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USSPACECOM releases Space Warfighting Environment 2040 as framework to ensure future of Joint Force’s all-domain advantage
July 27, 2026
U.S. Space Command
“The United States remains the world’s foremost military space power… we will secure the enduring advantage needed to deter and, if necessary, defeat any adversary seeking to wage war in space, safeguarding the Homeland and protecting the Joint Force and our allies and partners.” – Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander, U.S. Space Command
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — U.S. Space Command published The Space Warfighting Environment 2040 as a foundation for sustaining space superiority and enhancing Joint Force readiness and lethality as the operational domain continues to rapidly evolve and our competitors mobilize with intention.
SWE 2040 complements the U.S. Space Force’s Future Operating Environment 2040 and Objective Force 2040 by defining the environment and the warfighter-centered operational framework for the broader Joint Force.
By 2040, space will be more crowded, contested, and central to military operations, a reality that carries both risks and opportunities.
The document anticipates several factors that will define warfighting by 2040 and beyond, including the vulnerability of fixed terrestrial space-enabling infrastructure; proliferated dual-use spacecraft that absorb and regenerate under attack; in-space servicing and maneuver that turn orbit into a dynamic network; and quantum developments that reshape trust, timing, and secure communication.
The opportunities emerging across the space domain, the publication says, require more than awareness; they demand a framework that converts opportunity into advantage.
To succeed in 2040, the Joint Force must train for contested space as the baseline, not the exception, and build architectures that are resilient and can regenerate under pressure.
Embracing maneuver warfare, the document states, will be a critical requirement to ensure capabilities can be repositioned and recovered, and effects can be sustained under persistent attack.
"As we look to 2040 and beyond, our charge is clear—understand this operating environment, protect it, and ensure U.S., allied, and partnered warfighters continue to fight and win, anywhere, anytime, always with space."
SWE 2040 was shaped through collaboration and dialogue led by the command’s Joint Force Development and Training, in partnership with the military services, combatant commands, and various defense agencies.
https://www.spacecom.mil/Newsroom/News/Article-Display/Article/4555148/usspacecom-releases-space-warfighting-environment-2040-as-framework-to-ensure-f/
https://www.spacecom.mil/Portals/57/FINAL%20USSC%20Space%20Warfighting%20Environment%202040.pdf?ver=cWeGIk4tKis7mEPBRYn2zA%3d%3d
moar Space Force
https://www.ssc.spaceforce.mil/Newsroom/Article-Display/Article/4556381/space-force-advances-evolved-strategic-satcom-with-mission-planning-phase-3-awa
https://www.petersonschriever.spaceforce.mil/Newsroom/News/Display/Article/4557261/sbd-41-commander-signs-environmental-commitment-statement/
https://x.com/USSpaceForce/status/2082125187789496617
https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-1/How_Sentinel-1_measured_movement_of_Venezuela_quakes
extra ESA and UK
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2026/07/Vertical_liftoff_as_Ariane_6_takes_flight_for_the_first_time
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2026/07/Wildfires_near_Cebreros_ground_station_Spain
https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA/Hear_from_Ilja_Skrypnyk
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/how-we-protected-the-uk-and-space-in-june-2026
How Sentinel-1 measured movement of Venezuela quakes
28/07/2026
More than one month on from the catastrophic twin earthquakes in northern Venezuela on 24 June 2026, satellite data show the ground displacement was greater than first estimated.
The map below shows the ground displacement captured by radar instruments carried by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellites, which passed over the northern coast of Venezuela on 18 June before the earthquakes occurred, then afterwards on 24-25 June.
The measurements taken on the 24 and 25 June were compared with the previous measurements from 18 June, to ascertain differences in ground level following the earthquakes. An upwards displacement of 65 cm around Caracas was measured by the mission's radar instruments.
Measuring ground movement with radio waves
The data for the map are created using a technique called interferometry.
This uses measurements taken before and after the displacement event, captured by missions carrying advanced radar instruments, such as the C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) instrument on board the Sentinel-1 satellites.
As a satellite passes overhead, it sends out radar pulses (radio waves travelling at the speed of light). These are directed towards the ground at a diagonal angle (rather than vertically), hitting the ground to the side of the satellite’s orbital path over Earth.
The radar wave is reflected off the ground and the satellite measures the length of the returning wave. This gives very accurate information on ground level, to within a millimetre, although ground covered by vegetation will give less accurate readings.
Because the satellite’s radar travels diagonally in a straight line, it can only measure displacement in the satellite’s ‘line of sight’ – in other words, it is not a vertical measurement, but a measurement of displacement in relation to the satellite, as detected by the satellite’s oblique angle.
Information on whether the ground has moved vertically, horizontally or both is not included in the image shown above.
