• The US Army wants its Next Generation Squad Weapon (NSGW) to revolutionize small arms, much the way the iPhone did for consumer electronics.
• "We have hundreds of capabilities we can put into this weapons system, but we want to do it by holistically creating a system that takes advantage of everything we've done in the past," Army Col. Elliott Caggins told T&P. "This means its capabilities will only grow, just as the iPhone's did."
• These new weapons will replace the M4 service weapon and the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon.

The Army isn't on the hunt for any old rifle for its Next Generation Squad Weapon program — it's looking to spark a "revolution in small arms" on par with what the iPhone did to consumer electronics.

At least, that's how Army officials at the Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey described their overall goal in a conversation with Task & Purpose following the release of a formal Prototype Project Opportunity Notice calling on industry partners for a rapid prototyping and testing run of the brand-new platform.

"Imagine that Steve Jobs and his engineers were trying to convert the iPod Touch to the first 3G iPhone," said Army Col. Elliott Caggins, project manager for soldier weapons. "There were a thousand technologies they could have put in the first iPhone but they were looking to mature the platform before they could actually go onto the system."

Rather than slap future additions onto an outdated platform like the service's current M4A1 improvement program, the Army wants future capabilities baked into the NGSW from the get-go in a "one end-all solution" to replace both the M4 and the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon. Call it firing for effect for the acquisition process; the first PON was meant to gather critical industry data before a second PON refined the requirements for the rifle.

This logic of the platform, Caggins said, was reflected in the unusual run-up to the January PPON. As Task & Purpose previously noted, the January notice followed an initial draft notice in November 2018. While several defense contractors previously received separate contracts under the NGSW program, those prototypes aren't for play; they're "totally intended to determine if industry could deliver from the performance and manufacturing standpoint," Caggins said.

The January notice, on the other hand, is the real "no-kidding agreement," as Caggins put it — and one of three companies selected by the Army will ultimately end up cinching the contract to actually produce the weapon in all its glory.

"We have hundreds of capabilities we can put into this weapons system, but we want to do it by holistically creating a system that takes advantage of everything we've done in the past," he added. "This means its capabilities will only grow, just as the iPhone's did."

Those capabilities, according to Arthur Fiorellini, NGSW team leader, include:

• a specially-designed fire control system engineered to boost hit probability at extended ranges
• the Advanced Small Arms Ballistic System, an onboard processor hardened against cyberattacks that miniaturizes the positioning system and range finder typically used on Army artillery pieces
• a sensor suite designed to accommodate for changes in pressure and density using multi-laser rangefinder system to estimate wind speed and adjust rifle positioning accordingly.

"The operator, as he lases the target, instantly gets an aim point and the system adjusts for ballistics instead of the operator trying to figure things out," Fiorellini told Task & Purpose. "A dot is displayed on the optic that the operator just puts on the target and everything else is taken care of ... the processor takes all of the information and boils it down.

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• Seventy years ago, Costa Rica got rid of its army.
• President Carlos Alvarado Quesada said that has allowed it to invest elsewhere.
• Costa Rica also generates more than 99% of its electricity from renewable sources.
• As a result, Costa Rica is the happiest and most sustainable country on Earth.

Costa Rica is getting something right. The Central American country of stunning beaches, rainforests, and biodiversity, is also known for its stable democracy and educated population.

Its president, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, said at Davos 2019: "Seventy years ago, Costa Rica did away with the army. This allows for many things. Eight percent of our GDP is invested in education because we don't have to spend on the army. So our strength is human talent, human wellbeing."

By comparison, World Bank data shows the US spent less than 5% of its GDP on education, while the world average is just 4.8%.

President Alvarado said not spending on the armed forces also allowed his country to protect the environment. Costa Rica generates more than 99% of its electricity from renewable sources, with the vast majority from hydroelectric dams.

While this is a major achievement, electricity only represents a small proportion of the country's energy usage, as many homes use gas for heating, and fuel for their cars.

Air quality in Costa Rica, as in many countries around the world, is a concern, and some parts of the capital San Jose breach World Health Organization limits for air pollution.

Read more:For $260 a night, you can stay in this Boeing 727 airplane-turned-hotel suite perched 50 feet high in Costa Rica — take a look inside

The Costa Rican government has used taxes collected on the sale of fossil fuels to pay for the protection of forests.

President Alvarado said: "We saw in the eighties that the forest coverage was reduced to 20% due to animal farming and timber. We've managed to recover all this and we're back to forest coverage of 50%. By this we are combating climate change."

Forests are of crucial importance to the country's biodiversity, which hosts more than five percent of the world's species, despite a landmass that covers just 0.03% of the planet.

President Alvarado said these efforts have helped boost Costa Rica's economy. "Many people say that to protect the environment goes against the economy. Whereas it's the complete contrary. Our tourism has grown precisely because of this."

As a result, Costa Rica is the happiest and most sustainable country on Earth, according to the Happy Planet Index (HPI).

This index, which has been published four times since 2006, takes the wellbeing and longevity of a population; measures how equally both are distributed; then sets the result against each country's ecological footprint. And Costa Rica has topped the poll three times out of four.

It is not just the HPI. A recent Gallup poll found Costa Rica to be one of the happiest countries in the world. It also has some of the oldest people, with life expectancy of 78.5 years, longer than in the US.

Read more:Costa Rica went 76 days without fossil fuels, but that's not the only reason it's the future of the planet

Professor Mariano Rojas, a Costa Rican economist at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, attributes Costa Ricans' high wellbeing to a culture of forming solid social networks of friends, families, and neighborhoods.

The reason Costa Rica tops the HPI time and again, however, is that it delivers all this while using a quarter of the resources typically used in the Western world.

There are, of course, flaws in the HPI's calculations, not least that it fails to account for the murder rate in the countries that it ranks.

In Costa Rica, that rate hit 12.1 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2017, more than double the world average of 5.3.

President Alvarado said the murder rate was very high across Latin America. "The main thing insecurity is connected to is inequality. Latin America is one of the most unequal regions in the world."

He said murders in Costa Rica take place in "very specific areas where what is required is a policy of opportunities.

"This has been done successfully in a number of countries, by creation of leisure options, prevention of drugs, new opportunities for the youth, for women, the creation of new jobs; and that is very hopeful."

Costa Rica recently pushed through a program of tax reforms, which President Alvarado said has freed up the money to spend on social programs.

"If you bring in these reforms and sort out your problems of liquidity, it means we didn't have to cut any of our social programs. It also meant that there was stable funding of public services. And there is a stability, which is what we need to relaunch our economy."

