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OLIVIA Attwood is certainly embracing the luxury lifestyle after forking out for a handbag worth close to what many Brits take home in a year.

The bag, equivalent to around eight months’ pay for the average worker, was bought by Olivia a few months before turning 35.

Sharing snaps online, Olivia wrote: “I got this baby in Paris in Jan and today is her first day out,” before adding: “Taking her on an adventure.”

The former Love Island star is continuing her celebrations by jetting off to the US – taking her new handbag with her.

The £26k Hermès Birkin Olivia was travelling with appears to be a Birkin 30 in Rouge H leather with palladium hardware – one of the fashion house’s most sought-after styles.

Birkin bags are famously difficult to buy, with shoppers often facing years-long waiting lists and needing a strong purchase history with Hermès before being offered one.

LIV’S PAIN

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FACE IT

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The stunning star celebrated her birthday over the weekend as she hosted what she called “Olivia’s Birthday Bender” with pals.

The TV favourite was all smiles in green as she was presented with a birthday cake featuring the message “Another year around the pole” alongside a naked Barbie doll.

There was no sign of rumoured boyfriend Pete Wicks in the official snaps shared by Olivia.

However, eagle-eyed fans spotted him in Olivia’s vlog from the night where he was seen smiling in the reflection of a mirror.

Longtime friends and radio co-hosts Olivia and Pete were caught snogging in a popular bar in Soho earlier this year before jetting off to France on a secret holiday last month.

A source close to the pair previously told us they were “dating and enjoying their time together.”

The U.S. Air Force plans to fully retire its fleet of E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) aircraft in Fiscal Year 2028. The BACN jets provide highly specialized communications capabilities that allow for the rapid transfer of data between various aerial platforms, as well as forces on land and at sea, which you can read more about here. The Air Force more than doubled its fleet size in recent years, but now wants the mission to be taken over by space-based systems.

In their Posture Statement for Fiscal Year 2027, the Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach, and Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman state that the E-11A “will be fully divested” in FY2028.

In our previous coverage of the E-11A, we described the basic capabilities of the platform as follows:

The BACN payload is an extremely robust communications gateway that can rapidly send and receive data transmitted through various waveforms to and from a wide array of aerial platforms, as well as forces on the ground. In addition to being able to “translate” between various communications and data sharing systems, these aircraft have been vital communications relay nodes in Afghanistan, where the country’s mountainous terrain limits the reach of line-of-sight links.

In the short term, the capabilities provided by BACN will be bridged by the Hybrid SATCOM Terminal program. In a 2024 demonstration by Northrop Grumman, this type of satellite communications solution made use of commercial space Internet providers to establish a resilient multi-orbit, multi-constellation network.

The Posture Statement further adds that the Air Force is “executing a deliberate and balanced strategy for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), Battle Management Command and Control (BMC2), and Airborne Moving Target Indicator (AMTI) capabilities to meet the intent of the National Defense Strategy.”

This strategy includes “a generational shift away from legacy systems” like the E-11A and “towards next-generation capabilities in both air and space.” This also calls for continued investment in the DAF Battle Network, which is described as “a key capability to fuse sensor data and remain resilient against all adversaries.”

The Air Force has previously described the DAF Battle Network as an “integrated system-of-systems connecting sensor, effector, and logistics systems enabling better situational awareness, faster operational decisions, and decisive direction to the force.”

Another option could be BACN-like solutions provided in podded form to various aircraft. Examples of these include the Smart Node Pod from Northrop Grumman, which is already in production.

Until recently, the Air Force seemed very much committed to its BACN fleet.

Back in 2021, the service confirmed it planned to acquire six more E-11As over the next five years; this would provide a total of nine BACN jets. This reflected the high demand for the fleet, which meant all of the existing operational examples had historically been forward deployed in Afghanistan, where one of them crashed after suffering an engine failure in 2020.

The BACN fleet has also conducted extensive operations in the Persian Gulf region, Central and South America, and elsewhere.

The E-11A has remained active in combat operations up to this day, including being deployed in support of Operation Epic Fury against Iran. It was also involved in the operation to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, an effort known as Absolute Resolve.

Another driver behind the force expansion was the Air Force’s retirement of four EQ-4B Global Hawk drones that were also equipped with the BACN communications package. These were later converted into the RangeHawk configuration to support hypersonic testing.

In 2022, the Air Force confirmed that the first of the additional six E-11As was now operating in the Middle East, having formally joined the 430th Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

It’s worth noting that the Air Force’s three oldest E-11As are based on older Bombardier BD-700 and Global 6000 business jets, while the newer airframes are based on the Global 6500 bizjet.

The aircraft has also taken on additional functions, such as in 2021, when at least one E-11A was involved in a combined U.S.-UAE exercise focused on employing “multiple platforms… together to execute and refine tactics, techniques and procedures to counter Unmanned Aerial System threats,” according to the Air Force.

In the past, we’ve also noted how the value of the BACN platform extends beyond Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Its capabilities would be equally useful for supporting operations over the vast expanses of the Pacific, where the U.S. military is increasingly focused on preparing for a potential future high-end conflict with China. It would also be suited to working on NATO’s eastern flank, where U.S. allies have been expanding their force posture in recent years to help deter Russian aggression.

More generally, as a fixed-wing bizjet platform, the E-11A lacks the low-observability characteristics to survive in highly contested airspace, so it would need to operate from considerable standoff distances when confronted by the kinds of peer- and near-peer adversaries that they are intended to help defeat. This is undoubtedly part of the reason for the Air Force deciding to discard the BACN fleet. In the same way, it also gave up its E-8C Joint STARS without any direct replacement, driven by the concern that platforms of this kind will simply be too vulnerable in the future.