The measurements taken on 24 and 25 June, compared with measurements on 18 June, show an upwards displacement of 65 cm around Caracas, La Guaira and Caraballeda, with some downwards displacement north of the Boconó fault line.
However, since the satellite’s line-of-sight data were not compared with any ground measurements after the event, the map should be viewed as guidance rather than a validated map.
The preliminary data from Sentinel-1 released five days after the earthquakes indicated ground displacement of the order of 30 cm.
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ESA’s Mission Manager for Sentinel-1, Nuno Miranda, noted: “Earth observation satellites equipped with radar provide insightful and rapid information in the wake of natural disasters – and the radar data supplied by Sentinel-1 is an excellent example of this.
While there are some limitations of these measurements due to vegetation or other surface textures, this can be corrected through repeated measurements as the satellite orbits in both a descending and an ascending orbit, as is the case for Senintel-1, which is in a polar orbit.”
Activating Copernicus services
The Copernicus Emergency Mapping Service (EMS) was activated (activation number EMSR884) on 25 June, some five hours after the earthquakes occurred.
The second of the two shocks, measuring 7.5-magnitude, had a devastating effect on lives and infrastructure in urban centres. Copernicus EMS Rapid Mapping was requested to provide damage assessment emergency mapping.
With the epicentre west of Caracas, severe damage was reported in the areas of Greater Caracas and La Guaira, approximately 30 km north of the capital.
The Copernicus EMS report on the disaster found that more than 3000 buildings in the area were damaged and more than 2.7 million people were potentially in the affected areas.
The coastal town of Caraballeda, next to La Guaira, is one of the most seriously damaged areas, according to Copernicus situational reporting.
Fault lines studied from space
The earthquakes in Venezuela on 24 June were caused by a shallow slip-strike movement in the tectonic plates that push against each other under the sea off the coast of Venezuela.
The Caribbean tectonic plate pushes eastwards against the South American tectonic plate at a rate of about 15 mm per year, along the San Sebastián fault line.
Machel Higgins, a geophysicist at Florida International University, said, “The co-seismic Sentinel-1 interferograms clearly indicate that most of the rupture from these two earthquakes occurred offshore.
This observation aligns well with our recent study of interseismic deformation, which used eight years of continuous Sentinel-1 radar data to track long-term strain accumulation at this plate boundary.
That data informed our models, which revealed that the western section of the offshore San Sebastián fault is fully locked. The last large magnitude earthquake on this fault was a 7.6-magnitude in 1900.
Given that the fault accommodates about 15 mm a year of relative motion between the Caribbean plate and the South American plate, we expected the fault to generate magnitude 7.5 earthquakes.
By directly linking long-term satellite monitoring with actual earthquake behaviour, this work underscores the invaluable role space-based geodetic observations play in mapping critical seismic hazards.”
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https://www.rt.com/russia/643563-nabu-charges-foreign-ministry/
extra RT
https://www.rt.com/russia/643555-ukraine-moscow-major-drone-wave/
https://www.rt.com/russia/643551-ukraine-black-sea-strikes/
https://www.rt.com/russia/643570-dnepr-busification-video-injured/
https://www.rt.com/russia/643552-ukrainian-drone-konstantinovka-civilians/
https://www.rt.com/russia/643566-ukraine-pressures-journalists-through-mobilization/
https://www.rt.com/news/643549-waters-ukraine-insane-confrontation/
https://www.rt.com/news/643565-russias-victory-over-ukraine-to-benefit-everyone/
Diplomats in Kiev stole $1.3 million in Western aid – anti-graft agencies
28 Jul, 2026 13:13 | Updated 28 Jul, 2026 14:15
Four suspects allegedly diverted donations intended to support Ukraine in its conflict with Russia
Senior Ukrainian diplomats allegedly siphoned off at least $1.28 million in Western aid after Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry coffers were flooded with donations intended to support the country in its conflict with Russia, according to anti-corruption investigators in Kiev.
The Western-backed anti-graft agencies, which Vladimir Zelensky’s government unsuccessfully sought to put under its direct control last year, alleged that senior officials had rushed to exploit the influx of foreign funds following the escalation of the conflict in 2022 for their own personal gain.
What are the charges?
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) announced Monday that they had uncovered an embezzlement ring within the Foreign Ministry.
Four people have been accused of large-scale fraud, embezzlement and money laundering aimed at stealing foreign funds.
Who are the alleged thieves?
Investigators did not name the suspects but identified them by their public positions and alleged roles in the scheme.
They include the suspected ringleader, whom NABU described as the ministry’s state secretary from 2020 to 2024, named in multiple media outlets as Aleksandr Bankov; his former deputy, who remains a diplomat; a ministry aide who headed an NGO allegedly complicit in the scheme; and the non-profit’s accountant.
