• A top shipbuilding executive said industry can build warships but isn't getting clear signals.
• Many big US Navy shipbuilding programs are delayed and over budget.
• Navy officials and shipbuilders have attributed the US' shipbuilding issues to both long-term and short-term problems.

A senior Huntington Ingalls Industries executive said the US Navy's mounting shipbuilding problems aren't because shipbuilders don't know what they're doing.

Instead, he pointed toward inconsistent demand and workforce issues that have drastically affected industry's capacity. Navy officials and analysts have raised some of these concerns as well.

Earlier this week, Tom Moore, senior vice president of government relations for major shipbuilder HII, addressed the widespread challenges facing the US Navy's top warship programs. HII builds Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, amphibious warships, and Ford-class aircraft carriers, among other vessels. Moore outlined how, historically, shipbuilders had delivered high numbers of vessels to the Navy and why that capability has decreased.

"Industry knows how to build ships at scale," he said, but when the demand went down after the Cold War, "we turned the spigot off, and we stopped demanding ships." The workforce shrank, and US industrial capacity dropped as the industry was hollowed out.

Experienced shipbuilders left for other work, backfilled by newer employees. Moore pointed to data showing that in the mid-1990s, the average electrical supervisor at Newport News and Ingalls Shipbuilding had been in the job for over 20 years. "Today, the average electronic supervisor has been there four-and-a-half years," he said. That's a lot of lost experience.

When looking into US shipbuilding challenges, industry insiders and analysts have also pointed to the Navy's inconsistent demand signals, which can involve ordering ships and then changing the order or scrapping planned programs altogether.

This is seen as a major problem for contractors, leaving industry partners in uncertain positions.

Broader economic issues, such as inflation, the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and competition for talent have exacerbated the problems affecting the industry.

The US Navy spends roughly $40 billion annually on shipbuilding projects, yet these projects are regularly behind schedule and battling rising costs.

Last year, a Department of the Navy review found that top programs, such as Block IV Virginia-class attack submarines, the Pentagon's priority Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, the Constellation-class guided-missile frigate, and the next Ford-class carrier, were all severely delayed and over budget due to COVID's impact on the workforce and supply chain, "with industry reticent to invest."

The US Government Accountability Office said previously it had observed consistent issues, too, with the Navy's cost estimates, which "are often lacking and the assumptions unrealistic."

The Navy did not have new comments to share on shipbuilding problems at the time of publishing, pointing Business Insider instead to past remarks by service leaders. Previously, the Navy has often put the burden on industry, but it's a complex process.

Coming budget shifts within the Department of Defense amid changing priorities for a new administration may further impact the industry, though the plans remain unclear for the time being.

At a Hudson Institute event on Tuesday, HII's Moore highlighted potential solutions to the US shipbuilding problems, including a near-term reconditioning of the wide-ranging technical expertise and capabilities across the US military's industrial partners, recruiting employees with competitive pay, a long-term and consistent demand signal from the Navy about the warships it needs, and greater cost realism in contracting.

These ideas are not necessarily new when it comes to how to start addressing the US Navy's shipbuilding woes. Shipbuilders have noted the challenges of adjusting schedules to the Navy's demands.

The Navy has previously caused delays by overloading new projects with increasingly advanced technologies, putting strains on shipbuilding, such as when a host of new technologies bogged down the delivery and raised the cost of the first-in-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford. President Donald Trump recently criticized this aircraft carrier in a discussion of government waste.

Many of the concerns surrounding the building of more vessels and maintaining and repairing the existing fleet have been aggravated by the rise of China's shipbuilding empire. With a clear national investment in its naval forces and blurred lines between its commercial and military shipbuilding, China has become the largest navy in the world and the largest shipbuilder by capacity.

The possibility of a conflict with China, such as a possible Taiwan contingency, has increased anxiety that the US Navy doesn't have enough ships or ways to repair them after battle damage. The US has a more capable fighting force, but these issues are critical in naval warfare.

Although the shipbuilding process faces deep-seated issues, "the Navy builds the most powerful and capable warships on the planet in the US with American workers," a GAO official said last fall.

• Ukrainian company Sine.Engineering is developing technology to help drones resist Russia's electronic warfare.
• Sine is focused on better communication between operators and drones, including non-GPS navigation.
• Its swarm technology is currently being tested with the Ukrainian army, its executives said.

A Ukrainian drone technology company is working to defeat Russia's intense electronic warfare, but it isn't hard-wiring them like fiber-optic drones.

Top Sine.Engineering executives told Business Insider that their work aims to completely change how operators work with drones as uncrewed systems continue to dominate the battlefield.

Sine develops communication platforms for uncrewed aerial vehicles operating in contested and GPS-denied environments, growing problems in modern conflicts like the war in Ukraine. It began focusing on designing solutions for drone communication challenges in 2022, and it started mass production the next year.

Sine uses non-GPS navigation systems to avoid jamming, relying on time-of-flight calculations to determine location. Its products are being employed by over 50 drone makers in Ukraine, as well as some outside of the country, it said.

The company's co-founder and CEO Andriy Chulyk told BI that knowing the battlefield is critical to designing technology for a war, especially when the goal is to defeat the electronic warfare capabilities of a major military power.

"You should try and test different kind of things" and be connected with the Ukrainian military "to receive constant feedback," he said.

Sine's data chips are as small as an SD card and designed to facilitate drone navigation to targets without satellites.

Many off-the-shelf drone systems and GPS-guided munitions rely on satellite information, but drones equipped with Sine technology depend on signals from a communication module that keeps track of the drone's location in a way that is somewhat reminiscent of the pre-GPS "dead reckoning" by pilots.

Sine's hardware and software tools are intended to provide reliable navigation and flight control, as well as resistance to GPS jamming. The company is also working on how to keep drones flying on radio signals even in contested environments filled with frequency jamming, electronic warfare that involves flooding frequencies with noise to disrupt signals.

Chulyk and Sine's Chief Strategy Officer Andriy Zvirko said that their drone parts are self-produced and affordable, both of which are crucial to scaling up operations.

When it comes to comms technologies for drones, "it's not only about price; it's about how they work," Zvirko said. "It's so hard to find a good provider. That's why we created our own because we have seen this gap on the market."

Many of Sine's products are active on the battlefield, but one of its newer focuses being tested with the Ukrainian army is drone swarming, which involves using autonomy to pilot multiple drones to targets. Drone swarming isn't a new concept, but Chulyk and Zvirko said that many drone developers have different ideas of what the capabilities look like.

Their vision involves an operator being able to run multiple uncrewed vehicles at once and switch to the drone they want to at a given moment. "We believe," Chulyk said, "it will make our military forces more effective because it will be possible to operate a lot of drones in the same time from one or two operators."

Sine is working to achieve autonomy in drone technology, but a key challenge is the amount of data that it needs to calculate for navigation and precision.

Artificial intelligence hasn't seen widespread usage on the battlefield yet, Ukraine's special drone unit Typhoon told BI this month, but such a capability could fundamentally change drone warfare and help overcome electronic warfare — the drone can continue flying on to its target even if the signal is severed.

Fiber-optic drones arose as a countermeasure to electronic warfare issues but aren't seeing extensive use just yet either, at least not compared to regular FPV drones. The drones are hard-wired to the operator, ensuring a reliable connection, but they have their own cons, including potentially limited range and environmental obstacles. The benefit though is that they can't be jammed by radio frequency jammers that have complicated drone operations.

Jamming has created a battlespace where drone units have to work harder and smarter to identify how the enemy is trying to sabotage their drones and how they need to adapt their systems to fly and get to their targets. It's also demanding more from industry.

• Chinese fighter jets have been popping flares or releasing chaff near foreign aircraft.
• Most recently, a Chinese J-16 let off flares close to an Australian P-8A to warn it off.
• This tactic has been appearing more frequently amid increases in aggressive intercepts.

Chinese fighter jets have repeatedly been accused of engaging in unsafe intercepts of US and allied aircraft by flying too close and recklessly popping off flares and chaff in their flight paths.

Aggressive intercepts have become more frequent, and former pilots say these tactics are dangerous on a number of levels, risking accidents.

China's aerial activities, including an incident involving an Australian maritime patrol plane earlier this week, mark a growing and dangerous trend, particularly above the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

On Thursday, the Australian Department of Defense said that a Chinese fighter aircraft had "an unsafe and unprofessional interaction" with a Royal Australian Air Force P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft made by Boeing. The incident occurred in the South China Sea on Tuesday while the P-8A was on a routine surveillance patrol.

The South China Sea has been a flash point for years now. China's increased coercion in the region has prompted issues with the Philippines, particularly around the Scarborough Shoal, and Vietnam, among others. The US and its allies, including Australia, have rejected China's territorial claims to islands and waters in the area.

This week, a Chinese People's Liberation Army's Air Force fighter jet popped flares close to the P-8, posing "a risk to the aircraft and personnel," Australia's defense department said. The Chinese fighter was a J-16, which is made by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation.

Beijing said its military's actions were "legitimate, lawful, and professional." China has repeatedly faced these allegations in recent years.

The Philippines, for instance, accused Chinese fighter jets of releasing flares in front of a Philippine Air Force NC-212i light transport plane last August, and last May, Australia called out China after its fighter jets allegedly popped flares in front of a Royal Australian Navy MH-60R helicopter.

And these incidents followed a 2022 intercept in which a Chinese J-16 released flares and chaff — small reflective metal pieces meant to confuse the seekers on enemy missiles — in the path of an Australian P-8, per past reporting. At least some of the released material entered one of the aircraft's engines.