After all, both China and Russia are developing very long-range anti-air missiles expected to be optimized for high-value targets such as BACN. In addition, airborne ISR platforms will increasingly face sophisticated anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) networks before they even get to their operating areas. 

Furthermore, pushing the E-11A further away from the warfighter is a fundamental problem for its mission, especially when it comes to connecting to forces on the ground. BACN works as a bridge between forces using disparate radios and even the same radios, and is particularly valuable since units on the ground that are trying to communicate with other units or aircraft can be blocked by line of sight, especially in terrain. Regardless, the farther the E-11A flies away from its target area, the less it is capable of providing meaningful connectivity to the forces operating there, just due to the horizon.

Ultimately, the E-11A’s high-demand, low-density status may also have counted against it. Even after the Air Force decided to increase the fleet numbers, it remains a highly niche capability and one that comes at a lot of cost, with an extensive training, maintenance, and logistics burden needed to support it.

The Air Force’s ambition to migrate the BACN’s capabilities to space-based assets parallels, to some degree, its aim for its future airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) architecture. However, the service does at least still see a need for traditional crewed AEW&C aircraft, too. Partly this is due to the fact that the Air Force does not expect new space-based capabilities to be operational before, at best, the early 2030s. The service is seeing a similar shift with its ground moving-target indicator (GMTI) capabilities, which are being transferred from the now-retired E-8C JSTARS to a distributed network of space-based sensors to keep tabs on targets on land and at sea.

At this stage, it’s far from clear whether the terminals required for BACN’s successor have already been installed on aircraft, ships, and issued to ground units, and whether the system will be able to translate Link 16 and other waveforms.

Time will tell if space-based assets can take over the BACN’s role in what is a notably abbreviated timeframe.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

April 20 (UPI) — A Southwest Airlines flight arriving at Nashville International Airport over the weekend was directed into the path of another Southwest flight that was taking off, causing them to pass within 500 vertical feet of each other.

A flight arriving from Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Saturday evening initiated a go-around before landing because it was facing “gusty winds” during it’s approach, but air traffic controllers directed the crew into the path of another flight, USA Today, WSMV and WTVF reported.

The other flight was departing NIA on a parallel runway, which caused the close call, and “both flight crews responded to onboard alerts” because the two aircraft were 500 feet apart, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

Five hundred feet is equivalent to 1 2/3 football fields, including the end zones, or two Boeing 747s lined up nose-to-tail, which is half the 1,000-foot distance the FAA requires aircraft to maintain.

The air traffic controller who gave the errant order recognized the mistake and corrected himself with both flight crews, who had already responded to alerts from their Traffic Collision Avoidance System, devices that are standard on all commercial aircraft.

“We are engaged with the FAA as part of the investigation,” Southwest said in a statement.

“Southwest appreciates the professionalism of its Pilots and Flights Crews in responding to the event,” the company said. “Nothing is more importing to Southwest than the Safety of our Customers and Employees.”

Army officials have shared new details about plans to launch extremely long-range drones from the service’s forthcoming ME-11B High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System (HADES) surveillance and reconnaissance planes. With ranges of around 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) or more, the uncrewed aerial systems will help keep the Bombardier Global 6500 bizjet-based ME-11Bs as far away from enemy air defenses as possible. In this way, the Army expects to gain a penetrating aerial intelligence-gathering capability without the need for a very stealthy or otherwise highly exquisite and costly aircraft.

“There will be nothing in the world that we can’t touch with a combined range of HADES and what we can launch off of this thing,” Andrew Evans, Director of Strategy and Transformation with the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, or G-2, told TWZ and other outlets today. “I don’t think anybody’s safe in the future from a sensing perspective.”

Evans comments came at a roundtable with several Army officials about HADES on the sidelines of the Army Aviation Association of America’s (AAAA) 2026 Warfighting Summit.

To take a step back quickly, the Army selected the Bombardier Global 6500-based bid from the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) as the winner of the HADES competition in 2024. Flight testing of the first ME-11B prototype is now slated to kick off this summer. The service is expecting to take formal delivery of that aircraft from SNC before the end of the year. Two other prototypes are currently in various stages of conversion.

Each HADES aircraft will have a built-in suite of sensors, as well as a robust array of communications systems to pass the data it collects along to other nodes in near-real-time. The Army says it is following an incremental approach to integrating systems with the initial trio of prototypes. The service is also using a modular open-systems approach to make it easier to add new and improved capabilities down the line.

Details about what sensors the baseline HADES configuration will have are limited, but we do know it will include a version of the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar System-2B (ASARS-2B), something TWZ was first to report back in 2024. ASARS-2B was originally developed for the U.S. Air Force’s U-2 Dragon Lady spy planes, and it features synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging and ground moving target indicator (GMTI) modes, as you can read more about here.

For more than a year now, the Army has also been talking about launching very long-range so-called “launched effects” from the HADES aircraft. This term is a catch-all used to describe drones configured designed to perform a wide variety of missions that can be deployed from aircraft (fixed wing and rotary; crewed and uncrewed) in flight, as well as platforms on the ground or at sea. The process of converting Global 6500s into ME-11Bs includes integrating four underwing pylons, which the aircraft will be able to use to launch drones and carry podded sensor systems.

At the roundtable today, Evans, the Director of Strategy and Transformation, offered a detailed explanation of how the Army arrived at this plan and what it expects to gain from the blend of capabilities in response to a question from our Jamie Hunter.

“So, someone’s going to eventually ask about survivability. It’s going to tie it all together in here,” Evan said. “We did the research. I’ll save you time on doing the research.”