The state secretary is responsible for ensuring the proper functioning of the Foreign Ministry and holds broad powers, ranging from reviewing the legality of ministerial activities to appointing and dismissing personnel and managing official communications with foreign entities.
How did the aid embezzlement work?
The suspects allegedly transferred some of the money provided by foreign donors into the account of the NGO headed by one of the alleged participants. Communications obtained by NABU indicated that $1.28 million had been diverted by March 2022.
The funds were then gradually concealed through fictitious contracts and cashed out with the help of criminal groups specializing in money laundering, NABU reported. The agency said it had obtained the group’s secret records detailing the financial transactions.
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Bankov also allegedly helped convince Western officials that their money had been used for its intended purpose. The cover story devised by the group in July 2022 claimed that the funds had paid for the work of 150 IT specialists carrying out cyberattacks against Russia, NABU said.
In private communications, the suspects allegedly described the explanation as “bullsh*t,” according to transcripts released by investigators.
Who is Bankov?
Bankov’s public biography depicts him as a run-of-the-mill post-Soviet diplomatic worker. A polyglot and trained philologist, he entered government service in 2006 shortly after graduating from a university and steadily rose through the ranks.
Before becoming state secretary in 2020, Bankov served for three years as Kiev’s ambassador to Romania. During his tenure, he caused outrage in neighboring Moldova by saying that, from the Ukrainian perspective, the Moldovan language did not exist.
The remark was interpreted as a tacit dismissal of Moldovan sovereignty.
A year before leaving the Foreign Ministry, Bankov was awarded Ukraine’s highest diplomatic rank, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary.
Is this an isolated incident?
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has faced numerous controversies, although most have involved accusations that its diplomats use moral blackmail and bullying to prod other countries into supporting Kiev’s cause.
Other NABU investigations, however, have uncovered extensive suspected corruption involving senior officials in the Defense Ministry, Energy Ministry and other government bodies with access to large financial flows.
Charges filed last November against businessman Timur Mindich, a longtime associate of Vladimir Zelensky, triggered a major political crisis that remains unresolved.
The Foreign Ministry became embroiled in a separate scandal earlier this year after former Ambassador to Cyprus Sergey Nezhinsky accused Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga of allowing organized crime to infiltrate the department.
During a parliamentary hearing, Nezhinsky said he submitted his resignation after being pressured to appoint as a consul a person he believed to be a crime boss. The diplomat also claimed that he had been warned about a possible plot to assassinate him.
The ministry dismissed Nezhinsky as a disgruntled former employee who had been fired for incompetence and accused him of slander.
How does Kiev fight corruption?
Vigorously, if Ukrainian officials are to be believed. Skeptics, however, point to Zelensky’s attempt to reign in NABU and SAPO as evidence of his actual intentions.
The aborted reform, adopted in July 2025, would have placed the two largely independent agencies under the direct authority of the prosecutor general, who is appointed by Zelensky.
At the time, the agencies were investigating Aleksey Chernyshov, a close Zelensky ally who has since been identified as a key suspect in the Mindich case.
The Ukrainian leader was forced to reverse the amendments after Western donors threatened to freeze aid. Zelensky himself remains shielded from prosecution by his leadership role: he continues to exercise presidential power despite his term expiring in 2024.
One NABU money laundering investigation examined a luxury property development near Kiev involving Mindich, Chernyshov, Zelensky’s former chief of staff Andrey Yermak and a fourth partner whom media reports alleged was Zelensky himself.
Earlier this month, Zelensky ordered his latest government reshuffle, including the replacement of the sixth defense minister appointed during his rule. The move sparked mass protests resembling those that followed the attempt to curb NABU and SAPO.
Zelensky subsequently replaced the country’s top general, who had been accused by recently dismissed Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov of being an ineffective military commander.
Some Ukrainian political observers have argued that the anti-corruption investigations are part of a Western effort to dismantle the system of personal power Zelensky built using emergency authorities assumed during the conflict with Russia and alleged corruption networks within the government.
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'Life-threatening situation': 13 Indian seafarers stranded at Ukraine's Black Sea port amid drone attacks
July 28, 2026, 23:32:51 IST
Thirteen Indian seafarers are among 15 crew members stranded aboard a cargo vessel at Ukraine’s Chornomorsk port, where continuing drone and missile attacks have left them trapped in what the Forward Seamen’s Union of India (FSUI) described as a “life-threatening” situation.
In an urgent appeal posted on X, the union said the vessel, MV AMIR1, remains docked at the Black Sea port as hostilities continue in the surrounding area.
Crew ’living in constant fear'
According to the FSUI, the crew has been forced to remain on board as repeated drone and missile strikes continue near the vessel.