SEE ALSO: I lived in Costa Rica for a year, and everyone was worried about climate change

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• US ground forces are enthusiastically pursuing long-range anti-ship weapons to give the US an edge in any fight against China's growing navy.
• The Marines want a long-range anti-ship missile "as soon as possible," Gen. Robert Neller, the Marine Corps commandant, told USNI News recently.
• The Army is investing heavily in long-range artillery to allow it to pound maritime targets with shells and clear the way for the US Navy.

The US Marine Corps wants a long-range anti-ship missile "as soon as possible," and the Army is right there with it as rival powers like China build up navies to threaten American interests.

"There's a ground component to the maritime fight," Gen. Robert Neller, the Marine Corps commandant, recently told USNI News, adding: "You have to help the ships control sea space. And you can do that from the land."

Neller also said that "you need to have a capability to control the maritime space" and that the Marines needed a long-range anti-ship missile.

"The urgency is just the situation security-wise we find ourselves in the world," he said. "There's a lot of geographical chokepoints, and you know what they are, and the potential adversaries know what they are."

The greatest challenge for the US Navy appears to be in the Pacific, where China is expanding and advancing its navy through the addition of not only more ships but more capable vessels.

A Lockheed Martin representative told Breaking Defense last month that the Marines were exploring shore-based capabilities to meet US Indo-Pacific Command's demands. The Marines have confirmed this, with Brig. Gen. Christian Wortman, the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab commander, saying at a recent conference that the desired anti-ship missile is a "relatively near-term capability that we're making a significant investment" in now.

Likewise, the Army is investing heavily in long-range precision fires with an eye on ensuring the US military can maintain control of the maritime space in a high-end conflict.

The newly established Army Futures Command is looking at fielding the Extended-Range Cannon Artillery, which has a range far greater than existing operational artillery units; Precision Strike Missiles to replace the Army Tactical Missile System; a powerful hypersonic strike weapon; and even a long-range strategic cannon built to hit targets 1,000 miles away.

Read more:The US Army wants a powerful cannon that can hit Chinese warships in the South China Sea from 1,000 miles away

"You can imagine a scenario where the Navy feels that it cannot get into the South China Sea because of Chinese naval vessels," Secretary of the Army Mark Esper said late last month.

"We can — from a fixed location, on an island or some other place — engage enemy targets, naval targets, at great distances and maintain our standoff and yet open the door, if you will, for naval assets or Marine assets," Esper added.

Shore-based anti-ship systems give enemies another threat to worry about beyond naval vessels and air assets.

US Army Col. Chris Wendland, the commander of the 17th Field Artillery Brigade, told reporters last year after the Army participated in a sinking exercise during the Rim of the Pacific, an exercise that offered insight into how a fight with China might go down, that "what our maritime adversaries conducting this exercise are looking for are other ships or submarines as threats."

"What they are not looking for is the Multi-Domain Task Force, our ground forces, who can acquire the target and fire upon it using land-based surface-to-ship missiles, then be able to move freely," Wendland added.

China, considered the premier threat to US interests, uses similar tactics, having deployed anti-ship cruise missiles across the South China Sea and ballistic missiles believed to have anti-ship capabilities in strategic locations on the mainland.

Read more:China moves 'ship killer' missiles into firing range as US warships infuriate Beijing in the South China Sea

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• The 369th Infantry Regiment was the first US unit to arrive in France during World War I.
• The all-black unit, initially sent to provide support to the French, spent more time in the trenches during the war than any other US unit.
• German soldiers who saw their battlefield prowess dubbed them the Harlem Hellfighters, and they emerged as one of the most storied units on the Western Front.

This year marks the centennial of the United States’ entrance into World War I — a conflict that claimed millions of lives, redrew the world map, and changed war forever. Countless stories of heroism and hardship emerged from the fight in Western Europe, and many of them involve the 369th Infantry Regiment.

The first black American infantry regiment to fight in World War I, the 369th spent more time in the trenches and under fire — 191 days — than any other U.S. unit. A National Guard regiment, the 369th recruited out of New York City in large numbers, and German soldiers who witnessed their battlefield prowess quickly dubbed them the Harlem Hellfighters.

Though their actions didn’t immediately alter the fight for equal rights at home, the regiment’s wartime service heightened a sense that sending African-Americans to fight for democracy abroad — while racial segregation and inequality went unchecked at home — smacked of hypocrisy.

Here are five stories of bravado and courage from the 369th — the first U.S. regiment to cross into Germany over the Rhine River, and one of the most decorated American units of the war.

SEE ALSO: After 100 years, the Navy thinks it knows what sank the only major US warship lost during World War I

1. Even the Harlem Hellfighters’ rifles were segregated.

By the time the United States joined the war, its allies were in desperate need of reinforcement. The men of the 369th were sent to assist the French Army’s 16th Division on the Western Front in spring 1918. It was a strategic necessity — the Western Front desperately needed reinforcement — but it was also motivated by racial bias: Many white American soldiers refused to fight alongside their black counterparts.

The decision to hand off command of the 369th to the French started with some small-arms complications. After the regiment’s limited combat training stateside, they were issued Springfield rifles, which they had to give back after being assigned to the French, along with “almost every bit of American gear” they had — including helmets, Army greens, and food rations, according to author Stephen L. Harris’ book, “Harlem’s Hell Fighters.”

In place of their Springfields, the 369th received the French Lebel rifle — which had a reputation for reliability, but was temperamental and annoying to load. Some members of the regiment, like Capt. Hamilton Fish, saw the exchange as a bit of a disappointment.

“Their Lebels were nowhere near as good as our Springfields,” Fish said in Harris’ account. “The French, you see, were great believers in the hand grenade — their rifles seemed more or less something to put a bayonet on.”

2. That’s okay: The Hellfighters had “Black Death” and bolo knives.

While standing watch in the Argonne Forest in May 1918, two 369th soldiers, Pvt. Henry Johnson and Pvt. Needham Roberts, were attacked by a 12-man German raiding party. Outnumbered and under fire, the two men fought off the initial attack, but after Roberts was badly wounded. Johnson remained with the injured soldier to keep him from being taken prisoner by the Germans.

Wounded, advancing on the enemy with only a bolo knife, Johnson killed one German soldier by stabbing him in the head and forced the survivors to retreat. Johnson’s actions earned him national acclaim, as well as the incredibly metal nickname “Black Death.” (Eat your heart out, “Bear Jew.”)

Johnson and Roberts were among the first Americans to be awarded the French Croix de Guerre, France’s highest military award for valor. And in 2015, Johnson became the second African-American to receive the Medal of Honor for actions during World War I, presented by President Barack Obama during a posthumous award ceremony at the White House.