“In 70 or 80 years, there would be 0.1% of the time when you wouldn’t be able to fly ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions] because you would be afraid of the threat, potentially, or the threat would be too high to fly,” he added. “That means that 99.9% of the time of a life of the system, it is a useful system for deterrence, for building pattern of life, target development, and so on and so forth. So we’re building a system that can be used for 99.9% of the useful life of the system.”

“So we’re, I think, wise in the approach, saying, all right, if there’s still that 0.1% of the time where you need to be resilient enough to survive in a situation, how do you do that? Well, how do you combine the best of both? Because there’s no one perfect solution, right?” he continued. “What’s really, really good for conflict is not very good for the 99% of the time you need it for campaigning [routine operations], and vice versa. So what we’ve determined strategically is that there’s a way to combine both of these things.”

This is where Evans says the air-launched drone capability comes in.

“We can have a useful asset for campaigning 99.9% of the time, but we can pair with it launch effects [for] when we aren’t going to put that capital system in harm’s way,” he said. “We’ve already engineered hard points into HADES to be able to receive these launch effects in the future. So once we mature the capabilities and determine which way forward we want – what type of launch effects, what type of performance we need out of these things – and we marry those two things up, now we have the best of both. We have something that’s supremely capable in campaigning and probably the best joint asset in the world at being able to do penetrative launch effects. And now you have a bit of a utopia.”

Furthermore, “we believe that in the role of HADES, there’s also an opportunity to be a bit of a quarterback of an ecosystem of sorts. So you can imagine how that might look,” Evans also noted. “That isn’t going to quarterback everybody’s assets, but the ones that have the most strategic importance and match that type of mission profile. There’s certainly a space for it to do that.”

In terms of the range of drones launched from HADES, the Army has put forward the 620-mile (1,000-kilometer) figure in the past. Speaking today, Evans alluded to even greater potential reach.

There are questions about the scale and scope of coverage that a single ME-11B will be able to achieve using “launched effects” type drones designed to be lower cost, and that will likely have a limited sensor payload. The concepts of operations the Army is putting forward for HADES point to a need for expendable designs, as well. These are drones that, in turn, are most effective when employed in large networked swarms to cover broad areas cooperatively. The ME-11B, at least as it is being presented now with its four underwing pylons, does not seem set to carry very large numbers of uncrewed aerial systems.

“This is important breakthrough technology. so I’m not going to reveal too much about what we’re discovering in this space,” Evans said. “But know that it’s going to change the game. It takes us from a sensing platform to a sensing and platform, and the ‘and,’ I’ll just let you use your imagination.”

Evans’ deliberately vague comments here might point to a broader airborne drone controller role in HADES future. ME-11B crews could potentially oversee larger and more capable drones, including Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) types now in development. CCAs or other heavier types would be able to carry bigger sensor suites and otherwise bring additional capabilities to the table, including the ability to provide close-in defense for HADES itself during missions.

Survivability has certainly been a hot topic of discussion around HADES since the Army first announced its intention to acquire a new fleet of business jet-based ISR aircraft. The service had highlighted growing concerns about the vulnerability of its now-retired fleets of turboprop ISR planes, which had provided key intelligence-gathering capacity globally for decades, tracing back to the Cold War. TWZ and others have repeatedly noted that these concerns are very real, especially in the context of a future high-end fight in the Pacific against China, but also apply to non-stealthy jets like the Global 6500.

For routine operations, the ME-11B does a major leap in capability over the turboprop ISR aircraft the Army previously operated, both in terms of its mission systems and its general performance. HADES can fly higher, faster, and farther, and do so while carrying a bigger sensor payload. Higher altitudes also offer greater fields of view for the aircraft’s sensors. The improved performance also translates to being able to get to and from operating areas more rapidly and the ability to remain on station longer. The underwing pylons will offer additional flexibility beyond the drone launch capability.

“The deployability of this platform, being able to fly 6,000 miles at 0.87 Mach, and go globally without the world will require the ability to rapidly change sensors,” Army Col. Joe Minor, the Capability Program Executive for Aviation within the office of the Program Acquisition Executive for Maneuver Air, also said at today’s roundtable at the AAAA conference. “With those hard points and cleared envelopes for pods, it gives us that ability to rapidly configure and update even more quickly than we could internally or within the canoe [fairing under the fuselage]. So those hard points being built in from the beginning is part of that [sic] building the right platform and air vehicle from the start, with the ability to integrate and evolve very quickly as you move forward.”

Using the Global 6500 as the underlying aircraft offers maintenance and other logistical benefits. This is an in-production aircraft with a significant global user base. This includes the U.S. Air Force, which operates a fleet of E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) aircraft based on this platform.

The Army says it has already been seeing an important boost in ISR capability with contractor-owned and operated ISR-configured business jets, including Global 6500-based types. The service has been utilizing those aircraft for eight years now as a transitional ‘bridge’ force to lead into the fielding of HADES.

Many of “our previous platforms were centered around the COIN [counterinsurgency] fight,” Army Col. Matt McGraw, head of the 116th Military Intelligence Brigade, the Army’s main aerial ISR unit, who was also at the roundtable today, said. “If you’re flying a platform operating full motion video [cameras], you’re tracking maybe one or two targets at most. A platform today, on these bridge aircraft with MTI and SAR, you’re tracking a couple 100 targets at the same time.”

There do continue to be significant questions about the true extent of what the Army’s ME-11Bs will be able to offer, in any context, given the expected size of the fleet. The Army currently plans to buy just six production HADES jets on top of the three prototypes. The service previously operated dozens of turboprop ISR aircraft.

“We work for the United States Army, on behalf of the United States Army. And so if the Army’s given direction to cap a fleet size based on budget pressure, and of the other things that we have to balance as an army – like, if the Army only built ISR [aircraft], we build 1,000 of these things,” Evans said at the roundtable today. “But we don’t. We build a lot of things. And ISR is an enabler to [the] ground lethality that we deliver.”

