The US Federal Bureau of Investigation hinted on Wednesday that authorities in Iran had recently been trying to help locate Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent who disappeared exactly nine years ago after traveling to an Iranian resort island to meet a fugitive from US justice.

"We are encouraged by recent cooperation between the government of Iran and the United States, and believe that our ability to locate Bob and reunite him with his family requires a shared commitment by the Iranian government," the FBI's Washington Field Office said in a prepared statement.

The statement quoted FBI Director James Comey saying that his agency was "doing everything in our power to investigate all leads."

The FBI statement did not elaborate further.

The White House also said that finding Levinson "remains a top priority for the United States," but added that the US would "continue to call upon the Islamic Republic of Iran to provide assistance in his case, as agreed to as part of the prisoner exchange finalized earlier this year."

Five Americans were released by Iran in January to coincide with the lifting of economic sanctions in return for curbs on Tehran's nuclear program. The White House offered clemency to seven Iranians who were convicted or facing trial in the United States.

Levinson's family continued to urge the US government to press Iran for his release. In a statement, Levinson's wife, Christine, said: "We need the United States government and the country of Iran to work together to resolve what happened to Bob and return him safely to his family."

Levinson disappeared after flying from Dubai to Kish Island in the Gulf in March 2007. There he met with Daoud Salahuddin, an American Islamic militant who fled to Iran while facing charges in the murder of an Iranian embassy official based in Washington.

Levinson, working then as a private investigator, was seeking information on alleged corruption involving former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and his family, said sources familiar with his work.

Months after he disappeared, US government sources acknowledged that Levinson also maintained an unorthodox contractual relationship with the analytical branch of the Central Intelligence Agency. A handful of CIA officials were forced out of the agency and several more were disciplined after an internal agency investigation.

The Iranian government has never publicly acknowledged any role in Levinson's abduction, though at the time of his disappearance a government-affiliated media outlet broadcast a story saying he was "in the hands of Iranian security forces."

Some FBI investigators strongly believe Levinson is still alive, while officials at other US agencies believe he died some time ago.

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High over Alaska last summer, the Pentagon experimented with new, secret prototypes: Micro-drones that can be launched from the flare dispensers of moving F-16s and F/A-18 fighter jets.

Canisters containing the tiny aircraft descended from the jets on parachutes before breaking open, allowing wings on each drone to swing out and catch the wind.

Inch-wide propellers on the back provided propulsion as they found one another and created a swarm.

The experiment was run by the secretive Strategic Capabilities Office, a Pentagon organization launched in summer 2012 to figure out how to best counter growing strategic threats from China and Russia.

The specifics of what the mini-drones can do are classified, but they could be used to confuse enemy forces and carry out surveillance missions using equipment that costs much less than full-sized unmanned aircraft.

Video reviewed by The Washington Post shows the tiny aircraft, which weigh about a pound each, moving in packs and gaining situational awareness after sitting inert in the flare canisters.

Watch an F-16 deploy the microdrones in the footage below:

SCO's staff labored in the shadows since its inception, with virtually everything it did withheld from the American public. But the shroud of secrecy was lifted partially in recent weeks. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter for the first time disclosed last month the existence of some of the office's projects while previewing his proposed 2017 budget.

He called for $902 million in funding for SCO in 2017 -- nearly twice what it received this year, and 18 times what it started with.

Carter's disclosures raised some questions in the Pentagon about whether he had revealed classified information while previewing his 2017 budget. But in a rare interview, the director of SCO said the secretary sought a green light to disclose snippets of the mini-drone experiment in Alaska and a few other programs as part of a broader effort to get the attention of potential adversaries.

"I have been in the classified, black world for my whole career, so all of this is new for me and I really wish I could go back," said the director, William Roper, a physicist who previously worked in missile defense. "You can't win wars if everything is outside the doors, but you can't deter wars if everything is behind them."

The story of SCO -- pronounced "Skoh" -- is one that underscores the Pentagon's efforts to move beyond more than a decade of counterterrorism operations and combat in Iraq and Afghanistan to prepare for new strategic threats. The office initially called the Pentagon home, but was later moved a few miles away to a larger space in the same building in Virginia that houses the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), perhaps the Defense Department's best known agency focused on futuristic technology.

But DARPA and SCO are different organizations with different missions, both Roper and DARPA officials said. DARPA, created during the Cold War in 1958, is focused on looking for ways to revolutionize military operations with new inventions and technology. It has an annual budget of about $3 billion.

SCO is charged with creating new "trick plays" for the Pentagon through creativity and engineering, using old weapons, teaming existing equipment together or adding new commercial technology.

Roper, 36, compared the US military to a top football team that has been closely studied for years by opponents who want to exploit potential weaknesses they have observed.

"Football teams — great football teams, dynasties — don't throw out their playbook when that happens," he said. "They say, 'Alright, well, my opponents have optimized against what I do today, so I've got to get surprise and get trickery back on my side.' So they weave trick plays into their playbooks. They start running when it looks like they're going to pass, and pass when it looks like they're going to run. They force their opponent to play honestly by catching them off-guard early in the game. I think that analogue holds very well for us."

