Hegseth: ‘We Have Only Just Begun’
Posted by Java Joe on Thursday, March 5, 2026 · Leave a Comment
An F/A-18F Super Hornet, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 41, prepares to launch from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on March 2, 2026. (US Navy photo)
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SecDef Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday, “America is winning.” And, “Four days in, we have only just begun to fight,” reports NOTUS. “The only limits we have in this is President Trump’s desire to achieve specific effects on behalf of the American people.” Hegseth said that US-Israeli aerial forces seek “complete control of Iranian skies, uncontested airspace.”
US Central Command CMDR ADM Brad Cooper provided an operational update on Operation Epic Fury on Tuesday, reports Israel National News. More than 50,000 troops, 200 fighter aircraft, two aircraft carriers, and US bombers are currently deployed with additional capabilities to follow. He described the deployment as the largest US buildup in the Middle East in a generation.
The Pentagon has identified four Army Reserve members who were killed in action over the weekend during the US-Israeli operations against Iran. SGT Declan J. Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, IA; SGT 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, NE; SGT 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, MN; and CAPT Cody A. Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, FL, died on March 1, 2026, in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, reports Military Times. They were killed by a direct Iranian strike on a makeshift operations center at a civilian port in Kuwait, as were two other service members, not identified Wednesday morning.
Hours after the first casualties had been announced, Joint Chiefs Chair GEN Dan Caine announced that additional military personnel were on their way to Iran, reports Military Times. “This is not a single, overnight operation,” Caine said. “We expect to take additional losses.”
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which fights religious extremism in the US military, received more than 200 complaints Saturday to Tuesday about high-ranking officers tying the US-Israeli attack on Iran to fulfilling a Christian prophecy, reports Military.com. “It’s well in excess of 200 [complaints] and well in excess of 50 installations,” MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein said.
All pilots are safe after three US F-15E Strike Eagles went down on March 1 over Kuwait due to an apparent friendly fire incident during active combat that included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones, reports Military.com.
A US submarine sank an Iranian warship off the southern coast of Sri Lanka, with a single torpedo, reports Military Times, the first such kill by a US submarine since World War II. Sri Lankan Foreign minister Vijitha Herath told parliament that 180 people were on board the Iranian vessel identified as the IRIS Dena. Reuters reports 32 people were rescued by the Sri Lankan navy and were being treated in a hospital in Galle.
US Marines opened fire on demonstrators storming the US consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, on Sunday, reports Reuters. Ten people were killed when protesters breached the compound’s outer wall after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed. Pakistan is home to the world’s second‑largest Shi’ite community after Iran. It was unclear whether rounds fired by Marines struck or killed anyone.
Iranian strikes on the weekend targeted regional bases Erbil, Iraq, and Al Azraq, Jordan, that host European troops, triggering air defense systems and sending German soldiers to seek shelter in bunkers, reports Military.com.
Greece dispatched two frigates and four F-16 fighter jets to Cyprus following a drone strike on RAF Akrotiri, the British military’s main hub for Middle East aerial operations, reports Defense News. Athens has served as a protective power for Cyprus since its partition from Turkey. According to the Times of London, the UK appears set to send one of its own warships capable of intercepting ballistic missiles to the region.
President Emmanuel Macron said France will send the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier and its strike group to the Mediterranean as war expands in the Middle East, and is also developing a coalition to pool assets, including military, to allow shipping traffic through the closed Strait of Hormuz and threatened Suez Canal and Red Sea, reports Defense News.
Cyber operations early Saturday morning alongside the US-Israeli attacks across Iran included hacking news websites and BadeSaba, a religious calendar app with more than 5 million downloads telling users, “It’s time for reckoning” and urging armed forces to give up weapons and join the people, reports Reuters.
Several agencies, including Treasury, Human Services, and State have begun phasing use of Anthropic tools, following Trump’s order to halt operations when Anthropic declined to provide tools to perform surveillance on US citizens or weapons capable of killing without a human command. NextGov/FCW reports Trump’s order gave the government a six-month runway to phase out Anthropic from its workflows.
CarMax has agreed to pay at least $420,000 in damages to service members whose vehicles were allegedly illegally repossessed, reports Marine Corps Times. CarMax repossessed the vehicles of “at least 28 service members who were in military service or had been called to military service,” from March 1, 2018, through at least Oct. 24, 2023. CarMax repossessed the vehicles without obtaining court orders as required by federal law, as well as repossessed some vehicles even after owners told CarMax that they were in military service, the US Department of Justice alleges.
If you haven’t updated the Wi-Fi router in your home in the past decade, the FBI has a warning: You’re putting yourself at risk for a cyberattack, reports SlashGear on MSN. The FBI’s alert only applies to devices made in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Contracts awarded in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., March 9-11, 2026:
Precise Systems Inc., Lexington Park, Maryland, is awarded $14,743,228 modification (P00005) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N0042125C0009). This modification adds scope to provide continued project management, program management, change management, business management, configuration and data management, risk management, foreign military sales efforts associated with the governments of the United Kingdom, Australia, Netherlands, Canada, and Japan, and operations activities support services. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in February 2027. Foreign Military Sales customer funds in the amount of $4,103,089 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This action was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity
Apex FSE JV LLC,* Roswell, Georgia (W5168W-26-D-A002); BARMAC LLC,* Millstone, Kentucky (W5168W-26-D-A003); Howard W. Pence Inc., Elizabethtown, Kentucky (W5168W-26-D-A004); Miami Marine Services LLC, Miami, Oklahoma (W5168W-26-D-A005); New Dominion Construction LLC,* Dumfries, Virginia (W5168W-26-D-A006); QBS Inc., Alliance, Ohio (W5168W-26-D-A007); T&T Construction Enterprises LLC, Leitchfield, Kentucky (W5168W-26-D-A008); and TeamGov Inc.,* Hyattsville, Maryland (W5168W-26-D-A009), will compete for each order of the $165,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for construction services at Fort Knox, Kentucky. This total cumulative face value is $165,000,000. Bids were solicited via the internet with nine received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of April 15, 2031. Installation Readiness Center, Field Directorate Office, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, is the contracting activity.
