The U.S. Marine Corps has inked a $5.1 million contract with the virtual reality company XR Training (XRT) to develop a crew gunnery training prototype for the new amphibious combat vehicle that will simulate an all-out fight with an unpredictable adversary.The other transactional agreement, or OTA, contract award — used to fast-track prototyping and development — is the fourth such award for the company, which has assumed a significant role in the overhaul of Marine Corps amphibious vehicle training.While ACV is a more complex vehicle than its predecessor and fielded in multiple variants, the more rigorous approach to training is also driven by a deadly 2020 mishap involving aging assault amphibious vehicles. Investigations found that training shortfalls stretching back months had contributed to the deaths of nine troops off the California coast.In 2024, XRT completed the deployment of 81 driver training simulators to the Corps within an 18-month span. Last year, it announced it had landed a contract to develop the prototype for a “next-generation maintenance training suite” for ACB upkeep and repair. This latest contract zeroes in on gunnery operations for the ACV, allowing the gunner, the vehicle commander and the driver to train together the way they would…

For most objective fans, it’s become clear that the Big Ten has surpassed the SEC as the dominant conference in college football. Just don’t tell SEC commissioner Greg Sankey or the conference’s coaches about the importance of on-field results. After years of them referencing those exact results.Sankey, speaking at the SEC’s spring meetings on Wednesday, once again struck, and once again struck a defiant, and inaccurate, tone. College Football Playoff executive director Rich Clark met with the conference and its coaches this week, explaining the “metrics” that go into the committee’s decision making and selection process. According to Sankey, it confirmed that the SEC is the “strongest league.””We saw metrics out of the College Football Playoff presentation where there’s no doubt we’re the strongest league,” Sankey said. “But I think from a big picture, the breadth, the depth of this league — this league stands alone.” When discussing recent results, he repeated the same mantra. “If you look at the entirety of our league, we are by far the most competitive, the strongest football league by far,” he told reporters. “But you’re going to lose games when it’s close and competitive like that.”VANDERBILT’S DIEGO PAVIA CLAIMS BIG TEN IS INFERIOR…

NEW TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan — U.S. President Donald Trump’s apparent move to delay a massive weapons sale to Taiwan after a summit with his Chinese counterpart will drive the island’s military further toward self-sufficiency, with sights on asymmetric warfare rather than technological might if ever in a war with China, analysts say.Days after Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, the U.S. acting Navy secretary said a $14 billion arms package to Taiwan had been delayed. The president is due to announce an update the package’s status, Taipei-based Central News Agency reported on May 23.Although it’s unclear whether Trump will stick to his pledge, scrap it or wait to see whether China comes through on large purchases of American imports as a reciprocal gesture, experts in Taiwan said the delayed sale represents an interim pullback in U.S. commitment to Taiwan’s defense.“U.S. arms sales to Taiwan have never been merely about weapons acquisition,” said Huang Chung-ting, associate research fellow with the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taipei.“They are also a visible form of political credibility, commitment credibility and allied trust,” he said. “Beijing may become more likely to underestimate U.S. resolve to intervene, while the deterrent significance…

In today’s article, the author reviews the Fiocchi CovertX 9mm ammunition. Range testing was conducted with ammo provided to the author by Fiocchi. Those of us who live the EDC (Everyday Carry) lifestyle are always searching for the latest and greatest gear and ammunition. We want rounds that are reliable, accurate, and — most importantly — effective if we ever have to defend ourselves or our loved ones. This pursuit might seem like it never truly ends. Fiocchi CovertX 124-gr. JHP, paired with the Springfield Armory Hellcat Pro for testing. With a 3.7″ barrel, the Hellcat Pro was a solid test for Fiocchi’s short-barrel performance claims. As a result, many of us constantly test new products. We shoot at the range, measure groups, record chronograph data, and run drills. Along the way, we inevitably encounter some disappointments — ammo that overpromises velocity, underperforms in accuracy, or suffers from reliability issues. But we don’t stop searching. The stakes are simply too high. Reconsidered Role? For years, I’ve been using Fiocchi ammunition for range training. Their 115-gr. FMJ loads have always treated me well. It’s accurate, consistent and affordable, making it a staple in my practice sessions. However, I’ll admit something: I…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Tom Hardy is reportedly not being cut from “MobLand” as tensions continue to rise ahead of season three.Earlier this week, reports surfaced that Hardy was cut from Ronan Bennett and Jez Butterworth’s series, citing issues with Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan.Sources told Variety on Thursday that Hardy is not being cut from the series, and “the door is not closed for Season 3 and things are being worked through creatively.”‘MOBLAND’ STAR TOM HARDY ACCUSED OF ‘CAREER SUICIDE’ AFTER ALLEGEDLY LEAVING CASTMATES STRANDED ON SET: REPORT  A production source told the outlet that Hardy had an issue with Butterworth delivering scripts late, sometimes just a week before filming. “Tom likes to prepare,” a second source added.Butterworth is not present on the “MobLand” set, according to one production source. However, other sources told the outlet that Hardy was on weekly Zoom calls with Butterworth.”The door is not closed for Season 3 and things are being worked through creatively.” — Source to VarietyMultiple sources told Variety that Hardy would request script rewrites on occasion, which were difficult to do without Butterworth on set. “Often his ideas are very sound,” one source told the outlet about Hardy.…