These actions are considered especially dangerous, a former pilot told Business Insider.

Retired US Air Force Brig. Gen. Houston Cantwell, a former F-16 pilot and drone operator who is now a senior resident fellow for air power studies at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, said there are two problems with the Chinese aircraft behavior: its aggressive maneuvers in close proximity to the P-8A, which increased the risk of a midair collision, and the firing of the flares.

The flares, he said, "only increase the potential for aircraft damage," either through possibly burning the external structure or electronic equipment or being ingested by the engine.

What also makes China's activities so dangerous is the growing frequency at which they're occurring. The US and its allies have been sounding the alarm on unsafe intercepts by Chinese pilots in international airspace for years now.

In 2023, the Department of Defense said it had documented more than 180 coercive or risky intercepts by Chinese military aircraft since fall 2021, more in two years than the entire previous decade. In that same time window, the US documented around 100 such incidents involving allied and partnered nations.

"That's nearly 200 cases where PLA operators have performed reckless maneuvers, or discharged chaff, or shot off flares, or approached too rapidly or too close to US aircraft," said the former assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, Ely Ratner.

BI reached out to the Chinese embassy for comment on allegations against its military but did not receive a response.

Aviation experts have said the trend could reflect China's growing military might, confidence in the abilities of its pilots, and a stronger desire to challenge the US and its allies in areas of interest. US military aircraft have observed the Russians engage in similar behavior, such as the headbutt of an F-16 last year.

Unsafe tactics can lead to catastrophes, especially given some of the speeds at which these aircraft are flying.

Collisions have occurred involving Chinese and Russian intercept aircraft that have caused "the loss of American military aircraft in separate incidents," Cantwell said.

Notable incidents include the loss of a US EP-3 spy aircraft in the 2001 Hainan Island incident, which also claimed the life of a Chinese pilot, and the 2023 downing of an MQ-9 Reaper drone when a Russian jet clipped it over the Black Sea.

In response to Australia's accusations on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said that China had urged Australia to stop infringing on Chinese sovereignty and disrupting peace and stability in the South China Sea. Australia says its aircraft was operating in international airspace.

The disputed body of water has seen a noticeable increase in altercations, with several between China and the Philippines last year as Beijing's vessels attempted to dominate the Scarborough Shoal.

China has claimed islands and waters in the South China Sea that overlap with other countries in the region, creating various territorial disputes that flare up occasionally, turning more serious.

• Fiber-optic and AI drones have come to prominence as countermeasures to jamming and electronic warfare.
• Ukraine's special drone unit Typhoon said it hasn't seen systematic application of these technologies.
• But once they become widespread, they'll change drone warfare because they're hard to beat.

Constant intense electronic warfare in Russia's war against Ukraine has led to the rise of drones that are resistant to signal jamming. It's still early days, but these things could be game changers, drone operators say.

These fiber-optic and artificial intelligence-driven drones are not yet being widely used, a special Ukrainian drone unit told Business Insider, but once they become as prolific as some other technologies, they'll completely change how drone warfare is fought.

The war in Ukraine has been defined by the use of uncrewed vehicles, the majority of which rely on radio frequencies to maintain a connection with their operators. In response, both sides have employed electronic warfare capabilities able to jam drones and seize control from the operators or cut video feeds, leaving pilots flying blind.

Operators needed a way around electronic warfare.

Ukraine first documented the Russians using fiber-optic drones last spring. They became more prominent in the fall. These systems are guided by a hardwire cable similar to a US-made anti-tank TOW missile. The cable maintains a connection between the operator and drone, ensuring the system can't be jammed.

At the time, it was unclear if fiber-optic drones would be widely adopted as the next evolution in drone warfare, but it was clear they had promise. Drone experts and top war watchers assessed that they'd have useful applications in some environments and situations but probably weren't a catch-all solution. The cables could get caught or cut, for example, and the systems would have shorter ranges.

The development indicated that both Ukraine and Russia would continue coming up with new solutions.

As of now, Ukraine's special drone unit Typhoon doesn't see a systematic application of fiber-optic drones or systems controlled by AI, another adaptation to electronic warfare that is highly sought after but still experimental.

"However," Typhoon told Business Insider, "if widely adopted, these technologies would fundamentally change drone warfare."

Typhoon is a newer National Guard of Ukraine drone unit. Unveiled last fall, Typhoon consists of engineers and operators specialized in uncrewed systems. Right now, Typhoon operates a diverse range of uncrewed aerial systems, mostly supplied by the National Guard and domestic innovation outfits. 

The unit's short-range reconnaissance drones, such as the first-person view DJI Mavic, are used for gathering intelligence, assessing targets, and guiding strikes. Its short-range strike drones are deployed for precision hits on enemy personnel, positions, and equipment, as well as against aerial targets.

Typhoon also operates bomber drones like HeavyShot and Vampire, which are mostly used at night because they're larger in size and easier to spot. Fixed-wing reconnaissance drones and strike drones are also often used for longer-range missions.

But the unit is also actively integrating emerging technologies, such as fiber-optic drones and "machine vision tracking with homing capabilities," which would help improve targeting. Each drone serves a specific purpose in missions, and part of Typhoon's mission is the training of operators for those specific skill sets. 

With fiber-optic and AI-driven drones, the challenges for front-line forces will be even greater.

Both of these systems are harder to take down than the regular radio frequency drones because they are invulnerable to electronic warfare. A drone flown by an autonomous terminal guidance system, once locked onto its target, would still maintain its flight path even if it's jammed, effectively making it a fire-and-forget weapon.

Fiber-optic drones are a less-expensive, lower-tech solution, keeping a hard connection so that operators can ignore any electronic warfare and continue to fly the drone towards its target. 

Typhoon said the options for destroying fiber-optic drones are relatively limited right now. Because they don't "rely on radio signals that can be detected by conventional electronic warfare systems," the unit said, "the only way to counter them is through timely visual detection and physical destruction."

Simply put, that means they have to see it and shoot it. The Ukrainians have deployed shotguns as a counter-drone tool. But they aren't always easy to detect, which means warfighters may have limited time to react for a kinetic kill.

These systems aren't seeing constant or consistent use just yet, but the Ukrainian forces have praised them for their accuracy and ease of use. Ukrainian and Western drone companies are now racing to churn them out.

• Google and Apple have updated the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America for US users.
• President Donald Trump signed an executive order mandating the change to "honor American greatness."
• Users will see their local name when it varies between countries; everyone else sees both names.

Apple Maps has followed Google Maps in updating the Gulf of Mexico's name for US-based users following an executive order issued by President Donald Trump last month.

As of Monday night, when users in the US search for "Gulf of Mexico" in Google Maps, they are presented with a result for "Gulf of America." As of Tuesday evening, the same change occurred in Apple Maps.

For people outside the US, the results populate as "Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)."

The president signed an executive order on his first day in office to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America and to change the name of the highest mountain peak in North America from Denali to Mount McKinley. As of press time, the name "Denali" had not yet been changed on Google Maps or Apple Maps.

The change in Google Maps was expected. Google said last month that it had "a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources."

The company said it would update Maps in the US after the Geographic Names Information System made the changes. The GNIS, a database of more than 2 million physical and cultural features throughout the US and its territories, standardizes geographic names for federal use.

Trump's executive order gave the secretary of the interior 30 days to implement the name changes and update the GNIS to reflect them.

In 2015, then-President Barack Obama changed the name of the mountain peak from Mount McKinley to Denali in honor of local Native groups' names for the Alaskan mountain.

Trump's order said that the surrounding national park area would keep the name Denali National Park and Preserve and that the secretary of the interior "shall work with Alaska Native entities and state and local organizations to adopt names for landmarks to honor the history and culture of the Alaskan people."

The renaming at the federal level has been a complex undertaking for government agencies and offices.

Historically, the Board on Geographic Names and the US Geological Survey would act immediately to update the GNIS. The Department of State would update the Geographic Names Server, which defines names of geographic features outside the US. But it's up to each agency and office to update their own websites accordingly.

Outside the US, other countries may not recognize the name changes.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said last month that "for us and for the whole world, it is still the Gulf of Mexico."

Google previously said that when official names vary between countries, Maps users will see the official name used in their country, while the rest of the world will see both names. The company said this was consistent with long-standing policy.

Google and Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

• President Trump has directed Elon Musk's DOGE to investigate wasteful Pentagon spending.
• White House NSA advisor Mike Waltz called US shipbuilding as "an absolute mess."
• Problems like ballooning costs, delays, and a hollowed industrial base are impacting shipbuilding.

President Donald Trump has given Elon Musk's DOGE a new target — the Department of Defense. The White House expects it to find billions of dollars in waste, including in what his national security adviser called the "absolute mess" in US shipbuilding.

This opens the door to DOGE cost-cutters trying to fire their way to efficiency in the federal bureaucracy that oversees shipbuilding, one part of the system struggling to design, buy, and build American warships.

The largest problem driving the ship delays and soaring costs, per naval analysts, is one not easily solved: The decline of the US shipbuilding industry and the shrinking of its workforce.

This weekend, President Donald Trump said he expected Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to "find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse" in the Pentagon. The Department of Defense's budget is over $800 billion, and it failed its seventh consecutive audit last year, meaning there's a lot of funding unaccounted for. The aim is to change that.

"We need to know when we spend dollars," Trump's secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, said Sunday in an interview with Fox News. "We need to know where they're going and why. That's simple accounting, and that has not existed at the Defense Department."

