Latest news with #VAB
United News of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- United News of India
Center group of forces destroyed over 455 Ukrainian servicemen: Russian Defence Ministry
Moscow, June 7 (UNI) The Russian Defence Ministry's Center group of forces continued to advance deep into the enemy's defences, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost more than 455 servicemen in its area of responsibility, the group's spokesman, Alexander Savchuk, said. "The Center group of forces continues to carry out combat missions in the area of the special military operation. The group's units continued to advance deep into the enemy's defences, inflicted losses on units of three mechanized, motorized infantry, jaeger, two airborne assault brigades, two brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' marines and a brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine," Savchuk said. He said the defeat was inflicted in the areas of Koptevo, Dimitrov, Krasnoarmeisk, Sergeyevka, Udachny and Alekseyevka. "The enemy's losses were over 455 servicemen, eight combat armored vehicles, including a French-made VAB armored personnel carrier, seven pickups and three field artillery guns," Savchuk said. UNI SPUTNIK ARN
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Amid cuts, Trump's proposed NASA budget would lay waste to new Artemis launch tower
Work for now continues daily at Kennedy Space Center on a new mobile launch tower that has already cost more than $1 billion. But the Artemis moon mission it is intended to serve may never happen if President Trump's plans for NASA come to fruition. The mobile launcher 2 has been rising steadily at a construction site just north of the massive Vehicle Assembly Building, where it stands now at 320 feet tall on its way to a target of 390 feet. It's designed to support a larger version of the Space Launch System rocket called the SLS Block 1B beginning with the Artemis IV mission. But Trump's proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 has spiked future use of the SLS rocket after Artemis III, a move that comes amid $6 billion in cuts to the agency's overall spending plan. An existing mobile launcher, ML-1, was used on the uncrewed Artemis I test flight of SLS and the Orion spacecraft in 2022, and is in place within the VAB for the Artemis II mission, a crewed flight that will go around but not land on the moon. It is set to fly in early 2026. ML-1 would be used for a final time for the Artemis III mission, which aims to return humans to the surface of the moon as early as summer 2027. But after that, Trump wants to find different solutions to send crew and cargo to the moon and onto Mars. That would leave ML-2 with no purpose, and its fate could be similar to its predecessor, which sat unused at KSC for years after the end of the Constellation program. Eventually, though, the launcher was repurposed for use on the first three Artemis missions. 'NASA will close out Mobile Launcher-2 development, as ML-2 will not be needed to support SLS due to the orderly shutdown of the SLS Block 1B upgrade,' reads the budget proposal. 'NASA proposes to use previously appropriated unobligated balances to support the termination of these activities, including but not limited to, ongoing administration, oversight, and monitoring.' That would include money that would be paid out to lead contractor Bechtel National Inc., which was initially awarded a $383 million contract in 2019 with a delivery date of 2023. NASA's Office of the Inspector General released an audit in August 2024 that said the costs had already nearly tripled to more than $1 billion with the delivery date pushed to no later than November 2026. The budget also calls for an end to NASA's Exploration Ground Systems team that supports Artemis launches. NASA, which employs for now around 18,000, has not said how many people fall under EGS, but its budgets in 2024 and 2025 neared $884 million. Trump's proposed budget would drop that to $658 million for 2026, $700 million in 2027, $500 million in 2028, and then nothing beyond that. 'NASA will utilize a commercial partnership through a competitive contract to transport crew for future Artemis missions,' the budget proposal states. The move to kill the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft by Trump comes amid criticism of the program's continued delays and ballooning costs. The OIG in a 2023 audit warned that by the time Artemis III finally flies, NASA will have spent more than $93 billion across its various facets including SLS, Orion and Exploration Ground Systems. Instead, Trump's goal is to rely on commercial launch providers such as SpaceX's in-development Starship and Blue Origin's New Glenn for future moon and Mars missions. 'New transportation services contracts will permit more frequent missions to the moon while at the same time freeing up resources to invest in the infrastructure necessary to conduct longer stays on the lunar surface than ever before,' reads a note within the budget proposal from interim NASA Administrator Janet Petro. Overall, Trump's proposed NASA budget would drop dramatically from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion, proposing to kill off not only future SLS launches, but gutting much of the agency's science portfolio. 'This budget is a retreat, a narrowing of ambition,' reads a critical statement from nonprofit group The Planetary Society. 'This request represents the smallest NASA budget since FY 1961 — a level enacted before the first American had launched into space.' Calling it an 'extinction-level event' for NASA's science efforts, the group noted the budget would kill 41 science projects, or 1/3 of NASA's science portfolio. But the agency contends it's focusing on moon and Mars missions instead. 'With a leaner budget across all of government, we are all taking a closer look at how we work, where we invest, and how we adjust our methods to accomplish our mission,' the proposal reads. 'At NASA, that means placing a renewed emphasis on human spaceflight – increasing investments in a sustainable plan to return to the Moon for long-term human exploration and accelerating efforts to send American astronauts to Mars.' A shift from a nationally sponsored rocket program to reliance on commercial partners for launch doesn't necessarily mean an economic downturn for the Space Coast, according to the Space Florida, the state's aerospace economic development entity. 'Florida's strategic investments over the years have paid off in building a diverse and robust ecosystem that's well-positioned to fuel the growth of the aerospace sector — regardless of how national priorities evolve,' said Space Florida's Director of Public Relations Alayna Curry. Part of that is a massive $1.8 billion infrastructure project by SpaceX to support two launch sites of Starship once it becomes operational. Despite the uncertain future, Bechtel continues to work on the job given. 'We're constantly looking at potential (fiscal) challenges based on priorities and other things that are going on within NASA,' said Michael Costas, general manager of Defense and Space Business with Bechtel, in November just after the election. 'They're having to work through whatever challenges they're facing. But of course — new administration — there's a lot of folks looking at efficiencies.' Congress is the ultimate decider on what gets funded for NASA, though, and without a viable replacement for SLS in place yet, it may be that ML-2 still has a future. NASA had continued to tout its progress on regular updates through the first several months of the year. The latest addition was added in May with only two more to come. Bechtel's goal was to hand over to NASA the completed tower no later than November 2026, which would give NASA enough time to prep it for what was supposed to be an Artemis IV flight by September 2028. NASA included the previous added sections in a list of achievement in Trump's first 100 days in office, stating 'the agency's next-generation mobile launcher continues to take shape, with the sixth of 10 massive modules being installed. This structure will carry future Artemis rockets to the launch pad.' That was before the proposed budget came out, though. 'We must continue to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars,' reads the budget proposal. 'That means making strategic decisions — including scaling back or discontinuing ineffective efforts not aligned with our moon and Mars exploration priorities.' The warnings from The Planetary Society, which have been echoed by many naysayers to Trump's new direction, say the agency is choosing a ruinous path. 'President Trump has stated he is 'committed to ensuring that America continues to lead the way in fueling the pursuit of space discovery and exploration',' the Society's statement reads. 'This budget does the exact opposite: laying waste to the nation's ability to lead in scientific discovery, destroying the economic powerhouse that is NASA, and abandoning allies around the globe.'
