In a first, Ukraine’s navy has announced and released footage of an engagement between two USVs. Per the release, a Ukrainian Sargan 3000, with a platformed .50 M2 Browning heavy machine gun, engaged and destroyed a Russia USV in the Black Sea.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Center has issued a warning to commercial vessels near the Strait of Hormuz after they received a verified report of a vessel being struck by an unknown projectile while it transited the Strait of Hormuz.

The tanker struck by an unknown projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz yesterday evening is on fire, and local authorities were in the process of evacuating its crew, according to an update from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Center issued earlier today.

President Donald J. Trump said today that Ukraine should stop striking Russian oil refineries and diesel infrastructure, arguing that the attacks are contributing to a global diesel shortage. He specifically told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop targeting Russia’s diesel supply, while saying the resulting fuel shortage is pushing U.S. diesel prices above $6 a gallon.

Russia has restricted diesel exports while Ukrainian strikes have taken Russian refining capacity offline. At the same time, the war in the Middle East has disrupted oil exports from the Gulf, while the Strait of Hormuz disruption has sharply reduced the availability of Middle Eastern refined fuels. Global refining capacity is also running with limited spare capacity.

The result is competition for a shrinking pool of diesel. Europe is pulling more supplies from the U.S. and other alternative suppliers as Russian and Middle Eastern exports decline, while U.S. diesel inventories are unusually low heading into the fall and winter demand period. EIA says global distillate production is expected to remain below last year's levels in the coming months.

President Donald J. Trump announced Sunday that the U.S. will remove its tariff on Irish whiskey, currently set at 10%.

The tariff had been 15% before being reduced to 10% in July as part of the broader U.S.-EU tariff regime. President Trump made the announcement in Ireland after saying Prime Minister Micheál Martin, Irish Open winner Shane Lowry and others had urged him to remove it.

President Trump did not specify when the tariff would actually be eliminated. The move follows his earlier decision to restore zero-tariff treatment for UK whiskey, including Scotch, which took effect in July.

According to a release from U.S. Central Command, since the resumption of the blockade of vessels traveling to and from Iran, 101 vessels have been redirected. This comes as the planned meeting between Iranian and Gulf nation officials over the Strait of Hormuz has now been postponed, per Oman’s foreign minister.

According to @BarakRavid, citing a Gulf official, the meeting between Iran and other Gulf nations was postponed because of the language of the current proposal on the table for administration of the Strait of Hormuz. Per Ravid, Saudi Arabia submitted amendments, due to the language of the proposal not being satisfactory with it or the other Gulf Cooperation Council member states.

The Weapons Systems Officer who was shot down over Iran earlier in the war spoke to 60 Minutes this week, in a first interview since the shoot down. Per the pilot, once they both ejected, they ended up 5miles apart once they landed.

The weapons systems officer who was shot down over Iran said that he likely hit the ground at nearly 100 miles per hour, and said that his survival of the impact was a “testament of God’s provision in my life.” After gathering his bearings and severely injured, he sought out the high ground.

Declassified footage shows the moment that “Alpha,” not to be confused with the WSO, who was shot down over Iran earlier in the war, was picked up by a Black Hawk helicopter.

Declassified footage shows the moment that “Bravo,” the injured WSO was finally picked up by U.S. forces, specifically by two members of Air Force Pararescue, following the use of technology by the CIA to detect his location. All together, over 90 special operators were involved in the operation that successfully saved the two downed pilots.
As the WSO said, truly a “testament of God’s provision.”

According to a statement from Iran’s IRGC, a U.S. MQ-1 “Predator” drone was recently shot down over the Strait of Hormuz. In the Past two years, the U.S. has lost a notable amount of both MQ-1s and MQ-9s since the war with Iran has started.

Earlier today, the Houthis announced a large-scale wave of strikes against King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait, Saudi Arabia. A commensurate release from Saudi Arabia’s Directorate of Civil Defense announced an alert for the same area during the strikes.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) commander Adm. Brad Cooper departed Saudi Arabia earlier this morning after arriving in Riyadh on September 11 amid a rapidly escalating Houthi offensive in Yemen.

The Houthi campaign has expanded to attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure and advances toward the Bab al Mandeb Strait, including the reported seizure of Perim Island and positions along Yemen’s Red Sea coast.

Adm. Cooper’s visit follows reports that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman twice contacted President Donald J. Trump on Thursday seeking urgent U.S. military assistance against the Houthis. The Trump administration has so far declined to authorize direct U.S. strikes, but has agreed to provide Saudi Arabia with intelligence and targeting support.

The future USS Ted Stevens (DDG-128), a Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, transited the Panama Canal westbound last week en route to Whittier, Alaska, where it is scheduled to be commissioned into the U.S. Navy on October 3.

The destroyer departed HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding facility in Pascagoula, Mississippi, in May and first sailed to its future homeport at Naval Station Norfolk. The ship has since continued its testing and preparation for commissioning.

Following its commissioning in Alaska, Ted Stevens will return to Norfolk, where the crew will continue training, testing and certification ahead of the ship’s eventual entry into the operational fleet.

The Ted Stevens is the second Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer built by Ingalls and is equipped with the AN/SPY-6(V)1 air and missile defense radar and upgraded Aegis combat systems.

Photo: https://x.com/WarshipCam/status/2097909108330389929

U.S. President Donald J. Trump has said that Iran is currently willing to make some sort of a deal, amidst ongoing hostilities between them and the U.S., that have carried on now for over 6 months. Per the president, he will determine, in a yet unspecified timeframe if the U.S. will engage in a resumed negotiations process.

Former Air Forces Central (AFCENT) commander Lt. Gen. Derek France says Operation Epic Fury exposed several gaps in U.S. preparation for major combat against a capable state adversary.

Air & Space Forces Magazine reports France identified munitions logistics, long range air domain awareness and base survivability as key areas for improvement. U.S. bases continued generating sorties despite repeated Iranian missile and drone attacks, but France said critical command and control facilities and aircrew areas need greater protection.

The scale was fundamentally different from decades of counterterrorism operations: more than 13,000 targets were struck while Iran launched more than 1,500 ballistic missiles and 6,000 drones.

France's assessment offers a rare look at what the U.S. Air Force learned from conducting sustained, high intensity combat against an adversary capable of repeatedly attacking American forces.

Source: https://www.airandspaceforces.com/former-afcent-commander-reflects-on-lessons-of-epic-fury/

President Donald J. Trump has announced via Truth Social that the U.S. is producing more "Exquisite and Elite Weapons than at any time in our History." He goes on to say that deliveries to the Middle East, and beyond, are occurring daily.

In March, President Trump announced that several weapons manufacturers had agreed to increase production 400%. The administration has since taken steps to expand production of several critical munitions, including THAAD and PAC-3 interceptors. Congress has also provided additional funding for munitions procurement.

However, Congress has not specifically appropriated funding to support the blanket 400% production increase President Trump described in March. The Pentagon's subsequent multiyear production agreements are also subject to annual congressional appropriations.

In a first, according to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauséda, alerts in Lithuania recently were the result of a drone, likely Russian. Per President Nauséda, NATO fighter jets, deployed as part of NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission, were scrambled and subsequently shot down the drone.

U.S. Central Command has refuted the nature of recent IRGC claims that the Panama-flagged El Gaia struck a naval mine today, saying that the vessel was struck last month already by an Iranian missile and was “rendered inoperable.” Per the release, the Iranians struck the vessel again while it sat off the coast of Oman. However, tracking from the days leading up to the reported strike does not necessarily line up with CENTCOM’s characterization of the two incidents.