“The Army’s got a tremendous amount of budget pressure. The Army has a top line that’s not keeping pace with inflation,” he added. “And so until our top line increases to support the world’s premier land force, then we’re going to be capped inside programs like HADES.”

As it stands now, the Army certainly looks to be hoping that even the small fleet of HADES will be able to punch well above its weight, thanks in no small part to the ability to launch very long-range drones from relative safety deep in hostile territory.

Jamie Hunter contributed to this story.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

A pair of the U.S. Air Force’s new EA-37B Compass Call electronic warfare jets have touched down at RAF Mildenhall in England, from where they could move forward and join America’s growing aerial armada in the Middle East. 

Last night, open-source flight trackers began to track the progress of the two jets — tail numbers 19-1587 and 17-5579 — that were flying with the callsigns AXIS41 and AXIS43. Photos of the aircraft arriving at Mildenhall were provided to TWZ by g.lockaviation.

This could become the EA-37B’s first operational deployment, but we cannot say that for certain at this time. One of the EA-37Bs was in Europe earlier this year to introduce airmen to the platform, but it was not yet operational. You can read more about that here.

It is worth bearing in mind that, during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, a pair of E-8 Joint STARS surveillance aircraft were also deployed, but were operated by civilian crews. The same could be the case here, or at least mixed crews.

The 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base, which operates the Compass Calls, declined to provide TWZ with a comment, deferring us to CENTCOM, which could not immediately comment.

The Air Force plans to acquire 10 EA-37Bs to replace its aging and steadily shrinking fleet of turboprop-powered EC-130H Compass Call planes, of which only four are still in service. Two are deployed to the Middle East for Operation Epic Fury. There have been some unconfirmed reports that these aircraft may have been damaged in the attack on Prince Sultan Air Base that saw an E-3 destroyed. Losing EC-130H capability in the region could have very well prompted an emergency deployment of EA-37Bs, even ahead of their planned entry into full operational availability. But we cannot confirm that is the case at this time.

Electromagnetic warfare, evolved

The new aircraft are designed to provide critical standoff jamming support against enemy communications systems, including hostile air defense systems.

As we have pointed out, even improvised systems cobbled together by Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, as well as their hodgepodge of other air defenses, have shown their ability to challenge even the most advanced fighters in the U.S. inventory. Iran’s capabilities, while now in a deeply degraded state, are more advanced and already seem to have had some success in targeting U.S. military aircraft, while others have faced close calls.

At the same time, while air defenses are certainly part of the equation, simply keeping the Iranian military from communicating and (further) disrupting their already fractured command-and-control infrastructure is a highly significant capability to bring to bear.

The EA-37B also has an important intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) function, given its ability to spot, track, and geolocate various types of emitters.

This aircraft, which represents the cutting edge in U.S. electronic warfare capabilities, would be highly important for any ground operation, helping to protect troops put in harms way, should this come to pass.

We will have to wait and see if the EA-37Bs make the leap to the CENTCOM area of responsibility. If they do, it will be something of a baptism by fire for America’s new Compass Call.

A full deep-dive into the various capabilities of the EA-37B can be found in this interview with top executives from the two co-primes that are working on the electronic attack aircraft program.

UPDATES:

Our coverage for the day has concluded.

UPDATE: 5:38 PM EST –

CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins provided us with the latest casualty figures for Epic Fury.

There have been 348 troops wounded, six seriously and 315 have returned to duty. There have been 13 troops killed.

Trump told reporters at the White House that the U.S. military will soon depart from the Strait of Hormuz.

“We’ll be leaving very soon,” he proclaimed. “What happens [there] we’ll have nothing to do with.

CNN said top administration officials acknowledge that the U.S. cannot swiftly end the war within the Trump-imposed four to six week timeline and keep the Strait of Hormuz.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated the Trump administration’s rationale for going to war with Iran, stating “we were on the verge of having an Iran that had so many missiles and so many drones that nobody could do anything about their nuclear weapons program…”

It appears that USS Tulsa and USS Santa Barbara, a pair of U.S. Navy Independence class Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) configured for minesweeping, remain in the Pacific.

According to open-source researcher MT Anderson, satellite imagery shows vessels moored alongside each other at Sembawang Shipyard in Singapore. As we have previously noted, ships remain thousands of miles away from their primary assigned operating area in the Middle East, where the conflict with Iran grinds on. That despite concerns that the Strait of Hormuz could be mined.

Iran released new video of its Eagle 44 underground airbase showing it still has some aircraft. As TWZ editor-in-chief Tyler Rogoway notes in a post on X, low-resolution satellite imagery from March 16 shows relatively little damage at the site. However, things may have changed since then and the site may have been it. Regardless, it doesn’t matter if Eagle 44 only has jets, which wouldn’t last very long even if they got off the ground. However, if the facility were stuffed with missiles, that would be a concern. You can read more about Eagle 44 here.

UPDATE: 4:06 PM EST –

In a brief exchange during an interview with NBC News Tuesday afternoon, Trump hinted that Epic Fury might be drawing to a close.

“We’re doing great,” Trump told the network. “And it’s coming to an end.”

He offered no further details.

The U.K. is sending more troops and Sky Sabre air defense systems to the Middle East to defend against Iranian attacks. This will bring the total number of UK personnel in the Gulf and Cyprus to around 1,000, the BBC noted.

“On a trip to the Gulf nations, Defense Secretary John Healey said extra air defence teams and systems would be deployed to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait while the use of Typhoon jets in Qatar will be extended,” the outlet added. “My message to Gulf partners is: Britain’s best will help you defend your skies.”

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera that his country is exchanging messages with the U.S. either directly or through friends in the region.