White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, a retired Army colonel, specifically pointed to US military shipbuilding programs as a point of interest. On Sunday, Waltz said on NBC's Meet the Press there was "plenty to look into in shipbuilding, which is an absolute mess, to look into contracting, into procurement."

He also expressed concern about the process, which pays shipbuilders to begin working before designs are finished. "You pay people right up front and then they don't deliver for years and years and years," and "maintenance and costs overrun," he said.

What are the problems?

The US Navy is the most powerful and most advanced naval force in the world today, but the Big Navy programs and industrial base that this force depends are struggling.

There has been a string of broken programs, such as the Littoral Combat Ship, some of which are now being decommissioned decades before their time, and the Zumwalt-class destroyers, the mission and armaments for which were a question mark for years. Each of the destroyers costs around $8 billion.

The new USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier's development was hamstrung by changing requirements and the integration of dozens of new technologies. It was delivered years behind schedule to the tune of roughly $13 billion.

And even now, major programs are facing tremendous delays. Last year, a Navy review found that top military shipbuilding projects, new submarines and surface ships, are delayed by years and facing rising costs.

That includes Block IV Virginia-class attack submarines, Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines, the Constellation-class guided missile frigate, and the next Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. The delays range, but most are a full year or two behind schedule.

The design and construction of these warships are overseen by Naval Sea Systems Command, which has a workforce of over 75,000 civilian and military personnel.

What are the causes?

Lawmakers, officials, government watchdogs, and experts have called attention to American shipbuilding woes, including weakened domestic industrial capacity, budget and schedule issues, and last-minute design changes.

Other challenges include the lingering effects of COVID-19, inflation, supply chain breakdowns, and a dwindling workforce.

US Navy officials, analysts, and industry experts have said inconsistent defense budgets, shifting Navy requirements and cost estimates, and reduced domestic capacity have been hollowing out the Navy's shipbuilding capabilities for decades.

The industrial base has shrunk, and the Navy is reliant on a few shipbuilders for design and construction. This same issue constrains maintenance and repair. Domestic capacity is limited, and international yards aren't an option due to current prohibitions.

Mackenzie Eaglen, a senior fellow with the American Enterprise Institute, wrote last year that the Navy needs to break what she called the "doom loop." Shipbuilding, maintenance, and repair costs continue to rise as the fleet ages and shrinks. New construction issues arise in the process. And while the Navy criticizes shipbuilders, shipbuilders are lamenting the rising costs of wages, inflationary pressures, and budget uncertainty.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that under the Navy's 2025 shipbuilding plan, total costs would average $40 billion per year in 2024 for the next 30 years, about 17% more than the Navy estimates. That comes as the Navy prioritizes building a larger fleet with more distributed firepower. The goal is 390 total battleforce ships by 2054. 

The CBO said that the Navy's plan would put a strain on the US industrial base, meaning "over the next 30 years, the nation's shipyards would need to produce substantially more naval tonnage than they have produced over the past 10 years. The rate of production of nuclear-powered submarines, in particular, would need to increase significantly."

Why do shipbuilding problems matter?

America's top rival, China, is the world's leading shipbuilder. It has been building up its navy by leveraging commercial and military shipyards. Unclassified US Navy data indicates China has 230 times the US shipbuilding capacity. Seapower is a critical element of national power.

In a potential war with the US, China could have the advantage in combat repair and replacement.

The US Navy can't catch up in quantity, but it has options. It is looking into better sustaining its ships and subs, extending the lives of certain assets, fixing maintenance backlogs, and prioritizing autonomous systems.

Whether DOGE ultimately targets shipbuilding when it starts looking into the Pentagon remains to be seen. There's a lot of waste in the department and bipartisan concerns about that.

The DOGE is acting like an internal consultancy, triggering controversies and alarm as it sweeps through government agencies. Its head, Elon Musk, sought to shut down USAID and tried to access Treasury's tightly controlled payment systems. A review of Pentagon programs could trigger concerns about the security of defense systems and who, exactly, is digging into the department's plans and projects.

• US government and military websites went dark last week after being purged of certain content.
• President Trump's executive order directed all agencies to remove information related to gender ideology.
• Here's what's disappeared from the websites and public-facing communications.

The Trump administration has been intensely scrubbing government and military websites clean.

It has been tossing out DEI, gender ideology, race, and sexual identity information, among other things. Thousands of pages have been affected, with some going dark and others being overhauled or revised. Some webpages went down and have already come back while others may be gone for good.

The sweeping webpage purge followed a string of executive orders on a range of issues that affected public-facing communications.

Last Friday, the US Office of Personnel Management directed all federal government agencies to review internal and external information and remove anything related to gender ideology. The guidance included taking "down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) that inculcate or promote gender ideology," prompting many websites to briefly go dark while they were scrubbed.

Trump said he was fine with that outcome. "If they want to scrub the websites, that's OK with me," he said, triggering concern.

The order includes the removal of references to trans and queer terminology and replacement of "gender" with "sex." The OPM memo also impacted the listed identities on department documentation, the jobs of employees "whose position description involves inculcating or promoting gender ideology," and shutting off email features for users to input their pronouns.

Some systems, though, have remained untouched, and there remains uncertainty about how far the executive order and other related directives will go. The White House simply pointed to the order when asked for comment.

Military websites

Military websites have been cleared of terminology related to gender ideology. This includes any and all references to the LGBTQ+ community, which has now been cut to just LGB.

Other pages have also gone missing. For instance, the Army and Navy removed webpages showcasing the contributions of female service members this week. Some of the pages were apparently restored after inquiries about the scrubbing, Military.com reported.

Ret. Navy Adm. James Stavridis, the former top commander in Europe, said on X that the views of women in DoD today are a "big mistake" with long-term repercussions.

In a statement to Business Insider, DoD said it "will fully execute and implement all directives outlined in the Executive Orders issued by the President, ensuring that they are carried out with utmost professionalism, efficiency, and in alignment with national security objectives. We will provide status updates as we are able."

The Army provided a similar statement on its online activities, and the Navy told BI its stance was in line with the Pentagon's. The Marine Corps told BI that the Marine Corps Public Web had completed a "comprehensive review of public-facing content hosted across the Marines.mil enterprise." The Coast Guard did not respond to BI's request for comment.

Content such as official messages and publications were not removed, instead requiring only a cancellation or revision. Historical and news-related content and videos weren't scrubbed either. 

Questions remain on who's been in charge of scrubbing the sites; the OPM memo appears to leave the task up to each individual agency. OPM also requested a complete list of actions taken by every department and any other plans to "fully comply with this guidance" by today.

The Pentagon also issued guidance last Friday from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth indicating identity months were "dead at DoD." That included February's Black History month.

That move comes amid new reports that transgender service members are already being affected in the wake of Trump's executive order and that identity-based clubs at West Point are being shut down.

Recent developments have sparked concern among some advocacy groups.

"The purges of DEI-related information from military websites and the targeting of specific communities in executive orders represent a significant step backward for inclusivity and equality within the armed forces," Rachel Branaman, the executive director of Modern Military Association of America, told BI.

These moves signal "that certain individuals are not valued or welcome within the military," she said, adding that these actions could have "far-reaching ramifications."

Right now, it's unclear if DoD's defense video and imagery distribution systems, known as DVIDS, will be updated. Defense Media Activity didn't respond to BI's request for comment.

As of now, it still includes previous imagery and graphics celebrating identity months like Pride Month. Just last week, the Air Force posted a graphic honoring Black History Month. 

The State Department, CDC, and other sites

Other federal government websites, such as those for the Department of State, were also scrubbed in line with Trump's executive order. This included the state department's travel guidance and resources for LGBTQ+ people, which has also been stripped to just LGB.

Some unrelated content, such as country data on the State Department pages, has also disappeared. The USAID website has been cleared out as well.

The Center for Disease Control and Protection, as well as other health resources, saw similar purges, including a swath of website pages related to trans and nonbinary healthcare, sexually transmitted infections and diseases, HIV, and vaccinations. Data related to youth and LGBTQ+ mental health, substance abuse, and violence, as well as federal goals for curbing that, were also removed. 

These moves sparked intense criticism. Lawmakers like Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts called them "staggeringly stupid, anti-science" actions that will have "real consequences." Sen. Patty Murray of Washington likewise called these apparent purges "absolutely unacceptable."

After intense backlash from healthcare providers and other concerned parties, some of this information was restored. However, some guidelines on contraception and information on racial inequities is still gone. The CDC's website also still indicates it's being modified to comply with Trump's executive orders.

In a statement to BI, the CDC said: "All changes to the HHS website and HHS division websites are in accordance" with Trump's executive orders on gender and DEI.

Numerous pages have also gone missing on websites for the Census Bureau, Department of Justice, US Patent and Trademark Office, Food and Drug Administration, Department of the Interior, Department of Veterans Affairs, and a number of others, clearing out a range of data, including some sexual harassment pages and climate change information.

Trump's executive orders have already made an impact on government and military departments, but changes could continue as the guidance is implemented by various agencies. 

The OPM memo also impacts any training and resource groups related to gender identity, "intimate spaces" such as bathrooms, and programs, contracts, and grants. These have had impacts on other programs as well, pausing them amid reviews.

• Russia's electronic warfare tactics have forced Ukrainian drone operators to constantly adapt.
• It's a hidden battle in the electromagnetic spectrum, Ukraine's special drone unit Typhoon said.
• The intense electronic warfare fight is exceptionally demanding for Ukraine's forces.

Drone operators flying uncrewed aircraft over Ukraine are constantly running into invisible shields, causing them to suddenly lose control of their drones as signals are severed.

