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The family of Pte. Shaun Farrell, a 19-year-old soldier killed in the fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta, spoke publicly for the first time Thursday, describing him as a “mischievous,” “loving” man who had dreamed of joining the military since age five.

Farrell was one of four service members who died in the fire on Saturday. His parents, Patricia and Roland Farrell, held a news conference in Prince Albert, Sask., where they expressed both grief and pride.

“While our hearts are shattered, we stand before you today not only with great grief, but also with profound pride in the extraordinary young man Shaun became,” a family spokesperson read in a statement.

Patricia recalled how her son was born with a mohawk, loved cars, and got the phrase “Comfort kills dreams” tattooed on his body. He left for training in Quebec just over a year ago and aspired to join special forces, she said.

“I’m just wondering what my future is going to be like without him in our lives,” she said.

Roland said he will miss his son calling him “old man” and remembered how Shaun could keep the family together during conflict.

Military officials, including Canada’s top soldier Gen. Jennie Carignan, said Thursday that the fire resulted from a training exercise and was initially reported on the base’s grenade launcher range — a “permanent danger area” that base firefighters couldn’t enter. The fire spread quickly in strong winds, overwhelming service members training elsewhere on the base.

According to officials, 27 soldiers remain hospitalized, with 13 in critical condition, as stated by Dr. Sayeh Zielke with Acute Care Alberta. Health workers from Ontario specializing in burn treatment have been flown to Alberta to help local hospitals.

Three separate investigations are underway: one by the military police, one by the chief medical examiner’s office, and a board of inquiry. Maj.-Gen. Wade Rutland said the board’s investigation will “take as long as it takes” and will examine every aspect of the incident, including training policies and why a grass fire wasn’t assessed as a threat during strong winds.

Carignan pledged to share the investigation findings with the public.

Sources: Global News Canada · CBC Politics

The fire that killed four Canadian Armed Forces members at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, Alta., on Saturday began on the base’s automatic grenade launcher range, a designated permanent danger area that base firefighters could not enter, military officials said Oct. 22. Maj.-Gen. Wade Rutland and Gen. Jennie Carignan, chief of the defence staff, provided the update at a news conference.

Officials said the fire resulted from a training exercise and was initially reported on the grenade launcher range. The fire spread quickly in strong winds and overwhelmed service members training elsewhere on the base.

As of the Oct. 22 update, 27 soldiers remained hospitalized in serious condition, according to Rutland. Dr. Sayeh Zielke with Acute Care Alberta said 13 of those patients were in critical condition. Health workers specializing in burn treatment from Ontario have been flown to Alberta to assist local hospitals with limited capacity for burn victims.

Three investigations underway

Three separate investigations into the blaze are ongoing: one by the military police, one by the chief medical examiner’s office, and a board of inquiry. Carignan pledged to share the findings of the investigations with the public.

Rutland said the board of inquiry will examine every aspect of the incident, including whether training policies were appropriate and why a grass fire was not assessed as a threat during strong winds. He had previously said the investigation would take about a month but now says he underestimated the scope and that it will “take as long as it takes.”

Family of victim speaks

Later Oct. 22, the family of Pte. Shaun Farrell, one of the four service members killed, spoke at a news conference in Prince Albert, Sask. His mother, Patricia Farrell, described her son as mischievous, hard-headed, loving, and successful, noting he had aspired to join the military since about age five and had left for training in Quebec just over a year ago. His father, Roland, said he will miss his son calling him “old man.” A family spokesperson said they stood “not only with great grief, but also with profound pride” in the young man Farrell became.

Sources: Canada DND Newsroom · CBC Politics

The U.S. Air Force has raised the ceiling on Raytheon’s life cycle support contract for the GBU-53/B StormBreaker, also known as the Small Diameter Bomb II, by $350 million, bringing the total potential value of the deal to $950 million.

The modification lifts the contract from $600 million and extends work at Raytheon’s plant in Tucson, Arizona, through Dec. 31, 2030. The ceiling increase gives the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, room to place more orders under the contract first awarded in 2019, with funds to be obligated as individual orders are issued.

StormBreaker is a small precision-guided glide bomb designed to hit moving targets in bad weather, smoke or dust, at night and from long range. It weighs about 93 kg (204 pounds) and is about 1.75 meters (69 inches) long, with wings that pop out after release so the bomb can glide to its target.

