ORCHARD COMBAT TRAINING CENTER, Idaho — A heavy-lift drone climbed into 25 mph gusts above the high desert June 22, carrying a live Bangalore torpedo toward a wire obstacle. For combat engineers, breaching that kind of obstacle is one of the most dangerous missions on the battlefield. Army doctrine accounts for that risk with a 50 percent casualty planning factor for a deliberate breach. This time, no Soldier had to sprint forward to place the charge. Soldiers from Bravo Company, 741st Brigade Engineer Battalion, 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oregon Army National Guard, used a drone-delivered Bangalore torpedo to breach the wire obstacle on Range 22. The drone released the charge, shock tube unspooled behind it and the Soldiers took cover before the Bangalore detonated, opening a lane through the wire. The proof of concept marked the close of a months-long innovation effort by the 741st BEB’s drone working group. Battalion commander Lt. Col. Eric Zimmerman established the group with a directive to defeat a wire obstacle using a commercial off-the-shelf or similar drone during the battalion’s annual training. The working group’s research found no precedent for the tactic in the U.S. Army. “Mostly Ukraine,” Zimmerman said when asked what…
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MorePresident Donald Trump on Thursday withdrew Casey Means’s nomination for surgeon general. The announcement came after nearly 11 months of Senate inaction on the nomination, as Senate health committee members Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AL) would not say whether they would vote…
FirstSpear Friday Focus: Ragged Old Flag Long Sleeve T-Shirt The RAGGED OLD FLAG LONG SLEEVE T-SHIRT isn’t about flash—it’s about what you stand for. Built for those who carry the mission off the clock, it features a worn American flag forged into the FirstSpear mark—subtle, but unmistakable. Made from a durable…
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ADELPHI, Md. — The U.S. Army’s Catalyst Pathfinder program began driving bottom-up innovation at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Johnson, Louisiana in March and will continue with about one rotational training unit each month. The program is integrating Soldier-driven technologies into large-scale combat operations, supporting both rotational units…
Adlington, United Kingdom: As the UK Government looks to secure a resilient domestic supply chain, Pincroft Dyeing & Printing and Toray Textiles Europe Ltd have responded to the need for printed woven technical textiles for the UK defence sector. Both companies are established suppliers to NATO military programmes and are…
MDM 26 – TRS Brass ARCA Rail The Right Size 12″ Universal ARCA Rail from Victor Company is offered in Raw, Black, Silver and Special Gray. ARCA compatible, it features a tapered design and adds 5.5oz to your rifle. With a knurled bottom plate it is MLOK compatible. Attaches to…
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Surge Capacity: How Anduril Delivered a Month of Production in a Week In under a week in March 2026, Anduril delivered more than a full month’s of Pulsar production output off the shelf and directly into active operations for two U.S. government customers. These systems were immediately installed for fixed-site…
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1 in 10 Have No Plan New DroneShield Report Reveals Serious Gaps in Airport, Critical Infrastructure Counter-Drone Security29 June 2026 – New research released today finds that unauthorized drone activity has moved well beyond a theoretical threat, according to international airports, aviation authorities, correctional facilities, and port operators across North…
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MoreMultidomain operations require advanced approaches to effectively coordinate and integrate each domain. As an all-domain system house, Rheinmetall offers platforms, systems, and services on land, in the air, in space, at sea, and in the cyber and information domains. Furthermore, Rheinmetall acts as a digital systems integrator that orchestrates multidomain…
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Following American strikes on Iran, Tehran struck U.S. bases in the Middle East early Sunday as the future of peace negotiations outlined in a June 17 interim agreement remained uncertain. In a post on Truth Social published Saturday night, President Donald Trump said, “There may come a point when we…
GROTON, Conn., June 25, 2026 — ThayerMahan, Inc. has been awarded a contract to deliver dozens of Outpost® acoustic intelligence payloads, along with TransparenSea® processing software, to an international defense customer. The award represents one of the largest fielded deployments of unmanned acoustic sensing systems supporting persistent undersea surveillance and…
LAS VEGAS, Nevada – To secure mission dominance in a future, contested environment, the Joint Force must make decisions faster than any adversary. This imperative was the driving force behind the Multi-Decision Advantage Sprint for Human-Machine Teaming, or MASH, a complex, two-week experiment recently hosted in Las Vegas. Building on the…
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This is a developing story. The U.S. conducted strikes against radar and drone storage sites on the Iranian coast late Friday New York time, per a CENTCOM statement. The statement described the strikes as a retaliation for an Iranian attack on a Singapore-flagged vessel in the Strait of Hormuz Thursday.…
After the U.S. launched strikes on Iranian territory Friday, Iran responded early Saturday with strikes on Gulf states which host U.S. bases, and another suspected Iranian drone attack on a tanker was reported in the Strait of Hormuz, as negotiations to reach a final settlement to end the Iran War…
Strengthening NATO’s Eastern Flank: Romania Orders Skyranger 35 Air Defence Systems from Rheinmetall The technology group Rheinmetall has achieved another significant success in the field of ground-based air defence (GbAD) systems. The Romanian government has awarded the company a contract to supply Skyranger 35 air defence systems. This contract is…
LBT Wants To Hear Your Gear Stories We want to hear from our favorite people! If our gear has ever been an asset to you in your military service tell us about it. We’d love to tell your story! Send it to marketing@lbtinc.com with subject line: LBT STORY Read the…
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. – U.S. Strategic Command’s Joint Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations Center is launching ETHEREAL FORGE, a new initiative designed to accelerate the deployment of advanced electromagnetic warfare capabilities and strengthen operational effectiveness in the electromagnetic spectrum Through this effort, the JEC is conducting rapid, iterative testing and…