Everything's normal, and then suddenly, the controls are dead, feeds are out, and it's gone.

Electronic warfare has become as pervasive on the battlefield in Ukraine as drones are, jamming and confusing drones and traditional weapons alike.

It's an unseen threat demanding frequent adaptation. Ukraine's special drone unit, Typhoon, told Business Insider that this "hidden electronic warfare battle" makes drone warfare much more complicated for operators.

Electronic warfare refers to a variety of combat actions in the electromagnetic spectrum. For instance, jammers flood radio frequencies with noise, signals can be scrambled, and GPS systems can be spoofed. EW, as it is called for short, arose as a prominent countermeasure to the prolific use of cheap combat drones by both Ukraine and Russia.

In response, drone technology has started to evolve, with unjammable fiber-optic drones emerging in battle. These drones are tethered to the operator by a fiber-optic cable, ensuring a stable connection even in heavy EW environments.

Electronic warfare has affected more than just drones. It has also impacted Western- and US-provided precision weapons. US officials have described adversary EW as an ongoing challenge requiring new solutions for both the war in Ukraine and future conflicts.

Typhoon said the electronic warfare battle "plays a crucial role in modern warfare."

The unit said in response to BI's queries that electronic warfare is forcing Ukrainian drone units to do a lot more work before launching their uncrewed reconnaissance or strike systems. It also requires that they employ their own countermeasures.

Typhoon told BI that the unit's drone operators "must constantly analyze and adapt to the battlefield's electronic environment, identifying gaps in enemy jamming coverage to configure drones accordingly."

Ukraine's forces have worked to adapt to Russia's jamming, sometimes relying on alternative systems that don't depend on GPS, using other guidance mechanics, or locating and destroying Russian electronic-warfare sites. Ukraine has also developed its own techniques to scramble Russian drones and missiles.

Jamming is among the more prominent methods of neutralizing enemy drones. Intense jamming in certain areas of the front has kept many drones from reaching their intended targets.

In the Ukrainian army, every drone operation team "requires a jamming system mounted on their vehicle when deploying to their position, along with a tool capable of identifying the frequency of radio signals," Typhoon said, highlighting the complexities of countering modern threats.

Each brigade, too, has its own electronic warfare division focused on detecting, jamming, and disrupting Russia's electronic warfare, communications, and command systems.

Typhoon said operators engage in an ongoing process of analyzing signals, changing the frequencies their drones work on, and employing countermeasures. All of these are "invisible yet essential" components of successful drone operations, the unit said.

Founded last year, Typhoon has become a prominent element of Ukraine's efforts to expand its development and use of uncrewed systems.

Its operators, the number of which the unit wouldn't disclose for security reasons, have to be flexible and quick-thinking. The unit said that while fighting isn't like playing a video game, gamers can, in some cases, make good pilots because they may have already developed those skills.

Its engineers, likewise, must rapidly analyze and develop drone configurations.

But countering EW is a constant process and sometimes requires new strategies. A major part of the work being done by units like Typhoon is creating a favorable environment for launching their systems. That includes using electronic intelligence (ELINT) systems to identify what frequencies Russia is using for its jamming operations and then quickly configuring their drones to operate on alternative ones.

"This is an ongoing challenge," Typhoon said, "as the enemy continuously analyzes UAV frequencies and updates their jamming technology to adapt."

• Gamers have the skillsets to make great drone pilots, including quick decision-making skills.
• Drone operation is a complex process, especially on the dangerous battlefields of Ukraine.
• Ukraine's special drone unit Typhoon is playing a role in adapting to drone warfare challenges.

Screens. Headsets. Controllers. There's a lot about flying a drone that would feel familiar to gamers, but operating one in battle isn't anything like a video game, members of Ukraine's special drone unit told Business Insider.

The unit, Typhoon, says that real drone warfare is more complicated and more dangerous with deadly consequences.

Uncrewed systems, particularly a range of first-person view drones, are seeing widespread use in Russia's war on Ukraine. Ukrainian operators have made comparisons between how they fly their systems and how they play video games.

The FPV headsets aren't unlike virtual reality systems, and the controllers often have similar mechanisms, such as joysticks, to ones used with video game consoles. There's even a video game called "Death From Above" that puts the player in the position of a Ukrainian FPV drone operator, prompting the user to fly through the battlefield, target enemies, and drop bombs on vehicles.

But unlike a video game, the drone wars that are happening in Ukraine are real, coming at a cost in human lives. Drones are buzzing across its skies, constantly threatening soldiers and tanks.

"People think flying a military drone is like playing 'Call of Duty,' until they realize there's no restart option," a Typhoon operator told Business Insider, referencing the popular war-themed first-person shooter game.

Ukraine and Russia are engaged in a rapid arms race, developing new systems and countermeasures that require constant adaptation by both sides. Drone warfare has thus become a lot more complicated.

Operations are not as simple as just booting up a system and flying the drone to the target. Drone operators have to analyze the technical setup of the drone, Typhoon said, and then make modifications based on its objective and surroundings, as well as any other anticipated challenges, such as signal jamming.

Adjusting how the drone is being operated also includes reviewing real-time intelligence on the battlefield situation and terrain. And before takeoff, the operator has to coordinate with command. 

Once the drone is flying, it's not a straight path to the target. Enemy drones or countermeasures have to be considered and avoided, including strikes on the drone or attempts to locate and hit the operator. It demands "making split-second decisions — in real time," Typhoon said. 

Typhoon is Ukraine's new special drone unit. Officially established in June 2024, it was billed as a major expansion of military efforts to develop uncrewed systems. The number of operators in Typhoon isn't publicly available for security reasons, but it's actively recruiting. 

Some of the members were present when Typhoon was first revealed to the public, and they also appeared with drone equipment in a video shared online at the time. 

Typhoon's commander, call sign Michael, told BI the unit plays a vital role in the National Guard of Ukraine, "developing and applying specialized UAV [uncrewed aerial vehicles] expertise on the battlefield." He said the unit combines skilled personnel, such as engineers who can rapidly analyze and develop drone configurations and pilots capable of executing missions and delivering results in battle.

When looking for new recruits, Typhoon prioritizes operators able to learn quickly and adapt to the ever-changing battlefield. That includes gamers. 

"Gamers make great drone pilots because they are used to fast-moving situations on the screen, just like in real drone operations," Michael said. "They already have experience making quick decisions, reacting fast, and controlling complex systems, which are all important skills in combat."

Ukraine has increasingly prioritized the domestic production and the extensive use of drones. Many of these models can be made cheaply and at scale, helping fill gaps in Ukraine's options for striking Russian troops or defending territory as Western-provided missiles and artillery have sometimes been in short supply. 

Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have emphasized the importance of drone use in the war in Ukraine, and aerial, surface, and water-based uncrewed vehicles have helped Ukraine achieve some big wins.

Earlier this month, Zelenskyy detailed his ambitions to set new records for its domestic drone production. 

"Drones are something that has changed the nature of warfare and these changes are far from being over," he said. "Today, there is a direct correlation: we need drones to stop the enemy's advance and to avoid losing people and territory." For months now, Russian forces have been steadily grinding forward but at high costs.

• North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia have reportedly suffered significant losses.
• Although the troops are believed to be elite forces, they've been used similarly to Russian prison units.
• The soldiers appear to have been removed from combat.

North Korean forces sent to fight Russia's war appear to be the latest in a growing line of disposable troops that have been torn apart in its fight against Ukraine.

The troops sent to fight in Kursk are believed to be some of North Korea's more dedicated, better-trained soldiers, but they have suffered heavy losses in bloody "human wave" assaults. Ukraine's military has said that these forces haven't been seen in weeks, speculating that their high casualties may have led to them being withdrawn.

South Korea's intelligence agency supported these observations, per local media, saying there have been no signs of the North Korean forces engaging in combat in Kursk in weeks. The National Intelligence Service said that the high losses could be the reason they were pulled off the front line, but they're looking into it.

Expendable armies

Russia's war against Ukraine has devastated entire Russian military units, from elite forces to poorly trained conscript units, butchered convict armies, and wiped out mercenary forces. Like the North Korean troops, many of these forces have been described as "cannon fodder" or simply "meat."

The brutal Wagner mercenary group, which relied heavily on prisoners, lost an estimated 20,000 fighters in the fight for Bakhmut. Russia's Storm-Z penal units, which are basically convict forces, experienced high losses in front-line fights as well.

Last year, the British Ministry of Defense accused Moscow of "wasting lives in a grotesque approach that typifies the depths to which President Putin's regime is prepared to go." Now, North Korean forces seem to have experienced a similar fate.

Over 11,000 North Korean soldiers, mostly special operations forces, deployed to Russia's Kursk region last November in the wake of Ukraine's shock invasion of Russian territory.

Later, once the North Korean troops had seen actual combat, the Biden White House said that the soldiers were involved in front-line assaults in Kursk and were being treated "as expendable." A Ukrainian commander who faced the North Koreans in battle told Business Insider they were basically "cannon fodder."

Western and South Korean intelligence have tracked the reported casualties. The latest estimates put losses at around 4,000. The Institute for the Study of War think tank recently estimated that the entire contingent could be killed or wounded by April if current casualty rates were to continue. But North Korean forces no longer appear to be on the front line.

The Russian way of war

In a talk hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Tuesday, Seth Jones, president of the defense and security department at CSIS, said that the reported casualties were astonishing and that the soldiers are seemingly being used in ways similar to Russia's prison units, especially in Kursk, where the goal is to retake the territory Ukraine has seized and fortified.