Its key feature is a tri-mode seeker that combines millimeter-wave radar, an imaging infrared sensor and a semi-active laser receiver, backed by GPS and inertial navigation. The radar lets the bomb find and track vehicles through clouds and rain, while the infrared sensor helps it pick out a specific target. When released from high altitude, StormBreaker can reach moving targets more than 72 km (45 miles) away and fixed targets beyond 100 km (62 miles). It can also receive updated target information during flight through Link 16 and UHF data links, which allows crews to redirect the weapon after launch.

Because of its compact size, an F-15E Strike Eagle can carry up to 28 StormBreakers on seven four-round racks, and the bomb is sized to fit inside the internal weapons bays of the F-35.

The U.S. Air Force cleared StormBreaker for operational use on the F-15E in September 2020 and declared initial operational capability in September 2022. The U.S. Navy approved it for operational use on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in February 2026. Integration on all three F-35 variants continues, and Raytheon recently reported an F-35B launching eight StormBreakers simultaneously during a flight test in Arizona.

In April 2026, the U.S. Department of War awarded Raytheon a $708.9 million contract for StormBreaker production, and the weapon has a growing list of international customers, including Australia, Norway, Germany, Italy, Finland and Belgium for their F-35 fleets. The United Kingdom approved its purchase in 2026 as an interim stand-off weapon for its F-35B jets.

Work under the expanded support contract will continue in Tucson through the end of 2030, supporting a weapon now in service with both the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy.

Sources: DVIDS News · DVIDS News

The Pentagon and Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) launched a 120-day sprint on Oct. 19 to acquire and field armed uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) designed to counter low-cost drone and surface threats to the fleet, according to a solicitation published by the DIU.

The effort, run in partnership with the Pentagon’s Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems (DRPM UxS), seeks production-ready USVs capable of integrating existing counter-air weapons such as the AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire, AGM-179 Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM), Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) and Stinger missiles. The vessels must detect, track and engage low-flying aerial threats, including Group 1-3 drones and helicopters, at ranges exceeding three nautical miles. Systems capable of engaging larger Group 5 aircraft will be considered highly valuable, the DIU said.

“The cost-exchange ratio for detecting and neutralizing asymmetric maritime and airborne threats in contested environments is heavily skewed in favor of the adversary,” the DIU said in the solicitation. “Low-cost, low-signature threats—including explosive Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs), Group 1–3 Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), attack helicopters, go-fast vessels, and low-flying aerial vectors—directly threaten surface-fleet operations.”

Proposed vessels must have a minimum operational range of 200 nautical miles and sustain a cruising speed of at least 10 knots. They must support autonomous navigation, station-keeping and collision avoidance, and integrate sensors providing 360-degree detection and tracking of aerial and surface threats. Weapons employment would remain under human supervision, and the vessels must operate in degraded communications and satellite navigation environments. The solicitation also states that “rapid field rearming executable by a two-person crew with minimal support equipment in pier-side, austere, or shipboard environments is highly desired.”

The effort is part of a broader three-phase, 12-month prize challenge offering up to $100 million in awards, including up to $40 million for the second phase focused on counter-air capabilities. The Pentagon has budgeted an additional $200 million for potential follow-on prototyping and production agreements. Companies selected must demonstrate their integrated systems within 30 days, with operational testing planned at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Virginia, in early 2027.

Several firms have already tested relevant systems. Saildrone conducted a missile test using JAGM at the Rim of the Pacific 2026 exercise off Hawaii. BlackSea Technologies has demonstrated its Comet USV, and L3Harris has shown its VAMPIRE counter-UAS system fitted to USVs. French firm Exail will supply a DriX H-9 USV to the Office of Naval Research as a testbed for an unspecified counter-drone system.

Separately, on Oct. 21, a Splash Industries Typhoon USV demonstrated naval interception during Exercise Keen Sword 27 at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan. The 11-foot jet-powered boat, which can sustain speeds above 50 knots, has also demonstrated autonomous docking inside USS Essex (LHD 2) during RIMPAC 2026 and can launch one-way aerial drones via its Airstrike Pack module.

On Oct. 22, Red Cat Holdings’ maritime division, Blue Ops, opened orders for two new USVs: the 18-foot B-18, built for reconnaissance and one-way attack missions, and the 39-foot B-39, already in low-rate production. The flagship B-26 remains in full-rate production at Blue Ops’ plant in Valdosta, Georgia. Red Cat told investors in March it aims to build more than 100 USVs in 2026 at the Georgia site.

The DIU sprint comes as the Navy faces drone threats such as Iran’s Shahed family, which has proven difficult to counter with existing shipboard systems. The USS Carl M. Levin (DDG 120) has been upgraded with counter-UAS capabilities, including a Coyote missile launcher, and is operating in the Arabian Sea.