DARPA's director, Arati Prabhakar, said in a statement that SCO's focus on addressing immediate needs adds to a robust research ecosystem that includes both the public and private sectors.

"In a world of fast-morphing technologies and diverse threats, no single military capability or tech development strategy is going to ensure our national security," she said.

SCO's public emergence comes as the Pentagon continues to look for new ways to adapt more quickly. Last week, the Defense Department announced it would establish a new Defense Innovation Advisory Board run by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. It also opened an office in Silicon Valley last spring to strengthen relationships with technology companies there, who have historically not collaborated much with the Defense Department.

SCO was "essentially built around one smart guy" -- Roper -- who impressed Carter several years ago, the defense secretary said last week while in San Francisco. Carter, then the deputy defense secretary, challenged Roper to tackle problems confronting the Pentagon and he "found solution after solution after solution," the secretary recalled.

"All of our service chiefs, our Joint Chiefs of Staff, love the guy because he's providing real solutions," Carter said. "So there are ways that you can be an exception to what I know is the rule of the government: [being] ponderous."

The belief, Roper said, is that US troops are bright enough to find new ways to use existing weapons. And some plans are extremely ambitious: One new project not previously reported is called Avatar, and calls for the Pentagon to pair high-tech "fifth-generation" fighter jets like the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with unmanned versions of older jets like the F-16 Fighting Falcon or F/A-18 Hornet, which would be flown without a pilot for the first time.

The Avatar effort was previously called Skyborg by SCO and is known as "the Loyal Wingman" concept in the Air Force, Roper said. The program will require unmanned fighters to act with enough autonomy that the pilot in the manned jet doesn't have to direct them all the time.

"There will be a lot of questions on safety, on reliability of the links between the planes," Roper said. "All of these things have to be resolved. Bringing up that point is exactly what we try to infuse in the folks in our office. If there's a question where you say, 'Oh, we can worry about that later…' Nope, we're going to worry about that now."

Another early concept is adapting the Navy's Standard Missile-6 to be able to strike enemy ships. The missiles, filed vertically from the decks of destroyers and cruisers, were originally envisioned to intercept ballistic missiles high in the atmosphere, but are now considered dual-use following a recent experiment by the Navy.

The office also has worked on a concept known as Arsenal Plane. It calls for an undisclosed plane to carry a variety of weapons that can be directed by nearby stealth fighters like the F-22. The Pentagon wants to build a prototype next year, and says it could be ready for combat by the 2020s, Roper said.

"We don't have to develop new planes," Roper said. "We don't have to develop fundamentally new weapons. But we have to work the integration and the concept of operation. And then you have a completely new capability, but you don't have to wait long at all."

The office currently has six full-time government employees and about 20 contractors, Roper said. Many details about the organization remain classified, but it receives technical support from several contractors who specialize in part on simulation and modeling, including Modern Technology Solutions Inc., in Alexandria, Va., and Science Applications International Corp. in McLean, Va.

The mini-drones were tested over Alaska last year as part of the military exercise Northern Edge, which focuses on training for crises in the Pacific. The program is named after Perdix, a character in Greek mythology who was changed into a partridge by the god Athena.

It costs about $20 million, Roper said. The drones are constructed using 3-D printing -- important considering the specific size needed to launch them through an aircraft's flare dispenser and the toughness needed to survive such a violent birth.

Roper said SCO has been testing the mini-drones since 2014, but last year's experiment during Northern Edge showed that they can find each other while airborne and create a swarm. Perdix drones were tested 150 times during the exercise in Alaska, including 72 from fighter jets. They also can be launched from the ground by US troops, either with a slingshot-like launcher or by hurling them. 

SEE ALSO: FBI hints Iran now cooperating in hunt for missing former agent

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The dystopian war between robots and humans of the "Terminator" films is probably not going to happen, but there is still reason to worry about so-called "killer robots."

A new report by Paul Scharre of the Center for a New American Security argues that, while militaries develop semi- and fully-autonomous weapons systems such as missiles and drone aircraft, they are facing "potentially catastrophic consequences" if human controllers are taken out of the loop.

"Anyone who has ever been frustrated with an automated telephone call support helpline, an alarm clock mistakenly set to ‘p.m.’ instead of ‘a.m.,’ or any of the countless frustrations that come with interacting with computers, has experienced the problem of ‘brittleness’ that plagues automated systems," Scharre, a former Army Ranger who helped draft policies related to autonomous weapons systems for the Pentagon, writes in the report.

His main point: Automated systems can be really useful, but they are limited by their programming, and lack the use of "common sense" that a human may employ in certain cases.

Such was the case in 1983, when the human skepticism of Stanislav Petrov, a Russian military officer, was the biggest safety in stopping the Soviet Union from launching its missiles, after an early-warning system reported five incoming missiles from the United States.