"That's the way it appears that the Russians have used North Korean forces," Jones said, noting Russia has done this with higher-end forces as well. "This is the Russian way of war," he said. "It is stunning in the high-casualty component of it."

Last month, Jones and Benjamin Jensen, a fellow at CSIS' future lab and a professor at the Marine Corps University of Advanced Warfighting, wrote in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal that although a majority of North Korean forces appear to have come from its elite Storm Corps, they're being used for mine clearance and frontal assaults on fortified Ukrainian positions. This isn't a primary function of special operations units.

Russia has shown improvements in its wartime tactics. Its electronic warfare and use of uncrewed systems have developed rapidly. It has also advanced its reconnaissance strike complex. But the way it approaches retaking territory and engages in attritional warfare with many losses continues.

A slow, grinding, attritional fight is not one that works to Ukraine's advantage, as Russia has more bodies it can commit to its war machine. Even as Ukraine continues to hold a significant portion of the territory it captured in Kursk, Russia has turned up the pressure, making it more difficult to hold. Moscow doesn't have an endless supply of bodies though.

Russia's human wave assaults, vicious tactics with roots in old Soviet doctrine, have been documented throughout the war. They're intended to strain and overwhelm enemy defenses, but they come at extreme costs.

The estimates for Russian killed and wounded in this war have been as high as 800,000. Western intelligence has tracked increasingly high daily losses, especially at the end of last year. The North Korean soldiers appear to now be being added to those losses. Neither the Russian embassy nor the Russian defense ministry responded to BI's requests for comment.

A bloody partnership

When North Korea deployed troops to fight for Russia, it appeared to signal a next step in a growing partnership. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin have negotiated a mutual defense pact, as well as arms deals.

Along with combat forces, North Korea has delivered ammunition and other weapons to Russia. What Kim could be getting in return remains highly speculative, but possibilities include certain space and satellite capabilities, as well as food, petroleum products, and help with its air force and submarines. North Korea is also getting critical insights into how its weapons, including both artillery and missiles, perform in battle and valuable lessons in the ways of modern warfare.

Jones said that it appears Pyongyang offered troops to Moscow rather than react to a request, but it's unclear if North Korea fully understood how its troops would be used. For Putin, the benefit of using North Korean troops, much like Wagner and other forces, is the ability to avoid a contentious mobilization at home.

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said last month that Pyongyang may be planning to deploy additional forces and military equipment to Russia. In recent weeks, though, North Korean forces have been absent from the front lines, potentially due to heavy losses. It's unclear, though, if that is temporary or permanent.

• North Korean troops deployed to Russia have proven capable and fierce.
• Russia is using them in high-cost "human wave" assaults.
• The conflict is an opportunity for North Korea to learn modern warfare tactics and adapt.

North Korea's soldiers are relentless, almost fanatical, in the face of death. They're determined and capable in battle, even in an unfamiliar fight, and their tactics are outdated but brutal.

That is what the West has been learning watching Kim Jong Un's army in action after Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the North Korean leader to supply fighters for his war on Ukraine.

Pyongyang deployed 11,000 men to Kursk in November disguised as Russian soldiers and carrying fake IDs. These troops are largely special operations forces, meaning they are more ardent in their beliefs and better trained than other units.

Russia has been pushing the North Koreans headlong into bloody assaults. The costs are high, but Kim's army is learning an important lesson in return: how to fight a modern war.

North Korea sent some of its best soldiers

This war is North Korea's largest military deployment to a foreign conflict in its almost 80-year history. To determine what the West is learning from this moment, Business Insider spoke to experts who have been closely following North Korea's performance, examined publicly released intelligence, and reviewed Ukrainians' observations.

Ukrainian and South Korean intelligence services have said that many of the troops that deployed to Russia are some of Pyongyang's best, drawn from the 11th Corps, also known as the Storm Corps. The unit is trained in infiltration, infrastructure sabotage, and assassinations.

Ukraine's top general, Oleksandr Syrsky, has said the North Korean troops are "highly motivated, well-trained," and "brave." And the Pentagon said this month that "these are relatively well-disciplined, competent forces" that are by all accounts "capable."

Some Ukrainian soldiers have relayed their experiences to Western media, describing the troops as fast and nimble, good shots, and seemingly fearless as they rush into battle despite heavy losses. North Korean soldiers have also been found carrying diaries with written dedications to Kim and their country.

"They, as individuals, are more skilled as soldiers, more disciplined as soldiers, more willing to fight as soldiers than some sources had presumed when they were first being sent there," said Joseph Bermudez, an expert on North Korea's armed forces at the Center for International and Strategic Studies.

North Korea has a culture driven by a martial philosophy that celebrates hard military power, and it maintains one of the world's largest standing armies with around 1.2 million soldiers.

The country's direct entry into the war has complicated the situation for the Ukrainians, particularly in Russia's Kursk where Ukraine is struggling to hold captured ground. Ukraine has lost roughly half of the territory it once held inside Russia, and the relentless human wave attacks and brutal assaults have worn down Ukraine's already strained defenses, depriving Kyiv's forces of time to rest and brace for further attacks.

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said last month that North Korea may be planning to deploy additional forces and military equipment to Russia.

Pyongyang has denied sending troops to Russia, and Kyiv has said Russian and North Korean forces attempt to remove dead North Korean soldiers from the battlefield or even burn the faces of dead North Koreans to make them difficult to identify.

Russia is sending North Korean soldiers into bloody assaults

Russia has been sending the North Korean forces into very high-casualty front-line assaults. Biden's White House said late last month that "it is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable and ordering them on hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses."

A White House spokesperson previously described the North Koreans as "highly indoctrinated, pushing attacks even when it is clear that those attacks are futile."

The Trump administration did not respond to a request for comment on its assessment of North Korean forces fighting in Russia.

Ukraine's Special Operation Forces said Friday the North Koreans fighting for Russia had not been seen in the Kursk area for around three weeks and had likely been withdrawn due to the heavy combat losses. BI was unable to independently confirm these details.

On the front lines, Ukrainian soldiers have said that the North Koreans are a capable fighting force that is adept at neutralizing drones. The soldiers are ruthlessly tough and determined, relentlessly pushing forward in "human wave" assaults, using fellow soldiers as bait, and casting aside armor for faster infantry movements. And they refuse to surrender, often opting to kill themselves with a grenade or bullet rather than be captured.

This is a defining element of the North Korean special operations training: soldiers are trained to follow orders aggressively, even if they suspect it will cost them their lives. If they disobey orders or fail without sacrifice, their families could suffer the consequences, Bermudez said.

North Korea is learning lessons in modern warfare

North Korean forces have suffered heavy losses fighting for Russia, per Western intelligence. Despite training with Moscow on infantry tactics, flying drones, artillery, and trench-clearing operations, the troops are still new to this war.

The soldiers "have been observed engaging in light infantry operations of a Second World War vintage — one man draws out enemy fire (in this case, drones) to locate a target, and others attempt to neutralize said target," said Michael Madden, a Stimson Center Korea expert. They have not prepared for a mechanized battlefield like Ukraine's, filled with armored vehicles and tanks.

"They've been trained to fight a war on the Korean Peninsula," Bermudez said, and while North Korea has watched various armed conflicts closely over the decades, its forces are now getting a real taste for it on a battlefield and in an environment they haven't been prepping for.

In the short term, that could have devastating consequences for the North Korean forces fighting for the Russians. The Institute for the Study of War think tank assesses that the entire 11,000-man contingent of North Korean forces could be killed or wounded in action by April if the current casualty rate continues. The latest estimates put losses around 4,000.

North Korea may consider these sacrifices worth it — if not for the Russian cause, then for what it learns in return.

"It is a dark version of the concept of 'you learn by doing,'" Madden said, noting that it's still early. "We will need further incidents and engagements to make more sound observations as to whether they are adjusting their tactics given the state of play in Russia and Ukraine."

But there is no doubt they're learning, acquiring knowledge critical for future conflicts that will make North Korea a more challenging combat force in East Asia. They're seeing the Ukrainian use of US- and Western-provided weapons systems, such as HIMARS and Abrams, for example, and how the Russians have adapted to them.

"They're bringing these lessons home in the hardest way possible: by bleeding for them," Bermudez said.

• US F-16s flew to Greenland for force posturing after Russian aircraft were detected in the Arctic.
• The US and Greenland continue their standard agreement for presence in the Arctic region.
• Tensions are high as President Trump continues pressing his desire to buy Greenland.

US F-16 fighter jets flew to Greenland earlier this week, highlighting the vast autonomous territory's long-standing role in supporting North American defense, even as the new administration complicates matters with new landgrab ambitions.

Right now is an unusually tense time between the US and Denmark, a longtime American ally, as President Donald Trump continues to push forward on ambitions to acquire Greenland. His newly confirmed secretary of state, Marco Rubio, says he's serious.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command confirmed Thursday that it monitored the activity of multiple Russian military aircraft in the Arctic earlier this week. The aircraft remained in international airspace and weren't seen as a threat, but as part of its defense mission, NORAD regularly scrambles patrol aircraft to monitor these situations.

Two patrols — one from the Canadian NORAD region and the other from the Alaskan NORAD region — were dispatched to track the activity. The Canadian patrol consisted of two Canadian CF-18s and KC-135 refueling aircraft, while the Alaskan patrol included two American F-35s, one E-3, and two KC-135 refueling aircraft.