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Survey: Marketers Cite Short-Term Pressures, Misaligned Priorities and Measurement Gaps as Key Drivers of KPI Disconnects
—VAB Examines 10 Key Questions to Understand Priorities Across Businesses— NEW YORK, May 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- What KPIs matter most to marketers? How exactly are those KPIs determined? And how do they differ across small, medium and large businesses? To answer those questions, the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) partnered with Advertiser Perceptions on a custom survey of 200 marketers—and published the findings in Keeping Up With The KPIs: 10 Key Questions Answered by Marketers to Understand Priorities Across Businesses. In addition to examining organizational priorities, uncovering internal disconnects and identifying new opportunities for media partners, the guide provides playbooks on how business can work with the right media partners who can help deliver on what matters most. "The depth of candor we received from 200 marketers as they answered ten of the most burning questions on KPI tensions was remarkable," said Sean Cunningham, President & CEO, VAB. "Their clarity of consequence in being compelled to satisfy short-term KPIs at the expense of longer-term business objectives jumped off the pages of our study results. Marketers clearly know there is an expiration date on 'making the marketing optimization models work' each quarter versus building business growth year-over-year; they are ready to go after the larger wins." Among the survey's findings: Brand awareness is a top business objective for smaller businesses while revenue and profitability become more important for larger companies. Sixty-six percent of small businesses cite increasing brand awareness as a top business objective, while 59% and 47% of large businesses cite increasing revenue and increasing profitability, respectively. In addition, large and medium businesses tend to prioritize data and measurability over customer focus. Marketers in larger companies are almost three times more likely than small businesses to believe there is an internal KPI disconnect. Thirty-two percent of marketers at large businesses believe there is a disconnect between the KPIs and the goals their management has communicated, compared to 28% at medium-sized businesses and 12% at small businesses. Further, the data demonstrates a disconnect between what marketers know they should do versus what they are actually doing. Marketers across sizes cite short-term pressures, misaligned priorities and measurement gaps as key drivers of KPI disconnects. Small brands face tactical hurdles, while large brands grapple with structural misalignment and resistance to long-term investment. Further, 74% of small businesses say their KPIs reflect a prioritization of short-term sales over long-term branding results, versus 63% at medium businesses and 70% at large businesses. When it comes to expectations of their media partners, medium businesses rank brand safety, content quality and transparency low—signaling a short-term focus at the expense of long-term brand value. Multiscreen TV is seen as most effective in upper funnel metrics for large-sized businesses, although it is a close second to search for lower funnel. Sixty-four percent of marketers at large businesses rank brand awareness, and 46% rank revenue and sales growth, among the top three KPIs of multiscreen TV. Moving forward, marketers believe their business should focus on KPIs that strengthen brand equity and deepen customer relationships: Brand awareness is cited within the top five KPIs that brand marketers should focus on over the next 12 months and beyond by 52% of small businesses, 50% of medium businesses and 49% of large businesses. Read the full report and survey results here. Survey Methodology:VAB commissioned Advertiser Perceptions to conduct an online survey in January 2025. The results are based on 200 U.S. brand marketer respondents from Advertiser Perceptions' survey panel with a wide range of annual total advertising budgets ($10K - $250 MM+) across a variety of market sectors (e.g. CPG, retail, financial, auto, food / B2B, technology, entertainment). Respondent qualifications: brand marketer decision maker involved in influencing or executing video advertising; national / regional sales focus; mix of job titles including junior, mid, senior level. ABOUT VABThe Video Advertising Bureau (VAB)—whose members include the national TV networks alongside a broader community of influential media companies—plays a dual role in the video advertising industry. VAB is fiercely advocating for the changes that bring about a more innovative and transparent marketplace. VAB also provides the insights and thought leadership that enables marketers to develop business-driving marketing strategies. Visit VAB online and access its continuously growing content library at CONTACT: jacob@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE VAB Sign in to access your portfolio