It was a computer error. A fully-automated system had the data and would have launched. But Petrov rightly believed the system was malfunctioning.

"What would an autonomous system have done if it was in the same situation as Stanislav Petrov found himself on September 26, 1983? Whatever it was programmed to do."

Software error, cannot compute. Launch missile?

Scharre evaluates a number of past failures — involving humans and automated systems — to illustrate his point. While humans were in the loop during the disasters at Three Mile Island or Fukushima, these rare accidents expose the problem with tightly-controlled systems.

In the case of Fukushima for instance, many of the safety features activated by loss of power, flooding, and earthquakes worked as designed, but the engineers did not account for the possibility that all three of these things could happen at the same time. 

Engineers may be able to hypothesize and program the machine's response to nightmare scenarios but on a "long enough time horizon," Scharre writes, "Unanticipated system interactions are inevitable."

When something unanticipated happens to a computer that isn't programmed to deal with it, plenty of bad stuff can happen. Most computer users know the famous "blue screen of death" error and constantly update their software to fix bugs, and security problems are often found in systems after they have been exploited by hackers.

"Without a human in the loop to act as a fail-safe, the consequences of failure with an autonomous weapon could be far more severe than an equivalent semi-autonomous weapon," he writes.

Scharre advocates a similar framework for humans and machines to work together, called "centaur warfighting." It's based on Gary Kasparov's model of "centaur," or advanced chess — in which an artificially-intelligent machine helps the Chessmaster think smarter about his next move.

"The best chess players in the world are human-machine teams," he writes.

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Developed in the late 1970s, Russia's Kirov-class battle cruisers are the largest and heaviest surface-combat ships in the world — and they're coming back with advanced weaponry, according to Russia's Tass news agency.

At more than 800 feet long, with a displacement of around 25,000 tons, the Kirov dwarfs any navy ship short of an amphibious assault ship or aircraft carriers. But only one, the Pyotr Veliky, is still in service.

Russian media says that another aging Kirov-class hull, the Admiral Nakhimov, is being fitted with Russia's newest antiship, antiair, and surface-to-surface missiles.

Russia intends to return the Admiral Nakhimov to its fleet in 2019, at which time the Pyotr Veliky will be docked to undergo the same upgrades.

These include missiles of the Kalibr variety that recently hit targets in Syria from the Caspian Sea, Zircon hypersonic missiles, which are slated to be ready by 2020, and a "navalized" version of Russia's S-400 missile-defense system, according to Foxtrot Alpha.

To accommodate these missiles, Russia plans to overhaul the ship's vertical-launch systems. That contract alone is worth 2.56 billion rubles, or $33.5 million, NavyRecognition.com notes.

As with all Russian military expenditures, outsiders have trouble imagining how the struggling petro-state will pay for them.

Though the Russian navy has hit several setbacks before, the Kremlin seems hell-bent on revitalizing its navy.

SEE ALSO: Russia's military budget exposes one of Putin's biggest contradictions

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NOW WATCH: Russia's military is more advanced than people thought

As America's commander-in-chief, President Obama is the supreme commander of the US's armed forces. 

In this role, Obama has the final say on all matters of the country's military. But, additionally, as the head of the military, Obama must also cater to the morale of the US military and ensure that the nation's nearly 1.3 million active soldiers and veterans feel cared for.

Below are some of our favorite photos of Obama interacting with US military service members and veterans.

SEE ALSO: 44 iconic images of Barack Obama's tenure as president

A soldier hugs the President as he greeted U.S. troops at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan.

Obama claps as he passes by 'The President's Own' US Marine Band on the White House grounds.

Obama greets US troops as he holds a Veterans Day event at the US Army Garrison at Yongsan military base in Seoul November 11, 2010.

The much maligned F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has yet another problem with its software: the radar stops working requiring the pilot to turn it off and on again.

The Lockheed Martin plane, which has been in development since 2001 and is the most software-driven warplane ever built, has experienced several failures and setbacks that have seen its cost balloon and its delivery delayed. Each jet is now expected to cost about $142 million.

From structural problems that made it vulnerable to lightning strikes – ironic given it’s called the Lightning II – to weight issues, bugs within its software and its complete lack of cyber security testing, the plane has caused concern among the UK, US and other buyers.

And now a glitch with the radar, which appeared late last year, could potentially hinder its performance against less developed fighter jets.

US air force major general Harrigian told analyst firm IHS Jane’s: “What would happen is they’d get a signal that says either a radar degrade or a radar fail – something that would force us to restart the radar.

“Lockheed Martin discovered the root cause, and now they’re in the process of making sure they take that solution and run it through the [software testing] lab.”

The bug fixes for the planes are expected to be delivered to the USAF by the end of March. But others, including Keith Joiner, who is responsible for evaluating the plane’s performance for the Australian defence force, are looking to stop or delay further orders.