Sources: Naval News · Defence Blog

A new industry report reveals a 50% surge in global naval shipbuilding, with China vastly outproducing the US, a critical data point for US naval strategy and industrial base concerns. The World Defense Shipbuilding 2026 study, released ahead of the Euronaval 2026 tradeshow, found that the global market for military and paramilitary shipbuilding surged by 50% in the 2024-2025 period, reaching $122 billion. Global production jumped from nearly 1 million tonnes in the previous period to approximately 1.5 million tonnes.

Over the past two years, China produced more than double the tonnage delivered by U.S. shipbuilders, churning out 636,208 tons compared to 270,509 tons for the United States. This industrial output allowed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) to take delivery of nine nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) and ten destroyers in 2024-2025, compared to just three SSNs and four destroyers for the U.S. Navy. Additionally, the Chinese fleet commissioned its newest aircraft carrier—the 80,000-ton Fujian, equipped with electromagnetic catapults—and an amphibious assault ship during this period.

Global production of nuclear-powered attack submarines nearly tripled, jumping from six units in 2022-2023 to 17 units in 2024-2025, representing a $27.3 billion investment. Conventional submarine deliveries also saw a significant increase, rising from 11 to 18 units globally.

The report also highlights a broader doctrinal shift: navies are moving away from purely platform-centric approaches toward munitions-centric warfare. In response to the growing drone threat, advanced navies are being forced to rapidly develop and field complex, multi-layered counter-drone defenses, including interceptor drones, lasers, and rapid-fire gun systems. The proliferation of hypersonic anti-ship missiles, such as Russia’s Mach 9 Zircon missile and China’s DF-17 and ship-launched YJ-21, has sparked a parallel competition in space, with nations investing in low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations dedicated to maritime surveillance, electromagnetic emission tracking, and early missile detection.

The report states that the era of expeditionary crisis management has ended, replaced by an urgent, high-stakes arms race to prepare for high-intensity, peer-to-peer maritime conflict.

Sources: USNI News · Naval News

The U.S. Department of War is preparing orders for 60,000 small attack drones from nine companies after the second round of its Drone Dominance Program, with Perennial Autonomy and Neros each set to receive the maximum initial order of 8,000 units.

The Defense Innovation Unit, which runs the program with the Test Resource Management Center, said orders are now in the works following Gauntlet II, a month-long flyoff held in August 2026 at Fort Carson, Colorado. Perennial Autonomy took the top spot in the Deep Strike mission area with 80.1 points, while Neros led the Close Quarters Battle category with 88.1 points, according to the program’s published leaderboard.

“Congratulations to all the winners. Now, it’s time to deliver,” the Defense Innovation Unit wrote in announcing the results.

The orders are split evenly between the two mission areas, with 30,000 drones in each, and scale with each company’s ranking. In Deep Strike, Hyperscale placed second and is in line for 7,000 drones, followed by Neros with 6,000, Skycutter with 5,000 and Swarm Defense Technologies with 4,000. In Close Quarters Battle, ORQA US placed second with 7,000, followed by XTEND with 6,000, Vector with 5,000 and ModalAI with 4,000. Neros is the only company to place in both categories, bringing its combined allocation to 14,000 drones, and final quantities will be set when contracts are awarded.

Gauntlet II tested the drones on a find-fix-finish mission, meaning locating a target, confirming it and striking it. Deep Strike lanes required drones to hit targets from 15 km (9.3 miles) away, while Close Quarters Battle lanes tested performance in confined spaces such as buildings, with part of the testing repeated at night. Additional lanes evaluated controlled strikes and electronic warfare performance, with the drones flown against counter-drone systems designed to jam or defeat them.

Companies were scored on more than flight results. The final rankings combined Gauntlet II performance with evaluations from military operators who flew the systems and an assessment of each company’s ability to produce drones at scale and secure its supply chain.

The second round raised the bar considerably on range. Gauntlet I, held at Fort Benning, Georgia, in February and March 2026, sent 25 companies through testing that included strikes at about 10 km (6.2 miles), and the Defense Innovation Unit said only 24% of drones in that round reached 10 km. That first round produced orders for about 30,000 one-way attack drones worth roughly $150 million, with London-based Skycutter topping the leaderboard and Neros in second place.

The program grew out of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s July 2025 memo on military drone dominance, which called for every U.S. Army squad to be armed with small one-way attack drones by the end of fiscal 2026. The Department of War plans to spend about $1.1 billion across four phases of the program, which is designed to build a U.S.-based industrial base for low-cost expendable drones. Officials said in testimony earlier this year that Phase II would exclude systems using motors or batteries from so-called covered countries, a requirement aimed at Chinese components.

