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Expect to see more drones during training under new Pentagon rules
The Pentagon will soon allow local commanders to buy drones and authorize troops to fly them in training exercises, skipping steps that previously required higher-level approval.
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Each week on Tuesdays and Fridays our team will bring you analysis of military tech, tactics, and doctrine delivered from a rank-and-file perspective.
More from Task & Purpose
Marines to field new smart scope to help shoot down small drones
The Marines will begin fielding the SMASH 2000L fire control system starting next fiscal year, which begins on Oct. 1, with priority going to deploying units.
Pentagon releases 2,000 National Guard troops from federal mission in LA
Soldiers from the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team will be released after five weeks in Los Angeles. Another 2,100 California National Guard troops remain under federal control.
Louisiana National Guard base to be renamed for Confederate general’s dad
The name of the Confederate general was removed from the base in 2023, but will be restored, this time with his father as the namesake.
She was the first woman to fly as an Air Force Thunderbird. Then she got mysteriously sick.
Nicole Malachowski thought she would retire as a general but a tick-borne illness left her unable to fly and made her an advocate for prevention, awareness and erasing stigma.
Damaged, moldy barracks in Guam are getting a $297 million makeover
The military wants to replace housing at Andersen Air Force Base after the level of disrepair made headlines.
The Pentagon is throwing $200 million at ‘Grok for Government’ and other AI companies
The Pentagon is set to spend nearly a billion dollars for AI with four major Silicon Valley tech firms, Google, xAI, OpenAI and Anthropic.
Air Force rolls out age- and sex-neutral fitness test for EOD techs
All Air Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal, or EOD, troops will be held to a new, four-event physical fitness test in August with gender-neutral scoring.
Army bids farewell to laundry specialists
Goodbye, you sudsy soldiers who waged a war against grime, grit and cammies starched with sweat. Wherever you went, better hygiene and higher morale followed.
Space Force is training for ‘orbital warfare’ in its largest exercise yet
Hundreds of Guardians are taking part in the Space Force’s Resolute Space 25, meant to test readiness for space-based combat.
Russia might finally be done with its perpetually broken aircraft carrier
The Admiral Kuznetsov, the seemingly cursed “ship of shame,” could be scrapped soon, after a troubled service.
Coast Guard rescue crew awarded Distinguish Flying Crosses, Air Medals for actions in Texas
The team aboard Rescue 6553 saved nearly 200 people trapped by the deadly flood this past week.
The CV90 is a great vehicle, so why doesn’t the US buy it?
Foreign weapons like the CV90 are ready, able, and affordable, but U.S. policy and Pentagon preferences keep us from buying them.
Missing bow of World War II cruiser found after 83 years
The USS New Orleans took heavy damage off of Guadalcanal. It avoided sinking thanks to the brave sacrifices of three sailors and then a clever use of coconut trees.
More damage sustained than previously revealed in Iran missile attack on Qatar base
Pentagon officials had not previously acknowledged any damage at the base from an Iranian missile attack and had said that U.S. forces there “successfully defended against the attack.”
Retired lieutenant colonel pleads guilty in Ukrainian ‘honeypot’ spy case
David Slater worked as a civilian Air Force employee at U.S. Strategic Command where he attended top secret meetings on the Russia-Ukraine war.
The Army and Navy want the ‘right to repair’ their own equipment
Service members can often not fix a variety of equipment because of terms in the warranty under which it is used, or when defense contractors retain the intellectual property rights to the gear.
Task & Purpose was founded in 2014 to cover the military and veteran community from a rank-and-file perspective, and continues to do so with accurate reporting and great storytelling to this day. Our journalists have reported on the front lines of the Standing Rock protests in North Dakota and the war in Afghanistan. We’ve uncovered American veterans being abused in Kuwaiti prisons, deported veterans being forced to work for Mexican cartels, and drawn national attention to a longstanding legal rule barring service members from suing the government — even in the face of gross negligence.