Joiner told Radio National Background Briefing: “Some systems like the radar control are fundamentally worse than the earlier version, which is not a good sign.

“The next software version is block 4. It won’t be available until 2020. So there’ll be nothing but fixing bugs in the original software between 2013 and 2020.”

While flight performance is one concern being addressed by software updates, the mostly software-driven plane also has yet to be tested for resistance to hacking, something that could be a real possibility with cyber warfare an increasing threat across the world.

Joiner said: “The only system that has done cyber security, vulnerability and penetration testing is the logistics software. So ordering spares. And it didn’t go very well.”

Previous issues with the F-35 and its three variants have seen it grounded by the USAF over concerns with the engine after a fire, which also prevented the jet from participating in the naming ceremony of the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier that is expected to take a full complement of 36 F-35s coming into service in 2018.

• British U-turn on US jets damages credibility of UK defence chiefs 

SEE ALSO: Pentagon unveils plans for 'avatar' fighter jets and swarms of microdrones

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On Tuesday, the US military cautiously celebrated what has the potential, if confirmed, of being a major victory in the fight against ISIS.

A US airstrike on Tuesday was believed to have killed ISIS's "minister of war," Abu Omar al-Shishani, also called Omar the Chechen.

If true, such a strike will seriously hinder ISIS's tactical abilities on the ground as well as the group's ability to recruit foreign fighters from the Caucasus region.

Aside from ISIS's "caliph," Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Georgian ex-commando Omar al-Shishani was the most recognizable and popular of the powerful terrorist group's leaders.

Sporting a recognizable red beard and happy to pose for photos, Shishani has acted as a very public face for some of ISIS's most notorious successes.

It was Shishani who posed with the stolen US Humvees that ISIS had seized from Mosul and brought back into Syria.

And it was Shishani who led successful ISIS military campaigns throughout Syria as well as a blitz through western Iraq that put the group within 100 miles of Baghdad.

These military successes are not simply the result of any innate military capabilities. Instead, Shishani spent years conducting military campaigns against the Russians, first as a Chechen rebel and then as a soldier in the Georgian military. During Shishani's four years in the military, from 2006 to 2010, his unit received some degree of training from American special-forces units.

"He was a perfect soldier from his first days, and everyone knew he was a star," an unnamed former comrade still active in the Georgian military told McClatchy DC. "We were well trained by American special forces units, and he was the star pupil."

"We trained him well, and we had lots of help from America," another anonymous Georgian defense official told McClatchy about Shishani. "In fact, the only reason he didn't go to Iraq to fight alongside America was that we needed his skills here in Georgia."

In 2008, when Russia and Georgia briefly went to war over the Georgian breakaway province of South Ossetia, Shishani reportedly was a star soldier. Although Russia quickly won the war, Shishani and his special-forces unit caused asymmetrical damage to the invading Russian forces, including the wounding of the Russian commander of the 58th army.

Shishani ultimately fell out of favor with the Georgian military and was arrested for 15 months for illegally harboring weapons. In 2012, after serving his sentence, Shishani fled Georgia and went to Syria from Turkey.

But his history of asymmetrical fighting against the Russians in the Caucasus, before and after having received American training, has played a key role in defining Shishani's military and command style.

"Shishani is somewhat unique among ISIS's commanders. Shishani is fighting like an insurgent," Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Musings on Iraq. "He's using a complex style in Anbar [a province in western Iraq], relying on a very small force ... Shishani's forces emphasize speed and agility.

"They'll hit multiple targets on the same day, and engage in harassing attacks to try to draw out the enemy, the Iraqi Security Forces or the Sahwa [Sunni tribes aligned against ISIS in Iraq]. Then he loves trapping the people he's able to draw out that are in pursuit of him."

This map shows ISIS's extent at the height of Shishani's push into Anbar:

These tactics have worked extremely well for Shishani throughout Iraq. Despite US-led coalition airstrikes and the combined forces of the Iraqi Security Forces and Iranian-backed militias, ISIS has continued to seize territory and embed itself deeper into Anbar Province.

And more concerning is that even if ISIS were to lose ground, there is no clear indication that it would make Shishani any less dangerous. Having trained and specialized in insurgent-like asymmetrical warfare, Shishani would be just as much of a danger to Iraq even should ISIS begin to lose territory.

It was ultimately that training and specialization in insurgent warfare that likely led to Shishani's death in the airstrike. According to Reuters, the Pentagon thinks that ISIS sent Shishani to the town of Al-Shadadi in Syria in order to recapture a town that had been taken by the US-backed Syrian Arab Coalition.

While in the town, the US launched a strike against Shishani using waves of manned and unmanned airframes. Shishani's death has still not been completely confirmed, but Reuters reports that chatter on the ground seems to indicate that Shishani was killed.

SEE ALSO: Watch US-led airstrikes level an ISIS weapons cache

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The FBI eavesdropped on meetings involving Russian intelligence personnel in New York City, including a suspected spy posing as a trade representative, by hiding recorders in binders containing supposedly confidential information about the energy sector, US prosecutors said.