Several hours after those patrols, NORAD "sent two F-16s from Alaska to Greenland exercising its standard agreement with Greenland to forward posture NORAD presence in the activity." The command said that the dispatch was not in response to any current threat.

Aircraft with the bilateral NORAD command regularly deploy to Pituffik Space Base on the western tip of northern Greenland. NORAD Public Affairs said that these aircraft "support various long planned NORAD activities with our allies and partners, building on the longstanding defense cooperation between the US, Canada, and the Kingdom of Denmark."

The routine activity highlights that Greenland isn't simply land; it is part of a strategic partnership.

In recent months, President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in a US acquisition of Greenland, a self-ruling Danish territory. He has called the island, which is rich in natural resources, an "absolutely necessity" and has even suggested using force or coercion to bring it under US control.

Trump's comments on Greenland have been met with a wide range of responses and confusion, especially with Greenlanders and US partners in Europe, but on Thursday, the newly sworn-in US secretary of state, Rubio, said on The Megyn Kelly Show on SiriusXM that Trump's desire to acquire the island is "not a joke."

He said "this is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest, and it needs to be solved."

Beyond its natural resources, Greenland is also primely located in an area of growing strategic competition: the Arctic. It could support the US force posture in the Arctic, making it easier to monitor and counter China and Russia's ambitions in the region. China is a critical factor in Trump's attitude on the Panama Canal, as well.

In response to Rubio's remarks on Trump's ambitions, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Friday, "I would be more surprised if he said it was a joke," per Danish public broadcaster TV2. "We have no interest in selling Greenland to the US, it will not happen."

• President Trump signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
• The federal government and military are already embracing the order, and Google Maps indicated it would also reflect the change.
• However, changing maps and charts isn't a simple process.

President Donald Trump's executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America is already resulting in changes across the federal government and military. Google Maps has indicated it would follow suit.

However, the federal process isn't as simple as crossing out the old name and writing in a new one. It's a complicated switch across the bureaucracy, involving a top-down effort to update official documents, communications, maps, and charts.

On his first day back in office as president, Trump issued an executive order on "restoring names that honor American greatness," directing the Secretary of the Interior to implement a change to the area of the US continental shelf "extending to Mexico and Cuba" and remove all mentions of the Gulf of Mexico across "all federal references."

The executive order also included the reversal of former President Barack Obama's naming of Denali, North America's highest mountain peak located in Alaska, to Mount McKinley in honor of former President William McKinley.

The name "Gulf of America" has long been debated and satirized. However, Trump's executive order is the first time the US has directly acted to change it.

While many Republicans, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green have embraced and lauded the move, it's also been met with backlash and confusion from some internationally. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said last week that "for us and for the whole world, it is still the Gulf of Mexico." Reporting from The Telegraph indicated that the United Kingdom won't recognize the name change.

Earlier this month, Mexico's Sheinbaum joked that because a world map from 1607 — 169 years before the US was founded — labeled North America as Mexican America, perhaps the continent should be named as such.

Across the federal government and military, the change to "Gulf of America" has been quickly implemented. Sources familiar with the matter told Business Insider that internal documentation and public-facing communications are already updated or in the process of being updated, with map and chart changes to come.

On Friday, the Department of the Interior announced efforts were underway to make the changes.

Inside the Interior Department, the Board on Geographic Names has purview over names for federal use, but that's only binding to federal departments and agencies.

In the past, the board and the US Geological Survey would act immediately to update the Geographical Names Information System, a database of more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the US and its territories. The Department of State would update the Geographic Names Server, which defines geographic feature names outside of the US. But it's up to each agency and office to update their websites and information accordingly.

A US Navy spokesperson said once the internal systems the Navy gets its information from are updated, its maps and charts will be updated.

Google said on Monday that Google Maps would reflect the ordered name changes to the Gulf of America and Mount McKinley once the Geographic Names Information System is updated, in accordance with "a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources."

It also said that Google Maps users see the official local name in their region when nomenclature varies between countries, and the rest of the world sees both names.

The changing of some other maps and charts may involve a longer process. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for example, is engaging with the Board on Geographic Names for further guidance on the implementation, Scott Smullen, the deputy director of NOAA Communications, said.

The process from there, specifically how quickly maps will be updated across the federal government and military, appears fairly complex, requiring updating every reference.

According to Trump's executive order, the Secretary of the Interior has 30 days to implement the name change and ensure "all federal references to the Gulf of America, including on agency maps, contracts, and other documents and communications shall reflect its renaming."

The US Coast Guard's District 8, which oversees the Gulf of Mexico area, said it was "acting in compliance" with Trump's executive order. Just a day after Trump's executive order, the Coast Guard began using the term when announcing deployed assets to the maritime border between Texas and Mexico.

At this time, Apple Maps hasn't renamed the body of water. The Associated Press said last week that it would still use the name Gulf of Mexico while also acknowledging the Gulf of America in its style guide. It said that "as a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences."

BI's style is consistent, using the name "Gulf of Mexico."

As Trump's executive order is only effective domestically, other nations and international organizations could continue to refer to the region as the Gulf of Mexico, and similar variations exist elsewhere in the world. The Persian Gulf located south of Iran, for example, has long been the site of controversy, with some nearby Arab countries like Saudi Arabia calling it the Arabian Gulf.

• Pete Hegseth has been confirmed as defense secretary after a tie-breaking vote by JD Vance.
• The outspoken Army National Guard veteran and former Fox News host faced major controversies.
• Hegseth's confirmation suggests major changes may be in store for the Pentagon.

Vice President JD Vance on Friday delivered his first tie-breaking vote in the senate, confirming Pete Hegseth, a Trump confidant and Iraq veteran, as defense secretary after a contentious battle over his qualifications.

Democrats and three Republicans questioned Hegseth's readiness to lead the Pentagon, as the US Army National Guard veteran and former "Fox & Friends" host lacks experience in the defense industry or running large organizations that have characterized past defense secretaries.

Hegseth was barely confirmed on Friday night after a 50-50 Senate vote, which required a tie-breaking vote by Vance. Republican Senators Mitch McConnell from Kentucky, Susan Collins from Maine, and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska voted against Hegseth. All Democratic senators voted no.

The confirmation was only the second time in US history that the Vice President has been required to break a tie for a cabinet appointment. The first was Betsy DeVos' 2017 confirmation as secretary of education during President Donald Trump's first term.

Hegseth's confirmation is one of the closest ever for the position, which has often seen strong bipartisan support. For comparison, Lloyd Austin, a retired Army general tapped by former President Joe Biden, received 93 votes in 2021. In addition to Hegseth, one of the other closest votes occurred in 2013, when the Senate confirmed former President Barack Obama's pick, Chuck Hagel, a former Republican senator and Vietnam combat veteran, by 58-41.

Hegseth's nail-bitter confirmation in the GOP-led Senate is a victory for Trump's unconventional Cabinet nominations. Since Trump announced his pick in November, Hegseth's personal history, controversial comments on culture war topics, and qualifications for the position have all been under fire.

At the Fox News host's confirmation hearing in January, he faced intense questioning, walking back previous comments he made against women serving in combat roles and promising to bring a warrior ethos back to the Pentagon.

He has also received support from many Republicans and veterans. Tim Kennedy, a retired Army Green Beret and mixed martial artist, has repeatedly advocated for Hegseth's candidacy, calling him "an agent of change." On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said that Hegseth would bring "a warrior's perspective to the role of defense secretary and will provide much-needed fresh air at the Pentagon."

Hegseth's confirmation may bring radical changes to the Pentagon that had been resisted in Trump's first term. It was Hegseth who then advised Trump to pardon troops accused or convicted of war crimes over the objections of top Pentagon leaders who worried this would erode the discipline and order in their ranks.

By rhetoric and background, Hegseth has been seen by lawmakers and officials as an unconventional pick.

Hegseth, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was among a group of National Guard members who had their orders to secure then President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration revoked after the January 6 insurrection due to controversy over his tattoo of a Jerusalem cross; he also has a tattoo of a Christian motto that dates to the Crusades and has been adopted by the alt-right.

Hegseth has also received backlash over his views of women serving in combat roles. During a podcast episode after Trump's reelection, Hegseth said, "I'm straight-up just saying we should not have women in combat roles," arguing it hurt the military's readiness. At his confirmation hearing in January, he took a different tone.

"Yes, women will have access to ground combat roles, given the standards remain high, and we'll have a review to ensure the standards have not been eroded in any one of these cases," Hegseth said, noting that if he's confirmed, he'll initiate a review of gender-neutral standards.

He has also been grilled about his drinking, beliefs against diversity, equity, and inclusion, and his personal history. During a media blitz to shore up his struggling candidacy, he vowed "there won't be a drop of alcohol on my lips" while he's the SECDEF.

In November, sexual assault allegations against Hegseth from an incident in 2017 were made public. At the time, Hegseth told police that the encounter was consensual and denied any wrongdoing; he was never criminally charged. In November, he told reporters that the matter was fully investigated and he'd been cleared.

Hegseth, an avowed opponent of the Defense Department's efforts to diversify its disproportionately white workforce, suggests major changes may be in store beyond the removal of any DEI or so-called "woke" policies.

His selection by Trump is also a sign the White House is focused on purging the military's top ranks of purported "woke generals," along the lines of the "warrior board" reviews first reported by The Wall Street Journal. 

• Deportation flights have begun, Trump's White House said Friday.
• Photos released by White House staff show people in restraints boarding a US airlift plane.
• Trump has tapped the military to assist with the deportation of immigrants in the US illegally.

