Sunday, October 18, 2026

US Air Force begins piloted flights, autonomy tests for modified F-16s

The U.S. Air Force began piloted flights and autonomy tests for modified F-16s that allows artificial intelligence agents to fly the aircraft.The agents are able to fly the F-16s in the Viper Experimentation and Next-gen Operations Model, or VENOM, program through the aircraft’s additional hardware, software and instrumentation installed, according to a release.A F-16 Fighting…

US service member killed in northern Iraq, US Central Command says

A U.S. service member was killed on Saturday “during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance” in northern Iraq, U.S. Central Command said.The unexploded ordnance was from a “downed Iranian one-way attack drone,” Central Command said in a statement released Sunday.The death of the U.S. service member in Iraq follows in the wake of two U.S.…

The Trump administration’s global campaign against ‘radical left terrorism’ is built on a national security memo

A little-noticed presidential national security directive is now the legal engine behind a wave of terrorism prosecutions against left-wing protesters.  That domestic campaign now has an international dimension, one that American officials had been planning for months, culminating on July 16, 2026, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism drew representatives from…