The hours of covert recordings from 2013 were disclosed in papers filed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday in the case of Evgeny Buryakov, a Russian citizen who US prosecutors say posed as a banker while participating in a Cold War-style spy ring.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's eavesdrops enabled the agency to penetrate the workplaces of Russia's foreign intelligence service, the SVR, and hear about Buryakov's work for it, prosecutors said.

They also captured one Russian agent, also charged in the case, complaining about the lack of excitement in his job, saying he expected it "would be just slightly more down to earth than in the movies about James Bond."

The disclosure came ahead of an April 4 trial for Burkyakov, who was arrested in January 2015 as prosecutors unveiled charges against him and the two other Russians, Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobnyy.

Prosecutors say the trio conspired to gather economic intelligence for Russia, including information about US sanctions against the country, and to recruit intelligence sources in New York City.

Neither Sporyshev and Podobnyy, who made the James Bond comment, were arrested, as they enjoyed diplomatic immunity in their respective roles as a Russian trade representative and an attaché to the country's mission to the United Nations.

Buryakov, who worked at Russian state-owned Vnesheconombank, has pleaded not guilty. Neither his lawyer nor the Russian consulate responded immediately to requests for comment.

According to prosecutors, in April 2012, Sporyshev met an undercover FBI employee posing as an analyst at a New York energy firm at an oil and gas industry conference.

Over the next two years, they met to discuss the industry and other economic and political issues, prosecutors said, with Sporyshev providing gifts and cash for information.

In 2013, the FBI employee began providing Sporyshev with the binders containing purported industry analysis he wrote, supporting documents, and "covertly placed recording devices," prosecutors wrote.

As the undercover employee said his company would fire him if it learned he disclosed confidential information, Sporyshev would promptly return the binders after reviewing them, prosecutors said.

The recordings that resulted captured statements of Sporyshev, Podobnyy, and other Russian intelligence personnel from January to May 2013, prosecutors said.

SEE ALSO: Russia is bringing back the world's largest surface combatant ship

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Pilots flying the F/A-18 Hornet probably don't know Leslie Shook's name, but they definitely know her voice.

That's because she has been there with them as the Siri-like voice in the cockpit, yelling at them about potential dangers when a simple warning light isn't enough. 

"She is the oral alert in the aircraft for when there's something really important that a little light bulb isn't enough to get your attention," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Doug Crane in a video made about Shook, who recently retired from Boeing after two decades.

Pilots refer to their jet's oral warning system by slang terms like "Bitchin' Betty" or "Nagging Nora." A good reason for that is the voice is not benign; when "Betty" yells out "Roll Right!" or "Pull Up!"— pilots need to listen and execute her command right away, or they might die.

"You hear this voice every day telling you things are okay or that you need to take action," Dana Perkins, Boeing Flight Operations, Weapons Systems Operator, said in a statement. "You start trusting this person's voice. If she said 'Stand up straight,' everyone would stand up straight!"

Shook got the role as the voice of the F/A-18 while Boeing was importing over the voice from the F-15 and realized other commands were needed. She was originally the sound engineer for someone else who was recording, but took over because the talent "couldn't quite capture the sense of urgency," the company said.

She did capture that sense or urgency, especially considering Shook has received phone calls from pilots who were saved by her commanding tone. "That's pretty overwhelming to hear things like that," she said.

Here's more of Shook's story, along with what "Betty" sounds like in the cockpit:

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NOW WATCH: Mark Zuckerberg explains why the FBI is wrong on encryption

If the US mishandles the rise of China over the next decade, the results could be disastrous, a former CIA chief has warned The Guardian.

Gen. Michael Hayden, who has also headed the National Security Agency (NSA), told The Guardian that terrorism "is not an existential threat to the United States."

Instead, the US should begin to pay significantly more attention to the potential threat that states can play to the US in the coming decades.

In particular, Hayden is most worried about the threat from a rising China and the risk that the US mishandles Beijing's rise over the coming decade.

"Now if you run the timeline out to the 10-year point, it's China. I'm not saying China's an enemy of the United States of America," Hayden said. "I'm just simply saying that if we do not handle the emergence of the People's Republic well, it will be catastrophic for the world."

China is currently pushing ahead on its claims to the South China Sea over the objections of Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, and the US. In mid-February, Beijing took a further step of militarizing the region by placing advanced surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island to solidify its claims.

Beijing is also constructing man-made islands throughout the region. On these islands China has been building ports, seawalls, and airstrips that would allow the country to dominate the region. By 2030, a report by the Center for Strategic & International Studies notes that the South China Sea will essentially exist as a "Chinese lake."

Additionally, Gen. Mark Walsh told the US House Appropriations Committee's Defense Subcommittee on March 2 that China's People's Liberation Army Air Force could be capable of overtaking the US Air Force by 2030. Walsh noted that China's advancements were the result of increasing the number of planes the country had as well as steadily closing the technological gap with the US.

