By Staff Sgt. Joshua LeRoi and Airman 1st Class Olga Houtsma
Space Launch Delta 30

VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFNS) -- A joint team of Air Force Global Strike Command Airmen and Vandenberg Space Force Base Guardians launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with a single telemetered joint test assembly re-entry vehicle Feb. 19 fom Vandenberg SFB.

The Western Range at Vandenberg SFB serves as the primary testing ground for the AFGSC's ICBM deterrent architecture. This test launch is part of routine and periodic activities designed to demonstrate that the United States' nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure, reliable, and effective in deterring 21st-century threats and reassuring allies.

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WASHINGTON — The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the United Kingdom’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office are jointly designating Zservers, a Russia-based bulletproof hosting (BPH) services provider, for its role in supporting LockBit ransomware attacks. LockBit, a Russia-based ransomware group best known for its ransomware variant of the same name, is one of the most deployed ransomware variants and was responsible for the November 2023 attack against the Industrial Commercial Bank of China U.S. broker-dealer. BPH service providers sell access to specialized servers and other computer infrastructure designed to evade detection and defy law enforcement attempts to disrupt these malicious activities. OFAC is also designating two Russian nationals who are key administrators of Zservers and have enabled ransomware attacks and other criminal activity.

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Phobos Ransomware Group Alleged to have Attacked Over 1,000 Victims Worldwide

The Justice Department has unsealed criminal charges against Roman Berezhnoy, 33, and Egor Nikolaevich Glebov, 39, both Russian nationals, who allegedly operated a cybercrime group using the Phobos ransomware that victimized more than 1,000 public and private entities in the United States and around the world and received over $16 million in ransom payments. Berezhnoy and Glebov were arrested this week as part of a coordinated international disruption of their organization, which includes additional arrests and the technical disruption of the group’s computer infrastructure.

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INDEPENDENCE, Missouri – The U.S. Army’s Joint Program Executive Office for Armaments and Ammunition, along with the Joint Munitions Command, officially broke ground on a new 6.8 mm ammunition production facility in support of the Next Generation Squad Weapon Program at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant on Wednesday, Feb. 5. The 6.8 mm family of ammunition, set to be produced at the new facility, will play a vital role in advancing the Army’s modernization priorities.

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A joint delegation of U.S. and Japanese military and civilian representatives watch as a U.S. space domain awareness payload hosted on Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite 6 (QZS-6) successfully launched on a Japanese H-3 launch vehicle from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) on February 3, 2025. This is the first bilateral U.S.-Japan cooperative space effort focused on national security, and the first of two launches as part of the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System Hosted Payload (QZSS-HP). (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jacob Wood)

Tanegashima Space Center, Kagoshima, Japan (AFNS) -- A U.S. space domain awareness payload hosted on Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite 6 successfully launched on a Japanese H-3 launch vehicle from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Tanegashima Space Center in Japan on February 2. This is the first bilateral U.S. Japan cooperative space effort focused on national security, and the first of two launches as part of the JAXA Quasi-Zenith Satellite System Hosted Payload program.

The satellite will be operated by Space Operations Command’s Mission Delta 2, which conducts Space Domain Awareness operations to identify, characterize, and exploit opportunities and mitigate vulnerabilities in the national security space terrain on behalf of the U.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command. The satellite will deliver near real time data to the Space Surveillance Network bolstering the U.S. Department of Defense understanding of the Geosynchronous Orbit regime above the Indo-Pacific region.

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NEWPORT, R.I.  — The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Campbell (WMEC 909) returned to their home port in Newport, Monday, following a 63-day multi-mission patrol to the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific Ocean.

Campbell deployed in support of Joint Interagency Task Force – South (JIATF-S) to advance the primary mission of interdicting illegal narcotics in known drug trafficking zones. Campbell’s crew conducted maritime safety and security missions while working to detect, deter and intercept drug-smuggling vessels.

While on patrol, Campbell interdicted a suspected drug-smuggling operation involving six panga boats engaged in illicit activity on the high seas. During the pursuit, Campbell’s crew seized approximately 8,061 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated street value of more than $91 million and detained two suspected drug traffickers.

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