3. When not kicking ass in the Marne, be-bopping Hellfighters helped bring jazz to Europe.

Among the Hellfighters’ many distinguished members was James Reese Europe, a renowned ragtime and jazz musician who served as both an infantry officer and the regiment’s bandleader.

Europe had a hard time finding enough trained recruits to play in the regimental band in New York, so he traveled to Puerto Rico and enlisted more than a dozen black instrumentalists from the island to round out his band, according to the New York Folklore Society. “The band, which recruited up to a third of their members from Puerto Rico, introduced European audiences, particularly in France, to live jazz music and influenced the careers of notable musicians” on both sides of the Atlantic, according to the Society.

Musicians like Europe continued to play while serving abroad, touring thousands of miles to perform, according to Rod Paschall, director of the U.S. Army’s Military History Institute. This exposure to a deeply American style of music — jazz — had a profound and lasting impact in France. It also produced a corps of Latin and black musicians who found themselves in demand in New York after their service.

“While concrete proof is impossible to produce in these sorts of social movements,” Paschall writes. “It is likely that the regiment’s band performances in 1917 and 1918 had much to do with creating or accelerating the French tastes for American jazz — a phenomenon that has persisted until this day.”

• Women were confined to working as cooks, seamstresses, and nurses in the US military during the 18th and 19th centuries.
• Their roles expanded with the formation of the Women's Army Corps in 1941.
• Women became integrated into the US military in 1978, except they weren't allowed to serve in combat.
• As of 2015, there are no more restrictions about what positions women can or cannot hold in the army.

During the Revolutionary War, women helped the war effort as cooks and nurses. Some women even disguised themselves as men in order to fight on the front lines, hundreds doing the same during the American Civil War.

Today, 16.9% of the army is female and women continue to climb the ranks and reach historic levels of command (and they're probably not disguised when they do it ...).

Here's how women's roles have changed in the US military over the years.

Women were confined to working as cooks, seamstresses, and nurses in the 18th and 19th centuries — but some women distinguished themselves as heroes off the battlefield.

Women weren't allowed to serve in the armed forces on the battlefield, but they aided the war effort in clerical roles or as cooks, seamstresses, laundresses, or nurses during the Revolutionary War.

There were also heroic women who distinguished themselves during the war such as Nancy Hart, who worked as a spy and is most famous for holding British soldiers at gunpoint in her home after they killed her last turkey.

Some women took drastic measures to join the front lines.

During the Civil War, over 400 women secretly enlisted in the military disguised as men, according to the US Army's official website. Women also worked as spies, sneaking information past unsuspecting British troops.

During World War I, 35,000 women served in the army.

Most of the women worked as nurses or in food preparation, but they also filled roles of telephone operators and architects in addition to secretarial and administrative work.

• US Army snipers recently tested a new lightweight sniper rifle built to offer more accurate fire at greater distances.
• The snipers field tested the new M110A1 Compact, Semi-Automatic Sniper System (CSASS), an upgraded version of the M110 SASS currently used by Army snipers.
• To test the new rifle, the snipers put thousands of rounds downrange and battled it out in force-on-force exercises.

US Army sharpshooters recently field tested a new, more accurate sniper rifle out west, where these top marksman fired thousands of rounds and even when waged simulated warfare in force-on-force training.

Eight Army Ivy Division snipers assigned to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team tested out the new M110A1 Compact, Semi-Automatic Sniper System (CSASS), an upgraded version of the current M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System (SASS), at Fort Carson in Colorado, the Army revealed in a statement.

Comparatively, the new CSASS offers advantageous features like increased accuracy and reduced weight, among other improvements.

"The CSASS is smaller, lighter, and more ergonomic, as the majority of the changes were requested by the Soldiers themselves," Victor Yarosh, an individual involved in the weapon's development, explained last summer. "The rifle is easier to shoot and has less recoil, all while shooting the same round as the M110," which fires a 7.62 mm round.

"The CSASS has increased accuracy, which equates to higher hit percentages at longer ranges."

Read More: Shoot like a sniper — top Army marksmen reveal how they take out targets from far away

The recent testing involved having the "snipers employ the system in the manner and the environment they would in combat," according to Maj. Mindy Brown, a US Army Operational Test Command CSASS test officer.

Snipers put a total of 8,000 rounds downrange before battling it out in force-on-force exercises, and they did it all in freezing, single-digit temperatures.

The snipers described the exercises as "the best Sniper training they'd received since attending Sniper School at Fort Benning, GA." During the force-on-force drills, Army sniper teams went head to head in natural and urban environments, competing to see who could "infiltrate, detect, and engage whom first," the service said in a statement.

Read More: US Army sharpshooters reveal how they hunt enemy snipers in a deadly 'game of cat and mouse'

These types of drills are an "extremely fantastic way for us as Snipers to hone our field craft," Sgt. 1st Class Cecil Sherwood, one of the snipers involved in the testing said.

Read More: America's deadliest sharpshooters reveal how they disappear in plain sight

The CSASS has not been fielded yet, but last year, Congress approved the Army's planned $46.2 million purchase of several thousand CSASS rifles.

The Army began fielding the Squad Designated Marksman Rifle (SDM-R), distributing the weapon — a derivative of the CSASS — to a few select units for limited user testing last fall. The rifle "provides infantry, scout, and engineer squads the capability to engage with accurate rifle fire at longer ranges," the Army said.

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• The Trump administration plans to close its international immigration offices. 
• Doing so would likely harm members of the military stationed abroad who are trying to apply for citizenship.
• The move could also slow down family visa applications and adoptions.
• The Trump administration reportedly believes this will help decrease the backlog of immigration cases inside the US. 

The Trump administration plans to close its international immigration offices, a move that would likely harm members of the military stationed abroad who are trying to apply for citizenship, The Washington Post reported.

The move could also slow down family visa applications and adoptions.

In an email obtained by the Washington Post, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Francis Cissna told staff that the work would likely be shifted to the State Department if an agreement is reached between the two agencies.

"Change can be difficult and can cause consternation," he said in the email to staff, according to the Post. "I want to assure you we will work to make this as smooth a transition as possible for each of our USCIS staff while also ensuring that those utilizing our services may continue to do so and our agency operations continue undisrupted."

The Trump administration reportedly believes this will help decrease the backlog of immigration cases inside the US. Officials also think the move will save the government millions a year. However, critics say it is just another Trump administration move to slash legal immigration and discourage people from coming to the US.

