Tara Copp, Author at The Rapid City Post

How the US used its bunker-buster bombs at Iranian nuclear sites

June 26, 2025

The deep penetrating bombs that the U.S. dropped into two Iranian nuclear facilities were designed specifically for those sites and were the result of more than 15 years of intelligence and weapons design work. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said at a press briefing Thursday that they are confident the weapons struck exactly as planned. Caine offered new details about the work that went into building the “bunker-buster” bombs and how the U.S. used them to burrow into the Iranian sites. He sought to show the level of destruction but did not directly address President Donald Trump’s assertion that Tehran’s nuclear program has been “obliterated.”

FILE - Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth fields questions on the Pentagon budget from the House Armed Services Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Hegseth faces more grilling from Congress as Iran-Israel conflict escalates

June 17, 2025

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is returning to Capitol Hill for the last in a series of hearings before lawmakers. They have pressed him on everything from a ban on transgender troops to his use of Signal chats to share sensitive military plans. The questions Wednesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee may be dominated by the escalation of airstrikes between Iran and Israel that threaten a potentially devastating regional war. Hegseth’s testimony last week in three congressional hearings also was taken over by events, with the Trump administration dispatching the National Guard and hundreds of active-duty Marines to Los Angeles against California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wishes.

A U.S. Army soldier walks past a Bradley fighting vehicle staged in West Potomac Park ahead of an upcoming military parade commemorating the Army's 250th anniversary and coinciding with Donald Trump's 79th birthday, Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Here’s what to expect at the Army’s 250th anniversary parade on Trump’s birthday

June 13, 2025

The Army will celebrate its 250th anniversary with a parade on Saturday, which happens to be President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday. More than 6,000 troops are poised to march, 128 Army tanks and other vehicles will roll through Washington streets and 62 aircraft will buzz overhead to honor the Army’s milestone. With preparations well in hand, one big unknown is the weather. Rain is in the forecast, so there’s a chance the parade could be interrupted by thunderstorms. Daylong festivities such as fitness competitions are planned on the National Mall, culminating in the parade that’s estimated to cost $25 million to $45 million. The Army expects as many as 200,000 people to attend.

This image provided by the U.S. Army shows a screenshot of data from the Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast, or ADS-B, of the flight path of Army Black Hawk "PAT23" on a May 1, 2025, flight that led to air traffic controllers aborting the landings of two commercial jets. (U.S. Army via AP)

Pentagon lost contact with Army helicopter on flight that caused jets to nix landings at DC airport

May 23, 2025

The Army is telling The Associated Press that military air traffic controllers lost contact with an Army helicopter for about 20 seconds as it neared the Pentagon on the flight that caused two commercial jets to abort their landings this month at a Washington airport. The aborted landings on May 1 added to general unease about continued close calls between government helicopters and commercial airplanes near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport following a deadly midair collision in January between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people. Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman, the head of Army aviation, says the controllers lost contact with the Black Hawk on May 1 because a temporary control tower antenna had not been set up at the correct location at the Pentagon.

Here’s what to expect at the Army’s 250th anniversary parade on Trump’s birthday

May 21, 2025

The Army has started loading up some of the tanks that will take to the streets of the nation’s capital during the 250th anniversary celebration of the service next month. The tanks are starting to be stuck on rail cars in Texas on Wednesday and will take about nine or 10 days to travel by rail to Maryland. From there, they will be loaded onto trucks to be driven into Washington, D.C. The event will feature hundreds of military vehicles, aircraft and soldiers. The Army’s anniversary celebration is set for June 14, which also happens to be President Donald Trump’s birthday. He unsuccessfully tried to get a parade during his first term.

Tara Copp.

How the US used its bunker-buster bombs at Iranian nuclear sites

Hegseth faces more grilling from Congress as Iran-Israel conflict escalates

Here’s what to expect at the Army’s 250th anniversary parade on Trump’s birthday

Pentagon lost contact with Army helicopter on flight that caused jets to nix landings at DC airport

Here’s what to expect at the Army’s 250th anniversary parade on Trump’s birthday

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