Top 5     Iran war escalation raises concern over civilian death toll (Military Times) The sudden recent escalation of the Iran war has cast renewed attention on its civilian toll after Iran reported 18 dead in the last U.S. assault, including four killed and dozens wounded at a wedding.       After 286 days at sea, USS Abraham Lincoln arrives in Thailand (Reuters) U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln arrived in port in eastern Thailand on Wednesday after 286 days at sea, including a lengthy deployment in the Middle East, amid reports of mental health concerns and deteriorating conditions on board.       VA said electronic health record modernization would cost $10 billion — now it’s $48 billion (Military Times) The Department of Veterans Affairs is nearly tripling the ceiling on its contract with Oracle to modernize the agency’s electronic health record system, yet lawmakers left a House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday without clear answers about why the increase is necessary or how much taxpayers will ultimately pay.       Trump to nominate Hung Cao as Navy secretary (Military Times) President Donald Trump announced Tuesday on social media that he was nominating Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao to assume the position full time.       Pentagon rolls out guidelines to test service members for testosterone (CBS News) The Pentagon will begin requiring male service members ages 30 and older to get screened for testosterone deficiency, after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called for the change over the summer.   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.   Army     Army pivots from WWII-era ammo cans toward polymer cases, 3D printing (Military Times) As supply pipelines become more risky and tenuous, the Army is rolling out what it’s calling the first major revolution in ammo packaging since World War II. And, officials said, they’re looking ahead to a future where the military may be able to produce its own ammo cases at point of need using advanced manufacturing.   Navy     Faster fielding of laser weapons key to future fights, Navy’s top officer says (Military Times) The Navy’s top officer issued a directive to get high-energy lasers into sailors’ hands as soon as possible to adapt to the modern combat environment.       Navy corpsman found dead near South Carolina riverbanks (Military Times) A Navy corpsman was found dead near a South Carolina waterway on Sunday after he was last seen days earlier close to the Broad River Bridge.       Navy looks to fast-track Camp Pendleton barracks project (Military Times) Ten new barracks buildings are coming to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, according to a U.S. Navy notice.   Marine Corps     Marine Corps to add 6,500 billets in force expansion (Military Times) More Marines are coming to infantry battalions, drone units and air defenses under a sweeping plan to grow the force by more than 6,500 billets over the next five years.       These 2 Marines are now professional football players (Task & Purpose) In the parlance of military training, two Marine officers faced a key “Go-No Go” test last weekend in their long-shot hopes of playing NFL football.       Marine Corps plans to expand force by more than 6,500 (Stars and Stripes) The Marine Corps is looking to add more than 6,500 positions across infantry battalions, drone units and air defenses as the service looks to expand over the next five years.   Coast Guard     Coast Guard jet carrying Homeland Security secretary lands safely after engine failure (Stars and Stripes) A Coast Guard jet made an emergency landing Wednesday at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington after experiencing an engine failure.   Cyber, Space & Unmanned     Pentagon cyber strategy expected as soon as next week, sources say (Nextgov) The Defense Department is expected to release its anticipated cyber strategy early next week, according to three people familiar with the plans for the blueprint that officials argue will more tightly integrate digital operations into U.S. military campaigns.       Dozens of current, former officials see at least a 10% chance humans lose control of AI (Nextgov) Dozens of current and former national security officials put the chances that artificial intelligence systems will operate outside human control within the next decade at 10% or higher, according to a survey released Wednesday.   Defense Industry     US Army awards $192M to Palantir, Anduril for TITAN production (Defense News) The U.S. Army moved its Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN) program from prototyping to production earlier this week with a combined $192 million award to Palantir Technologies and Anduril Industries.       South Korea’s proposed $53.5 billion defense budget prioritizes taking wartime command from US (Stars and Stripes) South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense is seeking about $53.5 billion for defense next year, including increased spending to prepare its military to take wartime operational control from the United States.   Ukraine     Missile shortage has now hit Ukrainian F-16 force (The War Zone) Ukrainian F-16 pilots are facing such a severe shortage of air-to-air missiles that some daytime sorties have seen them rely solely on the fighters’ internal guns to engage Russian aerial threats, according to a journalist who recently spoke with a senior Ukrainian Air Force commander. Meanwhile, the lack of air-to-air missiles means that the available weapons stocks are now being rationed.   International     German government blames Russia for Leipzig airport drone attack with explosives (Defense News) Russia was behind the failed explosive drone attack on Germany’s key Leipzig/Halle Airport last month, the authorities in Berlin announced on Tuesday, alongside measures designed to punish Moscow for its actions.       Russia hit with new German punishments over Leipzig drone discovery (Stars and Stripes) Germany and its European allies are weighing new punitive measures against Russia after an investigation pointed to the Kremlin as the culprit behind an attempted drone attack at an airport in Leipzig.   Video     See the military monument displaying the names of 41 million service members… and counting (Defense News) To mark America’s 250th birthday, USAA devised a monument to display the name of every U.S. service member ever—starting with George Washington.   Commentary & Analysis     VA probe opened in response to The War Horse coverage (The War Horse) The Department of Veterans Affairs opened an Inspector General probe in February in response to a War Horse investigation alleging that veterans were being cut off from one-on-one therapy at VA medical centers.       European Resilience in Digital Infrastructure: The Changing Nature of State-Business Relations (War on the Rocks) As the war in Ukraine progressed, Russian strikes increasingly degraded Ukraine’s terrestrial communications infrastructure, steadily deepening Kyiv’s dependence on SpaceX’s Starlink.       The Iranian Regime’s dynamics are fooling Trump (Politico) One strange aspect of the U.S. faceoff with Iran is that, in this modern age of advanced warfare, some basics have been forgotten.       Blowing up boats: The numbing effect of repetitive illegality (The Cipher Brief) Operation Southern Spear, the U.S. campaign against alleged drug trafficking small boats off the coast of several South American nations, continues unabated. But while both the public and politicians seem to have become numb to this campaign— or perhaps distracted by the seemingly endless Iran debacle—a few things have remained constant. First, U.S. military forces are killing boat crews without any effort to apprehend them. Second, this practice lacks, as it has from inception, any credible legal justification.       Ukraine’s ground robots and the economics of survival (War on the Rocks) In August 2024, special forces from five Ukrainian military intelligence units crossed the Black Sea to raid Russian-held Kinburn Spit. The commandos of these units — Chimera, Aratta, Stuhna, Paragon, Terror, and the Siberian Battalion — landed, fought, destroyed equipment, and withdrew. Two years later, in July 2026, Ukraine returned, but left the soldiers behind.       How a middling Chinese guided-missile frigate unnerves Japan, Taiwan and the US (Defense News) China’s navy has introduced a new guided-missile frigate designed for coastal as well as open-sea attacks after 20 years in the making, according to Chinese state media.       Defunding the US military (The Wall Street Journal) Congress and the White House are making little effort to fund defense. Another round of press leaks is warning that the U.S. military arsenal is in dire straits, and the Trump Administration is vowing to prosecute the leakers. But this news wouldn’t be so damaging if President Trump and Congress …       The Vatican’s quiet intelligence diplomacy (The Cipher Brief) Last week all eyes were focused on the secret, first-ever trip of CIA Director John Ratcliffe to Moscow, flying on a C-17 Globemaster.       Why are people talking about a German reset with Russia? (War on the Rocks) The summer of 2026 has raised questions once again among politicians, diplomats, and academics about whether Germany might be about to dither on Russia.