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• Palantir won a contract to develop an intelligence system for the U.S. Army that could be worth $800 million, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
• This project is for the Distributed Common Ground System, which helps the Army analyze information on movements, terrain, and weather in remote areas.
• This is the first time Palantir is working on a government project that's part of the congressional budget, called a "defense program of record."

Big data company Palantir won an $800 million contract to develop a battlefield intelligence system for the U.S. Army, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

Although Palantir has worked with the government in the past, this is the first time Palantir has been named a "defense program of record," which means that this multi-year project is part of the congressional budget.

“Supporting Soldiers in their critical missions, and making sure they come home safely to their families, is a point of immense pride at Palantir. It’s why we started the company,” Doug Philippone, head of Palantir’s defense business, said in a statement to Business Insider.

This project for the Distributed Common Ground System will help the Army analyze information on movements, terrain, and weather, as well as create real-time maps and reports.

Read more: The CEO of the secretive big-data startup Palantir, which is looking to IPO this year, says he finds out about a stopped terrorist attack once a week

Palantir competed with Raytheon for this contract. The Army tried out both companies' products before picking a winner. Although Palantir won this contract, it may still compete with Raytheon for future projects in this program, the Washington Post reported.

Palantir is reportedly planning to go public at a valuation of $41 billion as early as this year. Palantir CEO Alex Karp had said its technology has been used in high-stakes missions and can prevent terrorist attacks.

"We look forward to our partnership with the men and women of the U.S. Army and will do everything we can to ensure this technology makes them more successful," Philippone said in a statement.

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• The Army is developing new camouflage systems to hide soldiers from an emerging threat — high-end thermal sensors being developed by great-power rivals.
• The service is investing in new systems with the ability to effectively mask a soldier's body heat and break up his electronic signature, Gen. Mark Milley, the Army's chief of staff, told lawmakers.
• Army snipers previously told Business Insider that advanced thermal sensors are now one of the greatest challenges to concealment, but the Army has some new ideas that will let them disappear like never before.
• Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.

The US Army is working on new camouflage systems to protect soldiers waging war on future battlefields from one of the greatest threats to their survival, a top Army general told lawmakers on Tuesday.

"Advanced camouflage technologies are critical," Gen. Mark Milley, the Army's chief of staff, told the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee, Military.com first reported. "We are putting a fair amount of money into advanced camouflage systems, both individual, unit, vehicle, etc."

The general said that future battlefields are likely to be "highly lethal" environments where "units will be cut off and separated," making soldier lethality and survivability key.

"We know that adversary [target] acquisition systems are very, very capable in that, if you can see a target, with precision munitions ... you can hit a target," he said. "So camouflage systems that break up electronic signatures and break up heat signatures are critical."

In an era of renewed great-power competition, the Army is increasingly looking closely at protecting soldiers against advanced threats from countries such as China and Russia. Among the greatest threats soldiers face is advanced sensing technology, a top US Army sniper previously told Business Insider.

"Defeating a thermal signature is probably the hardest thing that a sniper has to do, especially with the emerging technology by our near-peer enemies," Staff Sgt. David Smith, a sniper instructor at Fort Benning, said, adding that while it is easy for snipers to hide in the visible spectrum, it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to disappear as US rivals "creep into the thermal arena."

A US Army soldier may be concealed and well hidden from the watchful eyes of the enemy but light up like a Christmas tree on a high-end thermal-imaging device, which can detect the temperature difference between a human body, typically 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, and the environment they're hiding in. 

Read more: America's deadliest sharpshooters reveal how they disappear in plain sight

Milley didn't identify which systems the Army is working on, but the projects would likely include systems such as the new Ultra-Light Camouflage Netting System (ULCANS) and possibly the Improved Ghillie System (IGS) being developed for snipers.

ULCANS, developed by Fibrotex, is a kind of advanced camouflage designed to conceal troops from night vision, thermal imaging, radar, and more. The Army awarded Fibrotex a multimillion-dollar contract last year to supply US troops with this technology.

Read more: The US Army's new camouflage will hide soldiers and tanks in plain sight — wherever they are

The IGS is in testing and is expected to eventually replace the older Flame Resistant Ghillie System (FRGS) that Army sharpshooters are wearing now. It is unclear if this new system is designed to counter thermal sensors, but it is being put through full-spectrum testing.

Read more: Army snipers played hide-and-seek to test new camouflaged ghillie suits for next-level combat

It's not enough to just hide, Army soldiers are having to change the way they conceal themselves to disappear like they have never done before as adversaries step up their game.

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• Happy Armed Forces Day!
• Established in 1949 by President Harry S. Truman, Armed Forces Day celebrates and gives thanks to the military for their service. It's celebrated on the third Saturday in May.
• So in honor of the holiday, we rounded up 33 of the best pictures taken by military photographers.
• Visit INSIDER's homepage for more stories. 

The Patriots Jet Team performs aerial acrobatics as pyrotechnics provided by the Tora Bomb Squad of the Commemorative Air Force explode, forming a "Wall Of Fire" during an air show on March 18, 2017.

Construction Mechanic Constructionman Matt Adams traverses a mud-filled pit while participating in the endurance course at the Jungle Warfare Training Center in Okinawa, Japan on Feb. 17, 2017.

The amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island transits the Arabian Sea on March 3, 2017.

• Breaching a heavily-defended enemy position is a complex and risky operation, one that requires suppressing fire, battlefield obscurants, electronic warfare capabilities, and a physical breach unit built to break through.
• These operations are exceptionally dangerous as the enemy will throw everything it can at those attempting to shatter their defenses.
• The US Army and Marines recently experimented with a new 80-ton robotic assault breacher vehicle made to rip up minefields and clear obstacles without putting their lives at risk.
• Visit INSIDER's homepage for more stories.

Soldiers and Marines have risked life and limb in dangerous breach operations on the battlefield, but new technology will help keep them out of harms way.

"We never, ever want to send another soldier into a breach, so how do we do this completely autonomously?" Gen. Mike Murray, head of Army Futures Command, asked at Yakima Training Center in Washington state recently, Defense News reported.

The answer to the general's question: A monstrous robotic Assault Breacher Vehicle, an 80-ton battlefield bulldozer built to rip up minefields and remove obstacles.

The Army and Marines have been using manned M1150 ABVs for breach operations for nearly a decade.

An Assault Breacher Vehicle (ABV) is essentially an M1 Abrams tank that has been upgraded with armor improvements and had its turret replaced with either a mine plow or a combat dozer blade able to clear a path for other assets.

These mobile, heavily-armored minefield and obstacle clearing vehicles have traditionally been manned by a crew of two.

The plan is to get those troops out.