But that doesn’t mean there are peace talks with Washington, Araghchi posited.

“I receive messages from [U.S. envoy Steve] Witkoff directly, as before, and this does not mean that we are in negotiations,” he told the news outlet.

Araghchi added that Iran has no “faith that negotiations with the U.S. will yield any results. The Trust level is zero.”

Netanyahu said that as a result of constant Israeli attacks on Iran, “sooner or later, it will end up falling.”

The Israeli leader also said “we are working on transforming Israel into a super nation in the region and globally.”

The IRGC confirmed the killing of another Iranian leader, this time Jamshid Eshaghi, head of budget and financial affairs for the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff. He was killed in a missile strike in Tehran on an unspecified date, according to the IRGC.

Eshaghi played a key role in evading oil sanctions and financing the group’s missile projects, according to Ariel Oseran, senior Middle East correspondent for Israel’sI24 News in a post on X.

The IRGC confirms the elimination of Jamshid Eshaghi, head of budget and financial affairs for the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff, in an Israeli airstrike in Tehran, without specifying the date. Eshaghi played a key role in evading oil sanctions and financing the IRGC’s… pic.twitter.com/hs2npoQTt5

— Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران (@ariel_oseran) March 31, 2026

The State Department said it is “tracking reports of threats against locations where American citizens gather” in Saudi Arabia. ”We advise U.S. citizens that hotels and other gathering points including U.S. businesses and U.S. educational institutions may be potential targets.”

Saudi Arabia: We are tracking reports of threats against locations where American citizens gather. We advise U.S. citizens that hotels and other gathering points including U.S. businesses and U.S. educational institutions may be potential targets. On March 22, the Department of… pic.twitter.com/9Xm2oLzxzr

— TravelGov (@TravelGov) March 31, 2026

UPDATE 12:46 PM EST –

The Navy released video today of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush departing for deployment. As we previously noted, the carrier is reportedly heading to the Middle East region. The Bush will likely replace the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, which left the region and is undergoing repairs in Croatia after a fire.

📍NORFOLK, Va. – The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), the flagship of the George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group, departs Naval Station Norfolk to begin operations in support of its scheduled deployment, March 31, 2026. pic.twitter.com/ePDTv4IcPE

— U.S. Fleet Forces (@USFleetForces) March 31, 2026

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at something on Tuesday that at one time was unthinkable – a military alliance with Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations.

According to Israeli media, “Netanyahu told ministers at a cabinet meeting that new alliances are being formed with leaders of Arab countries who ‘are talking about fighting together on our side,’” The Times of Israel reported.

“In the past, I had secret conversations with Arab leaders,” Netanyahu reportedly said. “I told them, ‘As soon as Iran can, it will conquer you and overthrow your kingdoms.’ Back then, they didn’t really internalize things. Today they understand.”

BREAKING 🇮🇱🇦🇪🇸🇦: Israeli PM Netanyahu says talks underway to form alliance with Arab countries to fight alongside Israel. pic.twitter.com/BOmDeCr8H9

— War Radar (@War_Radar2) March 31, 2026

Lebanon has informed the United Nations in a letter that it has outlawed Hezbollah’s military wing. Beirut’s letter, dated a few weeks ago but made public today, also mentioned the Lebanese government’s March 2 decision to ban all military activity by the group.

Lebanon has informed the United Nations in a letter that it has outlawed Hezbollah’s military wing. Beirut’s letter, dated a few weeks ago but made public today, also mentioned the Lebanese government’s March 2 decision to ban all military activity by the group. pic.twitter.com/2npN5Fckpa

— Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران (@ariel_oseran) March 31, 2026

Hegseth not only validated Trump’s idea to move forward with plans to attack Iran, he also downplayed the inherent risks of the conflict spiraling out of control, according to CNN.

In the immediate lead-up to Iran war, Hegseth not only validated the Trump’s idea to move forward, he also downplayed the inherent risks of the conflict spiraling out of control, three sources tell me & @KristenhCNN.

Nobody in the room during that critical meeting emphasized…

— Zachary Cohen (@ZcohenCNN) March 31, 2026

Poland has no intention of shipping any Patriot batteries to the Middle East despite a request from the U.S. to do so, says Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.

“Our Patriot batteries and their armament are used to protect Polish skies and NATO’s eastern flank,” he stated on X. “Nothing is changing in this regard, and we are not planning to relocate them anywhere! Our allies know full well and understand how important the tasks we have here are. Poland’s security is an absolute priority.”

Nasze baterie Patriot i ich uzbrojenie służą do ochrony polskiego nieba i wschodniej flanki NATO. Nic w tej kwestii się nie zmienia i nigdzie nie planujemy ich przemieszczać! Nasi sojusznicy dobrze wiedzą i rozumieją jak ważne mamy tu zadania. Bezpieczeństwo Polski jest…

— Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz (@KosiniakKamysz) March 31, 2026

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has threatened to strike 18 U.S. technology and defense-related companies operating in the Middle East, Israel’s I24 News reported. The IRGC warned the action could begin as early as tomorrow night if Iran’s senior commanders are targeted.

“In a statement, the IRGC urged employees of the listed firms to evacuate immediately, and advised nearby residents to leave surrounding areas, describing the companies as ‘terrorist’ entities allegedly supporting US and Israeli operations against Iran,” the publication added.

The IRGC threatens to attack 18 U.S. tech companies’ sites in the Middle East, including Apple, Google and Tesla, in response to any future targeted eliminations of its senior commanders as of tomorrow night.

“We advise employees of these companies to leave their workplaces…

— Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران (@ariel_oseran) March 31, 2026

U.S. President Donald Trump said today that countries should be prepared to go to the Strait of Hormuz and “take” fuel themselves, urging them to show greater resolve. Writing on Truth Social, he argued that nations would need to “learn how to fight for yourselves,” adding that the United States would no longer step in to assist, particularly after what he described as their refusal to support efforts to topple Iran’s leadership.

