National Security

U.S. Air Force Capt. Andrew “Dojo” Olson, F-35A Lightning II pilot and commander, performs a dedication pass during the Melbourne Air and Space Show in Melbourne, Florida, March 30, 2019. More than 50,000 guests attended the two-day event. See the F-35 Demonstration Team in action below:

Members of the Liberty Jump Team, a squad of commemorative, veteran jumpers, load into the “Placid Lassie,” a restored World War II-era C-47 Skytrain. They were preparing for a demonstration onto the Fryar Drop Zone at Fort Benning, Georgia, on April 4, 2019. The jumpers wore service uniforms from World War II to the present […]

F-35B Lightning II aircraft, assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121, are secured to the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) in the South China Sea during a replenishment-at-sea as part of Exercise Balikatan April 5, 2019. Exercise Balikatan, now in its 35th iteration, is an annual United States–Philippine […]

Floodwaters from the nearby Missouri River surround the town of Craig, Missouri, on March 22, 2019. Several Midwestern states are battling some of the worst flooding they have experienced in decades as rain and melting snow from the recent ‘bomb cyclone’ has inundated rivers and streams. At least three deaths are linked to the flooding. […]

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C on March 25, 2019. President Trump signed an order recognizing the Golan Heights as Israeli territory. Netanyahu is cutting short his visit to Washington due to a rocket attack in central Israel that […]

Engineers conducted a static hot-fire test of the Orion spacecraft’s Launch Abort System Attitude Control Motor at a Northrop Grumman facility on March 20, 2019 in Elkton, Maryland. The 30-second test is one in a series of three tests aimed at qualifying the motor for human spaceflight, to help ensure Orion is ready from liftoff […]

NASA astronaut and U.S. Air Force Col. Nick Hague completed the first spacewalk of his career on Friday, March 22, 2019. He and fellow astronaut Anne McClain worked on a set of battery upgrades on the International Space Station’s starboard truss. In a Facebook post, he wrote: “Big thank you to the ground team down […]

U.S. soldiers assigned to the 65th Field Artillery Brigade and soldiers from the Kuwait Land Forces fire their High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (U.S.) and BM-30 Smerch rocket systems (Kuwait) during a joint live fire exercise on January 8, 2019, near Camp Buehring, Kuwait. The U.S. and Kuwaiti forces train together frequently to maintain a […]

A test of the nation’s Ground-based Midcourse Defense System was conducted from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on Monday, March 25, 2019 by 30th Space Wing officials, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, and U.S. Northern Command. (Courtesy of the Department of Defense)   See how the Ground-based Midcourse Defense System works below:

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan testifies during a House Armed Services Committee hearing regarding the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Budget Request from the Department of Defense on March 26, 2019 in Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump has asked for a Pentagon budget of more than $700 billion for the 2020 budget. (Photo […]

Homes and businesses are surrounded by floodwaters on March 20, 2019 in Hamburg, Iowa. Several Midwestern states are battling some of the worst flooding they have experienced in decades as heavy rain and melting snow from the recent “bomb cyclone” has inundated rivers and streams. At least three deaths have been linked to the flooding. […]

Marine One, with President Donald Trump onboard, departs the South Lawn of the White House, March 22, 2019 in Washington, D.C. President Trump is traveling to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)   Learn more about Marine One below: https://youtu.be/6vprqwo6hjA