The U.S. Navy announced a new chapter of unmanned surface vessel acquisition that seeks to accelerate development of autonomous capabilities and ditch its previous program.The service commenced the Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel Family of Systems program on Thursday, opening up solicitations for a specific class of boat touted as an integral part of the service’s Golden Fleet initiative. “Our goal is to create a regular and recurring marketplace, not just for the MUSV, but for other classes of vessels as well, over time, designed to match the growing demand for unmanned systems across a range of missions,” said Rebecca Gassler, portfolio acquisition executive for the U.S. Navy’s robotic and autonomous systems.Gassler, who spoke with reporters during a virtual Thursday media roundtable, said the marketplace was seeking production-ready, mission-capable vessels that were aligned with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle’s containerized capability campaign plan.The CNO announced the plan during McAleese Defense Programs conference last week, detailing a vision in which modular payloads — or transportable containers housing defense capabilities such as drones and weapons — can be deployed to any region in the world.RELATEDThe MUSV program was focused on demonstrated performance at sea, and not on the rigmarole of development,…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! President Donald Trump confirmed he voted by mail in Florida’s special election Tuesday, but he pivoted from the media attack point to note his mail-in ballot reform agenda provides for “exceptions” — and not only because he has the privilege of being president.”Yeah, I did,” Trump shot back at a reporter Thursday at his second Cabinet meeting of 2026. “You know what? Because I’m president of the United States.””And because of the fact that I’m president of the United States, I did a mail-in ballot for elections that took place in Florida because I felt I should be here instead of being in the beautiful sunshine.”The reporter noted Trump was at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, before the Palm Beach County election held Tuesday for a state senator and a state representative.REPUBLICANS, TRUMP RUN INTO SENATE ROADBLOCK ON VOTER ID BILL “That’s right, and I decided that I was going to vote by mail-in ballot because I couldn’t be there,” Trump said, adding, “I had a lot of different things” going on.Trump was at Mar-a-Lago for the weekend, in Memphis, Tennessee, on Monday for a forum on crime, and then back in…

The U.S. Senate squashed an effort Wednesday by Democratic lawmakers to overturn the Department of Veterans Affairs’ ban on abortions or abortion counseling for VA patients. In a 50-48 vote, the Senate rejected a proposal by Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, to reinstate VA coverage of abortions. Blumenthal said the ban, which went into effect last year, was the most restrictive in the federal health care system, noting that it bans the procedure in cases of rape or incest and prohibits physicians from advising veteran patients of their options. “Many of them suffer from service-connected disabilities that increase the risks associated with pregnancy, and many have experienced military sexual trauma during their time of service. To betray them and take away this kind of health care — their ability to receive an abortion in the most harrowing situation — is unconscionable,” Blumenthal said during a press conference prior to the vote. The VA finalized a rule Dec. 31 that prohibits the procedure at VA medical centers unless the veteran’s life is at risk. The new policy overturned a policy implemented in September 2022 that allowed the VA to provide the procedure…

Recent headlines have reported sudden closures of TSA (Transportation Security Administration) lanes at major airports and the strategic mobilization of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in urban centers, allegedly tied to the government shutdown. The situation in the United States is looking increasingly problematic as the country continues its quick trek toward authoritarianism. Trump Threatens To Deploy ICE To Airports But could we see food and fuel rationing too, as tyranny takes hold? According to some international agencies that have released warnings about it, fuel and food shortages are looming. To most, these appear as unrelated symptoms of a complex, troubled world, but they may not be coincidences. They are the visible threads of a deliberate, premeditated pattern, one that is weaving a trap for the American people, according to an assessment by Natural News.  Trump’s decision to join Israel in a regime-change war on Iran was not a geopolitical miscalculation. But it became one. Trump’s attacks on Iran have ended with the global economy’s most critical artery, causing economic distress worldwide. The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow corridor that carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and a similar share of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade.…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! The WWE announced on Thursday that Bad News Brown will be inducted into the Hall of Fame as a legacy member of the class of 2026.Brown, whose real name is Allen Coage, will join a class that includes Stephanie McMahon, AJ Styles, Demolition, Dennis Rodman and Sid Eudy. He will join Eudy as a legacy inductee. “From standing on the podium at the 1976 Summer Olympics to the center of the ring at #WrestleMania IV, Bad News Brown was a fierce competitor with an attitude to match,” WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque wrote on X. “For his accomplishments in combat sports and contributions to @WWE, it is a pleasure to announce his induction into the 2026 Legacy Class of the #WWEHOF.”Before he stepped into the squared circle, Brown was a judo competitor. He won a bronze medal in the 1976 Montreal Olympics and took home two gold medals in the Pan American Games in 1967 and 1975 respectively.WWE’S BAYLEY HIGHLIGHTS RISING INDIE WRESTLER NIKKI BLACKHEART AMID POTENTIAL MOVE TO COMPANY He started his professional wrestling career with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and would perform there multiple times between 1977 and…