“MV AMIR1, currently at Ukrainian port Chornomorsk with 15 crew on board, including 13 Indian seafarers, is trapped in a terrible and life-threatening situation,” the union said.
It added that the sailors were living under constant fear of being caught in an attack.
“Repeated drone and missile attacks are being attempted in the immediate vicinity of the vessel. The crew is living under constant fear of a direct hit at any moment,” the union said.
Union urges immediate evacuation
The seafarers’ body appealed to the shipowners, the vessel’s flag state, relevant authorities and the Government of India to intervene immediately and ensure the crew’s safe evacuation.
“We urgently appeal to all concerned authorities, shipowners, flag state, and the Government of India to immediately secure their safety and arrange prompt repatriation,” the union said.
Calling for swift action, it added, “Indian seafarers must not be left as sitting targets in conflict zones. Act now.”
Appeal follows MEA’s protest to Ukraine
The appeal comes a day after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) raised concerns with Ukraine over the safety of Indian seafarers operating in the Black Sea.
On Monday, India summoned Ukraine’s Ambassador to India, Dr. Oleksandr Polishchuk, following an attack on the merchant vessel MV OMORFI near the Ukrainian port of Odesa. Four Indian crew members were on board the ship at the time.
India condemns attacks on commercial shipping
The MEA said the strike on MV OMORFI resulted in the death of an Indian national and strongly condemned attacks on commercial vessels.
The ministry described such strikes as a threat to maritime safety, freedom of navigation and international trade, and urged Ukrainian authorities to ensure the safety of civilian seafarers operating in the region.
https://www.firstpost.com/world/life-threatening-situation-13-indian-seafarers-stranded-at-ukraines-black-sea-port-amid-drone-attacks-14034537.html
other Russia and Ukraine
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/07/28/tyumen-oil-refinery-halts-production-after-ukrainian-drone-strike-sources-say-a93359
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-emergencies/4148694-finland-restricts-air-and-maritime-traffic-due-to-drone-threat.html
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/07/28/3-killed-in-belgorod-region-drone-attacks-a93362
https://mezha.net/eng/bukvy/43458d5e_strike_drone_hit/
https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/politics/3956449-ukraine-warns-iran-amid-rising-tensions-over-drone-attack
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/2026-07-28/live-updates-903852
other Israel
https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/defense/artc-israel-orders-expansion-of-military-operations-across-the-west-bank
https://vinnews.com/2026/07/28/idf-kills-islamic-jihad-commander-who-led-oct-7-abduction-cell/
https://www.jns.org/news/israel-news/idf-ordered-to-prepare-for-major-op-in-palestinian-camp-in-judea-and-samaria
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-903880
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-drone-shot-down-near-jordanian-border-point-of-origin-is-unclear/
Live Updates: Netanyahu-Trump meeting concludes following US president's threats to attack Pickaxe Mountain
July 28, 9:35 PM
Netanyahu, Zelensky enter White House through side door in diplomatic shakeup • Iran says anyone receiving its frozen funds as compensation won't be allowed through Hormuz
July 28, 9:11 PM
Ambassador Leiter hails 'great meeting' between Netanyahu, Trump
Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter commented on the "great meeting" between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday.
"Israel and the United States are coordinated at the highest levels," Leiter said in an X/Twitter post. "A model partnership that continues to benefit both of our countries and the entire world."
A great meeting at the White House with President @realDonaldTrump and Prime Minister @Netanyahu. Israel and the United States are coordinated at the highest levels—a model partnership that continues to benefit both of our countries and the entire world.
July 28, 9:05 PM
IDF launches accidental interceptor at own artillery fire
The IDF mistakenly launched an interceptor against its own artillery fire aimed toward Lebanon, the military announced on Tuesday night.
The IDF also stated that the incident was under review.
July 28, 8:39 PM
US military boards two ships, disables two, redirects 18 in Hormuz, CENTCOM says
The US military boarded two ships, disabled two additional ships, and redirected eighteen ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday to ensure "full compliance" with its blockade against Iran, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in an X/Twitter post.
"There are more than 20 ships operating across the Middle East supporting military operations, including strict enforcement of America's steel wall blockade against Iran," CENTCOM said.
July 28, 8:26 PM
Yemen's Houthis say they fired ballistic missiles at Saudi oil tanker in Red Sea
Yemen's Houthis said on Tuesday that they had fired ballistic missiles at a Saudi oil tanker, accusing the vessel of violating what they described as their maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea and ignoring warning calls.
The Iran-aligned group's military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said the vessel was forced to turn back.
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July 28, 8:13 PM
Progress reported in talks to resolve Strait of Hormuz crisis
Two Middle Eastern diplomats said Tuesday that there had been progress in efforts to resolve the crisis surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, although no final agreement had been reached.
