Barons & Badlands 👑 🏜️

🇺🇸 Tracking Recent #American MQ-9 Reaper Losses: https://theatlasnews.co/latest/2024/04/29/tracking-recent-american-mq-9-reaper-losses/ Over the past year, the United States has lost several MQ-9 Reaper drones due to adversarial action, whether it be from the Russians, Iran-backed militias in Iraq, or the Houthis in Yemen While the MQ-9 has built its legacy on counter terrorism operations against non-state actors in permissive environments, the platform is not best suited for contested airspaces. The MQ-9 flys lower and slower, as well as lacks any stealth components, when compared to manned strike aircraft used by the United States military. With this, the platform is susceptible to more air defense capabilities (i.e. ones supplied by Iran). Even if engaged, the Reaper lacks countermeasures and must be equipped with a Self-Protect Pod to allow for flare of chaff deployment when targeted by SAM systems. According to the latest available data provide by the United States Air Force, the MQ-9 platform experiences on average 4.9 Class A mishaps per year, or incidents resulting in direct cost totaling $2 million or more, fatality or permanent total disability, or destruction of a DoD aircraft. Read about individual cases of losses in the full article at theatlasnews.co

#Myanmar (#Burma) 🇲🇲: People's Defense Forces (#PDF) carried out a drone strike against a Tatmadaw position. The group used a UAV armed with a Burmese 120mm ER-WP (Extended Range - White Phosphorus) mortar bomb which was captured from Tatmadaw. https://twitter.com/war_noir/status/1785331731295285310

#Pakistan 🇵🇰 / #Balochistan: Balochistan Liberation Front (#BLF) released a new video of some of the group's fighters. The group is seemingly armed with three common AKM assault rifles with a noteable GP-30 underbarrel grenade launcher. https://twitter.com/war_noir/status/1785313726930755872

#Syria / #Albania 🇸🇾🇦🇱: A new photo posted by the militant group "Xhemati Alban" in #Idlib (#Albanian sub-group of "Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham"). A militant in the photo can be seen with a Soviet-made early AKS-74U carbine with 45-round Molot RPK-74 magazine. https://twitter.com/war_noir/status/1785232872158134295

#Philippines 🇵🇭: Philippine Army killed five #ISEAP (#ISIS - East Asia) militants including a sub-leader in Lanao Del Norte, Northern #Mindanao. As a result an Elisco Tools M16A1 assault rifle (Colt 613P) and a customized M14 rifle were captured from the militants. https://twitter.com/war_noir/status/1785200776559694315

23 апреля министр обороны Армении Сурен Папикян принял делегацию, возглавляемую руководителем группы дружбы Франция-Армения Сената Франции Жильбером-Люком Девиназом. Armenian Military Portal

🇺🇸🇺🇦🇷🇺US considers sending more military advisers to Ukraine as Russia advances According to Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the advisers will not have a combat role but rather will advise and support the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He declined to discuss a specific number, but two U.S. officials said the number could rise to 60. The additional troops will support logistical efforts and oversee weapons sent by the U.S. to Ukraine, according to four U.S. officials and a person familiar with the plans. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/20/us-troops-ukraine-00153499

🏃‍♂️Vermont border patrol records highest number of illegal crossings from Canada in single month Officials in the U.S. Border Patrol’s Swanton Sector in Vermont saw 1,109 apprehensions in March 2024, the highest recorded by the sector in a single month. The top three nationalities apprehended were 408 Indian, 323 Bangladeshi, and 170 Mexican nationals. Don't get me wrong, but isn't Canada good enough for people from Bangladesh? #US #immigration 🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇺🇸👨‍✈️🤖 Human pilot and #AI fighter jet go head-to-head in world first #UnitedStates trial combat – The AI-powered fighter jet relied on algorithms that analyzed historical combat situations: "The U.S. military confirmed on April 19th that the world’s first known combat between a human pilot and a fighter jet controlled entirely by AI had been carried out in the U.S. in September of 2023. Two F-16 fighter jets reportedly engaged in a dogfight over Edwards Air Force Base in California and got as close as 600 meters to each other. One of the high-speed fighter jets was manned by a human, while the other was a modified F-16 to be completely controlled by AI, named the X-62A. DARPA, which carried out the test, said pilots were on board the AI-powered fighter jet in case of an emergency but did not need to touch the controls anytime during the fight. In 2020, the US military said that AI agents had defeated human pilots in five separate simulations, but this was the first time the technology had been used in the real world." –Verdict https://www.defensenews.com/air/2024/04/19/us-air-force-stages-dogfights-with-ai-flown-fighter-jet/ Full video by Darpa: https://youtu.be/C8yjtaZfNCw

🇷🇺 🇺🇦 #Avdiivka – "#Russia's advance along the rail line has entered Ocheretyne. With Semenivka also contested and Pervomais’ke captured, #Ukraine's two-month-held fallback line is compromised. Expect a gradual withdrawal to defences behind the Vovcha River and its reservoirs." Via @war_mapper