Active-duty Coast Guard personnel have been paid through the partial government shutdown but the standoff is affecting civilian employees, recruiting, maintenance and non-emergency operations, the service’s vice commandant said Wednesday. According to Adm. Thomas Allan, civilian workers have not received a paycheck since Feb. 14, and the service has stopped processing merchant mariner credentials, affecting 16,000 applications. It has failed to pay 5,000 utility bills and it is not paying the vendors who feed recruits at the service’s Cape May, New Jersey, training center. It has also halted fisheries enforcement operations and routine maritime patrols. And families are operating under a “grim uncertainty” as to whether they will receive their April 1 paycheck — the third time in 176 days Coast Guard personnel have been affected by a shutdown, Allan told members of the House Homeland Security Committee. “From our tactical boarding teams executing counter-narcotics missions to our rescue swimmers deploying from helicopters into rough seas, our crews should not have to worry about if their families will be able to pay rent or buy groceries,” Allan said. According to Allan, even if the shutdown were to have ended Wednesday, the service will take until July 3 to catch up…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., decried Democratic sanctuary policies, saying they “worked exactly as the Democrats intended,” allowing the murder of Chicago college student Sheridan Gorman.Speaking with reporters at the U.S. Capitol, Johnson lamented that “but for that crazy set of policies, this young lady would still be alive.”Gorman, an 18-year-old student at Loyola University Chicago, was shot and killed on March 19, allegedly by Venezuelan illegal immigrant Jose Medina-Medina. He had been previously apprehended and released by U.S. Border Patrol under the Biden administration in 2023 and was arrested again for shoplifting shortly after entering the country.Johnson remarked that “the irony of all this is that the system did not fail Sheridan.”GORMAN FAMILY CALLS OUT JOHNSON AND PRITZKER FOLLOWING COLLEGE STUDENT’S KILLING IN CHICAGO “That worked exactly as the Democrats intended,” he said. “You had Democrats in charge of the White House, in charge in the city of Chicago, open borders policy, sanctuary city policies. They coddled the criminal illegal alien, they empowered, they allowed this to happen.”Mass outrage has erupted across the country since Gorman’s killing, with some comparing it to the 2024 killing of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley,…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Pennsylvania House Democrats withdrew consideration of a resolution honoring March as “National Women’s Month” after a Republican lawmaker filed an amendment to include the physiological definition of “woman” in the text.What was expected to be a quick, symbolic vote instead turned into a brief but telling floor moment, with Republicans forcing the question into the open and Democrats opting to shelve the resolution rather than define “woman” in legislation — leading to an eruption of laughter on the House floor.House Speaker Joanna McClinton, D-Southwest Philadelphia, was bringing a rapid-fire succession of bills up for consideration late in Tuesday’s session when she asked the clerk to introduce House Resolution 390.The bill, from state Rep. Carol Hill-Evans, D-York, recognized March as Women’s History Month in Pennsylvania. Hill-Evans wrote in her presentation of the bill that it “celebrat[es] the extraordinary accomplishments of women,” which “too often go unacknowledged.”ALITO PRESSES TRANS FEMALE ATHLETE’S LAWYER ON DEFINITION OF WOMAN DURING SCOTUS HEARING “Will the House agree to the resolution?” McClinton asked the 102-100 Democrat-majority chamber.The clerk indicated that state Rep. Aaron Bernstine, R-Ellwood City, had an amendment to offer, and McClinton recognized him to introduce it.”Thank you,…

The Navy admiral tapped as the new head of U.S. nuclear forces on Thursday endorsed a finding by the Energy Department and Pentagon that the U.S. nuclear arsenal is safe and reliable and there is no need to conduct nuclear warhead tests.Admiral Richard Correll’s comment comes as officials are assessing how to implement a directive issued in October by President Donald Trump to conduct nuclear weapons tests.Correll, testifying at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on his confirmation as U.S. Strategic Command chief, was asked if he saw a military need for the U.S. to conduct nuclear warhead tests, the last of which took place in 1992.Noting that the Energy Department and Pentagon annually certify the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, Correll expressed support for the most recent certification, which was issued for 2025-2026.The departments “indicated we have the capabilities and sufficient testing to satisfy ourselves on the reliability and efficacy of our nuclear warheads,” said Correll. “But we monitor that very closely and I will continue to provide my best military advice.” Read the full article here

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…