Trump suggested that countries facing shortages could instead purchase jet fuel from the United States, where supplies are abundant. He added that Iran had effectively been “decimated” and concluded by telling nations to secure their own oil.

“All of those countries that can’t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you…” – President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/aPYmL0qspa

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 31, 2026

NEWS 🧵: I called President Trump for some clarity on this post. He says the U.S. is not pulling assets in and around the Strait of Hormuz yet: “At some point I will, not quite yet, but countries have to come in and take care of it. Iran has been decimated, but they’re going to… pic.twitter.com/67BRdrOkRV

— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) March 31, 2026

In a press conference today, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stressed that Operation Epic Fury would conclude “on our terms” and that the United States remains committed to shaping the outcome of the conflict according to its own objectives.

The next days of the Iran war will be “decisive,” Pentagon chief Hegseth said at his first news conference in nearly two weeks. He adds: “We have more and more options, and they have less… in only one month, we set the terms, the upcoming days will be decisive. Iran knows that, and there’s almost nothing they can militarily do about it.”

The war secretary reaffirmed that the option of some kind of ground campaign has not been ruled out. Hegseth said that “maybe negotiations will work,” but he was unwilling to commit one way or the other when asked about the potential for American boots on the ground.

Hegseth continued:

“You can’t fight and win a war if you tell your adversary what you are willing to do or what you are not willing to do, to include boots on the ground. Our adversary right now thinks there are 15 different ways we could come at them with boots on the ground, and guess what? There are. And so if we needed to, we could execute those options on behalf of the president of the United States and this department.”

“Or maybe we don’t have to use them at all. Maybe negotiations work, or maybe there’s a different approach. But the point is to be unpredictable in that you certainly do not let anybody know what you’re willing to do or not do.”

More here. Hegseth, speaking to concerns about the war in Iran from some of Trump’s political base:

“As far as President Trump and boots on the ground, I don’t understand why the base, which they have already, they understand wouldn’t have faith in his ability to execute on… https://t.co/7wBzUlntGI

— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) March 31, 2026

Hegseth went on to argue that recent events have exposed the level of support the United States can expect from its allies, suggesting that their responses have fallen short. According to Hegseth, while the missiles in question do not threaten the United States directly but rather its allies, requests for assistance — or even basic overflight access — have often been met with hesitation or obstacles.

Hegseth also confirmed that he had briefly visited the U.S. Central Command region recently.

Press conference at Pentagon just began. Hegseth says he was in the Centcom region for half a day recently — something not previously disclosed.

He has a notably different tone in his opener today, sharing details about what he saw and gratefulness to the service members in the…

— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) March 31, 2026

He concluded by warning that an alliance loses its meaning if member countries are unwilling to stand together when it matters most.

When it comes to overflight access, France has apparently joined Spain in denying U.S. military access to their airspace for taking part in attacks on Iran. In a statement, Trump slammed France for refusing to let U.S. military aircraft carrying military supplies operate in its airspace.

Trump:

The Country of France wouldn’t let planes headed to Israel, loaded up with military supplies, fly over French territory.

France has been VERY UNHELPFUL with respect to the “Butcher of Iran,” who has been successfully eliminated! The U.S.A. will REMEMBER!!! pic.twitter.com/uu7hezFJUq

— Clash Report (@clashreport) March 31, 2026

In other France-related news, Israel has apparently stopped defense exports to the European country, citing “hostile attitude,” sources told The Jerusalem Post.

Meanwhile, Italy confirmed that it denied permission for U.S. military aircraft to land at Sigonella Air Base in Sicily last week, before heading to the ​Middle East; this was due to Washington having not sought prior authorization from the government in Rome, Reuters reports. A source at the Italian defense ministry told The Guardian that “some US bombers” had been due to land at Sigonella en route to the Middle East. Otherwise, U.S. military aircraft continue to operate from Italian airbases as a matter of course, the defense ministry confirmed.

Italian MOD just released this:

Someone is trying to push the narrative that Italy has decided to suspend the use of its bases by U.S. assets.

That is simply false, because the bases are active, in use, and nothing has changed.

The Government continues to do what all Italian… https://t.co/j505zNnuVu

— The Aviationist (@TheAviationist) March 31, 2026

Gen. Dan Caine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said the U.S. military is delivering precision strikes against manufacturing nodes “deep within Iran.”

He says around 11,000 targets have been hit in the past 30 days. The U.S. military “continues to assert dominance over the Iranian Navy,” he added.

Caine added that more than 150 ships have been “taken out.”

An underground missile storage facility in Sofeh, in Isfahan province, appears to be among the hardened facilities targeted in recent strikes. Earlier accounts suggested that the target was an Iranian underground missile base, but that seems to be refuted by the geolocation of the imagery available.

Videos purporting to show the aftermath of the strikes include multiple secondary explosions, suggesting that bunker-busting munitions managed to penetrate the vaults and then detonate the missiles stored there. As we have described in the past, a key vulnerability of Iranian subterranean installations is the risk that even a single weapon penetrating their hardened exterior by any means could have absolutely catastrophic results.

Last night, President Trump published footage on his Truth Social account showing massive explosions and secondary detonations in Iran.
Reports indicated that the strike took place in the Safeh–Havanirooz area, south Esfahan.@NASA Fire monitoring maps indeed detected active… https://t.co/69f3khsLiw pic.twitter.com/6ffTI0xZIk

— Ben Tzion Macales (@BenTzionMacales) March 31, 2026

Officials familiar with U.S. and Western intelligence assessments say the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has fractured the Iranian government, making it harder for the country to make decisions or coordinate large-scale retaliatory attacks, The New York Times reports.

