MIGHTY TRENDING
Ryan Pickrell

US privately warns Iran that this one thing would trigger an attack

As the US military builds up its forces in the Middle East, America's top diplomat has been privately warning the Iranians that the death of even a single US service member at the hands of Iran or one of its proxies would trigger a military response, The Washington Post reported on June 18, 2019, citing US officials.

In May 2019, the US detected signs of possible Iranian aggression targeting US forces and interests in the Middle East. The US responded by deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the US Central Command area of responsibility.

White House national security adviser John Bolton issued a statement on May 5, 2019, saying that the military assets deployed to the region were meant "to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force."

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MIGHTY TRENDING
Ryan Pickrell

US forces in Africa have accused Chinese troops of harassing pilots

Since the US and Chinese militaries became neighbors in the small African country of Djibouti, they haven't been getting along very well.

Rear Adm. Heidi Berg, the director of intelligence at the US Africa Command, has accused the Chinese military of "irresponsible actions," telling reporters recently that Chinese forces at a nearby base have been harassing US forces at the neighboring Camp Lemonnier base.

Berg, according to the Washington Times, said that the Chinese military has attempted to restrict access to international airspace near its base, targeted US pilots with ground lasers, and sent out drones to interfere with flight operations.

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MIGHTY CULTURE
Sara Lindberg

8 meal-prep mistakes you're making and how to avoid them

Meal prepping can be a handy way to ensure you have ready-to-eat dishes waiting for you throughout the week. Plus, it can save time and take the guesswork out of figuring out what to eat each day.

But properly preparing meals isn't always easy or foolproof. Here are some common meal-prep mistakes to avoid.

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MIGHTY CULTURE
Ryan Pickrell

Cockpit video shows a Russian fighter running up on a US B-52 bomber

The Russian Defense Ministry released a video shot from the cockpit of a Su-27 fighter as it raced after a US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress heavy, long-range bomber.

Russian fighters were twice scrambled to intercept US bombers approaching the Russian border around the Black and Baltic seas, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, according to Russian media.

Three B-52 bombers from the US Air Force's 5th Bomb Wing flew from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Eastern Europe in an unusual flight.

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MIGHTY TRENDING
Ryan Pickrell

The US is sending 1,000 more troops to the Middle East

One thousand additional troops are being sent to the Middle East to deal with the threat from Iran, the Pentagon announced June 17, 2019, in an emailed statement to Pentagon reporters.

The US military began moving troops and warfighting platforms into the US Central Command area of responsibility early May 2019 in response to intelligence reports pointing to possible Iranian aggression against a variety of potential targets, including commercial shipping.

The US sent the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, a bomber task force, a Patriot air-and-missile defense battery, fighters, and thousands of troops into the Middle East to deter Iran. White House National Security Advisor John Bolton released a strongly-worded statement May 2019 warning that Iranian aggression would be "will be met with unrelenting force."

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MIGHTY TACTICAL
Ryan Pickrell

Turkey just unveiled new stealth-fighter concept

Turkey unveiled a full-scale mock-up of a new indigenous stealth-fighter concept on June 17, 2019, at the 2019 Paris Air Show.

The unveiling of the new TF-X, which is expected to be Turkey's first homegrown fifth-generation fighter, comes as the US prepares to kick its ally out of the F-35 program in response to the country's planned purchase of the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system.

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MIGHTY TRENDING
Ryan Pickrell

US quietly lowers threshold for conflict in the South China Sea

The US has been steadily ratcheting up the pressure on China's sea forces in a way that could lower the threshold for conflict in the South China Sea, already a hotbed of tension and dispute.

The US is signaling a tougher stance toward the Chinese maritime militia, a paramilitary sea force disguised as a fishing fleet and known to harass foreign rivals to enforce China's vast sovereignty claims in the contested waterway.

The Chinese maritime militia "thrives within the shadows of plausible deniability," according to Andrew Erickson, a leading expert at the US Naval War College, but it can no longer hide like it once could.

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MIGHTY TRENDING
Ellen Ioanes

Royal Air Force intercepts Russian aircraft as NATO conducts war games

The UK Ministry of Defense said June 17, 2019, that the Royal Air Force had intercepted Russian fighters twice over the weekend, bringing the number of such encounters to eight since the British took over NATO's Baltic air-policing mission on May 3, 2019.

On June 14, 2019, RAF Typhoon jets intercepted a Russian SU-30 fighter just north of Estonia, where two days prior the US and Spain performed an amphibious landing exercise as part of the Baltic Operations war games.

The British aircraft are stationed at Amari air base in Estonia, and this year's BaltOps exercises run through June 21, 2019 out of the port of Kiel in Germany.

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MIGHTY TACTICAL
Christopher Woody

Flying for more than 60 years, today's Dragon Lady is nothing like the past

Since the mid-1950s, the US Air Force's U-2 Dragon Lady has been cruising the upper reaches of the atmosphere, snooping almost totally unnoticed.

While the mission is pretty much the same, the aircraft doing it are much different.

"The 'U' in U-2 stands for 'utility,' so a lot of people are like, 'OK, 1955, what are we doing in 2019, when we're flying F-35s and F-22s ... why are we flying the U-2 that was built in 1955?'" Maj. Travis "Lefty" Patterson, a U-2 pilot, said during an event hosted by the Air Force in May at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum in New York City.

"Much like the Corvette, which has been around for a long time, there's been a lot of different versions of [the U-2]," Patterson said. "The U-2s that we fly now, they were all built in about the mid-'80s."

"The jets are actually pretty new," U-2 pilot Maj. Matt "Top" Nauman said at the event. "They're a lot newer than people anticipate, even though it's been flying for more than 60 years."

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