The emerging proposal, the two diplomats said, focuses on a temporary solution establishing a central shipping route through the strait, running between Omani and Iranian territorial waters. They stressed the proposal would be only a temporary arrangement.
Iran continued to insist that any permanent agreement grant it control over the strait and allow it to impose mandatory tariffs on passing vessels. The United States opposed those demands. Talks remained ongoing, the two diplomats said, adding that meaningful progress had been made.
July 28, 7:42 PM
Oman proposes Hormuz management system with voluntary fees, source says
Iran has said the strait cannot go back to its pre-war status where shipping flowed freely, while Gulf states insist there be no mandatory payment of fees to Iran.
Oman has presented a proposal to Iran for joint regional management of the Strait of Hormuz with shipping firms paying voluntary fees, a Gulf source told Reuters on Tuesday.
The Strait of Hormuz, which carried a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas before the Iran war, has become the main hurdle in peace talks and a flashpoint for repeated escalations in the conflict.
July 28, 7:14 PM
Netanyahu arrives at White House, meets with Trump on Iran, peace with Saudi Arabia
This comes amid reports of heightened tensions between Netanyahu and Trump over the Iran war.
US President Donald Trump hosted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday to discuss the war in Iran as well as expanding the Abraham Accords, following calls by Trump for Saudi Arabia to normalize ties with Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the White House to meet with President Trump.
Netanyahu's delegation includes Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, his Chief of Staff, Ido Norden, his Military Secretary to the PM, Maj.-Gen. Guy Markezano, and his advisors Ofir Falk and Caroline Glick.
July 28, 7:13 PM
Hezbollah civil arm active in Lebanon pilot zone, putting Beirut-Jerusalem agreement in question
Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Organization is still operating in a south Lebanon pilot zone, according to a new report questioning Beirut’s ability to limit the group’s influence.
The presence of Hezbollah’s health organization in Zawtar al-Gharbiyah, one of the first pilot zones set to be made free of Hezbollah as part of a pilot in the Jerusalem-Beirut agreement, brings into question Lebanon’s willingness and ability to police these areas, according to an analysis published by the Alma Research and Education Center on Monday.
The Lebanese army began deploying in Zawtar al-Gharbiyah, one of three towns in the initial pilot phase of the agreement, last Tuesday after the IDF withdrew from the area, in one of the first tests of the US-brokered agreement.
July 28, 7:12 PM
IDF kills Nukhba commander who participated in October 7
The IDF killed a Nukhba commander on Monday who had commanded a terror cell that participated in the abduction of Israelis on October 7, the military announced on Tuesday.
The terrorist, Muhammad Khalil Muhammad Aslam, had also "advanced attacks" against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers, the IDF stated.
July 28, 6:11 PM
Trump-Netanyahu meeting begins
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at the White House to meet with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday.
Both Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky entered through the side entrance.
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Jammu On High Alert After Threat Email, Drone Activity Trigger Security Crackdown
July 28, 2026 at 9:53 PM IST
Jammu: An email threatening to target vital installations in Jammu has kept the Jammu police on high alert, and a renewed alert has been issued to keep the force vigilant all around.
All the hotels, lodges and people who have rented their accommodations have been asked to verify the credentials of the people before being allowed to use the accommodations.
Sources told ETV Bharat that an email was received on Monday in which the anti-national elements have threatened to target a few installations in the winter capital.
"The matter is being taken seriously, and a police team has been constituted to probe the matter. The source of the email is being ascertained, and once it is confirmed from where the email was sent, the necessary action will be taken," said a security source.
At present, the Amarnath yatra is underway, and security forces are keeping a strong vigil in and around Jammu and keeping an eye on every suspicious movement.
Talking to ETV Bharat, SSP Jammu Joginder Singh said, "The security forces are already on alert due to the Amarnath yatra, and strict vigil will continue in the wake of Independence Day."
Throughout the day, Jammu police established checkpoints at different places in and around Jammu city to check vehicles. The vehicles of the flying squad of the police also kept moving to maintain the vigil.
Meanwhile, on the International Border (IB) and the Line of Control (LoC), both Border Security Force (BSF) and Indian Army are tracking the drone movement from across the borders.
In the past couple of months, drone activity has increased from across the border and on a few occasions, security forces have been able to bring a few drones down. These drones are used by the enemy forces to drop arms and ammunition and also drugs.
During the 100-day campaign by Jammu and Kashmir police against the drug menace, they had recovered a huge quantity of drugs and also arms and ammunition which were dropped from the Pakistani side with the help of drones.
https://www.etvbharat.com/en/bharat/jammu-on-high-alert-after-threat-email-drone-acitivity-trigger-security-crackdown-enn26072807792
Schools Are Deploying Pepper-Spraying Drones to Stop Shooters – What Could Go Wrong?
