Top 5     Pentagon to upgrade valor awards for Marines at site of Abbey Gate bombing (Military Times) Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has directed the Marine Corps to elevate valor awards for those ensnared in the deadly bombing at Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate in August 2021, after an internal review found several commendations had been “inappropriately downgraded.”       Pentagon says John Phelan out as Navy secretary (Defense News) U.S. Navy Secretary John Phelan is departing from his role in the administration, the Pentagon announced Wednesday.       Army launches new physical test for soldiers in combat roles (Military Times) The U.S. Army is rolling out a new physical assessment designed to measure battlefield fitness for soldiers serving in combat roles, the service announced on Wednesday.       Iran ramps up attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz after Trump ceasefire extension (The War Zone) Though President Donald Trump on Tuesday declared an extension to a ceasefire with Iran, the Islamic Republic continues to attack shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. At least two ships were fired on by Iran, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations. Iranian officials say the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized those ships and fired on another.       Senate defeats Democrats' 5th attempt to limit Trump's war powers in Iran (CBS News) The Senate rejected another attempt to rein in President Trump's ability to use further military force against Iran, marking Democrats' fifth effort to do so since the war began eight weeks ago.   US Strikes in Caribbean and Eastern Pacific     A list of US military strikes against alleged drug-carrying vessels (Military Times) Since early September 2025, the U.S. military has conducted strikes against alleged drug-carrying vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean in support of what the Pentagon has called continued counternarcotics efforts.   Operation Timeline     The human impact of policy changes at the DOD and VA (The War Horse) An ongoing timeline of the Trump administration’s actions focusing on the military and veterans.   Pentagon     Pentagon asks for $54 billion in pivot towards AI-powered war (The Guardian) Budget outlines funding for autonomous drone warfare program as experts say military unprepared for risks       Pentagon zeroes out E-7 in budget, leaving its future uncertain (Air & Space Forces Magazine) The Pentagon did not include any funding for the the E-7A Wedgetail in its 2027 budget request, potentially setting up another round in its fight with Congress over the future of the Boeing-built successor to the E-3 Sentry Airborne Early Warning and Control jet.   Congress & Politics     Clearing Strait of Hormuz of mines could take 6 months, officials tell Congress (Washington Post) The Pentagon assessment, shared in a classified briefing for lawmakers, suggests gasoline and oil prices could remain elevated through the midterm elections.       White House picks Raytheon exec to lead Space Force acquisition (Air & Space Forces Magazine) The Trump administration on April 21 nominated retired Col. Erich Hernandez-Baquero, an executive at Raytheon, to become assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration.   Army     Army rolls out Combat Field Test, new fitness assessment for front-line combat soldiers (Stars and Stripes) Soldiers serving in front-line fighting jobs will soon have to pass two annual Army fitness tests after the service rolled out its new combat-focused physical assessment on Wednesday.   Navy     Report: Three injured in fire aboard USS Zumwalt (The Maritime Executive) A fire aboard the first-in-class destroyer USS Zumwalt has injured three sailors, according to the U.S. Navy.        Navy having no problems feeding sailors in Middle East, admiral says in denying reports (Stars and Stripes) Sailors serving in the Middle East are not going hungry, the Navy’s highest officer said this week.       Navy plans to put advanced version of land-based Patriot missile on ships (Stars and Stripes) The land-based Patriot air defense system would be used on ships for the first time under a contract signed this week, the Navy said Wednesday.   Veterans     Supreme Court rules in favor of soldier who sued contractor over 2016 Bagram bombing (Military Times) The U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed an Army soldier’s right to sue a military contractor whose employee detonated a suicide bomb on Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, in 2016.   Cyber, Space & Unmanned     Cyber Command carried out over 8,000 missions in 2025, director says (Nextgov) U.S. Cyber Command, the digital combatant command tasked with defending the nation’s cyberspace and supporting other military components’ offensive and defensive operations, carried out over 8,000 missions in 2025, its new director said Tuesday.       US Army seeks ‘last mile’ robot for medevac and resupply (Defense News) Moving supplies and evacuating casualties from the edge of the front lines — the proverbial “last mile” — has becoming increasingly hazardous. In addition to fire from traditional weapons like artillery, machine guns and snipers, drones now present a threat.   Defense Industry     Germany unveils strategy for becoming Europe’s strongest military by 2039 (Defense News) Germany revealed a package of foundational strategic documents for its armed forces on Wednesday, including the country’s first standalone military strategy, a new capability profile, a personnel growth plan and a redesigned reserve strategy — the most comprehensive overhaul of Bundeswehr planning in decades.       