MAR-LEN Environmental Inc.,* Westminster, Maryland, was awarded a firm-fixed-price contract for forest resource compliance and forest resource management support services at Aberdeen Proving Ground. The amount of this action is $16,837,177. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of August 31, 2031. Army Contracting Command, Installation and Technology Division, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W56ZTN-26-D-A001).
Q.E.D. Systems Inc.,* Virginia Beach, Virginia, was awarded a $69,601,486 cost-plus-award-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N0002424C4201) to exercise options for specification development and availability execution support requirements for various U.S. Navy surface combatants. Work will be performed in Virginia Beach, Virginia (50%); San Diego, California (30%); Marysville, Washington, in the amount of (10%); and Atlantic Beach, Florida, (10%) and is expected to be completed February 2027. Fiscal 2024 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,300,000 (51%); fiscal 2026 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $7,765,600 (48%); fiscal 2025 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $61,071 (less than 1%); fiscal 2025 defense-wide procurement funds in the amount of $5,800 (less than 1%); fiscal 2026 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $34,800 (less than 1%); and fiscal no-year other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,900 (less than 1%), will be obligated at the time of award, of which $16,065,600 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Awarded Feb. 27, 2026)
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., McLean, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $44,112,370 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery requirements contract for B-1B AN/ALQ-161A Band Driver/Transmitters. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 3204 (a)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a three-year contract with no option periods. The performance completion date is March 1, 2029. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2026 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is Defense Logistics Agency Weapons Support, Warner Robins, Georgia (SPRWA1-26-D-0002).
Concept Plus LLC, Fairfax, Virgina, has been awarded a maximum amount $51,715,680 task order (FA877026FB007) to a previously awarded, small business enterprise application solution, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (FA877120D0004) for services for continued support of the existing Reliability and Maintainability Information System, to ensure continuity of operational service of the system application within a secure Air Force environment, and develop new functionality for end-users. Work will be performed at Fairfax, Virgina, and is expected to be completed by March 9, 2031. Fiscal 2026 operations and maintenance will be obligated in the amount of $1,514,981 at time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson, Ohio, is the contracting activity.
Lockheed Martin Rotary Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded a $13,716,095 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N6339424C0003) to exercise options for in-service engineering agent services in support of command, control, communications, computers, combat systems, and intelligence system elements specific to the Littoral Combat Ship Freedom-variant. Work will be performed in Mayport, Florida (50%); Moorestown, New Jersey (20%); San Diego, California (10%); Baltimore, Maryland (5%); Oldsmar, Florida (5%); Orlando, Florida (5%); and Virginia Beach, Virginia (5%), and is expected to be completed in February 2026. Fiscal 2026 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $22,000 (58%); and fiscal 2024 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $15,679 (42%), will be obligated at time of award, of which $15,679 will expire at the end of the fiscal year. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division, Port Hueneme, California, is the contracting activity.
Raytheon Co., Tewksbury, Massachusetts, is awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the BladeRunner program. The total cumulative value of this contract, including a 24-month period of performance, is $26,842,534. This contract provides for the integration of ultra-wideband, low-latency processing housed in a standardized 6U VPX form-factor with a multi-beam, multi-polarization phased array and system controller to create a system prototype. Work will be performed in McKinney, Texas (48.2%); Tewksbury, Massachusetts (44.3%); and Arlington, Virginia (7.5%). Work is expected to be completed in February 2028. Fiscal 2025 and 2026 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amounts of $450,000 and $225,000, respectively, are obligated at the time of award. Funds in the amount of $450,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under long range broad agency announcement (BAA) N0001425SB001 entitled “Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Navy and Marine Corps Science and Technology.” Since proposals were received throughout the year under the Long-Range BAA, the number of proposals received in response to the solicitation is unknown. The Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00014-26-C-1106).
BlueHalo Labs LLC., Albuquerque, New Mexico, is awarded a $22,813,536 firm-fixed-price and cost reimbursement modification to a previously awarded contract M67854-25-C-0104 for the procurement of Titan SV MPv3 Systems in support of Program Manager Ground Based Air Defense, Organic-Counter small Unmanned Aerial Systems (O-CsUAS). The O-CsUAS is Urgent Statement of Need designed for air self-defense against the sUAS threat. The modification provides for the procurement of additional Titan SV MPv3 Systems and Spare Parts Kits. Work will be performed in Loudon, Virginia (100%). The delivery of supplies will be on or before July 1, 2026. Fiscal 2025 procurement (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $22,813,536 will be obligated at the time of award. This contract was awarded under the authority of 10 U.S. Code 2304(a)(2) Unusual and Compelling Urgency for other than full and open competition. Marine Corps System Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M67854-25-C-0104 P00001).
*Small business