Several of the Gauntlet II winners have already shared details of their orders. Vector said it received orders for up to 5,000 drone systems along with its high-voltage electronic safe and arm device, which lets operators arm drones with different munitions, and XTEND said it delivered 120 STRIKER systems for testing.

Officials plan to follow Gauntlet II with Gauntlet 2.5, focused on bomber drones that drop munitions, and Gauntlet 3 is scheduled to begin about six months after Gauntlet II.

Sources: DVIDS News · Defence Blog

The U.S. Army is seeking new manufacturers to build 155mm howitzer barrels, according to a Sources Sought notice published Oct. 22, 2026. The notice asks contractors to estimate their capacity to produce barrels within 18 months and up to 10 barrels per month within 36 months. Companies must respond by Nov. 23.

The notice asks for details on a company’s ability—or its subcontractor’s capacity—to add chrome bore coatings to steel tubes up to 30 feet long and up to 7,500 pounds in weight, as well as maximum length and weight of tube they could coat. It also requests information on boring, milling and rifling capabilities, and raw materials such as steel preform production, forging, guide bore and heat treatment. Contractors should also provide a cost estimate for an initial production quantity of 40 cannon tubes, broken down by caliber or indicating pricing for a combined or flexible mix.

Currently, the Army makes large-caliber barrels for howitzers and tanks only at the aging Watervliet Arsenal in New York. The Pentagon has expressed concern that this sole plant cannot keep up with increased demand for artillery. A 2024 Pentagon budget document stated that Ukraine’s heavy use of M777 howitzers created a demand for more than 30 M776 tubes per month, and admitted that Watervliet could not keep up with that demand.

The Army’s search for new barrel manufacturers comes as the U.S. and Europe have focused on expanding howitzer ammunition production to meet demand in the Ukraine war and replenish domestic stockpiles. The lack of manufacturing capacity to replace worn-out cannon barrels is a separate bottleneck.

Sources: DVIDS News · DVIDS News

The U.S. Navy has exercised a $14.3 million contract option with Saab Inc. to build one more AN/SPN-50(V)1 shipboard air traffic control radar, the company announced Oct. 23, 2026. The option, placed by Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River, Maryland, covers a low-rate initial production unit to be built at Saab’s facility in East Syracuse, New York, with completion scheduled for June 2028. The full amount comes from fiscal 2027 Navy procurement funds obligated at the time of award, which was made on a sole-source basis.

The AN/SPN-50(V)1 is the U.S. version of Saab’s Sea Giraffe Agile Multi Beam radar and serves as the primary air traffic control surveillance radar for crewed and unmanned aircraft aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carriers and large-deck amphibious assault ships. Controllers use it to identify, marshal and direct aircraft within about 50 nautical miles (93 km) of the ship, providing sequencing, separation, safety alerts, traffic advisories and final approach guidance.

The new radar replaces the AN/SPN-43C, an S-band system in service since the mid-1960s. Regulators reassigned the top quarter of the SPN-43C’s frequency band to commercial fixed wireless use, restricting the legacy radar’s operation within 50 nautical miles of the coast.

Saab first won the program in 2016 with a $38 million engineering and manufacturing development contract covering three radars over four years. Later orders included a $25 million contract in 2020 for two units destined for USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) and the amphibious assault ship Bougainville (LHA 8), a $47.5 million order in December 2023 for three more systems, and a $41.7 million contract in October 2024 for another three. The latest award follows a $74.6 million modification in August 2026 for five more SPN-50(V)1 radars, with work split between Syracuse and Gothenburg, Sweden.

The Navy has planned to procure 25 SPN-50 radars in total. With this option, the newest low-rate production unit is scheduled for completion in June 2028.

Sources: Naval News · Defence Blog

The Defense Department and Lockheed Martin agreed Oct. 22 to a 10-year framework that the Pentagon says guarantees at least 850 F-35 Lightning II fighters for the U.S. military, pending congressional approval and funding. Lockheed will self-fund at least $7 billion in initiatives supporting the program, and production will continue at 156 aircraft per year, according to Lockheed.

The framework includes initial spare parts plus 10 years of modification kits and sustainment, and also covers orders from foreign customers. Neither announcement gave a total value or per-jet price. Lockheed said the F-35 Joint Program Office and the company will work out terms, pricing and schedules in a formal contract if Congress approves a multiyear buy and provides the money in the coming months.

