[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

It's about different kinds of flight - the straighter wing is better for lower speeds, while the wings swept back have less drag and are better for high speeds.

[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 27 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

https://xcancel.com/MerruX/status/2045889767531848125

50+ Iranian Speed Boats or Smugglers Crossing the Strait of Hormuz today. I have never seen this many at the same time. Have they started Mining the Deeper parts of the crossing in Omani Waters? This may be due to multiple ships crossing and not paying tolls to Iran.. Including 4 cruise ships. Last time this many fast boats were out. It was confirmed Iran had mined the strait....

There are 50+ boats here. Many are likely fisherman. Hard to say who is fishing Tuna, Smuggler, or IRGC.

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[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 46 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

the "arsenal of democracy" when you ask them for some guns (after they specifically told you to buy FROM THEM!) https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-officials-tell-european-countries-expect-weapons-delivery-delays-sources-say-2026-04-16/ (Reuters unfortunately seems immune to archivers)

US to delay weapons deliveries to some European countries due to Iran war, sources say

  • Delays affect Baltic and Scandinavian countries, sources say
  • European officials say delays undermine their defense readiness
  • US has cited need for weapons in Middle East

more

U.S. officials have informed some European counterparts that some previously contracted weapons deliveries are likely to be delayed ‌as the Iran war continues to draw on weapons stocks, five sources familiar with the matter said. The delays underline the degree to which the war against Iran ... has begun to stretch U.S. supplies of some critical weaponry and ammunition. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity ​as the communications were not public, said several European countries will be affected, including in the Baltic region and in ​Scandinavia. Some of the weapons in question were purchased by European countries under the Foreign Military Sales program, or ⁠FMS, but have not yet been delivered, the sources added. Those deliveries will likely be delayed, U.S. officials told European officials in bilateral ​messages in recent days, the sources said. On Friday, the defence ministries of Estonia and Lithuania told Reuters the U.S. has informed their countries of possible ​delays in the delivery of U.S. military equipment because of the Iran war.

The White House and the State Department referred queries to the Pentagon. "America’s military is the most powerful in the world, and we will ensure that U.S. forces and those of our allies and partners have what they need to fight and ​win," a Pentagon spokesperson said. "For operational security reasons, we will not comment on any specific allied or partner requirements or ongoing efforts to ​support them." European officials complain the delays are putting them in a difficult position. Under the FMS program, foreign countries purchase U.S.-made weapons with the logistical assistance and ‌consent of ⁠the U.S. government. Washington has pushed European NATO partners to purchase more U.S.-made materiel under President Donald Trump, including through the FMS program, as part of a bid to shift the responsibility for Europe's conventional defense away from the U.S. and onto European partners. But such weapons deliveries are often delayed, causing frustration in European capitals, where some officials are increasingly looking at weapons systems made within Europe.

U.S. officials say the weapons ​are needed for the war in ​the Middle East, and they ⁠fault European nations for not helping the U.S. and Israel open the Strait of Hormuz. Even before the Iran war, the U.S. had already drawn down billions of dollars' worth of weapons stockpiles, including artillery systems, ​ammunition and anti-tank missiles since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and Israel began military operations in Gaza ​in late 2023. Since ⁠the start of the Iran campaign, Tehran has fired hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at Gulf countries. Most have been intercepted, including with the PAC-3 Patriot missile interceptors that, for example, Ukraine relies on to defend its energy and military infrastructure from ballistic missiles. The sources spoke on the ⁠condition that ​the names of some of the countries affected be withheld. Some share a border ​with Russia and, as such, the cadence of weapons deliveries can be considered sensitive defense information. The delayed weaponry includes various kinds of ammunition, including munitions that can be used ​for both offensive and defensive purposes, the sources said.

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[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 51 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

https://xcancel.com/bonzerbarry/status/2045863029921730926

Al-Mayadeen's correspondent in the south: An exchange of fire between resistance elements and the occupation army took place in Deir Seryan. At around 3 PM today, while the occupation soldiers were attempting to advance when they were spotted by the resistance fighters. Naim Qassem said in his speech yesterday that Hezbollah was preparing a new phase for this period that would be unlike the pre-March 2nd arrangement and that they would be deterring israeli violations. This appears to be the first clear indication of that.

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Delay Lama & Meowsynth (www.youtube.com)
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[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 23 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

it's a glide bomb, a step above JDAMs - purpose-built rather than conversions of existing unguided bombs, and with greater range

I think it's being identified here based on the wings, and proportions of wings to bomb body, since it's a relatively small payload as far as bombs go (250lb, while the lightest JDAM is 500lbs, and they go up to 2000), so the wings end up looking really big when you look at the whole thing

[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 46 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)
[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 69 points 15 hours ago

https://xcancel.com/policytensor/status/2045626264514691198

It’s not about the number of US missiles, it’s about the number of Chinese missiles. And the situation is much worse than being unprepared to defend Taiwan. The US cannot defend its entire position in Asia. From Singapore to Guam, from Darwin to Okinawa, none of these bases are any more survivable than the ones in the gulf. In general, US bases anywhere near a great missile power can no longer be defended. The implications are drastic. It’s time to wrap up the empire in Eurasia and withdraw our defense perimeter to the western hemisphere.

