Marine Corps Passes DoD Audit for 3rd Year in a Row
(US Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Brian A. Stippey)
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The US Marine Corps has passed its fiscal 2025 financial audit for the third year in a row, reports Military Times. The Corps has long been the only service to pass a “clean, unmodified audit opinion” across the military and the DoD as a whole since 2018, when it was first mandated to conduct a full audit. The report for FY2025 is available here.
The US is sending the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to the Middle East, reports The Hill. The Ford will join the USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group already positioned in the US Central Command area, as tensions between the US and Iran heat up. The Ford and its escort ships are currently in the Caribbean.
USNI fleet tracker weekly reports the approximate positions of the US Navy’s deployed carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups throughout the world. Here is the Feb. 9, 2026, Fleet and Marine Tracker.
Two US Navy ships collided in the Caribbean last week, and two sailors were injured, reports Fox News. US Navy guided missile destroyer USS Truxtun and supply ship USNS Supply were said to be sailing safely following the Wednesday afternoon incident. The cause of the collision is under investigation.
Rescue efforts for US Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Chukwuemeka E. Oforah, 21, were suspended Feb. 10, three days after the Marine went overboard in the Caribbean Sea, reports Navy Times. Oforah fell from the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima on Feb. 7. He has been declared dead after rescue efforts were unsuccessful.
DefSec Pete Hegseth said he would appeal the ruling that temporarily blocked the Defense Department from demoting Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) for joining a video saying troops and government employees can resist unlawful orders, reports International Business Times. US District Judge Richard Leon said that no Supreme Court precedent justifies the Pentagon’s censuring Kelly, AP News reported when the opinion was handed down.
Enlisted leaders told a Senate Armed Services personnel subcommittee last week that there is no evidence that women in combat roles lower standards in the service, reports Navy Times. They said they support women serving in any role in the military, including in combat, if they meet the established standards.
Amid political turmoil in Haiti, the USS Stockdale warship arrived off coast of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, earlier this month, reports Miami Herald. The Stockdale joined two US Coast Guard cutters already patrolling in the waters nearby. Haiti was bracing for possible unrest as its Transitional Presidential Council, an interim governing body, had reached the end of its term Feb. 7. Haiti’s transitional council stepped down and handed over power to the US-backed Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime, reports dw.com. Fils-Aime faces the task of organizing elections that have not been held since 2016.
Border patrol agents prompted the airspace closure over El Paso, TX, Tuesday night and into Wednesday after using a high-powered laser to shoot down what was thought to be a Mexican drone but was later revealed to be a mylar party balloon that had drifted into the sky near the US-Mexico border, reports NPR. The Federal Aviation Administration originally closed the airspace for ten days but reopened it a few hours later.
The US Army has been acquiring multiple versions of the AeroVironment LOCUST laser weapon system to bolster its ability to shoot down hostile drones, reports TWZ. While questions remain about how the flight restrictions over El Paso came to be imposed last week, LOCUST was designed to respond to exactly the kinds of drones that regularly fly across the southern border from Mexico.
SpaceX sent four fresh crew members to the International Space Station into a Crew Dragon capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket on Friday, reports CBS News. The latest mission is to replace four fliers who came home early last month because of a medical emergency. The new crew consists of commander Jessica Meir, pilot Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
Texas-based startup Axiom Space secured $350 million from investors for its plan to advance projects such as a replacement for the International Space Station, reports Bloomberg on MSN. The funding round, which includes a fund affiliated with Donald Trump Jr., comes as NASA prepares for its Artemis II mission to launch a manned trip around the moon no earlier than March. Crew members on the subsequent Artemis III mission will wear Axiom-made spacesuits.
Over the next few years, NASA and its partners are expected to make the transition from the aging International Space Station to an array of commercial space stations — and Seattle-based Teague is helping space station builders get ready for the change, reports GeekWire. The design firm is advising space companies such as Blue Origin, Axiom Space, and Voyager Technologies on how to lay out their orbital outposts.
The US is preparing to deploy roughly 200 troops to Nigeria where they will train the country’s armed forces as they battle an Islamist insurgency, reports Air Force Times. The troops will supplement a small team of American military officers already embedded with Nigerian forces.
The transfer of more than 5,700 detainees from Syria to Iraq was completed by US Central Command last week, reports APNews. The operation, which began Jan. 21, involved moving the ISIS suspects from detention facilities in Syria to Iraqi custody. Iraq is looking to put on trial some of the thousands of the IS detainees who were held for years in Syria.