Editor’s note: This article first appeared on The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public on military service. Subscribe to their newsletter.I grew up in the house my great-grandparents built, a home where four generations shared laughter, loss, and celebrations. These same walls that once harbored the joy of my grandfather’s courtship were the ones that eventually held the pain of the day my grandmother learned he had been killed in action during World War II.While growing up in this same house, I always knew of a box of letters my grandfather, Otis Bryant, had written from the war, most of them addressed to his wife and some to his mother. I read one or two during childhood, but in my mid-20s, I felt compelled to read them all in chronological order.The author’s grandmother, Marcella, raised Judy and Tommy as a single mother after her husband was killed during World War II. (Photo courtesy of Gina Wolf)He was my grandpa, and I loved him, but I never met him. Still, I wanted to know him because losing him left a large gap in our family: my grandmother became a widow in her early 20s, and my mother…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is fully embracing his “Talafreako” moniker given to him by Republican opponent Ken Paxton, and is even selling t-shirts with the slogan “I’m a Talafreako.”While speaking at a general election kickoff event in Houston this week, Talarico encouraged supporters to purchase a T-shirt, saying, “I also saw that Ken Paxton started calling me ‘Talafreako,’ and I am proud to announce that we have ‘I’m a Talafreako’ t-shirts on our website. So, when you go home tonight, make sure you grab one.”After Talarico exited the stage, the crowd at the Houston rally began chanting “Talafreako” repeatedly.Despite the bravado, some believe that, with Talarico already having to deal with a series of highly controversial resurfaced comments, the move will backfire with moderate Texas voters. Talarico’s prior comments include saying that “God is nonbinary,” that there are six genders and that the Bible supports abortion.‘GOD IS NON-BINARY’: TEXAS DEM NOMINEE TALARICO’S PAST REMARKS ON ABORTION, RACE AND GENDER DRAW SCRUTINY A strategist familiar with the Senate race remarked to Fox News Digital that “Talarico can’t run from his record of supporting every freaky left-wing policy under the sun.””Selling merch…

This article was originally published by Joshua Mawhorter at The Mises Institute.  In our modern, Western world, many justify the state and its policies because of the presupposition that the state—and the state uniquely—is an indispensable service-provider of essential services that could not or would not be provided by the free market or which would be underprovided were it not for the state’s collective provision. This is the public goods argument. It has become a cliche for defenders of the state to ask critics, especially libertarians, “But without the government, who would build the roads?” It is astounding that it has been easier to convince people to send their children to kill and die in wars, pay exorbitant taxes, see their purchasing power evaporate through inflation, and passively observe general criminal behavior from political elites than to convince people that roads could be built without the state. While roads and other public infrastructure are considered “public goods,” there are also certain services that have become inextricably linked to the state, such that to not have the state is to not have those services—national defense, collective security, police, courts, etc. Public goods theory is presented as a scientific, value-free economic theory; however, it…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Radio host Charlamagne tha God called out the former First Lady, the Bidens’ inner circle, and the entire Democratic Party, saying they damaged democracy itself by concealing concerns about former President Biden’s purported cognitive decline.One of the most decisive moments of the 2024 election was Biden’s disastrous debate with then-candidate Donald Trump. Biden stammered, had long periods of silence and intense, confused facial expressions, to the point some of his most vocal supporters broke ranks and demanded he relinquish the nomination. The Atlantic obtained a copy of the former First Lady’s memoir, “View From the East Wing,” which will be released in early June. In it, she revealed that she and Biden both agreed that he had “f—ed up” that night.”Literally, donkey of the day should go to Jill Biden, the Democratic Party, Biden’s inner circle, the staff, the record label, the mother effing crew, and everybody who spent years telling Americans not to believe their own eyes,” Charlamagne said on Thursday.SOCIAL MEDIA ERUPTS AFTER JILL BIDEN REVEALS SHE WAS ‘HORRIFIED’ WATCHING JOE’S DISASTROUS DEBATE Charlamagne specifically responded to a clip of Jill Biden in an interview with CBS Sunday Mornings that…

With nations such as Iran protecting their arsenals by burying them deep underground, the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is searching for new types of bunker-buster bombs. The goal is to go beyond the traditional brute-force approach of giant bombs that rely on the force of gravity to smash their way deep into the ground before exploding. During World War II, the Royal Air Force dropped 22,000-pound “Grand Slam” bombs. Eight decades later, the U.S. Air Force has used the 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator in the campaign against Iran. Now, DARPA wants to pivot away from the traditional bunker busters and instead manipulate shock waves to destroy targets. “The government is explicitly interested in concepts that move beyond traditional mass-velocity scaling and empirical design toward mechanisms that deliberately shape, steer, amplify, or suppress stress waves within homogeneous and heterogeneous materials,” according to DARPA’s Request for Information. The deadline is June 26. “Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, transient material state manipulation under extreme loading, non-linear and anisotropic wave control, dynamic impedance matching, controlled failure initiation and progression, and the coupling of structural, material, and geometric effects to achieve step-change performance against complex targets,” DARPA continued.…