"That is a very dangerous point to put soldiers and Marines, especially when dealing with explosive obstacles," 1st Lt. David Aghakhan, ABV Platoon Commander, said in a statement, adding that new robotic variants give "us the option to take the operator out of the vehicle, and still push that vehicle through the lane, creating that mobility for follow-on forces."

The Army and the Marines tested a robotic version of the ABV for the first time out at Yakima Training Center a few weeks ago in a first step toward pulling troops out of the breach.

"This is something we cried from the mountain tops for. Somebody listened," Lonni Johnston, program manager for Army Future Command's Robotic Complex Breach Concept (RCBC) and former assistant program manager for the ABV program, told Business Insider.

During the recent demonstration at Yakima, a prototype was put to the test. "This is the first time this has been used. We've never had a robotic version of this until now," Johnston explained.

The robotic ABVs in the recent test were supported by a robotic Polaris MRZR vehicle capable of creating smoke screens, as well as suppression fire units, which in a real situation could be either manned or unmanned.

"A breach is one of the most complex maneuvers during any type of military operation because there are so many components to it," Johnston explained.

The breach is one of the most dangerous places a soldier or Marine can find themselves.

"The breach is literally the worst place on Earth," Johnston, a retired Army officer, told BI. "It's the most dangerous place on the planet."

"Every gun, every cannon, everything that shoots a missile or a bullet is going to be aimed at that breach," he added. "When you are attacking an enemy force that is hellbent on keeping you out, they are going to do whatever they can to do that."

So, the Army and Marines are looking at robotic systems smash through the breach, which soldiers and manned vehicles can then flow through.

The services have a number of challenges to surmount for robotic ABVs to be effective against a tough adversary.

It's unclear when the robotic ABVs will be ready for deployment, but the Army is envisions fielding six per brigade, four with mine plows and two with combat dozer blades. That is how many the service believes it needs to clear two breach lanes.

Each vehicle would be operated by one person in either a stationary or mobile command and control center.

Challenges include electronic countermeasures, such as jamming technology that could be used by an enemy to incapacitate these vehicles. There are also concerns about what to do if it dies mid-breach, inadvertently becoming just the kind of obstacle it was meant to obliterate.

These are some of the things the services will have to explore as they push forward on this technology.

• Bunker Labs provides online courses and community networks to military veterans looking to start their own business.
• The startups in Bunker Labs' incubator have raised $80 million in capital since 2014.
• More important than capital and classes, Bunker Labs provides veterans with a social network. Reports show that veterans have higher rates of suicide and homelessness due in part to inadequate support systems.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

After serving in the Marines for six years, Jim Raschella left his family and friends to move to Raleigh, North Carolina, where he didn't know a single soul.

The veteran chose Raleigh for its thriving tech scene, which he knew he'd need as he started his own business: a tech company that helps police officers keep better track of their schedules.

Raschella's status as a veteran made his solo move potentially dangerous. Veterans have higher rates of suicide and homelessness, due in part to inadequate support systems, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.

Luckily for Raschella, he discovered Bunker Labs, an entrepreneurship incubator that helps military veterans and their families start their own businesses. Todd Connor, Bunker Labs' cofounder, said the nonprofit has opened chapters in 26 cities since launching five years ago. The company provides online courses to teach aspiring entrepreneurs the fundamentals of business. The company also partners with WeWork to provide workspaces, and has partnerships with the likes of JPMorgan Chase, Macy's, and Comcast. 

Since 2014, the company has created 1,000 jobs for veterans, raised $80 million in capital through startups in its incubator, and provided training to create 1,012 startups. Some of the companies that have used Bunker Labs for funding or education include Cowboy Cricket Farm, which sells cookies using bug protein, and Yosa Matcha, which sells premium matcha powder from Japan. 

Connor said entrepreneurship and military service go hand-in-hand. After World War II, 49% of veterans came home to start their own business, he said. The number has decreased, in part because less people are joining the military: the Army fell thousands of recruits short of its goal last year for the first time since the Iraq war. 

In the 20th century, Connor said veterans had stronger support networks. Many people had brothers, cousins, sisters, or direct family members in the military.

"Today, only 1% of young people join the military," Connor said. "When they get out, it's not that they don't have the skills or desires — they don't have the connection that the 99% do."

More than the online course and grants, Bunker Labs provides veterans a place where they can bounce ideas, or give business advice based on experience. "The biggest thing Bunker Labs can solve for is create a tiny network ecosystems for veterans to get the people resources to be successful as entrepreneurs," he said.

The social network came of most use to Raschella. The hardest part about being a veteran, the entrepreneur said, was the realization he would leave his adrenaline-fueled life in the military behind to work in a cubicle from 9 to 5. 

Entrepreneurship gave him the same rush he felt in the military. "We've made hundreds of thousands of dollars in mistakes — that's an adrenaline rush," he said.

With Bunker Labs, Raschella found a community that could both help him grow his business, and also go out for a drink with.

 "You're kind of welcome everywhere, which is really cool," he said. "We wear [our Bunker Labs membership] as a badge just like we used to wear uniforms."

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• Engineers at the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) are working on a small, lightweight infantry rifle with the ability to perform like an M4 and fire rounds at twice the muzzle velocity of a standard-issue sidearm.
• The aim, one engineer explained, is to get rifle-like capabilities out of smaller, high capacity weapons that could be used for room clearing operations and combat in a confined space.
• The current unnamed prototype has only a 10-inch barrel, but it has been able to reach muzzle velocities of 2,900 feet per second, significantly faster than other comparable compact firearms.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Sometimes, size truly doesn't matter.

Engineers with the Army Research Laboratory are working on a new infantry weapon that, at half the weight and length of the M4 carbine, is capable of firing rounds at double the muzzle velocity of a standard-issue sidearm that could easily defeat Russian or Chinese body armor.

The as-of-yet-unnamed prototype, currently in development at the ARL's Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, integrates an unusual breech and barrel design and an improved tapered-bore barrel to achieve lethality at extended range — and despite its dainty 10-inch barrel, apparently outperforms other compact firearms like the FN P90, reportedly hitting a muzzle velocity of roughly 2,900 feet per second.

"The goal is to get rifle-like velocities out of a very small weapon that is high capacity, that's either adaptable for room-clearing or confined spaces," ARL engineer Zac Wingard told TechLink, which first reported on the development of the new weapon. "Like you're getting in and out of vehicles or a subterranean environment, but also applicable for remotely operated systems."