The US Air Force is finalizing a deal with Boeing worth more than $100 million to replace the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker-busting bombs it used in Iran to strike nuclear sites last June, reports Air & Space Forces Magazine.
Personal finance company WalletHub released its report on 2026’s Most & Least Educated States in America. Overall, Maryland ranked third. World Population Review, a data analysis firm, has Maryland ranked as the second-most educated state in the country in its 2026 listing.
Contracts awarded in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., Feb. 12-13, 2026:
Clark Construction Group LLC, Bethesda, Maryland, was awarded a firm-fixed-price contract for the Arlington National Cemetery Phase III Cemetery Expansion. The amount of this action is $145,292,000, with a total cumulative face value of $167,587,000. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work will be performed in Fort Meyer, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of April 9, 2029. Fiscal 2026 construction, Cemeterial Expenses, Army funds in the amount of $145,292,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk District, is the contracting activity (W91236-26-C-A003).
Aim World Services Inc.,* Spring, Texas (N00023-26-D-0001); Alliance Global Group,* Owings Mills, Maryland (N00023-26-D-0002); Ami Expeditionary Healthcare LLC, Reston, Virginia (N00023-26-D-0003); Atlas Advisors LLC, Columbus, Ohio (N00023-26-D-0004); Cart.com Inc., Houston, Texas (N00023-26-D-0005); Dynamic Group LLC, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (N00023-26-D-0006); Global Dimensions LLC,* Fredericksburg, Virginia (N00023-26-D-0007); King & George LLC, Fort Worth, Texas (N00023-26-D-0008); Liberation Technology Services Inc.,* Tampa, Florida (N00023-26-D-0009); Longview International Technology Solutions Inc., Herndon, Virginia (N00023-26-D-0010); Luke & Associates Inc., Rockledge, Florida (N00023-26-D-0011); Metrea Special Aerospace ISR Inc., Tampa, Florida (N00023-26-D-0012); MLU Services LLC, Bogart, Georgia (N00023-26-D-0013); Parliament LLC,* Beachwood, Ohio (N00023-26-D-0014); Recovery Logistics LLC, Apex, North Carolina (N00023-26-D-0015); RK Strategic Management Solutions LLC,* San Antonio, Texas (N00023-26-D-0016); Rock-It Cargo USA LLC, Lititz, Pennsylvania (N00023-26-D-0017); Shipping Consultants Associated USA Inc.,* St. Johns, Florida (N00023-26-D-0018); Starside Security & Investigation Inc.,* Diamond Bar, California (N00023-26-D-0019); The Geo Group Inc., Boca Raton, Florida (N00023-26-D-0020); The Millennium Group Int’l LLC,* Reston, Virginia (N00023-26-D-0021); World Kinect Government Solutions Inc., Miami, Florida (N00023-26-D-0022); ISS Action Inc., Punta Gorda, Florida (N00023-26-D-0023); and Planate Management Group LLC,* Alexandria, Virginia (N00023-26-D-0024), are being awarded a $55,000,000,000 multiple award, firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity Worldwide Expeditionary Multiple Award Contract (WEXMAC) Territorial Integrity of the U.S. (TITUS) contract. The WEXMAC Titus 2.2 contract will provide supplies and services in support of, but not limited to, supporting the six phases of the continuum of military operations in support of the geographic Combatant Command’s joint operations, coalition partners, and other U.S. federal agencies in setting and sustaining the theater through the following requirements: theater opening (includes reception, staging, onward-movement, and integration support); sustainment; theater distribution; and stability operations and Defense Support of Civil Authorities support. The WEXMAC TITUS description of contractual scope provides that services and supplies provided through the performance of this contract include but are not limited to humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, contingency, exercise, lodging, logistics, water-based, and land-based support. The contracts will run concurrently. The base performance period for these new awardees will begin February 2026 and is expected to be completed by December 2029. If the option is exercised, the performance period will be completed by December 2034. Work will be performed in the U.S. and outlying territories, but because specific requirements cannot be predicted at this time, more specific information about the percentage of work and where it will be performed cannot be currently provided. Fiscal 2026 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $12,000 will be obligated ($500 on each of the 24 new contracts to fund the contracts’ minimum amounts) at time of award and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Additional funds will be obligated at the task order level with the appropriate fiscal year funding as issued by the customers for each area of responsibility. The requirement was competitively procured as full and open competition with 36 offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity.
*Small business
