Free Republic

MIDDLE EAST—The United States has long been buying weapons for both sides of various conflicts in the Middle East. But now, with multiple financial crises going on at home, the U.S. is looking for ways to reduce the cost of these conflicts. Finally, they landed on a solution: they'll cut out the middleman -- defense contractors -- and just have the countries lob giant sacks of American tax dollars at each other directly. "Instead of going through the whole rigamarole of buying weapons for them, or letting them buy weapons from us at a discount, or supplying insurgent groups with...

President Trump said today he is determined that deportations of those who enter the United States illegally proceed quickly, without waiting for court proceedings motorized transportation. “We’re going to use catapults because that’s the fastest way. It’s going to be so fast. Very very fast.” Trump insisted that he would not repeat the mistakes of the past that caused a huge backlash, even from the occasional Republican. “I have ordered that families be launched together, but if they separate while still on a parabolic trajectory through the air that’s not on me.” Others, however, have cast suspicion on claims that...

The U.S. Navy and Northrop Grumman have conducted the Navy's first catapult launch of an unmanned aircraft on Thursday, marking the first of a series of shore-based catapult-to-flight tests over the next few weeks. Using the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator, the Navy's UCAS Carrier Demonstration program plans to catapult the aircraft from a ship base, making history, next year. Mike Mackey, UCAS-D program director for Northrop Grumman, said, "Today's successful launch is another critical milestone in the carrier-stability testing phase of the UCAS-D program." The test was conducted at a shore-based catapult facility at Naval Air Station...

HERMOSILLO, Mexico (AP) — The Mexican army says soldiers have seized two catapults that were being used by drug smugglers to fling packages of marijuana across the border into Arizona. A military statement Tuesday says an anonymous tip led troops to a house in the border city of Agua Prieta where they found a catapult in the bed of a pickup truck and another inside the house.