Top 5     Iran ready to reopen Strait of Hormuz if US eases military pressure and lifts blockade (Reuters) Iran can reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the United States eases military pressure and lifts its blockade on Iranian ports, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday.       US Army awards Lockheed Martin $1.2B PrSM contract (Defense News) The U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin a $1.2 billion contract for its short-range ballistic missiles.       F-16 fighter jet crashes at US air base in western Germany (Reuters) An F-16 fighter jet assigned to the U.S. air base Spangdahlem in western Germany crashed on Tuesday, the U.S. military said, adding that one pilot had ejected safely and was receiving medical treatment.       Sentinel ICBM achieves vertical stacking ahead of 2027 initial flight testing (Military Times) The Air Force Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program completed vertical stacking of the inert missile, confirming that all subsystems are on track for initial flight testing in 2027.       US to open two new military bases in Greenland, sources say (Reuters) The U.S. plans to re-establish a Cold War-era military base in southern Greenland and set up another on the east coast, now used by the Danish dog sled patrol, under a deal to be signed with Denmark and Greenland on Tuesday, according to three people familiar with the matter.   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     More than 100K personnel use Maven Smart System: Pentagon official (DefenseScoop) The Defense Department is growing the user base for Palantir’s Maven Smart System amid the Iran conflict and other demands for the AI-powered platform, a senior Pentagon official said Tuesday.   Congress & Politics     Trump pledges 'unmatched military might' against drug cartels (Reuters) President Donald Trump vowed on Tuesday to reassert U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere and to ?use "unmatched military might" against threats in the region as he gathered allies behind an expanding campaign against drug cartels.       New military spouse commission touts policy changes in inaugural meeting (Stars and Stripes) A presidential commission for military spouses held its first meeting Monday and announced policy changes it has already influenced concerning medical appointments and child care access.   Your Military     CENTCOM has become a battle lab for unmanned systems (Military Times) When a U.S. Army helicopter went down near the Strait of Hormuz in June, an unmanned U.S. Navy vessel went looking for the crew.       New Sesame Street programming is a walk in the park for military kids (Military Times) After 20 years of providing educational resources for young military children, the ageless Elmo has added a new digital game featuring exercises ranging from bunny hopping to catching pretend bubbles.   Navy     Sailors reminisce, say final goodbye to USS Georgia before retirement (Military Times) U.S. Navy service members who served aboard the Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Georgia over its more than forty years in service spoke to the Navy and paid homage before its decommissioning.       US Navy destroyers tested in Middle East as demands mount (Military Times) Navy destroyers are concentrated in the Middle East as U.S. forces conduct operations against Iran, according to U.S. Central Command — a move that puts renewed operational demands on a fleet that has experienced prolonged maintenance periods.       Navy successfully tests new autonomous aircraft feature aimed at simplifying mission planning (Military Times) The U.S. Navy demonstrated a new information-sharing capability this month that allows it to streamline communication between operators and autonomous aircraft.   Marine Corps     Marines will get an extra $1.66 per day in danger pay after policy change (Military Times) Effective Oct. 1, Marines deployed to parts of the world designated as “imminent danger areas” will get a bigger monthly stipend to compensate for the risk.   AIr Force     Air Force completes B-52 modernization milestones (Military Times) The U.S. Air Force completed goals in the modernization efforts of the B-52 Stratofortress fleet with two acquisition milestones.       What a catch! Florida fishing boat reels in UAS resembling LUCAS drone (Military Times) Missing a drone? Call your local fishing charter to see what it’s dragged out of the water recently.       Air Force retires original Compass Call after more than 40 years of operations (Stars and Stripes) The Air Force has officially retired its seasoned fleet of electronic warfare planes that jammed enemy signals and networks for decades in the Middle East, including in the initial stages of Operation Epic Fury earlier this year against Iran.   Cyber, Space & Unmanned     AI to help make logistics less predictable and vulnerable to adversaries, Transcom commander says (DefenseScoop) For Gen. Randall Reed, the head of U.S. Transportation Command, a predictable supply chain optimized for perfection has wrought its own “self-induced vulnerability,” especially in the AI age. In turn, he said AI could help Transcom become less predictable to adversaries.       Super intelligence': the president’s new term for AI, explained (Defense One) President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a rebranding of the term “artificial intelligence,” saying during the United Nations General Assembly that from now on, it will be called “super intelligence.”   Defense Industry     Italian Navy plots race of two local machines: an F-35B against a Ferrari (Defense News) The F-35B fighter can take off on a very short runway, hover in the air and land vertically, but the Italian navy is about to find out whether it can also outrace a Ferrari.       Royal Navy successfully launches US Mk 48 torpedo from uncrewed submersible (Defense News) The Royal Navy successfully launched a U.S. Navy Mk 48 Heavyweight Torpedo from a British Excalibur uncrewed underwater vehicle, or UUV, marking a significant step toward allied operational fleets of uncrewed vehicles.       North Korea tests new Hwasong-11Ma hypersonic missile (The War Zone) North Korea has released imagery of what appears to be a flight test of an updated version of its Hwasong-11Ma hypersonic missile, nearly a year after the weapon first appeared publicly at a military technology exhibition in Pyongyang.   