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WASHINGTON — The US Army is cancelling its next generation Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program, service officials announced today, taking a potential multi-billion-dollar contract off the table and throwing the service’s long-term aviation plans into doubt. In addition, the Army plans to end production on the UH-60 V Black Hawk in fiscal 2025, due to “significant cost growth,” keep General Electric’s Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP) in the development phase instead of moving it into production, and phase the Shadow and Raven unmanned aerial systems out of the fleet, the service added. All told, it reflects a massive shift...

The United States is fighting a proxy war in Ukraine against Russian aggression, and we’re not doing it on the cheap. The Biden administration announced on Friday that we were sending another $400 million in military aid to Ukraine. This comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory over the eastern Luhansk region last week. Putin jumped the gun a little, although Russian troops hold the upper hand throughout most of the region. The problem for Putin is that those pesky Ukrainians refuse to surrender. And the United States is making their continuing resistance possible by giving Kyiv high-powered weapons...

RUSSIA's "outdated weapons" have proven to be no match for Ukrainian defences as the latest intelligence report from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) shows 55 percent of Russian-backed forces have been wiped out in the Donbas region. With the focus of the conflict heavily concentrated in the Donbas region in and around the strategic industrial city of Severodonetsk, Ukraine has called on the west to supply extra weapons to defend the territory. Russia has announced it has all but captured the city as heavy shelling continues, however, the cost of the operation has taken its toll on Russian personnel, with...

WASHINGTON. June 15 (Interfax) - United States President Joe Biden has said that he has informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over the phone that the U.S. is providing another $1 billion in security assistance for Kyiv, the White House said on Wednesday. "I informed President Zelensky that the United States is providing another $1 billion in security assistance for Ukraine," Biden said in a statement. This assistance includes "additional artillery and coastal defense weapons, as well as ammunition for the artillery and advanced rocket systems," he said.

The Biden administration announced on Wednesday it was providing an additional $1 billion in military aid to Ukraine to fight Russia, a package that includes shipments of additional howitzers, ammunition and coastal defense systems. The latest weapons package comes as Ukraine's military is burning through its Soviet-era ammunition, while Ukrainian officials have pleaded with the West to send additional heavy weaponry as the war with Russia girds on. Western intelligence and military officials believe the war is at a critical stage that could determine the long-term outcome of the conflict, while Russia has amassed a significant artillery advantage around two...

A big part of the problem in defending this part of Donbas, Ostap believes, is that the people who have stayed behind — the people who haven’t fled — don’t really believe they are part of Ukraine. In his view, the civilians who remain are all separatist sympathizers. He says they help the Russians navigate backcountry roads that aren’t on the maps. He asserts there have been instances of local collaborators getting caught providing information about Ukrainian troop movements or locations. Indeed, Slovyansk fell to Russian separatists in 2014: The retaking of the city by the Ukrainian military later that...

The top Ukrainian official who was fired for spreading misinformation has admitted that she lied about Russians committing mass rape in order to convince western countries to send more weapons to Ukraine. Lyudmila Denisova, the former Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, was removed from her position following a vote of no confidence in the Ukrainian parliament which passed by a margin of 234-to-9. Parliament member Pavlo Frolov specifically accused Denisova of pushing misinformation that “only harmed Ukraine” in relation to “the numerous details of ‘unnatural sexual offenses’ and child sexual abuses in the occupied territories, which were unsupported by...

Responding to a question about whether the restrictions on the use of US-supplied rocket systems apply to Crimea, a peninsula that overwhelmingly voted to become part of Russia in a 2014 referendum, 'Arestovich' (Zelnsky's Top Advisor) said that it belonged to Ukraine. “Crimea is ours. It belongs to Ukraine. And they [Russia] know it. Therefore, it will fly to Crimea double-time, should the need arise”, Arestovich’s comment comes despite US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying on Wednesday that Kiev has given Washington “assurances” that it won’t use American rockets to attack targets in Russia.

Explanation: The majestic Lagoon Nebula is filled with hot gas and the home for many young stars. Spanning 100 light years across while lying only about 5000 light years distant, the Lagoon Nebula is so big and bright that it can be seen without a telescope toward the constellation of the Archer (Sagittarius). Many bright stars are visible from NGC 6530, an open cluster that formed in the nebula only several million years ago. The greater nebula, also known as M8 and NGC 6523, is named "Lagoon" for the band of dust seen to the right of the open cluster's...