Additionally, Adm. Harry Harris warned the House Armed Services Committee on February 24 that the US Pacific Command was facing a shortage of submarines at the same time that China and Russia were expanding their naval forces.

None of these facts demonstrate that the US needs to have an antagonistic relationship with Beijing. But as Hayden notes, it does mean that the US will need to pay attention to crafting a coherent and long-lasting strategy for the Pacific over the next decade and likely beyond.

SEE ALSO: 7 charts that show why the tit for tat over crumbs in the South China Sea isn't for nothing

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NOW WATCH: The US Navy's last line of defense is this ultimate gun

A new poll from the University of Maryland indicates that the majority of Americans favor of cutting funding from the US defense budget in five out of seven major areas.

Specifically, they favor defunding one of the US' 11 aircraft carriers, and the F-35 Lightning II, DefenseNews.com reports.

“Given all the talk about increasing the defense budget, we were surprised to find how much Americans are not sold on increases, including a majority of Republicans nationwide,” said Steven Kull, director of the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation.

Indeed the survey, which polled more than 7,000 US voters across the nation, shows that a majority of Republicans would prefer to keep defense spending where it is, a majority of Independents favor reducing the defense budget by $20 billion, and Democrats favor slashing the budget by $36 billion.

The survey presented 2015 figures on spending and offered alternatives. For example, when informed that cutting funding to the F-35 program would save $6 billion this year, and $97 billion through 2037, 54 percent of citizens polled supported cutting the program.

Though the desire to save money and be fiscally responsible is admirable and understandable, top brass in nearly all US military services have expressed concern that nations like Russia and China threaten the US' foreign interests, and some have even gone as far as to call them existential threats.

Military leaders have stressed the need for progress and innovation to rise to the task of countering a resurgent Russia and a burgeoning China. Recently, the US Air Force chief-of-staff warned that China's People's Liberation Army Air Force will be poised to overtake the US Air Force by 2030, and a RAND Corp. report found that Russia could overtake NATO forces in the Baltics in 36 to 60 hours, should they choose to do so.

On Tuesday, Top Air Force acquisitions personnel took to Congress and re-asserted the need for the US' fifth generation fighter planes. “We’ve seen both Russia and China develop airplanes faster than was anticipated,” said Lt. Gen. James “Mike” Holmes, according to the Air Force Times.  

The survey suggested that Americans supported cutting the number of US aircraft carriers to 10 from 11.

Surprisingly, nationally, the majority of Americans did not support shrinking the submarine fleet from 12 to eight, nor did they want to cut funding to development of a new long range strike bomber.

SEE ALSO: Russia is bringing back the world's largest surface combatant ship

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NOW WATCH: China has been upgrading its military and is now stronger than ever

One of the biggest challenges facing any military is providing each soldier with a lightweight, self-contained, high-calorie meal inside of a combat zone.

These individual field rations, called "Meal Ready-to-Eat"(MRE), are designed to give service members well-balanced meals that can last them an entire day.

Photographer Fabrizia Parisi and curator Giulio Iacchetti showcase various types of rations developed by each army in their exhibition, Razione K: Meals for Soldiers in Action.

All photos published with permission.

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Russia

New Zealand

United Kingdom

On March 7, the French Air Force, along with airmen from the US and 10 other NATO countries kicked off Serpentex 2016, the annual exercise to improve interoperability between militaries.

Debuting at Serpentex is the iconic B-52 bomber.

The exercise focuses on training Joint Terminal Attack Controlers (JTAC) from different nations to work together to provide close air support, dynamic targeting, strike coordination and reconnaissance and live ordnance operations.

The B-52, which can fly slowly over targets and carry an wide range of munitions, is well suited to the mission of close air support. It's inclusion adds an interesting twist to the annual exercise.

“Most of them haven’t worked with bombers for these types of missions before. We have a longer duration and a lot wider turn radius than some of the fighters, so they’re going to have to find a new pacing for calling us in for close air support. But I promise that bomber CAS is worth the wait” Maj. Sarah Fortin, the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron assistant director of operations, said in a USAF release.

B-52's were also deployed to Cold Response 16, another NATO exercise in Norway. NATO hopes to boost the credibility of their forces in the face of an increasingly aggressive Russia. 

"There are times like when we are deployed when we work with JTACs from other countries and sometimes we do things a little differently," said Tech. Sgt. Jeremy Rarang.

"This exercise is giving us the opportunity to build partnership capacity and know how to better work with our allies when we are in those situations."

"The ability to train bomber aircrews in different geographic combatant commands is essential to maintaining a strong, credible bomber force that enhances the security and stability of our allies and partners," said Lt. Col. Dennis Cummings, 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron commander.

"Our ability to smoothly and effectively conduct these multinational missions is heavily indebted to the hospitality of Spain and fantastic support we are receiving from US Air Forces Europe."