International     South Korea faces no good choices in sending forces for Trump’s unpopular Iran mission (Defense News) As Washington presses South Korea to contribute to securing the Strait of Hormuz, experts said Seoul is facing a military capacity dilemma, as forces could get stretched amid escalating threats from North Korea.       Up to 169 killed in Yemen as Houthis battle for strategic Red Sea heights (The Guardian) Thousands flee fighting as Iran-aligned group seeks to consolidate territorial gains against Saudi-backed government forces.       US troop rotations heading back to Lithuania amid high tension in Europe, Baltic leader says (Stars and Stripes) The next rotation of U.S. service members in Lithuania is already on its way, the Baltic country’s leader said Tuesday in a social media post, resolving at least some of the uncertainty over American troop levels in the NATO ally bordering Russia.       South Korea questions North’s claim about new ‘ultra-modern’ weapon after launches (Stars and Stripes) South Korea’s Defense Ministry cast doubt Tuesday on North Korea’s claim that two missiles launched over the weekend tested a new combat weapon featuring what leader Kim Jong Un called “ultra-modern” defense technology.   Video     Warrior Games looks back on 2026 events, sets 2027 venue (Defense News) The Warrior Games offers a quick retrospective of its 2026 games, starts to plan for 2027 event in Disney World.       Looking into the future of the Air Force | Defense News Weekly Full Episode 9.22.26 (Defense News) At a major annual conference outside Washington, D.C., the Air and Space Forces contemplate how to fight and defend in a world of drones and AI weapons.       Army looking for new drones to ferry blood to the front lines within 30 minutes (Defense News) Looking to get lifesaving supplies to the frontlines faster and with less risk, the Army explores new drone options.   Commentary & Analysis     The Golden Dome czar must get control of all US missile defense programs (Military Times) The United States is largely defenseless against Russian and Chinese aerial attacks. This is a major strategic problem in today’s era of massed drone and missile warfare—and no one is clearly in charge of solving it.       The pesticide papers: Guam residents feared the military was poisoning them. New records reveal decades of toxic contamination (The War Horse) On a typically humid day on Guam in September 2025, Leevin Camacho received a phone call that made his stomach churn.       Shrink the UN (Foreign Affairs Magazine) The United Nations, international officials sometimes joke, is always in crisis. Since its inception in 1945, the organization has had to navigate deep geopolitical tensions, devastating humanitarian disasters, and periodic budget shortfalls. But as world leaders gather in New York for the annual General Assembly high-level week, the UN appears to be in particularly bad shape. China, Russia, and the United States, three of the five veto-wielding powers that dominate the Security Council, have prevented it from acting on wars in Iran and Ukraine and civil conflicts in Myanmar and Sudan. Poor countries complain that donor states have not met their UN pledges on development spending. And the Trump administration halted most U.S. funding to UN activities last year, forcing the organization to cut back on its peacekeeping and relief efforts.       Missed the marque: Cyber privateers wanted, compensation to be determined (War on the Rocks) Coverage of the new White House memorandum on combating cybercrime quickly reached the privateer label. CNN called the participants “cyber privateers,” invoking the image of government-sanctioned raiders working the high seas of cyberspace, hauling in digital booty. The reality is considerably less romantic. The administration has tried to create a private offensive cyber program using an exception buried in outdated legislation, and that has shaped how the program must be constructed. For this reason and others, the proposed framework will likely not attract the talent needed to address transnational cybercrime meaningfully.Within a single month, Congress and the White House each       The military’s race to operationalize AI (The Cipher Brief) “I feel as though I was catapulted into a dystopian future in which the battlefield (or ‘kill zone’ as Ukrainians call it) is dominated by drones and sensors, and will increasingly be shaped by AI [Artificial Intelligence], too. It’s where those in command centers digest huge quantities of data to plan operations, allocate drones to target areas, and hunt Russian soldiers and their supplies on myriad computer screens. It’s a type of warfare where the speed of innovation and the ability to scale those innovations are critical assets.”       Putin is testing the West’s resolve (The Cipher Brief) In the preface to volume one, “The Gathering Storm,” of his six-volume memoir of World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill recalls a conversation with U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, in which Roosevelt asked what the war should be called. Churchill responded instantly, “the unnecessary war,” noting that it was the easiest war to stop. The world is now at war in Europe and the Middle East and at risk of escalation that could become a world war. This escalation is unnecessary and could be stopped by relearning some of the lessons that led to the Second World War.       What the end of Operation Inherent Resolve means for Iraq and Syria (War on the Rocks) Operation Inherent Resolve is scheduled to end on Sept. 30, as remaining U.S. troops in northern Iraq complete their withdrawal. The United States formed Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve in October 2014 to bring together partners to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which had seized territory in parts of Iraq and Syria. The end of Operation Inherent Resolve highlights the success of coalition efforts against ISIL but also raises questions about future political stability and security in Iraq and Syria — and whether ISIL could rise again. The U.S. departure from northern