I left both Iraq and Afghanistan with a profound respect for the human cost of war, not just for American service members but for the populations of those countries. War is not clean, and the people who bear the longest burden are rarely the ones who made the decisions.
The combined award value is up to $3.2 billion, and the industry partners selected include big names like Anduril, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman, along with firms such as Booz Allen Hamilton and Turion Space Corp.
The U.S. and its allies have expended a great deal of their arsenal in the past few years. It simply does not matter if there's a peace deal tomorrow, because those weapons must be stockpiled again and then some.
Gen. Dan Caine stated that autonomous weapons are going to be a 'key and essential part of everything we do' in future warfare, indicating a significant shift in military strategy.
Lord Robertson stated, 'We need to sort of round up those who are available, fit, and willing to be able to do it.' This emphasizes the urgency of engaging former service personnel in the strategic reserve.
Retired Army Special Forces officer Mike Nelson criticized Hegseth's rhetoric, stating, 'That's a necessary end to achieve goals through military force - you have to kill people to achieve them. That's not the end. It's a weird obsession with death for the sake of it.'
The economics are hard to ignore. Shooting down a drone with AeroVironment's LOCUST laser system costs less than $10, using just two to five seconds of laser energy. Compare that to the interceptor missiles currently used against Iranian drone swarms, which cost orders of magnitude more and are in short supply across allied arsenals.
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said eight service members are still listed as severely injured and are "receiving the highest level of medical care." He added that most of the injuries have been minor, and 108 of those wounded have returned to duty.
Though the 83-year-old (who will turn 84 in two weeks) is rarely spotted in the Capitol these days, his vocal opposition to President Donald Trump on a myriad of issues is louder and more present than ever when deemed useful for the motivated liberal press. For instance, McConnell was quoted far and wide last month after he criticized Trump's desire to acquire Greenland, a move the Kentuckian suggested would "incinerate" the threadbare alliance that remains between the United States and NATO.
Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends. We'll do everything possible where that won't be the case, but America will avenge their deaths and deliver the most punishing blow to the terrorists who have waged war against, basically, civilization.
