🇮🇶🇮🇶🇮🇷🇺🇸 ⚡️ — Kata'ib Hezbollah's security official Abu Mujahid al-Issawi has released a statement warning if Iraq doesn't resume flights to Iran by October 1, Kata'ib Hezbollah may take action to close Iraqi border crossings and outlets of countries participating in the ongoing U.S.-led flight embargo against Iran.

Kata'ib Hezbollah also announces that it will now monitor Iraqi airspace for "hostile aircraft", and that it will issue a warning to any hostile aircraft detected then attempt to shoot them down. Kata'ib Hezbollah warned the Iraqi government against facilitating U.S. military aircraft activity above Iraq.

🇺🇸⚡️ — The US Navy’s USS Santa Barbara suffered serious mechanical problems during its 2026 deployment, with contracting documents warning that all four engines were operating beyond recommended limits and faced an “immediate, critical threat of mechanical failure,” according to The Washington Sun.

Documents show the littoral combat ship urgently required work on its propulsion engines and generators to prevent potential engine failure and protect crew safety.

A non-operational fire pump was also said to “severely compromise” firefighting capability, while failure to replace a stern tube seal risked “catastrophic flooding.”

The USS Santa Barbara has arrived safely in Singapore for repairs.

🇮🇷⚔️🇺🇸 Conflict observers have identified the ship which was struck by Iranian projectiles leading to 8 U.S. Marines suffering injuries

The only ship that was reported to have been hit on September 14th was St. Helena. She was used for a period of time as a floating armory before being repurposed for expedition cruising.

The U.S. Navy likely converted the ship into an armed merchant cruiser. The Navy was looking into placing U.S. Marines as guards on commercial ships a few years ago to prevent Iran from seizing vessels in the Persian Gulf (2023 article).

St Helena is owned and operated by Ambrey Limited out of the UK.

Ambrey is "an award-winning maritime security provider, trusted to safeguard more vessels than any other company in the industry. Operating in some of the world’s most high-risk regions, we protect ships, crews, and cargo—ensuring our clients stay connected to global trade without disruption."

📝 Sal Mercogliano: Add modular/containerized weapon systems, the U.S. Fifth Fleet could be converting small cargo ships, offshore support vessels and even larger commercial ships into vessels with armed guards on board to defend against drones and small boats.

They would still need air cover for more dynamic threats, specifically missile - both cruise and ballistic.

@CIG_telegram

🇾🇪🇺🇸🇩🇯 US forces bound for Djibouti now have to fly almost directly over Ansarallah controlled Mayyun (Perim) Island with transponders off. Then they only have a few kilometers between Mayyun island and radar-controlled airspace where they are forced to turn the transponder back on.

🔗 bonzerbarry

🇾🇪⚔️🇺🇸 Ansarallah pulled off a "SAMbush" maneuver during Operation Rough Rider in early 2025 and nearly shot down a USAF F-16 who had to make evasive maneuvers to avoid being hit by the anti-aircraft missile.

The USS Harry S. Truman (CNV-75) had to make evasive maneuvers to avoid being hit by Ansarallah antiship missiles leading to the loss of two F/A-18 Super Hornets who fell overboard due to the sharp turn pulled off by the aircraft carrier.

More recently, Ansarallah shot down a KSA F-15SA fighter jet

🔗 https://t.me/CIG_telegram/69141

🇾🇪⚔️🇾🇪 Ansarallah released a video of the Dhubab airbase which was captured by the Houthis in the recent Red Sea coast offensive.

It was built in 2024 by the UAE for the Southern Transitional Council. When the STC was militarily defeated and dissolved itself, it passed to the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) who abandoned it without a fight earlier this September.

The Emiratis built the base to complement their existing facilities near the city of Berbera, Somaliland and solidify their control over the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. The base was built for drones carrying out Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions.

@CIG_telegram

🇪🇹⚔️🇪🇹 Ethiopia map update as of the 28th of September 2026

Following five days of renewed hostilities, TPLF and ANURF rebels have successfully seized control of the town of Erebti that is in the Afar region. While in the Southern Tigray axis, the ENDF has captured the town of Alamata from TPLF control.

🔗 Faytuks Network

🇺🇸🛢 The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve has fallen to 283.8M barrels, its lowest level since October 1982.

A year ago, September 2025, the SPR held 406 million barrels.

The current drawdown traces back to a 172 million-barrel release President Trump authorized in March, part of a coordinated 400 million-barrel release by 32 IEA member countries. Discharge began about a week later and was expected to take roughly 120 days, with the administration pledging to refill about 200 million barrels within a year at no cost to taxpayers.

Two different floors govern how far the reserve can fall. Federal law sets an operational minimum of 252.4 million barrels, while the generally accepted operational minimum is 250 to 300 million barrels on hand to pump and process oil efficiently, a level it is now testing.

Ben Cahill, an energy analyst at the Atlantic Council, has warned the releases carry diminishing returns: "at a certain point it becomes a self-defeating move, because releasing more oil into the market is overwhelmed by the perception that we're running out of options."

