Editor’s Note: The author received a Springfield XD Mod.4 pistol on loan from the company for the purposes of writing this review. I’ve always appreciated the Springfield Armory XD series for what it is: a simple, reliable and accurate 9mm pistol. While the original may have more than two decades under its belt, I appreciate a gun with a solid reputation for performance. That’s what the XD handgun is known for: being a dependable, no-nonsense striker-fired pistol. The Springfield XD Mod.4 continues the legacy of a dependable striker-fired 9mm, blending familiar ergonomics with updated features for modern shooters. Image: Carson McDaniel With the new XD Mod.4, Springfield is clearly taking that familiar foundation and bringing it in line with what modern shooters expect — and all at an MSRP of just $399. On paper, it checks a lot of the right boxes: optics-ready capability, a 4” hammer-forged barrel, and a 16-round magazine with backward compatibility with existing full-size 9mm XD mags. But specs only tell part of the story. What really matters is how it feels in the hand and how it shoots. So, I spent some time with the XD Mod.4 to see exactly what it has to offer. Evolution…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Video emerged Friday showing hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of heroin, methamphetamine and other confiscated illegal drugs being set on fire in Burma .More than 50 combined tons of those drugs, as well as opium, ketamine, marijuana and crystal meth – estimated to be worth $600 million – were set ablaze in the southeast Asian country to mark the United Nations’ International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, according to The Associated Press.This year, the street value of drugs destroyed was more than double last year’s total, said Police Lt. Col. Aung Myat Soe of Yangon’s Anti-Narcotics Police Force. In Yangon alone, some $321 million worth of 31 different types of drugs were set ablaze, Aung Myat Soe added.HIDDEN TUNNEL DISCOVERED IN TIJUANA MAY HAVE SUPPORTED CROSS-BORDER TRAFFICKING OPERATIONS Footage taken in Yangon showed a massive array of drugs engulfed in a raging inferno, with thick black smoke billowing into the sky.Burma has been a major source of illegal drugs destined for East and Southeast Asia, despite repeated efforts to crack down, and has long been one of the world’s largest producers of heroin and methamphetamine. Violent political unrest in…

The Department of Justice has issued about $17 million in payments to 629 people, mostly military family members, in connection with the toxic fuel spills that poisoned their water in Hawaii in 2021. These are the first payments for settlements resolving about 3,600 claims resulting from the poisoned water, which caused numerous health problems for military families living in military housing, and for other civilian families in Hawaii whose water was provided by the Navy. Another 3,000 people haven’t accepted the government’s offer, which their attorney describes as “paltry.”And service members affected have received no payments, said Kristina Baehr, attorney for the plaintiffs in two federal court cases filed against the government. That issue is on appeal to the Ninth Circuit. ‘A step in the right direction’Service members and family members reported numerous health problems, including diarrhea and other gastrointestinal problems, rashes, neurological issues, burns, lesions, thyroid abnormalities, migraines and neurobehavioral challenges.“The United States’ settlement payments to hundreds of Red Hill families are a step in the right direction,” Baehr said. “Every dollar paid represents some measure of accountability for families who were exposed to fuel-contaminated water in their homes, suffered injuries, and then were forced to fight their own…

During the Second World War, the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Yamato was feared due to its immense size and power. She was the most heavily armed battleship ever built, with nine 18.1-inch (460mm) main guns, the largest ever mounted on a warship. Each shell weighed nearly 1.5 tons and had a range in excess of 26 miles. Yamato was also the heaviest warship ever constructed and the most heavily armored, leading to a belief she might be “unsinkable.” The super-battleship Yamato carrying out sea trials in October 1941. Image: Mr. Kazutoshi Hando/U.S. Navy Still, today, she lies at the bottom of the East China Sea, about 180 miles southwest of Kyushu, Japan. The warship was sunk more than 80 years ago, on April 7, 1945, and is now broken into multiple pieces — proof she was neither unsinkable nor as well-protected as her designers may have believed. Naval historians have noted a design flaw, namely that her armor was riveted instead of welded, creating a point of weakness that allowed damage to propagate after bombs and torpedoes struck. Another notable fact about Yamato is that, due to a shift in naval strategy during the Pacific War, she spent most of her career in naval…