Unfortunately, rank-and-file soldiers won't get their hands on this lethal bad boy anytime soon. While the pursuit of lethality at range has induced the Army to engineer a brand new Next-Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) chambered in an intermediate 6.8mm cased-telescoped round to lighten the system's overall weight, this ammo requirement means that the NGSW will remain a distinct platform from the weapons system that researchers are cooking up at Aberdeen.

"This effort is not the Next-Generation Squad Weapon intermediate caliber," ARL spokeswoman T'Jae Ellis told Task & Purpose, noting that the service couldn't yet provide a specific effective range for their unnamed prototype. "This effort is about accelerating technology transition from the laboratory prototype and integrating into other programs."

The way the prototype is designed is relatively simple. While increased chamber pressure would require the significantly bulkier bolt assembly to accommodate for the additional force, the new rifle's barrel breech assembly locks in like a screw. In addition, tapered-bore barrels allowed Army researchers to translate that increased chamber pressure into additional kinetic energy on the round itself, maintaining lethality at extended ranges.

While the overall goal of the ARL project is to reduce the system's overall weight and bulkiness, the added chamber pressure packs a delightfully lethal punch when applied to various platforms. As researchers toldTechLink, one 24-inch tapered-bore barrel produced velocities of between 4,600 to 5,750 feet per second and boosted overall chamber pressure to between 65 ksi and 100 ksi, near double that of the M4 carbine.

Based on the Army's response to Task & Purpose, it seems likely that at least some of the engineering lessons picked up on the ARL prototype will make their way into the NGSW platform that officials once equated to the iPhone in its relatively versatility and potential for iterative improvements.

Indeed, Army HQ force development division chief Col. Geoffrey A. Norman previously told Task & Purpose that the NGSW would fire a small bullet "at the pressure equivalent to what a tank would fire" using specially-designed ammo in order to maintain kinetic energy at ranges up to 600 meters.

"The chamber pressure for the standard assault rifle is around 45 KSI [kilopound per square inch], but we're looking for between 60 and 80 KSI … the chamber pressure when an M1 Abrams tank fires is on that order," Norman said during a February 2018 interview. "We're looking to reach out around 600 meters and have lethal effects even if the target is protected by body armor."

All of this, Norman added, was in the service of the U.S. military's broad pivot to so-called "great power competition" with adversaries like Russia and China.

"For the past 10 or 15 years, we've been really focused on the requirement of lethal effects against unprotected targets," he said at the time. "Now we're looking at near-peer threats like Russia and others. We need to have lethal effects against protected targets and we need to have requirements for long-range lethality in places like Afghanistan, where you're fighting from mountaintop to mountaintop over extended ranges."

Changing Army requirements may necessitate such integrations sooner rather than later. In late March, Textron Systems' AAI Corporation announced the delivery of an initial NGSW prototype demonstrator to Army combat capabilities officials to "inform the Army's formal NGSW program and include weapon and ammunition weight reduction, weapon sound suppression, as well as fire control integration technology."

The following April, Army modernization officials told Congress that the service aims to start fielding NGSW in fall 2021.

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• An Army veteran died mysteriously two days after he was arrested in Pennsylvania last year.
• Authorities said that Everett Palmer Jr. died after banging his head against his cell door in an agitated fit, while a coroner suggested he passed away due to methamphetamine-related complications.
• When Palmer's body was returned to the family, his brain, heart, and throat were all missing, and authorities weren't particularly forthcoming on the details of where they went.
• It's been a year since Palmer passed away in police custody, and the family is still searching for answers, rejecting the explanations provided thus far.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Two days after Army veteran Everett Palmer Jr. turned himself into Pennsylvania authorities in April 2018 for a DUI-related arrest warrant, he was dead. It's been over a year since he passed, but his family is still searching for answers.

Palmer was pronounced dead at a York hospital on April 9, 2018 at 5:46 a.m. at the age of 41. Beyond this small collection of hard facts, the rest of the story surrounding Palmer's death is murky.

York County Prison initially said he "became agitated and began hitting his head against the inside of his cell door." He was then taken to the prison medical clinic, where he inexplicably became unresponsive. Palmer was transported to York Hospital, where his life ended.

A coroner later concluded that the former Army paratrooper died from "complications following an excited state, associated with methamphetamine toxicity, during physical restraint," adding that a sickling red cell disorder might have contributed to his demise.

Authorities have yet to explain how he would have had methamphetamines in his system after spending two days in police custody.

A pathologist hired by the family, who believes the narrative surrounding Palmer's death is suspicious, reportedly determined he was the victim of a homicide.

One particularly troubling thing is that when the body was turned over to the family, it was badly bruised, and several of his body parts — namely his brain, heart, and throat — were missing.

"When we reached out to find out what happened to his organs, they initially lied," Palmer's brother Dwayne Palmer told Spectrum News NY1. "They directed us back to our funeral director and told us that we need to confer with them because they probably took the organs."

Palmer's brother has told reporters that he suspects Everett's death was a homicide.

An attorney working with the family said that this "makes no sense, unless you're trying to maybe avoid people knowing how he died." Marlon Kirton, the attorney, reportedly suggested that death could have been the result of asphyxiation.

The family has rejected the possibility that Palmer took drugs in prison or that he would have slammed his head into his cell. His mother, Rose Palmer, told reporters that her son "was not a troublemaker."

Palmer, reportedly under the influence, crashed a Honda Accord in 2016 but failed to show up in court, leading a judge to issue a warrant for his arrest in Pennsylvania where the accident occurred. Palmer, who was living in Delaware and working as a personal trainer, turned himself in after learning about the warrant, the Queens Daily Eagle reported.

The family was shocked when they got the call that he was dead two days later.

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• K.T. Robbins met Jeannine Pierson in 1944, when he was 24-year-old soldier and she was 18.
• After 75 years, the pair was reunited when Robbins traveled to France to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.
• "I've always thought of him, thinking maybe he'll come," Pierson said.

An American D-Day veteran was reunited with his French love, 75 years after they first parted, USA Today reports.

K.T. Robbins kept a photo of the girl he met in the village of Briey in 1944. Jeannine Pierson, then Ganaye, was 18 when she met the Army veteran, who was 24 at the time.

"I think she loved me," Robbins, now in his late nineties, told television station France 2 during an interview. Travelling to France for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, Robbins said he hoped to track down Pierson's family, the BBC reports. "For sure, I won't ever get to see her. She's probably gone now."

Robbins left Pierson when he was transferred east. "I told her, 'Maybe I'll come back and take you some time,'" he said. "But it didn't happen." After the war, Robbins returned to the US, got married, and started a family. Pierson, too, married, and had five children.

After Robbins showed the photo of the young Pierson to France 2 journalists, they tracked her down — she was still alive, now 92, and living just 40 miles from the village where they had originally met.