SEE ALSO: Russia is bringing back the world's largest surface-combatant ship

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NOW WATCH: America’s $241 million ‘flying gas station’ just got one step closer to the skies

The B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is one of the US military's most formidable weapons. The Air Force just announced that Northrop Grumman, which designed and built the B-2, will create a successor to the Spirit called the B-21. Take a look at the history of the B-2, which has been ruling the skies since 1989.

Produced by Graham Flanagan

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) — China will be able to project "substantial offensive military power" from artificial islands it has built in the South China Sea's disputed Spratly Islands within months, the director of US national intelligence said.

In a Feb. 23 letter to John McCain, chair of the US Senate Armed Services Committee, James Clapper said Chinese land reclamation and construction work in the Spratlys had established infrastructure needed "to project military capabilities in the South China Sea beyond that which is required for point defense of its outposts."

"Based on the pace and scope of construction at these outposts, China will be able to deploy a range of offensive and defensive military capabilities and support increased PLAN and CCG presence beginning in 2016," Clapper said in the letter released this week, using acronyms for the Chinese navy and coastguard.

"Once these facilities are completed by the end of 2016 or early 2017, China will have significant capacity to quickly project substantial offensive military power to the region," Clapper added.

The United States has voiced concerns about China's assertive pursuit of territory in the South China Sea. The sea is one of the world's busiest trade routes and regional countries have rival claims, creating a potential flashpoint.

Visiting Washington in September, Chinese President Xi Jinping responded to US worries by saying that China had no intention to militarize its outposts in the Spratlys.

Beijing has said their military roles will be defensive, but the head of the US Pacific Command said last month China was "clearly militarizing" the South China Sea with the aim of achieving East Asian hegemony.

The text of Clapper's letter in response to questions from McCain was published on the news portal of the US Naval Institute. US officials confirmed the content.

Clapper said that while the United States had yet to observe deployment of significant Chinese military capabilities in the Spratlys, it had built facilities able to support them, including modern fighter aircraft.

China had already installed military radars at Cuarteron and Fiery Cross Reefs, and the infrastructure could also allow for the deployment surface-to-air missiles, coastal defense cruise missiles and an increased presence of warships, he said.

The United States had not seen Chinese air force activity in the Spratlys, but warships had stopped at its outposts including a guided-missile frigate and a guided-missile destroyer in December and January, Clapper said.

He said tank-landing ships had been employed widely in construction work and the landing of civil aircraft at Fiery Cross Reef in January showed the airstrip there was operational and able to accommodate all Chinese military aircraft.

Clapper said China continued its land reclamation in the Spratlys after Aug. 5, when its foreign minister claimed that it had been halted.

While there was no evidence that China has plans for any significant additional land reclamation in the Spratlys, Clapper said there was sufficient reef area in the Spratlys for it to reclaim more than 1,000 additional acres (400 hectares).

The Pentagon has said that Beijing has sought to bolster its claim to nearly all of the South China Sea with island building projects in the Spratlys that have reclaimed more than 2,900 acres (1,170 hectares) of land since 2013.

SEE ALSO: This epic map shows the border disputes that could tear Asia apart

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NOW WATCH: China has been upgrading its military and is now stronger than ever

US Naval unit Strike Fighter Squadron 27 released an incredible YouTube video documenting what life is like inside a supersonic F/A-18E Super Hornet.

Filmed with GoPro-style cameras, the five-minute video captures awesome footage from the inside of the jets' cockpits as the pilots perform a series of amazing maneuvers. The video is a trailer of a longer film "Shoot 'Em If You Got 'Em," which will debut at the NAF Atsugi Spring Festival on May 3.

Below are GIFs of the highlights of the video.

A pilot performs a barrel roll while ascending.

A plane banks to the left.

This is what flying upside down is like.

A pilot quickly works on the controls in the cockpit.

Planes maintain formation as they fly over a mountain range.

A cockpit view shows the plane flying through a mountain valley.

A plane pulls left out of formation.

Here's the full video:

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The reasons why individuals join the US military are as diverse and unique as each person serving. 

But, whatever the reasons for why someone joined the military, service members can bond with each other over both the negatives and positives of serving in the armed forces.

In a recent Reddit thread, military members responded to the question, "What is your favorite part of being in the military?" 

Predictably, the answers varied greatly, from the steadiness of pay in the military to the sense of belonging to something greater than the individual. We've collected our favorite answers below. 

For Reddit user terrez, the greatest part of being in the military was the opportunities to see and experience things he would never have had the opportunity to otherwise: 

Got to live in Japan, a place I never thought I would see I person. So that's pretty neat. Occasionally an f16 will be doing loopdy loops and stuff over the flight line (idk why) and it's like a quick little air show.

This point of view, the fact that the military is an eye-opening experience, was echoed by LordWartooth: 

I would honestly have to say, both sarcastically and seriously, that my favorite part of being in the military has to be the eye opening experience about life in general. When you see senior field grade officers who can barely read, or senior enlisted whose uniforms could be painted on, considering how tight they are, and you know that they have found success in life, then I should know that consistently aiming to be better than that will take me where I want to be in life, in the military or outside of it.

