SOFX

Russia appears to have armed a liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier in the Baltic Sea with heavy machine guns, according to surveillance photographs taken by Estonia’s border authorities. The images, first reported by European media outlets, including Follow the Money, show two heavy machine guns mounted on the bridge wings of Gazprom’s Marshal Vasilevskiy while it was operating in the Gulf of Finland in May. One of the photographs also appears to show protective barriers surrounding the weapons.

The United States and Iran agreed to halt tit-for-tat attacks and allow free passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, easing a five-day escalation near the key oil chokepoint. “We decided to stop all the kinetic activity,” a senior U.S. official told Axios. A second U.S. official said both sides would stand down “for now” and that “vessels can move freely” while technical negotiations continue.

Romania’s Ministry of National Defense has signed the first contract under a framework agreement with Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems for the acquisition of Spyder short- and very-short-range air defense systems, in a deal the Israeli firm confirmed is the largest in its history. The contract, signed June 24 through CN Romtehnica SA, a company under the Romanian Ministry of National Defense, is valued at 3.049 billion Romanian lei excluding VAT.

Pakistani forces struck a residential compound in Paktia province’s Chamkani district overnight June 28 to 29, then struck the same location a second time as residents arrived to rescue survivors. The second strike, a tactic known in military doctrine as a double-tap, killed 28 villagers and wounded 158 more, Afghan Taliban deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said.

KYIV – Ukraine’s Center of Innovative Technologies Program (CITP) has developed the DART, a guided missile dropped from stratospheric balloons that cuts its own navigation before terminal descent, denying Russian jammers a signal to target, and delivers a graphite warhead designed to short out electrical grids deep inside Russia. 🤯 Ukraine has reportedly developed the EW-resistant “DART” missile.

The pilot of a JetBlue Airways Airbus A321 reported striking a drone on approach to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) Monday morning, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said, opening an investigation into what may be one of the first known mid-air collisions between a drone and a U.S. commercial passenger aircraft.

Australia and Vanuatu signed the Nakamal Agreement in Canberra on June 29, barring foreign military bases on the island as Beijing holds a growing presence at a wharf it expanded in Luganville, the site of one of the largest U.S. military bases in the South Pacific during World War II. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Jotham Napat, have signed a new treaty, the Vanuatu–Australia Nakamal Agreement, in Canberra.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that law enforcement’s use of geofence warrants is subject to Fourth Amendment protections, requiring police to meet constitutional standards before obtaining cellphone location data from technology companies. Geofence warrants require technology companies to search their databases for devices that were within a defined geographic area during a specific period.

The U.S. Army has established a new Space Operations Branch for soldiers specializing in space operations as the service adapts to the demands of multidomain warfare. Announced last week, the new branch consolidates the Army’s space professionals, including Army Space Operations Officers and enlisted Tactical Space Operations Specialists under Military Occupational Specialty 40D, which was established in 2025.

The U.S. Navy accepted USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93) and USS James E. Williams (DDG 95) ahead of schedule, delivering two more Arleigh Burke-class destroyers equipped with the AN/SLQ-32(V)7 Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) Block 3 electronic attack suite under the DDG Modernization 2.0 program. Both ships became the second and third Flight IIA destroyers with SEWIP Block 3, following USS Pinckney (DDG 91).