Jul 28, 2026
Mithril Defense drones armed with pepper gel and strobes are entering schools in three states despite no real-world shooting data
Mithril Defense drones claim to reach active shooters within 15 seconds via remote pilots.
Florida and Georgia allocated over $1 million combined to deploy drones across eight schools.
Experts warn drones risk misidentification and pepper spray hazards with zero real-world casualty data.
Fifteen seconds. That’s how long Mithril Defense claims its Campus Guardian Angel drone needs to reach an active shooter after a teacher hits a panic button.
The pizza-sized aircraft — armed with pepper gel, strobes, sirens, and the ability to ram a suspect at 60 mph — is headed into at least nine schools across Florida, Georgia, and Colorado. The pitch is brutally simple: get something on the shooter before police arrive.
“The first 120 seconds are incredibly critical, because that’s when most of the shooting happens,” Mithril CEO Justin Marston told KFF Health News, citing the Uvalde massacre’s agonizing police delay as direct inspiration.
Responding to a gunshot wound in those critical moments is exactly the gap this technology aims to close.
How It Actually Works
Teachers trigger the system; remote pilots in Texas take the controls.
Stored on charging pads throughout school hallways, the drones activate when staff hit a mobile app or classroom panic button. Licensed pilots at a tactical operations center in Texas then take over via live video, locating and tracking the suspect.
Mithril’s stated targets: airborne in five seconds, on the shooter in fifteen, degrading or incapacitating within sixty. The non-lethal toolkit includes pepper gel, blinding strobes, and ear-splitting sirens.
If all else fails, the drone becomes a projectile — ramming at reportedly up to 60 mph.
Florida allocated roughly $557,000 across three schools; Deltona High was the first installation
Georgia approved about $550,000 for five high schools, with deployment set for 2026–2027
Colorado’s John Adams Academy is self-funding its program — the state’s first
Drones cannot open locked doors but carry glass-breaking lances for non-ballistic windows
The system has been tested only in drills — no actual shooting has put it to the test
The Risks Nobody Has Answered Yet
Misidentification, pepper spray in enclosed hallways, and a complete absence of real-world data.
In the chaotic first minutes of a school shooting, a drone targeting a fleeing student or a responding officer is not a hypothetical — it is a documented failure mode of automated targeting systems operating under incomplete information.
School safety consultant Curtis Lavarello has expressed “serious reservations about the deployment of drones in schools,” according to KFF Health News.
David Riedman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database, is blunter: these systems may “create more new risks and complications than potential viable defense against an attack,” he told DroneXL, flagging pepper spray dispersal in enclosed hallways as a particular concern.
Parents weighing this technology should consider what gets displaced in already-strained school budgets.
March for Our Lives co-founder Jaclyn Corin argues finite resources should fund prevention — mental health support, threat assessment, gun policy — not tech that only engages after shots are fired.
Axon tried taser drones in 2022. Its own ethics board resigned in protest, and the project collapsed. Education Week and other outlets underscore the same uncomfortable truth: zero empirical data shows these drones reduce casualties compared to locked doors and training.
The pilots will either validate the concept or expose it. In schools, the cost of an unproven experiment is not measured in budget overruns — it is measured in the trust handed over every morning at the front door.
https://www.gadgetreview.com/schools-are-deploying-pepper-spraying-drones-to-stop-shooters-what-could-go-wrong
The mission to become America’s first robot security force
Updated: Jul 27, 2026 / 02:48 PM CDT
The company behind a line of autonomous security robots says it has the lofty goal of becoming the U.S.’ first autonomous security force.
Knightscope Inc. already has dozens of its autonomous robots on the ground in multiple states that monitor and flag any dangerous activity and bring it back to a command center.
With security guards not being able to be everywhere at all times and so many police forces being stretched thin, the company believes the robots are their answer.
Company leaders say with the robots, they strive to make America the safest place in the world since there’s constant property crime and violent crime happening every 30 seconds.
To Knightscope, that means a future with less crime, less fear of becoming a victim when going out.
The strategy involves a combination of AI, robots and humans enhanced by added layers of autonomous detection, human speed and instinct and much more.
“The most powerful combination in the world: hardware plus software plus humans,” William Santana Li, the founder, chairman and CEO of Knightscope, told NewsNation.
“If you can get that orchestrated to work properly, you get the machines and algorithms to do the monotonous things, you get the humans to do the enforcement and decision-making.”
Santana Li added: “This is what the future is going to hold; the nation needs the first autonomous security force so we can actually live the full American dream.”
