EXCLUSIVE Kamikaze drones so lethal that if you're spotted by one, you're dead: These new un-jammable weapons are devastating, reveals RICHARD PENDLEBURY. No wonder Ukrainians call them 'The Monster'
It's like the monster from your dreams, soldiers here say. The one you can't escape, however hard you try. If you're chosen as the target, well, that's it for you, game over.
A favourite tactic of this recently introduced, but already widely feared, predator is to lie in wait in a field beside a road.
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The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Hegseth orders the name of gay rights activist Harvey Milk scrubbed from Navy ship
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, a highly rare move that will strip the ship of the moniker of a slain gay rights activist who served as a sailor during the Korean War. U.S. officials say Navy Secretary John Phelan put together a small team to rename the replenishment oiler and that a new name is expected this month. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the next name had not yet been chosen. The change was laid out in an internal memo that officials said defended the action as a move to align with President Donald Trump and Hegseth's objectives to 're-establish the warrior culture.' It marks the latest move by Hegseth and the wider Trump administration to purge all programs, policies, books and social media mentions of references to diversity, equity and inclusion. And it comes during Pride Month — the same timing as the Pentagon's campaign to force transgender troops out of the U.S. military. The decision was first reported by Phelan's office did not respond to a request for comment. The USNS Harvey Milk was named in 2016 by then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who said at the time that the John Lewis-class of oilers would be named after leaders who fought for civil and human rights. Milk, who was portrayed by Sean Penn in an Oscar-winning 2008 movie, served for four years in the Navy before he was forced out for being gay. He later became one of the first openly gay candidates elected to public office. Milk served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and had sponsored a bill banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in public accommodations, housing and employment. It passed, and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone signed it into law. On Nov. 27, 1978, Milk and Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, a disgruntled former city supervisor who cast the sole vote against Milk's bill. The ship was christened in 2021, and during the ceremony, then-Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said he wanted to be at the event 'not just to amend the wrongs of the past, but to give inspiration to all of our LGBTQ community leaders who served in the Navy, in uniform today and in the civilian workforce as well, too, and to tell them that we're committed to them in the future.' The ship is operated by Military Sealift Command, with a crew of about 125 civilian mariners. The Navy says it conducted its first resupply mission at sea in fall 2024, while operating in the Virginia Capes. It continued to resupply Navy ships at sea off the East Coast until it began scheduled maintenance at Alabama Shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, earlier this year. While the renaming is rare, the Biden administration also changed the names of two Navy ships in 2023 as part of the effort to remove Confederate names from U.S. military installations. The USS Chancellorsville — named for the Civil War battle — was renamed the USS Robert Smalls after a sailor and former enslaved person. And the USNS Maury, an oceanographic survey ship originally named after a Confederate sailor, was renamed the USNS Marie Tharp after a geologist and oceanographic cartographer who created the first scientific maps of the Atlantic Ocean floor. Maritime lore hints as to why renaming ships is so unusual, suggesting that changing a name is bad luck and tempts retribution from the sea gods. ___
The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
Soldier found dead in barracks was ‘degraded' by senior officers
A British soldier found dead in his barracks after being missing for three weeks was 'degraded' by his superior officers, with one posting videos of his 'humiliations' in a WhatsApp group, an inquest has heard. A friend of Lance Corporal Bernard Mongan said 'bullying would be an understatement' as he described how the father-of-three was 'shouted, screamed and swore at', made to clean senior officers' cars in his own time and 'forced' to do extra runs in his lunch break without being given time to eat. L/Cpl Mongan's decomposing body was discovered on January 23 2020 in his bedroom at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, three weeks after he was last seen. An inquest at North Yorkshire Coroner's Court has heard his cause of death is still 'unascertained' as decomposition made it difficult for doctors to determine. On Tuesday, former corporal Stephen Timmerman, who lived in the same accommodation block as L/Cpl Mongan, told the hearing he 'wasn't treated the same way' as other soldiers in their squadron. He said: 'He was given tasks that he shouldn't have been given, and just the general way he was spoken to by higher ranks. 