Since the conflict began four weeks ago, several dozen Iranian leaders and their deputies have been killed. Survivors face significant communication challenges and are unable to meet in person, fearing that their calls could be intercepted by the United States or Israel and lead to airstrikes.

Although Iran’s security and military agencies remain operational, the government’s capacity to develop new strategies or policies has been significantly weakened.

The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran has fractured the Iranian government, complicating its ability to make decisions and coordinate larger retaliatory attacks.

Several dozen Iranian leaders and their deputies have been killed since the war began four weeks ago. Those who survive…

— Ronen Bergman (@ronenbergman) March 30, 2026

Iranian state media reported yesterday that a parliamentary committee has approved a plan to impose tolls on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

According to a Telegram post by the Fars News Agency, the strait would remain closed to vessels from the United States, Israel, and countries involved in sanctions against Iran. The report added that Iran would play a “sovereign” role in enforcing the new system.

The proposal, which has been backed by Iran’s parliament security committee, would still require agreement from other countries bordering the strait. Details on the level of the proposed tolls have not been disclosed.

Meanwhile, as you can read about in our previous coverage, President Trump warned that if no agreement is reached with Iran — including reopening the Strait of Hormuz shipping route — the U.S. military forces would destroy “all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!).”

More information on the proposed toll arrangement emerged today, including the surprising suggestion that Oman is slated to help shape the legal framework. This was reported by Fars and later picked up by Bloomberg, but has yet to be independently verified. Oman has strong relations with the United States, including extensive security cooperation. Oman also plays a key role as a regional mediator, particularly between the United States and Iran.

A pair of container ships operated by the Chinese shipping giant Cosco have successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz and exited the Gulf, according to ship-tracking data.

The vessels, CSCL Indian Ocean and CSCL Arctic Ocean, sailed near the Iranian-controlled island of Larak and are now heading toward Port Klang in Malaysia.

While Iran has largely restricted traffic through the key waterway, it appears to be permitting limited passage for ships from countries it considers “non-hostile,” including Thailand, China, Pakistan, and India.

Two COSCO Container Ships Make First Major Commercial Crossing of Strait of Hormuz Since War Began

After turning back on an initial attempt, the CSCL Indian Ocean and CSCL Arctic Ocean sailed through the strategic waterway on Monday toward Malaysia, a rare transit for major… pic.twitter.com/kBwscFC7qU

— Washington Eye (@washington_EY) March 30, 2026

Iran struck a fully laden crude oil tanker anchored in the port of Dubai, setting it on fire and damaging its hull in what marks the latest attack on commercial shipping in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz during the conflict.

Authorities in Dubai said the drone strike on the Al Salmi tanker sparked a blaze that was brought under control early Tuesday, several hours after the incident was first reported. They later confirmed that no oil spill had occurred.

Dubai authorities confirm that response teams have successfully contained the incident involving the Kuwaiti oil tanker in Dubai waters, with no oil leakage and no injuries reported.

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) March 31, 2026

Iran is reportedly pushing the Houthis to prepare for a renewed campaign against Red Sea shipping, contingent upon any further escalation by the United States in the conflict with Iran. This was reported by Bloomberg, citing European officials familiar with the matter.

An Israeli military spokesperson has said the country is ready to continue its offensive against Iran for an extended period. According to Reuters, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters that Israel is prepared for “weeks” more of fighting in the conflict, which began on February 28 when joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. He emphasized that while the final decision rests with political leaders, “we are prepared to keep operating for weeks to come. We have the targets for that, the munitions for that, the manpower for that, and it’s up to the leadership to decide”.

His remarks follow comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said the campaign was “definitely beyond the halfway point,” later clarifying that he was referring to progress in terms of “missions” rather than “not necessarily in terms of time.”

In a televised interview, Netanyahu has claimed that Iran has tried to kill President Trump twice, although he did not provide a timeline for when these attempts were made or how. “They’re still trying to kill him,” the Israeli leader added.

The Israeli military claimed today that all of its critical and essential pre-war targets in Iran will have been destroyed by Wednesday.

This represents the complete elimination of the top two priority categories of pre-war targets and is part of the broader campaign in which the IDF has destroyed roughly 60 to 70 percent of all designated targets within the Islamic Republic.

The Israeli Air Force carried out over 230 strikes in Iran in the past day, the military says, publishing footage showing attacks on Iranian air defense systems in Tehran.

The IDF says other targets hit in the past day included primed ballistic missile launchers and weapon… pic.twitter.com/sLuUZFqYV8

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 31, 2026

“Critical” targets include those posing an immediate threat to Israel, such as ballistic missile facilities, as well as key sites central to the objectives of the campaign, including the few remaining nuclear-related installations.

The IDF announced that all of its critical and essential pre-war Iran targets, including ballistic missile industry targets and nuclear-related targets, will have been destroyed by Wednesday.

✍️ @Jeremybob1 https://t.co/EYankG9iuQ

— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) March 31, 2026

On the topic of nuclear-related targets, President Trump disclosed today that he considers that Iran’s nuclear facilities are buried so deeply that it would be difficult to raid them to secure their enriched uranium stockpiles.

“I don’t even think about it. I just know that, you know, that’s so deeply buried it’s gonna be very hard for anybody,” Trump told CBS News.

TWZ has previously explored the possibility of U.S. and/or Israeli authorities launching a special operations ground raid to extract or otherwise neutralize Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium. While noting that it is far from easy to achieve this objective from the air alone, it is also true that Israel has demonstrated its ability and willingness to carry out complex raids on subterranean facilities in the past. Nevertheless, any such operation would still face immense risks and uncertainties.

