 64-page Fall 2026 issue of Armor magazine (the Mounted Maneuver Journal) is available online for free (read or download).

The cover article, “Indispensable Iron” by COL Bryan Bonnema, MAJ Aram Hatfield, and CSM Greg Swayer, describes the importance of the ABCT and cautions against the temptation to substitute lighter formation or standoff fires for the capabilities that the ABCT provides.

Enjoy!

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