Robbins reunited with his wartime love at Sainte Famille, her retirement home in the town of Montigny-les-Metz.

"I've always thought of him, thinking maybe he'll come," Pierson said. And, 75 years later, he did.

"I've always loved you. I've always loved you. You never got out of my heart," Robbins told Pierson upon their reunion.

The two sat together and told reporters about the time they spend together so many years ago.

"When he left in the truck I cried, of course, I was very sad,'' Pierson told reporters. "I wish, after the war, he hadn't returned to America." She also started to learn English after World War II, in hopes Robbins would return.

"I was wondering, 'Where is he? Will he come back?' I always wondered," Pierson said.

"You know, when you get married, after that you can't do it anymore,'' Robbins said about returning to find Peirson earlier. Robbins' wife, Lillian, died in 2015.

While the two had to part again — Robbins left for Normandy to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion — they promised to meet again soon.

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• The forces that would eventually become the US Army date back to June 14, 1775, when a group of militias joined together to fight British soldiers.
• The oldest images date back to the Civil War, and would soon be vital to capturing troops during World War I and Word War II for audiences back home.
• These are the highlights from the service's 244 year history.
• Visit INSIDER's homepage for more stories.

On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia voted to "adopt" troops in Boston and New York City, forming the force that, in the centuries since, grew to become the US Army.

From it start as state militias joined together to fight the fearsome British redcoats, the US Army has gone on to become the strongest fighting force in the world.

The US Army, the largest branch of the US armed forces, is charged with land-based operations, drawing on some of the best technology in the world to do it. 

Here are some images from the US Army's storied history.

SEE ALSO: 29 photos of the US's war in Afghanistan — a fight James Mattis says 'we are not winning ... right now'

Some of the first pictures of the US Army are of Union soldiers during the Civil War. Here's a photo of soldiers camping along the west bank of the Rappahonnock River at Fredericksburg, Virginia, during the Battle of Chancellorsville.

One of the most famous Army units was Teddy Roosevelt's "Rough Riders." They are pictured here after the Battle of San Juan in 1898.

The Army began acquiring fixed-wing aircraft in 1910. Here, Army planes fly over Manhattan in 1939.

World War I was marked by horrors like poison gas and fighting in trenches, the latter of which often were plagued by rats and lice and were breeding grounds for disease. The US sent thousands of "doughboys" to fight in France, like those shown here charging over the top of a trench in 1917.

US soldiers in France in 1918 wearing gas masks.

On November 11, 1918, the Armistice of Compiègne was signed between the Allies and Germany, effectively ending World War I. Here, soldiers celebrate the war's end.

The US Army troops were the bulk of the American force that came ashore during the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944.

The 442nd Regimental Combat Team, composed almost entirely of American soldiers of Japanese descent who volunteered to fight, won acclaim for its bravery during World War II. It is the most decorated force in US Army history.

The Army also fought alongside the Marines in the Pacific against Japan. Here, infantrymen advance alongside an M4 Sherman tank in the Solomon Islands.

President Harry Truman desegregated the Army in 1948. The Korean War was the first major conflict to have integrated units.

The Army has few fixed-wing aircraft, but it operates many kinds of rotary-wing aircraft. Here, US Army helicopters drop off American soldiers during an offensive against the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War.

Here, as fellow troopers aid wounded comrades, the first sergeant of A Company, 101st Airborne Division, guides a medevac helicopter through the jungle foliage to pick up casualties suffered during a five-day patrol near Hue in Vietnam in April 1968.

The Army had a central role in Operation Desert Storm, the US-led mission to liberate Kuwait from Iraq in 1990-1991. Here, troops from the Army's 7th Corps huddle with protective gear, fearing a chemical-weapons strike by Saddam Hussein after the US started bombing Iraq.

US Army self-propelled 155mm Howitzers assigned to the 7th Corps head toward the Kuwaiti border to force out Iraqi forces.

The Army has also functioned as a police force in war-torn areas. Two soldiers here provide security during a foot patrol in Ramadi, Iraq.

Members of the Army National Guard help serve in peacekeeping missions around the world and aid US citizens during natural disasters. Here, a member of the Louisiana Army National Guard helps a child evacuate from flooding caused by Hurricane Isaac in 2012.

A Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter drops off a soldier. Black Hawks have been in service since 1979 and cost around $21.3 million.

Soldiers practice repelling out of a Black Hawk helicopter at Fort Hood Air Assault School.

The Army also includes airborne divisions. Here, paratrooper Staff Sgt. Travis Surber, a paratrooper with the 173rd Brigade Combat Team's Battle Company of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, parachutes out of a C-130 Hercules Transport Aircraft and into the Ukraine sky.

The US Army even has its own parachute team.

The Army also has its own special-operations team, the Army Rangers, who trace their lineage back to colonial times.

The Army also routinely deploys overseas to help train friendly nations. Here, soldiers from Charlie Company, 2nd Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment conduct Fire Phobia Training during a Kosovo Force Mission Rehearsal Exercise at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, January 21, 2014.

• The US Army turns 244 on June 14, 2019.
• The British Army posted a congratulatory tweet.
• What became the US Army formed in 1775 under threat from British forces.

The British Ministry of Defense couldn't let the US Army's 244th birthday go by without poking a bit of fun at its former rival.

"Happy 244th Birthday to our cousins, the @USArmy! After a rocky start, we have stood together in the trenches of the #FWW, on the beaches of Normandy, and the deserts of the Iraq and Afghanistan," the British Army's official account tweeted Friday, referencing the First World War and the "special relationship" between the two countries.

The US Army was informally established on June 14, 1775. A hodgepodge of colonial militias came together under the banner of the Continental Army when the Second Continental Congress "adopted" Boston's troops and Congress formed a committee to fund Boston's and New York's forces.

Colonial riflemen from Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland joined the New England militia, and George Washington officially became the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army on July 3 that same year. Those forces would evolve into today's US Army.

Of course, the Continental Army —and the fledgling United States —  was facing an existential threat from the British military, which anticipated victory in short order.

In 1781, the Continental Army defeated the British at Yorktown, and the 1783 Treaty of Paris formally ended the war.

Needless to say relations have improved since the 18th century, although the two clashed in the War of 1812.

Britain is now one of the United States' closest allies, and has been since the early 20th century.

The US Army's Twitter account returned the favor, tweeting, "Hooah! Thank you for the shout out and support! We are honored to have such a great friend and ally."

"Don't eat too much cake," the British Army's account responded. 