President Donald Trump's White House said that the first deportation flights of immigrants who entered the US illegally were carried out this week. The president promised a mass deportation campaign with military assistance.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, confirmed the first of the flights on Friday morning, posting photos of people in restraints being boarded onto Air Force C-17 Globemaster IIIs.

"President Trump is sending a strong and clear message to the entire world: if you illegally enter the United States of America, you will face severe consequences," Leavitt said on X.

Two deportation flights on C-17s to Guatemala were flown overnight, a US defense official told Business Insider.

In a post on X Thursday night, Leavitt said the administration had arrested over 500 "illegal immigrant criminals." She said hundreds more were being deported by military aircraft. "The largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway," she wrote.

Prior to his reelection, Trump's campaign focused heavily on the issue of illegal immigration, criticizing the Biden administration for failing to protect US borders and repeatedly promising a mass deportation campaign. Deportations surged under former President Joe Biden but to less fanfare. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement data tracked almost 300,000 deportations of immigrants from October 2023 to September 2024, the highest since 2014.

Broadly, 1.1 million people were repatriated from the US in 2023. The broader term "repatriation" includes deportation, returns whether ordered or voluntary, and expulsions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

During Trump's inaugural address on Monday, he hit on the issue again, saying that "all illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came."

On his first day in office, the president signed an executive order declaring a national emergency at the US-Mexico border.

Trump also signed an order directing US Northern Command to "seal the borders and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States by repelling forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities."

A senior defense official said this week that the US military is moving an additional 1,500 active-duty soldiers and Marines to the border, boosting the force presence there by roughly 60% and raising the total active-duty force size to roughly 4,000 service members. Barred from engaging in direct law enforcement activities, the troops are operating in support roles.

Military aircraft being used in this mission include UH-72 helicopters, C-130 cargo planes, and the C-17 airlifters seen in photos from the White House. The defense official added that some military airborne surveillance assets could be sent to the border.

• The UK has tracked a Russian spy ship in its waters twice in recent months.
• In November, a British submarine followed the vessel and surfaced near it to turn it away.
• British defense secretary Healey said the Russian ship is mapping undersea cables and gathering intel.

A UK submarine quietly tracked a Russian spy ship hanging around undersea cables in British waters last fall and then surfaced close to force the vessel to leave, the UK Ministry of Defense shared Wednesday.

The Russian vessel was again spotted in British waters this week, and UK Defense Secretary John Healey accused it of mapping out undersea infrastructure and gathering critical intelligence.

Healey addressed the House of Commons on Wednesday, discussing Russia's maritime activities. The Russian spy vessel Yantar, he explained, is in the North Sea after passing through British waters. Two Royal Navy vessels, the HMS Somerset and HMS Tyne, were deployed "to monitor the vessel every minute through our waters," he said.

Healey accused Yantar of mapping the UK's undersea cables in the area. "Let me be clear, this is a Russian spy ship used for gathering intelligence and mapping the UK's critical underwater infrastructure," Healey said.

Western officials have raised concerns about hybrid warfare and other threats to undersea cables critical to global data transmissions. Cables have been damaged multiple times in recent months. It remains unclear if these incidents, which have been linked to Russia and China, were intentional.

Healey said that he adjusted the Royal Navy's Rules of Engagement to allow UK vessels to sail closer to track the Yantar.

This week's appearance is the second involving the Yantar sailing in British waters in recent months. Healey confirmed on Wednesday that back in November, the spy ship was "detected loitering over UK critical undersea infrastructure." The MOD said the same.

In response, Healey deployed three Royal Navy vessels and a maritime patrol aircraft to shadow the Yantar. He also authorized a Royal Navy submarine to surface closely to the Russian spy ship as a deterrence measure, making "clear that we had been covertly monitoring its every move," Healey said. 

The UK defense secretary said the incidents were the latest examples of concerning Russian activity around critical infrastructure, especially in light of recent incidents.

Russia has long engaged in hybrid warfare tactics against NATO, and those have increased since the start of the Ukraine war. These tactics, along with other hybrid warfare efforts, are seen by officials and military leaders as tricky to respond to because they're just below the threshold of conflict. 

The UK's response includes sanctions on ships believed to be part of Russia's Shadow Fleet and closer communications with allies on tracking movements.

Healey also said the Royal Air Force would provide a P-8 Poseidon and Rivet Joint surveillance aircraft to the Baltic Sentry NATO deployment specifically to monitor undersea cables in the Baltic Sea. 

• The US Navy will name a new amphibious warship after Travis Manion, a Marine killed in combat in Iraq.
• The USS Travis Manion will be a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship.
• Manion's family said the ship will carry on his legacy.

The US Navy announced plans to name a new amphibious warship after 1st Lieutenant Travis Manion, a post-9/11 Marine killed in combat in Iraq.

The USS Travis Manion, an amphibious transport dock, will honor the Silver Star recipient, his family said, helping carry and support the next generation of Marines.

On January 10, then-Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced plans to name a future San Antonio-class amphibious warship, designated LPD 33, after Manion. The event was held at the US Naval Academy, of which Manion was a graduate, and also hosted by the Travis Manion Foundation, which connects thousands of veterans and young people around the country.

"The San Antonio-class amphibious ship represents the combined power of the Navy and Marine Corps team and relies on the seamless integration of Sailors and Marines working together," Del Toro said, adding that the new warship USS Travis Manion will "serve as a symbol of courage, bravery, and selfless service for all who follow in her wake."

Manion's family said the ship's naming is special both for Travis' legacy as well as the men and women who volunteered to serve in the US military after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The ship is only the fifth ship to be named after a post-9/11 service member.

"For our family, it's an incredible honor to know that Travis is going to be remembered in this way," Ryan Manion, Travis' sister, told Business Insider, adding that "it's also such a testament to this post-9/11 generation." 

Travis came from a close Marine family. His father, Thomas Manion, retired as a colonel. His niece, Maggie, is currently a first-year midshipman at the Naval Academy. Travis' father said that it has always understood that "if anyone wants to serve, it's got to really be at their core."

Travis graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 2004 and was assigned to 1st Reconnaissance Battalion. He deployed to Iraq in 2005 andwas assigned to a team training the Iraqi Army. He returned for a second deployment in December 2006.

In April 2007, Travis and his fellow Marines were ambushed on patrol. He repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to rescue injured comrades and was fatally shot by an enemy sniper while trying to find a better fighting position. 

Ryan said her brother's deliberate actions that day ultimately saved the lives of every member of his patrol. "Of course he did that because that's who he was," she said. "He was so incredibly selfless." 

As an amphibious warship, the new USS Travis Manion will carry future Marines and other service members, their equipment, helicopters and other aircraft, and the assault vehicles for various operations and missions. 

"Travis would be so proud to know that the USS Travis Manion will one day carry Marines, men and women like those he walked beside in the halls of the Naval Academy and those he served beside on the battlefield," Ryan said. "He'd also be adamant that this honor is not only about him, but about remembering the legacies of all of those who wore the uniform."

Travis' life and legacy is also carried on by the work of the Travis Manion Foundation, started by his late mother, Janet.

It has become much larger than anticipated and is an important center for the community. The foundation is now one of the largest veteran organizations in the country, with tens of thousands of veterans and young people involved.

Ryan and her dad, Thomas, explained that the foundation's work includes supporting veterans, experiential leadership programs, character education training, and mentorships led by veterans and active-duty service members.

That has a direct impact on young people. "It's about saying to our veterans, 'You may no longer be wearing the uniform, but we still need you to serve,'" Ryan said. 

At the foundation's core, too, are the last words Travis spoke to his family before his final deployment: "If not me, then who?" The simple statement left a mark on both the Manions and the larger community, "indicative of the entire military community," Ryan said, as well as the post-9/11 generation who volunteered to serve.

• President Trump spoke about his plans for the US military on his first day back in office.
• He promised to reinstate and give back pay to service members dismissed for refusing COVID-19 vaccines.
• He also wants to use the military in mass deportation operations and has referenced culture war issues.

President Donald Trump outlined several key US military policies on his first day back in office.

Many of his pledges, such as reinstating service members who were dismissed for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine and engaging in controversial culture war issues in the Pentagon, tie into the Commander-in-Chief's goal of a major US Armed Forces overhaul.

Trump was officially sworn into office on Monday and began signing a flurry of executive orders, including reversing former president Joe Biden's policies on oil and gas drilling in Alaska, keeping TikTok open while it finds a potential buyer, and declaring emergencies on national energy and immigration at the US-Mexico border.

He also signed an executive order declaring Mexican cartels to be foreign terrorist organizations and suggested he could send US Special Forces to Mexico to take them out. "Could happen," he said. "Stranger things have happened."

During his inauguration speech, Trump presented attendees, including former presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, with his vision of the US military.

"America will soon be greater, stronger, and far more exceptional than ever before," he said. "We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into," Trump said.

The statement echoes comments the President made on the campaign trail and after the election, as well as those made by his Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, who vowed to restore the military's "warrior ethos," readiness, and lethality during his confirmation hearing last week.

Here's everything Trump said about the US military during his first day back in office — and what to expect next.

Trump promised to reinstate service members who refused the COVID-19 vaccine — with back pay

The President said he'd reinstate the more than 8,000 troops dismissed from military service for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

The mandate was originally issued in August 2021 by then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and lasted until January 2023, with limited exceptions for medical or religious reasons. It was repealed when Biden signed a defense spending bill in December 2022.

