Thursday, October 15, 2026

US approves possible $800 million military helicopter sale to Iraq

The United States has approved a potential $800 million sale of Bell helicopters, weapons and related equipment to Iraq, according to the State Department.The proposed Foreign Military Sale includes GAU-19 three-barrel machine gun launchers, M260 seven-tube launchers for 2.75-inch rockets, electro-optical/infrared sensors and missile launch detection systems.The State Department did not specify how many helicopters…

The US military gets its own ChatGPT today

Updated: 5:29 p.m.  The Pentagon’s main portal for AI tools now offers ChatGPT and Grok for Government alongside Google Gemini. A Defense Department official said the OpenAI product, dubbed ChatGPT Mil, would bring new strengths to GenAI.mil, where troops and defense civilians can use generative-AI tools to work on controlled, unclassified information, or CUI. “Gemini, I…

We can buy more weapons. We can’t buy more time.

The munitions shortage caused by the Iran War is real and growing. While the precise magnitude of the shortfall is uncertain, the question now is how quickly the window of vulnerability can be closed. With no apparent path for passing a supplemental or regular appropriations bill by Oct. 1, the Pentagon will likely spend at…