• Read more: These are the 25 most powerful militaries in the world — and there's a clear winner

SEE ALSO: The US Army is 244 years old — here are 22 photos of its storied history

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• Mark T. Esper became the acting secretary of defense on Monday after former acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan stepped down from his post, citing family concerns.
• Esper is the former secretary of the Army, and was a lobbyist for the weapons manufacturer Raytheon.
• Esper attended West Point with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
• Visit Business Insider's hompage for more stories. 

Who is Mark Esper, the man President Donald Trump has tapped to lead the Pentagon after retired Gen. James Mattis' departure in December and Patrick Shanahan's abrupt resignation last week?

Esper comes to the position after the failed nomination of Patrick Shanahan, who Trump had picked to take over after Mattis resigned over Trump's announcement that he would pull troops from Syria. Shanahan withdrew his nomination last week after his confirmation hearing was stalled for months, and in the midst of a potential conflict with Iran.

Esper is the second acting defense secretary in six months, and will leave his post as secretary of the Army. Trump has nominated Ryan McCarthy, the under secretary of the Army to take Esper's place in the Army's top post, according to The New York Times. 

Esper is a graduate of West Point, Harvard University, and George Washington University.

Esper is a 1986 graduate of West Point, the US Military Academy, where he was classmates with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Esper has a Master's of Public Administration from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, as well as a Ph.D in public policy from George Washington University, according to his official Department of Defense biography. 

In February 2018, while serving as secretary of the Army, Esper visited his alma mater, where he participated in physical training exercises with cadets and discussed increased reports of sexual assault and harassment at the military academy, according to PointerView, a weekly publication for the West Point community. 

Esper was commissioned to the infantry and served in the Gulf War.

After graduation, Esper joined the Army infantry and served in the Persian Gulf War. According to his official Department of Defense biography, Esper completed Ranger and Pathfinder schools before serving with the 101st Airborne Division — also known as the "Screaming Eagles."

After the Gulf War, Esper was stationed in Vicenza, Italy, where he was in charge of a rifle company with the 3-325 Airborne Battalion Combat Team. Esper spent 10 years on active duty and 11 years in the Army Reserve and National Guard before retiring in 2007.

He has earned the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star medal and the Combat Infantryman badge, among other decorations.

Esper was a lobbyist for weapons manufacturer Raytheon.

After a stint as a Congressional staffer (and as former Sen. Fred Thompson's national policy director during his 2008 presidential campaign), Esper was the vice president for Government Relations at the Raytheon Company — in other words, a lobbyist for the weapons manufacturer, The New York Times reports.

Noah Bookbinder, executive director of government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington told the Associated Press, "While Esper may not have had sway over these types of deals as secretary of the Army, as acting Secretary of Defense he will have potential influence over such deals."

Esper was nominated to the position just after a proposed merger between his former employer and United Technologies Corporation was announced.

Esper served as Secretary of the Army.

Esper was nominated to the secretary of the Army position in 2017, and was sworn in on November 20 of that year. After just over 18 months at that post, Trump chose Esper to be his acting secretary of Defense, tweeting that he "will be naming Secretary of the Army, Mark Esper, to be the new Acting Secretary of Defense. I know Mark, and have no doubt he will do a fantastic job!"

According to The New York Times, Trump touted Esper's credentials during his announcement, calling Esper "a highly respected gentleman with a great career — West Point, Harvard, a tremendous talent."

Esper takes over the job from former acting Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan, who resigned his post last week.

Trump's previous acting secretary of defense, Patrick Shanahan, declined to go further with his nomination process, after Trump stalled for months on officially nominating him to the permanent post. He announced his resignation on June 18.

Shanahan stepped down after media reports about domestic abuse allegations, including a 2010 incident in which Shanahan's ex-wife claimed he hit her; Shanahan said she was the aggressor. Police in Seattle, where they lived at the time, arrested Shanahan's ex-wife but dropped charges against her due to lack of evidence, according to USA Today.

Trump said he was unaware of the incident, as well as one in which Shanahan's son, William, violently beat his mother with a baseball bat, when he nominated Shanahan to be deputy secretary of defense in 2017. Shanahan's official nomination to the Pentagon's top post was delayed as the FBI investigated those incidents.

"It is unfortunate that a painful and deeply personal family situation from long ago is being dredged up,"Shanahan said in a statement last Tuesday.

"I believe my continuing in the confirmation process would force my three children to relive a traumatic chapter in our family's life and reopen wounds we have worked years to heal."

Esper is walking into a tense standoff between the US and Iran.

Esper is walking into a turbulent national security landscape, after escalating tensions between the US and Iran have raised the specter of open conflict between the two countries.

Esper attended meetings last Thursday alongside Shanahan to determine how the US should respond to an Iranian attack on an unmanned US drone.

Esper reported for his first day of work on Monday. According to CBS News reporter Mark Knoller, Esper didn't respond to questions about his first order of business as he entered the Pentagon.

• Huawei Technologies Co employees worked on at least 10 research projects with Chinese armed forces personnel over the past decade, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. 
• According to the report, Huawei workers teamed up with members of various organs of China's People's Liberation Army in projects spanning artificial intelligence to radio communications.
• "Huawei is not aware of its employees publishing research papers in their individual capacity," Huawei spokesman Joe Kelly told Reuters.
• Concerns have been raised over the Huawei's suspected ties to the Chinese government as the company works on supplying technology for 5G services overseas. The US has said that Huawei technology could be used as a "back door" for the Chinese government to spy, an allegation the company has repeatedly denied. 

Huawei Technologies Co employees worked on at least 10 research projects with Chinese armed forces personnel over the past decade, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, collaborations the Chinese company said it was not aware of.

Huawei workers teamed up with members of various organs of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) in projects spanning artificial intelligence to radio communications, Bloomberg said.

"Huawei is not aware of its employees publishing research papers in their individual capacity," Huawei spokesman Joe Kelly told Reuters, adding that the company does not have any research and development collaboration or partnerships with PLA-affiliated institutions.

"Huawei only develops and produces communications products that conform to civil standards worldwide, and does not customise R&D products for the military."

Huawei has come under mounting scrutiny for over a year, led by U.S. allegations that "back doors" in its routers, switches and other gear could allow China to spy on U.S. communications.

The company has denied its products pose a security threat.

The U.S. government last month effectively banned its agencies from buying Huawei telecommunications equipment and put severe restrictions on U.S. companies doing business with Huawei.

The research projects are part of a few publicly disclosed studies, Bloomberg said, adding it culled the papers from published periodicals and online research databases used mainly by Chinese academics and industry specialists.

(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru and Sijia Jiang in Hong Kong; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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