Navy scientists seek tech breakthroughs in areas that companies ignore (Defense One) As private-sector investment in defense-technology research rises, the Navy’s chief science office is refocusing its efforts on areas that companies are ignoring, but that will be relevant 15 years into the future, the head of the Office of Naval Research says.   Israel-Gaza-Lebanon-Syria     Gaza’s yellow line creeps forward as Israeli forces expand zone of control (The Guardian) Residents waking to find line has moved overnight and they are now in free-fire zone as army takes more territory   Ukraine     Ukraine wants a Zelenskyy-Putin summit to jolt stalled US-led peace efforts (The Associated Press) Ukraine is pushing for face-to-face talks between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kyiv’s top diplomat said, presenting a potential summit as a way of injecting new momentum into U.S.-led efforts to end Russia’s more than four-year invasion of its neighbor.   International     US in talks to resettle 1,100 Afghans in Congo (Military Times) The Trump administration is in talks with the Democratic Republic of Congo to resettle 1,100 Afghans who have been stranded in Qatar awaiting U.S. visas, according to an advocacy organization that works on their behalf.       Russia could be ready for NATO conflict year after Ukraine, Dutch warn (Defense News) Russia could be ready to start a regional conflict with NATO within a year after the end of hostilities in Ukraine, with the aim of creating political division in the alliance, according to Dutch military intelligence service MIVD.       Chinese navy brushes past Okinawa islands as tensions with Japan flare (Reuters) Chinese navy brushes past Okinawa islands as tensions with Japan flare.   Military Culture & History     Push to identify remains of POWS who endured Bataan Death March, hell ships (Military Times) More than 80 years later, the remains of U.S. POWs buried as “unknowns,” or entombed in the holds of Japanese “hell ships” sunk by U.S. warplanes and submarines, have started coming home to families who kept their memories alive.       Used as an ‘individual target’ by the Germans, this Medal of Honor recipient kept up the fight (Military Times) On Nov. 8, 1942, the United States opened a new front against Germany, Italy and Vichy France when its forces landed in Morocco and Algeria. At the same time, the British First and Eighth armies advanced against the receding Axis forces from the east. On March 10, 1943, an ailing Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was evacuated to Germany, leaving Afrika Korps under the command of Generaloberst Hans-Jürgen von Arnim. Although the Axis was now cornered in Tunisia, its forces were still holding their remaining ground with the tenacity of a cornered badger.       The Spanish Flu — a deadly postscript to WWI — started at a US military base (Military Times) In the spring of 1918, as American soldiers prepared to go “over the top” for the first time during World War I, a handful of army physicians began noticing a strange sickness that began to grip service members.   Commentary & Analysis     Iran's military more capable than Trump admin. is acknowledging, sources say (CBS News) About half of Iran's stockpile of ballistic missiles and its associated launch systems were still intact as of the start of the ceasefire in early April, officials said.       Pakistan: Broker of peace while still at war (The Cipher Brief) Just a few weeks ago, Pakistan, the host for fragile ceasefire talks aiming to end the war between the U.S. and Iran, was at war with Afghanistan in what has been described as the worst conflict between the two countries in years.       Why Iran metabolizes the pressure that broke Venezuela (War on the Rocks) The reality that regime change is not going to happen as a result of this war seems to have settled in at the White House. When American policymakers reflect and wonder why Iran did not react like Venezuela under pressure, they will not just be misreading Iran — they will be misreading how coercive pressure works. Iran’s resilience rests on internal and external pillars that a Venezuela comparison completely misses. Internally, the Supreme Leader’s authority is anchored in a theocratic order where religious legitimacy underwrites a sprawling economic system. At its center are the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and parastatal       Everything new we just learned abbout the Trump class battleship program (The War Zone) The Navy’s top leadership says they are working hard to avoid serious issues that have plagued previous shipbuilding efforts when it comes to the Trump class “battleship” program. Senior officials have focused, in particular, on the need to have a very firm design before any work on the large surface combatants, the first of which could cost a whopping $17 billion, actually begins. A lack of a finalized design, along with repeated changes to it along the way, contributed heavily to the demise of the Constellation class frigate last year.       How extremist groups are sharing a global media strategy (The Cipher Brief) In the private sector, we analyze competitors to understand where they excel, so we can improve our approach. With this same mindset, I reviewed how 15 adversarial groups utilize media to communicate locally and internationally.       Resilience without capacity: The fatal flaw in America’s new cyber strategy (War on the Rocks) What happens when a country develops a cyber strategy that depends on the capabilities it is actively cutting? The White House’s new cyber strategy offers exactly that kind of contradiction by pairing a strong vision for resilience and competition with policy choices that pull in the opposite direction.