As the Ebola strain known as Bundibugyo continues to spread in Uganda, UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) has warned that children are at the highest risk of the disease. Cases have now shot past 1,150, and the death toll has surpassed 300. Just a few days ago, cases reached 1,000. Ebola Outbreak Update: Over 1,000 CONFIRMED Cases As Virus Continues to Spread Children and adolescents account for approximately 15 percent of all confirmed Ebola cases and over 25 percent of confirmed deaths in eastern DRC as of June 19th. UNICEF also stated that children are twice as likely to die after they contract the Ebola virus as adults, making them much more susceptible to the disease.  According to a report by First Post, there have been 37 new cases and 5 deaths due to the Bundibugyo virus in the last 24 hours alone.  So far, the total number of cases is 1,155, and the total number of confirmed deaths is 304. “Our teams in Ituri have met children who have lost their mothers, and in some cases both parents, to Ebola,” said Unicef Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Children are trying to make sense of the threat while surrounded…

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NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Engineers have developed a jacket capable of converting water vapor from the air into drinking water.A team of University of Texas engineers developed the jacket as part of their broader invention, AirGel, a technology that uses hydrogel material and solar energy.”Water scarcity threatens two-thirds of the global population, underscoring the urgent need for sustainable and accessible clean water solutions,” the researchers wrote in a Science Advances report on their development of a field‑portable, solar‑powered, water-harvesting device.CAN ALKALINE WATER ACTUALLY IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH? EXPERTS SEPARATE FACT FROM FICTION”AirGel provides a complementary solution to existing water-processing systems,” said Yaxuan Zhao, one of the UT researchers who developed the technology, in a UT press release. “It can produce water using only air and sunlight, and it can deliver water directly to the point of need.” “This differs from a centralized system that might need to transport water a long distance, which can increase the cost and the energy demand,” he went on. “Since our system is portable, modular and only relies on solar energy, it can be used in many applications, such as outdoor activities, for household or community needs, and even disaster relief.”TEST YOURSELF WITH…

In a recent critical training rotation, soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division expanded the scope of what’s possible with warfighting drones, developing new uses and making key determinations about how — and in what quantities — to build them into warfighting, officials said this week.The 101st, which has since 2023 been designated as the Army’s lead experimental unit for air assault capabilities and strategic mobility, executed the field tests at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, Louisiana, in April. The division’s 3rd Mobile Combat Brigade traveled to the center, along with more than 500 drones, about 150 of which were one-way attack drones the unit had built in-house.In a round table discussion with reporters Thursday, Col. Ryan Bell, the brigade’s commander, said the numbers matter — and represent an entirely new way of viewing and using drones.“We need drones at scale. We need to treat them like ammunition,” he said. “When we do the math, I estimate a brigade needs between 1,000 and 1,500 drones a week when we’re in sustained combat operations.”The drones the unit cut and assembled for themselves, dubbing them “Attritable Battlefield Enabler [ABE] 1.01,” allowed the unit to innovate based on their needs —…

Maximizing accuracy and performance seems to be a white whale we all chase. We want the shortest package with a minimal footprint to reach out to 500 and beyond with ease. But we still want to run the rifle fast at closer targets. For this scenario, the low power variable optic (LPVO) has been a go to for military, law enforcement and competitive end users alike. But there have been none that do everything extremely well like clarity, usable reticle and a daylight-bright red dot. Well, Vortex took on the challenge. With a new contract optic on the table, the United Kingdom wanted a modern and compact LPVO that could meet very stringent specifications on size, weight and magnification. The author shoots his Springfield Armory SAINT Victor with a mounted Vortex AMG 1-10X LPVO from a prone shooting position. This was not an industry-standard design nor something normal partners in the industry could produce while meeting a set budget for the project. I was able to travel to Vortex headquarters in Wisconsin recently and personally see how these optics are made and tested. But more on that and the specifics in a little bit. An Operator’s Optic The design requirements…