[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 39 points 15 hours ago

yeah, ask the capitalists to spend more money, that'll get you results! https://archive.ph/KtR8W

Army pushes industry to share costs as GE seeks more funding for ITEP testing

The Army wants companies to “burden share” costs when it comes to testing and development of programs, a senior aviation leader said.

more

The comments come days after General Electric Aerospace’s statement that the company would need more money to wrap up qualification testing for the Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP) in the next 12-18 months. “I’ll say this in general about programs out there, the Army wants to burden share with the developers, right? It shouldn’t be the Army always putting all the upfront money,” Maj. Gen. Clair Gill, program acquisition executive for Maneuver Air, told reporters Thursday following a question about General Electric’s comments. He added that Army leadership has been “pretty intent” on making sure companies are coming to the table with funding to “share the cost with us” for testing and development. “We don’t want to do all the development, we want to do the procurement. We want to buy it for the long term, so that that’s where we’re going back to the manufacturers and having negotiations about, how do we best position the development so that it’s not all on the government. But also… we understand that [the manufacturers] have to see that there is a production line so that they can make a profit in the future,” said Gill, who is dual-hatted as the commanding general of the Army Aviation Center of Excellence.

ITEP has faced several delays over the years as the Army has adjusted its priorities for its aviation fleet. The service reportedly came close to cancelling the program in line with the Army Transformation Initiative. Further, funding for the program was zeroed out in the Pentagon’s fiscal 2027 budget request. This happened in the FY26 budget request as well, but lawmakers ultimately pushed back, providing the service with $175 million in FY26 funding and $63 million in reconciliation money. With the previously allocated funding, the Army and General Electric have been able to make significant progress in completing qualification testing, Brig. Gen. David Phillips, deputy PAE of Maneuver Air, told Breaking Defense last month. Tom Champion, executive program director for T901 at General Electric, told reporters earlier this week that the company has delivered six flight test engines to the Army at this point and will continue to deliver more. He added that the company has invested around $500 million in the testing and development of the engine, and in the last two years, the company has invested over $600 million in its factory sites related to its defense engine business. When Breaking Defense inquired about Gill’s comments, a spokesperson from General Electric pointed to Champion’s previous comments on investment figures, but declined to comment on any plans for future investments.

[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 47 points 15 hours ago

https://archive.ph/tNhXQ

Hegseth orders termination of DOD union contracts

Federal court orders protect some collective-bargaining groups, but members of the American Federation of Government Employees remain vulnerable.

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week instructed department leaders to terminate most of the department’s collective-bargaining agreements, more than a year after President Trump signed an executive order banning federal employee unions from many agencies on national-security grounds. In an April 9 memo obtained by Government Executive, Hegseth gave his deputies 24 hours to take action to cancel most union contracts. “I hereby direct the termination of all collective bargaining agreements to which the department is a party, not subject to a court order enjoining implementation to which the department is a party, not subject to a court order enjoining implementation of Executive Order 14251, ‘Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs,’ within 24 hours of the date of this memorandum, except as applied to the population covered by the [April 2025] secretary of defense certification . . . and the local employing offices of any agency police officers, security guards or firefighters, pursuant to EO 14251,” the secretary wrote last week. “This action is required to align agency operations with national security requirements as outlined in EO 14251.”

A year ago, Hegseth exempted bargaining units of Federal Wage System workers at four installations: the Letterkenny Munition Center in Pennsylvania, the Air Force Test Center in California, the Air Force Sustainment Center in Oklahoma, and the Fleet Readiness Center Southeast in Florida. Spared from the new memo are the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers and the Federal Education Association, which last fall secured preliminary injunctions blocking implementation of the executive order. The order cites a seldom-used provision of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act as authority to strip two-thirds of the federal workforce of their collective-bargaining rights on national-security grounds. Not so for AFGE, the nation’s largest federal-employee union. In a statement Wednesday, National President Everett Kelley decried Hegseth’s decision as “cowardly.” “For 50 years, these employees have exercised their union rights; under several administrations, during a global pandemic and throughout peacetime and wartime, including our most recent conflict with Iran,” he said. “To rip up the union contracts of civilian employees after touting a successful ceasefire in the Middle East is not only a slap in the face to the employees who supported those efforts, but again proves that this action has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with silencing workers’ voices.”

[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 66 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

https://xcancel.com/MazMHussain/status/2045542462798651523

If the U.S. was not realistically planning to end the war during that timeframe the two-week ceasefire was a huge mistake. The Iranian strategy has always been to rely on time to leverage its impact on the global economy, even if it meant having to endure attacks while that happened. If the issue is not resolved the ceasefire just gave Iran an additional two weeks of leverage for free.

[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 55 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

https://xcancel.com/bonzerbarry/status/2045560507751379072

Channel 14: Six Israeli soldiers were injured, two of them with serious wounds; due to the detonation of an explosive device in southern Lebanon (mine probably?).

Israeli platforms report that another handful of occupation army soldiers were wounded in a new incident and are being airlifted to Rambam. Hadashot BezMen: Lebanon is difficult… details to follow…

Evacuations from Lebanon are ongoing. Some platforms claim there were multiple incidents today but I haven't been able to verify yet.

[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 77 points 1 day ago

https://xcancel.com/phildstewart/status/2045509180258492688

Reuters is reporting that Iran is broadcasting this VHF message: "Attention all ships, ​regarding the failure ⁠of the U.S. government to fulfil its commitment in the negotiation, Iran declares the Strait of Hormuz completely ​closed again. No vessel of any type or nationality ​is allowed ⁠to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.”

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submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by Tervell@hexbear.net to c/memes@hexbear.net

some ai-generated slop map, https://x.com/ripplebrain/status/2045114737202024672

famous city of Oman, Shipp Iran soleimani-amused

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american industries (thelemmy.club)
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martin luther (thelemmy.club)
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Tervell

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