Four Israeli soldiers have been killed during fighting in southern Lebanon, the Israeli military said on Tuesday, as its forces continue to clash with the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

In a statement, the military identified three soldiers from the same battalion who “fell during combat,” while a separate statement said a fourth soldier, whose name has not yet been released, was also killed in the same incident, according to Agence France-Presse.

The military added that another soldier was seriously injured, while a reservist sustained moderate wounds.

🕯️Captain Noam Madmoni, 22
🕯️Staff Sergeant Ben Cohen, 21
🕯️Staff Sergeant Maxsim Entis, 21

All 3 soldiers, a team commander and 2 soldiers, from the Nahal Reconnaissance Battalion (934th), Nahal Brigade, fell during combat in southern Lebanon.

I send my deepest condolences… pic.twitter.com/6fVH6PpyJm

— LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) March 31, 2026

Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry has said it intercepted and destroyed 10 drones in recent hours, along with eight missiles targeting the Riyadh area and the country’s eastern region.

The United Arab Emirates says its air defenses engaged eight ballistic missiles, four cruise missiles, and 36 drones launched from Iran earlier today.

UAE air defences engaged 8 Ballistic missiles and 4 Cruise missiles and 36 UAV’s.

The UAE air defences on 31th March 2026 engaged 8 Ballistic missiles, 4 Cruise missiles and 36 UAV’s launched from Iran.

Since the start of the blatant Iranian attacks, UAE air defences have… pic.twitter.com/kSolj166Kq

— وزارة الدفاع |MOD UAE (@modgovae) March 31, 2026

Furthermore, Kuwait reported that its air defences were responding to hostile missile and drone attacks. Neither country specified the origin of the projectiles.

Gulf partners of the United States, especially Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are pressing President Trump to keep up military operations against Iran, asserting that Tehran has not been sufficiently weakened by the month‑long U.S.‑led bombing campaign, according to U.S., Gulf, and Israeli officials, AP reports.

“Officials from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain have conveyed in private conversations that they do not want the military operation to end until there are significant changes in the Iranian leadership…” https://t.co/WRh4iTIwx5

— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) March 30, 2026

A recent video released by U.S. Central Command includes footage of attacks on pickup trucks configured to launch drones, including Shahed-136 one-way attack drones.

🇮🇷🇺🇸 This is, to my knowledge, the first indication that Iran is launching Shahed-136 strike drones, among other designs, from pickup trucks (without the use of a rocket booster/RATO) during this war. This is a low-signature approach that is well-suited for use in surprise… https://t.co/R1AJdAoG4h pic.twitter.com/cGUoAOqE2b

— Shahryar Pasandideh (@shahpas) March 31, 2026

NPR has reported that the Iranian strike on Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan Air Base last week damaged two U.S. Air Force E-3G Sentry AWACS aircraft. Previously, we had gotten confirmation that one aircraft was entirely destroyed. The extent of the damage to the other is unclear.

NPR now reports that Iranian strike on Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan Air Base damaged two U.S. E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft.

One has been confirmed destroyed. https://t.co/ZmYHTAOJvh

— Clash Report (@clashreport) March 31, 2026

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has claimed that Ukrainian intelligence had information that a Russian spy satellite had photographed the base three times before the attack, with targeting data provided to Iran. While that may be true, commercially available satellite imagery over the same period also revealed the likely position of the E-3s at the base.

Comparative images in planet labs of Prince Sultan Air Base from two weeks ago (delayed) and days before tell you everything you need to know about how Iran could have targeted certain aircraft on that airfield even without real time intel.

— Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) March 30, 2026

A video circulating on social media appears to show an Iranian ballistic missile maneuvering to evade an Israeli interceptor. If verified, this would not be the first occasion that we have seen evidence of more advanced types of Iranian missiles still being fired at Israel and eluding air defenses. We have seen multiple occasions where Iranian maneuverable reentry vehicles (MaRVs) have been able to pierce interceptor barrages during the terminal stage.

At least some of the aircrews of the three U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles that were shot down in a friendly-fire incident by Kuwaiti air defenses are still flying missions in Epic Fury, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has confirmed. “Admiral Cooper noted this morning that the three Air Force captains who were shot down by Kuwaiti friendly fire early in the fight never left the theater. All dropped bombs over Tehran last night.”

.@SECWAR “Admiral Cooper noted this morning that the three Air Force captains who were shot down by Kuwaiti friendly fire early in the fight never left the theater.

All dropped bombs over Tehran last night.” pic.twitter.com/tWGQdKBAx2

— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) March 31, 2026

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

On this episode of TWZ: Special Access, Jamie Hunter visited TacAir to learn about their heavily upgraded F-5AT fighters and how they replicate enemy aircraft to keep U.S. fighter aircrews sharp.

Tactical Air Support, better known as TacAir, is a Reno, Nevada-based private ‘red air’ commercial adversary support contractor that aims to efficiently simulate enemy capabilities to better prepare U.S. and allied aircrews for future conflicts. They support all branches in various training and testing events, but they’re most known for the contract they fulfill out of NAS Fallon in Nevada, where Topgun is based and where air wings spin-up for deployments.

TacAir’s fleet is made up of ex-Jordanian and Saudi F-5E/Fs airframes that have been equipped with tailored upgrades to create a “4th generation adversary platform with 3rd generation economy,” as described by the company. The latest configuration includes an AESA radar, datalink, Garmin wide-area display open architecture avionics, Scorpion helmet mounted display, and internal IRST. You can read more about TacAir and their F-5ATs here: https://www.twz.com/category/tac-air

Watch the full video here:

Private F-5 Adversary Jets Taking The Fight To Navy Fighter Pilots

Contact the host: Jamie.Hunter @teamrecurrent.io