The decline lines up with what MST Marquee's Saul Kavonic called "living on an oil market credit card" earlier this month: Hormuz flows are still running at about a third of pre-war levels, and stock draws, not new supply, have kept Brent under $110 through most of the crisis.

About 133 million barrels of the drawdown are structured as swaps with Shell, Vitol and Trafigura, who are contracted to return 1.25 barrels for every one they took, with deliveries scheduled to begin early next year.

🔗 https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/US-Strategic-Petroleum-Reserve-Falls-to-Lowest-Level-Since-1982.html

🇸🇦🛢 Despite earlier reports of the Saudis "restoring" the Yanbu-Abqaiq East-West pipeline and "resuming" oil exports through Yanbu, satellite imagery still shows damage to 3 oil pumps on the pipeline which are out of service.

The "restoration" mentioned by Bloomberg and picked up by every major Western newspaper is partial and no way near close to normal operation levels. If there is oil being exported through Yanbu, its a far cry from the amount of barrels exiting the port before the Houthis damaged the pipeline.

🔗 MenchOsint (@MenchOsint)

🚀 NASA is asking former employees to help it restore the Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird who last flew in 1999.

Mike Relja, a retiree in his late 70s, received an unexpected job offer from NASA about a month ago.

Relja, an ex-U.S. Air Force and NASA test engineer for the SR-71A, could not believe his ears. David Ash, a former U.S. Navy and Joby test pilot who was hired in June as a special projects director for NASA, asked Relja to provide his expertise for a secret effort to return a long-retired and neglected Blackbird to flight.

“I told the guy, ‘You know, I’m too old to be doing this,’” Relja recalls to Aviation Week. “‘I wish you well. I’d like to see you make it. It would be interesting. But I just don’t think you can get there from here.’”

It appears NASA is going to try.

At some point early this year—certainly before May 17 and perhaps even before April, according to commercial satellite imagery acquired by Aviation Week—agency employees removed the SR-71A with Tail No. 844 from a display pole near the corners of Lilly and Walker Avenues at the Armstrong Flight Research Center on Edwards AFB, California.

That SR-71A had stood there since about Oct. 9, 1999, the day that marked the final flight of No. 844—and of any Blackbird. NASA employees rolled the SR-71A into the hangar that once housed the Space Shuttle at Edwards, Relja says. An inspection of the aircraft followed. By the time Ash extended the job offer to Relja in August, NASA had crews working on the SR-71A inside the hangar.

“I do know they’ve got people working on it,” Relja says. “But again, without equipment, it’s beyond me what they’re doing.”

The first public hint that a return to flight for the SR-71A was brewing came at the exclusive All-In Summit in Los Angeles on Sept. 12-14. On stage as a panelist, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman teased an image of a new X-plane, revealing the famous outline of the SR-71A’s inward-canted vertical tails, bulbous midwing engine nacelles and flush and blended cockpit. The image prompted speculation that NASA is planning to create a modern X-plane based at least loosely on the Blackbird’s distinctive profile.

Retired NASA employees tell a different story. Aviation Week confirmed that the agency approached Relja, Tim Conners, another former NASA SR-71A test engineer and others over the summer with job offers to work on the return-to-flight project for Tail No. 844.

In meetings with the prospective rehires, Ash brushed aside all questions about why NASA wanted to go to the effort and expense of putting the Mach 3-capable SR-71A back in flight.

During his remarks at the All-in Summit, Isaacman provided some context for NASA’s overall campaign to reinvigorate the agency’s aeronautics research mission with a new stable of X-planes pursuing breakthroughs rather than incremental improvements over the state of the art.

“In the service of the first ‘A’ in NASA, we are rebuilding our X-plane fleet,” Isaacman said. “It will not be long before NASA is once again flying as high and as fast from decades past—and then even more.”

🔗 https://aviationweek.com/defense/aircraft-propulsion/nasa-asked-several-former-sr-71a-staffers-help-secret-restart

🇺🇸 Five people whose work supported missions at U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency at Fort George G. Meade died by suicide within a month of each other this summer.

The unusual cluster of suicides in June and July follows efforts by the agencies and the Anne Arundel County military installation, where the country’s top cyber warfare units are based, to address the mental health of the 18,000 service members and 41,000 civilian employees there.

The nation’s cyber warriors at Fort Meade put in long, stressful hours, often in secure, windowless rooms called SCIFs, identifying cyberattacks and defending against them. The work has been intensified by the war with Iran and the race for new artificial intelligence models. The jobs, however, often isolate them from friends and family.

The recent suicides highlight that while mental health has become an increasing priority, a culture of silence continues to threaten leaders in one of the state’s most critical defense institutions.

“No one’s really surprised to hear about another suicide,” said Ryan Shaban, an Army veteran and cybersecurity professional who said he has friends in U.S. Cyber Command who are similarly struggling with mental health.

Shaban said many don’t report their concerns for fear of jeopardizing their security clearance. He’s running in Anne Arundel’s 31st District for a seat in Maryland’s House of Delegates and says he’s lost multiple friends in cyber and national security to suicide over the years.

🔗 https://www.thebanner.com/community/local-news/fort-meade-cyber-command-suicides-RC6YIRJO6ZBFVHAPAF62ZDIU3M/