Reddit user Esdarke quickly agreed with LordWartooth's point: 

Absolutely this. If nothing else, the military will teach you about yourself.

I for one have resolved to be less of a d--- to people. Because now I've seen what happens when everyone acts like a YouTube comments section and nobody needs that in their life.

And for some, serving in the military was made worth it simply for the camaraderie and diversity that it fostered in the ranks. StonehengeMan writes of his favorite part of being in the military: 

The people in the military.

All kinds of backgrounds - but we all work together as one (mostly). The sense of camaraderie and purpose.

Sorry if that comes across as a little earnest but it's the people you work with that get you through the really bad days and who let you enjoy the good days even more :)

This sense of family that the military fosters was a common theme for the Reddit users. User Asymmetric_Warfare noted that the military imbues service members with a support system, adventure, and experiences that someone fresh out of high school might never otherwise experience: 

For me first and foremost it has been mentoring my joe's and watching my junior enlisted soldiers grow and mature and become NCO's themselves.

Being able to call my deployment buddies up at any time any place anywhere with any issue and they will be there for me and vice a versa.

Making friendships with the people you deploy with that are stronger then your own familial bonds to your siblings and family back home.

Going to war, realizing a lot of sh-- back home is just that, white noise, definitely puts life into perspective after.

Being stationed in germany at 18 years old, Donor Kabab's, them crazy foam parties in Nuremburg. All those lovely German single ladies...I miss you Fräulein's.

And of course, for some, the best part of joining the military are the practical and concrete benefits that the organization imparts. As zaishade writes: 

Not worrying about my finances: I don't have to worry about being laid off tomorrow, or not making enough to cover rent and groceries. As much as I like fantasizing about my separation date, whenever I go visit civilian friends and family I'm reminded of how much the common man still has to struggle.

Reddit user jeebus_t_christ echoes the practical benefits of joining the military by writing simply: "Free college." 

And ultimately, as Reddit user ChumBucket1 notes flippantly, "Blowing shit up and shooting machine guns never got old." 

SEE ALSO: 24 heartwarming photos of America's commander-in-chief with the military

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The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, partners of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, is an interactive, regularly-updated source for information, analysis, and policy exchange on maritime security issues in Asia. 

Below are 18 republished maps from their report (and here is the full analysis and methodology). 

SEE ALSO: We spent a day with the world’s most advanced missile system that has China and North Korea spooked

1. A Political Map

The Indo-Pacific region consists of over 20 countries. It spans from Russia in the North to Australia and New Zealand in the South, and from India in the West to Papua New Guinea in the East. 

2.  Population in Asia

Asia is a vibrant and dynamic region with 4.3 billion inhabitants -- 60% of the global population. China is the most populous state in the region with 1.4 billion people. India is projected to pass China’s population in about 15 years, becoming the world’s most populous nation with 1.5 billion inhabitants.

3. Trade Routes and Straits

Over half of the world's commercial shipping passes through the waterways of the Indo-Pacific region. The Strait of Malacca, in particular, is one of the most important shipping lanes in the world.

The strait links the Indian and Pacific Oceans and carries approximately 25% of all traded goods. It also carries approximately 25% of all oil that travels by sea. At its narrowest point just south of Singapore, the Strait of Malacca is only 1.5 nautical miles wide, making it one of the world's most noteworthy strategic choke points.

The European Union and Cuba signed an agreement in Havana on Friday to normalize relations, paving the way for the 28-member bloc to establish full economic cooperation and aid with the Communist-run Caribbean island.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini witnessed the signing of the pact, which will replace a policy imposed by Europe 20 years ago that pushed for changes to Cuba's one-party political system.

"This is a historic day for bilateral relations," Mogherini said, shortly before EU negotiator Christian Leffler and Cuban deputy foreign minister Abelardo Moreno signed the deal.

The agreement marks another achievement for Cuba on the international stage after its 2014 détente with the United States and the renegotiation of its debt with creditors from the Paris Club of wealthy nations in December.

It comes just days before President Barack Obama's March 20 scheduled visit to Havana, the first by a US president since Cuba's 1959 revolution.

Europe's unilateral "common position," in place since 1996, sought to make Cuba adopt a pluralistic democracy to unlock aid and commerce. Cuba has always rejected international pressure to change its political model and denies that human rights are lacking on the island.

The deal, which establishes an ongoing political dialogue and sets parameters for commerce and aid, must now be ratified by the governments of the EU bloc and Cuba.

The political dialogue and cooperation agreement took two years to negotiate. The European Union has similar agreements with all other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

SEE ALSO: 'The world is a tough, complicated, messy, mean place': Obama explains his foreign policy

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NOW WATCH: Watch Rubio and Cruz mock Trump’s plan to strike a ‘really good deal’ with Cuba