Congressional Republicans have previously argued the rule hurt the US military's readiness amid a recruitment crisis. Pentagon officials have denied this and said only a small number of dismissed personnel reapplied for military service after the mandate was lifted. Around 99% of the active-duty Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force had been vaccinated, as well as 98% of the Army.

In his inauguration speech, Trump also promised full back pay to the reinstated service members. Hegseth also suggested this last week.

Trump plans to use the military in his crackdown on illegal immigration

On Monday night, Trump signed an executive order declaring a national emergency at the US-Mexico border, as well as an executive order to send US Northern Command to "seal the borders and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States by repelling forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities."

Throughout his campaign, Trump heavily focused on illegal immigration and indicated plans to launch a mass deportation campaign. After the election, he suggested he could use the US military to do so.

Legal experts have said using the military to control immigration and deportation is complicated due to different rules governing military forces, state defense forces, and civilian law enforcement, Cassandra Burke Robertson, a professor of law at Case Western Reserve University, and Irina D. Manta, a professor of law at Hofstra University, wrote in The Conversation on Monday.

Deploying National Guard units to the southern border has precedent — Trump did it himself in April 2018, as did Obama and Bush — but the military is generally forbidden from enforcing domestic laws. Trump could use the military in a support role, though.

Trump said he'd end "radical political theories" and other culture war issues in the military

During his inauguration speech, Trump said he'd sign an executive order "to stop our warriors from being subjected to radical political theories and social experiments while on duty," referencing his larger ideological fight.

Trump and the Republican Party made so-called "woke" policies, including diversity, equity, and inclusion, top platform issues, arguing they hurt military readiness. Hegseth has made varied statements on this issue, many of which — such as his flip-flopping comments against women serving in the military — were the center point of his confirmation hearing.

It remains unclear which of these issues will become concrete policies and how the President will implement them, although they align with other plans to cut spending in the Pentagon, gut top ranks, and roll back federal DEI efforts.

On Monday, Trump signed an executive order revoking Biden's policy allowing transgender people to serve in the military, clearing the way for a ban on trans service members similar to the ban in his first term.

• Trump said Monday that the US is in an energy emergency, pushing his agenda of higher output.
• He signed executive orders that would make it easier to produce oil and gas in the United States.
• The US is already producing and exporting record amounts of oil and gas.

President Donald Trump on Monday started to fulfill his promise to "drill, baby, drill" to boost US oil and gas production.

On his first day in office, Trump signed a declaration of a national energy emergency, an executive order that will allow the returning president to accelerate permitting for energy projects including pipelines and power plants. One of the Trump administration's priorities is to "use all necessary resources" to build energy infrastructure.

Another part of Trump's energy plan is to open up Alaska — which is rich in natural resources — for energy exploration and extraction. On Monday night, the president signed an executive order reversing Biden's restrictions on oil and gas exploration in the state.

"We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it," he said in his inaugural address.

The US, Trump said Monday, is home to "the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we are going to use it," promising to lower prices and "export American energy all over the world."

Trump said on the campaign trail that "unleashing American energy" — specifically oil and gas — and reversing the Biden administration's climate rules would lower prices at the pump and be an economic boon. For many Americans concerned about inflation, the message resonated.

On Monday, flanked by CEOs of the country's largest tech companies, Trump said he would end the Green New Deal and cancel the electric vehicles mandate.

In a statement, the White House said Trump would end leases to wind farms and withdraw once again from the Paris Climate Accord.

Still, delivering on those promises may prove difficult. Economists and energy analysts told Business Insider that oil and gas prices are largely dictated by global factors outside a president's control. Proponents of President Joe Biden's signature climate law also warned that unraveling it would undercut a manufacturing boom, predominantly in Republican states, where new factories are churning out solar panels, electric vehicles, and batteries that can reduce planet-warming emissions from fossil fuels.

In addition to fossil fuel production, administration officials said in a statement the orders will aim to boost supplies of non-fuel minerals and that the actions will increase consumer choice for a range of manufactured products.

In the US, about 24% of oil and 11% of natural gas are produced on federal lands and waters, per industry estimates. The vast majority comes from private land owned by individuals and companies. The Biden administration has limited drilling in federal areas like the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska and paused new permits for terminals to export gas overseas.

Groups representing the fossil fuel industry, including the American Petroleum Institute, said those moves cost jobs at home and threaten global energy security. The industry also argues the US needs more oil and gas to meet AI's skyrocketing demand for around-the-clock power.

US oil and gas production are already at record levels

ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods suggested in November press interviews that the Trump administration would have little effect on production. The industry is already producing plenty of oil and gas, and there isn't an opportunity to unleash a lot of production in the near term, he said.

"Certainly we wouldn't see a change based on a political change but more on an economic environment," Woods told CNBC.

Trump's nominees to two key Cabinet positions said they would restore America's "energy dominance" during Senate confirmation hearings last week."

Chris Wright, Trump's nominee to lead the Energy Department, said he would back all forms of energy, including fossil fuels, nuclear power, and renewables. He said he believed climate change is a "global challenge" that needed to be solved — a shift from some of his past comments denying there was a crisis and criticizing renewables as "unreliable and costly." Doug Burgum, Trump's pick to lead the Interior Department, promised to expand oil and gas drilling on federal lands and waters.

Energy analysts told BI that oil majors have been more focused on returning money to shareholders than investing in new projects to boost production, in part because China is experiencing an economic downturn. For decades, China has driven global oil demand as it built new factories and real estate and the country's wealthier population bought cars. However, the housing market is now in disarray due to millions of unsold apartments and consumers are driving more EVs, crimping demand for oil.

Biden's climate law is creating jobs

China has managed to rapidly become a leader in renewable energy technology and controls the vast majority of the critical minerals needed for it. The Biden administration sought to catch up, in part by enacting the Inflation Reduction Act. University of Pennsylvania researchers estimated that the law would invest about $1 trillion over the next decade in developing and manufacturing technology like solar panels, wind turbines, electric cars, batteries, and nuclear power.

Since the IRA was enacted in 2022, more than 1,000 manufacturing facilities and 350,000 jobs have been announced. Millions of Americans have also claimed more than $8 billion in tax breaks for solar panels, EVs, and heat pumps, which could lower their energy costs over the long term.

Trump has called the law the "green new scam" and promised to terminate it.

• The US Army is working on improving its Black Hawk helicopters with new technology.
• It is partnering with Skyryse to make aircraft easier to fly, with or without a pilot.
• There have been other efforts to deliver autonomous Black Hawk capabilities.

The US Army is partnering with aerospace company Skyryse on tech solutions that could be used to make its workhorse Black Hawk helicopters easier to fly, with or without a pilot.

It's part of an effort to increase the safety and effectiveness of aircraft like the Black Hawk. This helicopter is heavily used but has also been involved in deadly accidents. Increased autonomy and ease of use could reduce those risks for the numerous operators worldwide using these aircraft.

Skyryse and the Army announced the plan earlier this week. It focuses on Skyryse's signature SkyOS program, which the company described as the world's first universal flight operating system.

The partnership will "develop solutions to reduce time to train for pilots, increase interoperability between aircraft, and deliver optionally-piloted capability which could be applied" to the Army's 2,400 Black Hawks and other aircraft, Skyryse said.

The pilotless element of this cooperation follows previous efforts exploring autonomous Black Hawk flight options.

One of the stated goals of the partnership between the Army and Skyryse is to make the Black Hawk safer and simpler to fly while maintaining its mission flexibility. The Black Hawk has long been a premiere platform for the US military, as well as global militaries, seeing combat across the world.

Black Hawk helicopters have been used in a range of locations, including Iraq and Afghanistan, Grenada, Panama, Somalia, the war in Ukraine, and other places and have supported a variety of missions.

Highly modified Black Hawks were, for instance, used during the assassination of Osama Bin Laden in May 2011. It first entered service in 1978 and has been upgraded several times.

The Black Hawk, which comes in several variants, is operated by three dozen countries and has been used by the US Army for over 40 years. It is known for its versatility, conducting air assaults, transporting troops and supplies, evacuating injured soldiers, and serving as a command and control center.

But there have been safety concerns about the aircraft after decades of crashes and malfunctions. In 2023, US Army data reviewed by Military.com revealed 60 deaths had occurred in Black Hawk-related training incidents. And there have been many operational accidents as well.

Through the new partnership, Skyryse and the Army aim to use SkyOS to simplify pilot operations, improve safety features, employ autonomy, and explore the ability to fly with or without a pilot.

Skyryse and the US Army did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on the cooperation.

Dr. Mark Groden, CEO of Skyryse, said in a statement on the partnership that "by combining the Army's operational expertise with Skyryse's leadership in rotorcraft flight controls and automation, we have a unique opportunity to make flying simple and safe enough that any serviceperson can fly any aircraft."

Autonomy efforts involving the Black Hawk date back a decade, when the Army successfully tested an uncrewed Black Hawk picking up and delivering an autonomous amphibious all-terrain vehicle. More recent examples in this space include a demonstration in October 2022 of a Black Hawk flying autonomously to perform internal and external cargo resupply missions, as well as rescue operations. 

And in October 2024, the Army and aircraft manufacturer Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company that produces the Black Hawk and other helicopter models, showed how the latter's MATRIX autonomy system can employ a Black Hawk to receive remote mission commands in real-time and then carry out said operations without remote control.

Two months later, in December, Lockheed announced that Sikorsky had been selected by the Marines to showcase the autonomous capabilities of the Black Hawk helicopter in demonstrations intended to show "how autonomous aircraft can keep future Marine forces supplied, whether operating from Navy ships or expeditionary bases ashore."