'His seniors, quite a few times, he would be left to do their work for them in his own time.' Mr Timmerman said he could remember three occasions when L/Cpl Mongan, 33, was given a military Land Rover to clean that was not his. He said that on a military exercise around three months before his death, L/Cpl Mongan was 'shouted and screamed at' in front of other soldiers by his own superior officers in his own department for carrying out an order from another department. Mr Timmerman, who has since retired from the Army, said: 'It was very aggressive, very abrupt, some swearing … It was very harsh language and it wasn't his fault, he was carrying out an order he was told to do.' He said that on the same exercise, L/Cpl Mongan was told to help other departments set up their radio masts but was refused help with his own and told to 'do it himself'. Mr Timmerman said L/Cpl Mongan was put on remedial physical training after failing a fitness test, but was also 'forced to go for an extra run on the same day and given no time for having lunch and breakfast'. He described L/Cpl Mongan as a 'cuddly teddy bear' who may have been a 'soft target' because he was 'a nice guy who took things easier'. He told the inquest L/Cpl Mongan had issues with two sergeants and was 'undermined' and 'come down on very harshly', saying he had been considering a service complaint. Asked if he was bullied, Mr Timmerman said: 'I would say that was an understatement.' He told the hearing: 'They spoke to Bernie as if he was inconsequential,' adding that he had been spoken to 'like a piece of shit' and 'degraded'. Asked if he was aware one officer 'had been posting videos on a WhatsApp group of humiliations of Bernie', Mr Timmerman said: 'I didn't know about that.' The inquest heard L/Cpl Mongan had been selected for a detachment with 77 Brigade, which was due to start in January 2020, but that his room at Catterick would be kept for him while he was away so he could use it for visits with his three daughters. Mr Timmerman said: 'There was a noticeable change in him, he was happy, he was ready to move away.' The hearing was told L/Cpl Mongan had separated from his wife and spent Christmas at another soldier's house. Mr Timmerman said he last saw him at the barracks on December 27, telling the inquest: 'He was very happy and couldn't wait to go for a detachment. He said: 'Have a good New Year, hopefully see you soon.'' The witness said he returned from a trip to Scotland on January 5 but was not expecting to see L/Cpl Mongan as he was due to be on detachment by then. The inquest heard he started to notice an 'unusual smell' in the block after a few days, and on January 22, followed it down L/Cpl Mongan's corridor to realise it was coming from inside his room. Mr Timmerman said the other rooms on L/Cpl Mongan's corridors were occupied but the soldiers were 'always away for work'. He said once he realised where the smell was coming from he spoke to a superior officer about getting the keys for the room, and the two of them went in with a civilian staff member the next morning to find L/Cpl Mongan's body lying face down on his bed. The inquest heard L/Cpl Mongan had tried to kill himself several times and spent time at a recovery centre run by Help For Heroes. Former Royal Marine Jules Burnard, who struck up a friendship with him when they met at the facility, said he had last seen L/Cpl Mongan on January 1 2020, and that he had been 'very positive' and looking forward to the detachment. Mr Burnard said L/Cpl Mongan had opened up to him about being bullied and how that had affected his mental health. He told the hearing: 'He was a lovable, likeable, upbeat person. There was nothing not to like about Bernie.' Captain Ben Atkin, who was Regimental Sergeant Major for L/Cpl Mongan's battalion, said he was never told that he had left the Irish Guards after being injured in a skiing accident, or that he had made several suicide attempts before arriving in the unit. Asked if that was a significant failure in communication, he said: 'It's an issue, it's a failing, the system should have worked.' Captain Atkin said the only time L/Cpl Mongan was discussed in regular welfare meetings was when he was the victim of an assault by two soldiers outside the battalion while on a night out in Catterick. He told the inquest that towards the end of L/Cpl Mongan's life, he 'stopped looking soft and started looking more built,' and said he was pleased he seemed to be overcoming his issue with fitness. Asked about L/Cpl Mongan being made to do extra runs, Captain Atkin said: 'Physical exercise is not allowed to be used in the British Army as a punishment. It's completely inappropriate and if I had seen it, I would have stopped it.' The inquest, which is scheduled to last for three weeks, continues.
Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Brave sex assault victim fought off attacker and texted pal 'I'm being raped' after being dragged into bushes in a park at 4am, court hears
A 19-year-old woman sent a text message to a friend saying 'I am being raped' after being picked up by a fake Uber driver and into dragged into bushes in a park, a court heard. The woman had been on a night out when she was allegedly approached by 'sexual predator' Graham Head, jurors were told. Head, 68, is accused of posing as an 'unofficial Uber' to target 'vulnerable and intoxicated' women. Lewes Crown Court heard he was found with latex gloves, condoms, Viagra tablets and a balaclava in his silver Mercedes estate when he was arrested. In his home were business cards advertising him as a 'N-Uber driver' with the slogan 'Safe and Reliable - For All Occasions' underneath one of his phone numbers. He is on trial accused of kidnapping, attempted rape, and sexual assault of a 25-year old woman, along with assault by penetration and sexual assault of the 19-year-old woman - all of which he denies. The first alleged attack is said to have happened in the early hours of August 19 2022 in Hove Park in Brighton. The court heard Head had earlier withdrawn money from a cash machine inside a strip club in the city before pulling up in front of the 19-year-old, who had been out drinking with friends. He drove her to the park where he dropped her off before allegedly returning to attack her at around 4am while wearing a Covid mask, the court heard. Prosecutor Paul Jarvis KC said: 'The defendant was intent on sexually assaulting her'. The woman, who cannot be named, told the court on Tuesday: 'The man came up to me. I was a bit surprised, I assumed it was just a weird man who wanted to talk.' She said he then grabbed her and started to sexually assault her. 'He did not say a word,' she said. 'I was shouting at him to stop.' The woman said he wrestled her to the ground before dragging her into bushes. 'He didn't say anything, he showed no reaction at all,' she said. The woman said her attacker kicked her and tried to sweep her legs to get her onto the ground, leaving her with cuts and bruises. 'I was still being held down,' she said. 'I managed to reach into my bag and quickly texted my friend and said I was being raped.' She said her friend immediately phoned back. 'I don't think he noticed until the phone started ringing,' she said. 'I know he got up and ran away but I don't know what direction because I was just focused on running away myself. 'I explained to my friend what has just happened to me. 'I was on the phone to her for the whole time and I know that I ran.' The next day she called police and described a man with short, grey hair wearing a light blue Covid mask. A recording of her 999 call was played to the jury. She told the operator: 'I feel like it was very calculated and he will do it to other women. I was fighting him for about 20mins. 'I've got cuts and stuff on my legs from being dragged across the ground. 'He kept tripping me up and pinning me to the floor. I was screaming and shouting. He definitely does this to other women. 'He waited till I was alone and that's when he attacked me. I don't think this is the first time he's done this. 'I think the covid mask was to hide his identity. I don't want this to happen to anybody else. 'I've been lucky.' The woman said she had been drinking from around 6pm until around 2am. On Monday on the first day of his trial, jurors were told Head was a 'sexual predator' who 'slipped up' the night he was arrested by police. Opening the case, Mr Jarvis KC said the 19 year old was 'intoxicated and vulnerable' when she was sexually assaulted. He said the second victim, aged 25, was also vulnerable and intoxicated in the early hours of the morning when Head kidnapped her and sexually assaulted her in his car and then drove off leaving her distressed on the roadside. On both occasions the defendant was driving his grey Mercedes estate motor vehicle with the registration number L21 GRH, the prosecutor said. The 25-year-old was able to remember the 'L21' portion of Head's number plate which led to police pulling his car over and arresting him the same night, jurors were told. She has since died. The trial continues.