Knightscope’s other goal is deploying one million machines across the country one day.
https://www.newsnationnow.com/business/tech/mission-americas-first-robot-security-force/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_SstYY9STc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf97Q7dBYcw (Knightscope's Autonomous Security Force Explained)
https://knightscope.com/
Rare early report of UFO hovering in sky uncovered in cardboard box
Tuesday 28 July 2026 05:51 EDT
Two South African Air Force flying officers also reported seeing unidentified aerial objects above Durban
One of the earliest eyewitness reports of a flying saucer in the modern era of the UFO phenomenon has been uncovered.
The typed account was made by a Barbara Graves who wrote from her home in Durban, South Africa, to friend Muriel Armfield in Chertsey, Surrey.
She described how on March 8, 1953 while taking a photograph of the Botanical Gardens in the coastal city she spotted a 'round object' that hovered high in the sky.
She insisted it was definitely not an aircraft.
Barbara told Muriel: "I hope you don't think I've taken to the bottle when I tell you that on Sunday, Tom and I saw a Flying Saucer over Durban.
"We were taking photographs…and Tom asked me to look up to get the sun on my face when I spied a round object in the sky, very high and moving.
"We both agreed it definitely wasn't an aeroplane - it was a perfectly cloudless, blue sky, otherwise we would never have seen it at the height it was.
"We watched it travel a good distance, and then it seemed to remain in the same spot for quite a long time - then went higher and higher until it was lost from our sight."
She then expressed her regret at not having a telephoto lens on her camera which might have captured the UFO.
At about the same time there were other similar sightings of a 'flying saucer' over South Africa.
Two South African Air Force flying officers reported seeing unidentified aerial objects above Durban on the same day Barbara reported hers.
Experts say that contemporary accounts from the formative years of the modern UFO phenomenon are 'astonishingly scarce' as people were often ridiculed for speaking out.
The letter is coming up for sale at Sworders Auctioneers of Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, as part of their Out of the ordinary sale.
It was found inside a box of unrelated ephemera purchased at a flea market in the south west of England.
Mark Wilkinson, a spokesperson for Sworders, said: "The significance of this letter lies as it is a genuine surviving first-hand UFO eyewitness account written in 1953, at a time when such sightings attracted worldwide attention but were often met with scepticism and ridicule.
"No comparable private first-hand UFO eyewitness letter from this period is known to have notably appeared on the open auction market, making the survival of this document exceptionally rare.
"Personal letters of this nature were seldom preserved, with many lost or discarded over the years, and many witnesses choosing only to confide in trusted individuals rather than speak publicly.
"Its importance is further enhanced by the fact that, unknown to the writer, the same sighting was independently reported on the same day by two Air Force pilots, whose account was later preserved in a contemporary newsreel.
"Emerging from the early years of modern UFO investigation, this letter offers a rare insight into the personal and historical context of the 1950s UFO phenomenon."
The letter is tipped to sell for between £300 to £500 on August 18.
https://www.the-independent.com/news/uk/home-news/ufo-letter-durban-south-africa-b3022890.html
Dr. Phil
@DrPhil
I was invited to the White House to view the latest collection of UAP disclosure files before it reached the public.
I recently sat down with my friend @piersmorgan to share some of what I saw.
9:43 AM · Jul 27, 2026
https://x.com/DrPhil/status/2081782483981357259
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAalCSs3DDY
Whistleblower Matt Brown on “Immaculate Constellation” and UAPs
July 28, 2026
Matthew Brown is a U.S. national security and policy analyst who came forward in 2025 as a whistleblower exposing “Immaculate Constellation,” a special access program tracking unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP/UFOs).
READ: https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/117721/documents/HHRG-118-GO12-20241113-SD003.pdf
WATCH: https://youtu.be/ZAxI-LDrDqA?si=ELXs7mwWBFIKhWe6
VISIT: https://invisiblefrontiers.substack.com/ FOLLOW: @SunOfAbramelin VISIT: https://www.vanguardenterprise.org/
https://www.judicialwatch.org/videos/whistleblower-matt-brown-on-immaculate-constellation-and-uaps/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DffuAUbNL98
UAP 𓂀 Luigi 👁️ 🇺🇸 κρυπτός W.👽MJ12 SOM1-01
@UAPLuigi
BREAKING: 🚨‼️NEW SKINNY BOB FOOTAGE
Interior walkthru and examination 8mm disclosure footage UFO 🛸 🎥🎬
Source: anonymous
Second new Skinny Bob film: ET crew recovery site D, survival of EBL Tim +2, skinny Bob 👽 🛸🎥
The final third latest Skinny Bob clip that has surfaced: Confidential leaked UFO / EBE footage continuation of disclosure 🛸👽🎬
7:24 PM · Jul 27, 2026
https://x.com/UAPLuigi/status/2081932267707080993
https://x.com/UAPLuigi/status/2081928741790572731
https://x.com/UAPLuigi/status/2081929687681597553
https://x.com/UAPLuigi/status/2081934944327352421
Do UFOs and aliens conflict with faith?