At 850 jets over 10 years, the framework averages 85 U.S. aircraft per year, matching the Pentagon’s fiscal 2027 request for 85 F-35s across the services. In fiscal 2026, Congress funded just 47 F-35s. The framework covers production Lots 21 through 30, according to Defence Blog.

Lockheed CEO Jim Taiclet said in a statement: “With the greater certainty that comes from the U.S. government’s transformative approach to F-35 production and sustainment, we can make the upfront investments needed to expand capacity, improve efficiency, and build a more resilient supply chain.”

Michael Duffey, the Pentagon’s undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, said: “We have fundamentally changed how we stabilize the American defense industrial base to produce at speed and scale. This agreement with Lockheed Martin proves it.” Neither the Pentagon nor Lockheed described the performance-based incentives mentioned by Duffey.

The framework faces hurdles. The House and Senate versions of the annual defense policy bill would both allow multiyear F-35 contracts. The House passed its bill in July, while Senate Democrats blocked their version from reaching the floor that month, and leaders have put it off until after the November midterm elections. A stopgap funding law keeping the government open through Dec. 11 holds spending at last year’s levels and generally bars the Pentagon from starting new programs or multiyear buys.

Lockheed pitched the framework as a readiness fix, saying steady orders will improve the F-35’s mission-capable rate. A Government Accountability Office report in June found the rate fell from 67% in fiscal 2021 to 44% in fiscal 2025, while the share of time jets could fly all assigned missions dropped from 38% to 25%. Lockheed said the program will support 317,000 U.S. jobs and roughly $79 billion in yearly economic activity over the decade.

The F-35 Joint Program Office and Lockheed Martin will move to a formal contract award for Lots 21 through 30 once Congress grants multiyear authority and the associated appropriations.

Sources: Defense News · Army Times

WASHINGTON — October has recorded the highest number of attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S.-Iran war began in late February, according to international monitors and analysts.

There have been at least 27 attacks on commercial ships so far in October, according to the International Maritime Organization. A separate count by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Noam Raydan puts the total at 28 attacks this month, a surge not seen since the U.S. and Israel launched their attack on Iran in late February. A list of attacks compiled by USNI News counted 22 in March, plus attacks on an offshore rig and two tugs.

Despite the attacks, ships continue to transit the strait. There were 104 non-Iranian-linked vessels that sailed through between Oct. 5-11, during which there were 12 attacks, according to USNI News. About 400 merchant ships traveled through the strait in the seven days preceding a Friday video update from CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper, who said U.S. forces assisted in the transit of 100 million barrels of crude oil over the same period. More than 1.3 billion barrels of crude have transited the waterway in recent months, he said.

The threat continued Wednesday, when an unknown projectile struck a tanker in the Persian Gulf near Bukha, Oman, according to the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Center.

U.S. and Israeli officials are reportedly weighing renewed strikes on Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel this week to discuss new strikes, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing unidentified U.S. officials. Israeli jets flew over Syria and Iraq on Monday, going as far as the Iranian border, according to Axios, which cited unidentified U.S. and Israeli officials. Israel described the action as a training exercise aimed at deterring Iran from attacking ahead of scheduled elections.

The U.S. is discreetly reducing its troop presence at bases in the Middle East due to threats from Tehran and the Iran-backed Houthi militant group in Yemen, CBS News reported Wednesday. The State Department has ordered nonessential U.S. Embassy personnel and their families to leave Saudi Arabia. A CENTCOM spokesman did not directly address the reported drawdown, saying the command regularly moves service members and assets to optimize readiness.

Cooper characterized the attacks as signs of growing desperation by Tehran’s Revolutionary Guard, which has been hit hard by U.S. operations to enforce a maritime blockade against Iranian ports. That effort has prevented Iran from exporting at least $25 billion in crude oil, money typically used to finance military operations, proxy groups and terrorism, Cooper said. The U.S. also has frozen about $350 million in cryptocurrency, further straining the country’s economy and leaving Iran unable to pay Revolutionary Guard troops, he said.

Raydan said the attacks persist despite U.S. efforts to protect ships and facilitate the flow of oil, an indication that Iranian forces are trying to target as many vessels as possible. “This is a clear sign that while Iran really cannot completely hold the movement of vessels, Iran is capable, Iranian forces in the strait are capable of sustaining disruption,” she said.

The Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group was heading west across the Pacific Ocean after leaving San Diego earlier this month. Both that group and the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt will reportedly deploy to the Middle East by the end of November, adding 9,000 to 10,000 sailors and Marines to the region. About 50,000 U.S. troops are deployed in the Middle East.

Sources: Military.com · USNI News