Jul 27, 2026 / 11:42 AM PDT Updated: Jul 27, 2026 / 11:43 AM PDT
Religion and UFOs would seem to be topics that don’t mix, but investigative journalist George Knapp found that’s not necessarily the case in “UFOs: The Best Evidence” Part 7, originally aired on Nov. 14, 1989, on KLAS TV in Las Vegas.
Some religious scholars maintain that the existence of aliens might undermine many faiths because it would dilute the special nature of humanity. But others aren’t so sure.
In fact, some descriptions in religious writings have even been interpreted as UFO encounters.
Major religions aren’t necessarily opposed to the belief that there’s life elsewhere in the universe.
“One of the most beautiful things that was ever said about this, to me, was said by a priest, a very old friend, and I think a wonderful priest who said that, ‘Nothing like this can do anything except increase the glory of God.’ And I think he’s quite right,” author Whitley Strieber said.
During the 1989 series, Catholic leaders we spoke to did not see a conflict with their faith. The Jewish faith also seems to have a little trouble accepting the concept of life elsewhere.
Similarly, Dr. Don Christensen, a Mormon Stake President, told George at the time, “Well, basically we believe that God, through the Savior Jesus Christ, created this Earth, and peopled it … that we’re sons and daughters of God. And that other similar earths have, and maybe will be created.”
Christensen said actual contact with alien life wouldn’t change Mormon beliefs at all, but stopped short of that UFOs and angels are the same.
“I think the only thing I would point out is I think what people refer to as UFOs and what we talk about as angels, or heavenly visitations, are two separate things,” he said.
One of the few religious doctrines that has difficulty with – or even views entirely as evil – the alien concept is the fundamentalist Christian view. There are major divides within the community as to the nature of extraterrestrial life as well as its impact on their beliefs.
Regardless of your religion – or lack thereof – the notion of UFOs and aliens has been extensively studied by scholars and theologians asking the deepest questions.
https://www.8newsnow.com/mystery-wire/religion-ufo-connections/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4PcbsP9QMo
https://x.com/g_knapp
no medbed for you
OVERCLASSIFIED
@overclassifiedx
📡 Tranche 5 UFO files locked for July 31?
Four releases in under 90 days.
Department of War spokesman Sean Parnell already confirmed after Tranche 4 that “the Department of War and our agency partners are actively working on the next release of UAP files.”
The cadence has been consistent: every 2–3 weeks. July 31 sits right in that window.
What’s expected:
🔥 Previously unseen sensor video of anomalous craft holding position inside controlled U.S. airspace
🔥 Declassified documents on advanced propulsion concepts studied as far back as the 1950s
🔥 Continued multi-agency material (DoW, AARO, Energy, NASA, intel community)
Previous drops already delivered:
⚪️ 2015 silent object over Pantex nuclear facility
⚪️ 2019 military aviator describing something “unlike anything I had seen” in 28 years
⚪️ Multi-witness orb events, mother-orb deployments, and historical range-fouler reports
If Tranche 5 follows the same trajectory, we get deeper performance data, instantaneous acceleration, silent hover, no visible propulsion, the exact flight characteristics that have defined the NHI question for decades.
Mark the calendar.
Friday, July 31.
https://x.com/overclassifiedx/status/2082173118601376142
https://x.com/InterstellarUAP/status/2081916298163065258
https://x.com/UAPLuigi/status/2082184526609158183
https://x.com/GarryPNolan
https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/2082080159499186236
https://geoffcruickshank.substack.com/p/majestic-documents-source-s-1-revealed
He's EXPOSING the MI6 Directed Energy Weapons Program, Havana Syndrome, and Nano Tech Torture
July 27, 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMZAPbwZ5Wo
https://x.com/RedactedNews
extra disclosure dejour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw38Ck32CUc (Mike Ricksecker: Rendlesham Forest UFO Incident Revisited!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baAFVkb2Zgk (Matt Ford: Are UFOs Demons? What UFO Disclosure Would Do to Christianity)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zubBNwTZpEI (King of UFOs: Nick Pope's Final Warning on First Contact)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APMzrf7YZys (WeAreChange: HOLY SH*T: They Just CONFIRMED Reptilians… And 3 Other Beings)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCGQAi6MdJk (The Mystery of Alien Cave Carvings | Ancient Aliens)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb2IwTX10Z4 (Cristina Gomez: LATEST: UFO FINDINGS YOU WERE NEVER TOLD ABOUT)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N3kDktWJag (ITM Trading: AI Bubble Just Triggered History's Biggest Warning)