Attempts to provide upgraded software for F-35 jets have “stagnated” and no new combat capability was delivered last year, according to the annual report by the Pentagon’s testing office, even as the fighter jets fly missions over Iran. The most recent upgrade, called TR-3, which will be fielded eventually on jets like those flying Iran missions, “was predominately unusable” during most of last year “due to stability problems, shortfalls in capability and ongoing discovery of deficiencies,” according to the report made available to Bloomberg News. It was referring to a software version that hadn’t fully been tested. The Marine Corps jets flying off the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier are equipped with earlier software known as TR-2. Upgrades are key to the F-35 — basically a flying computer, with more than 20 million lines of code. The expected updates would have allowed it to carry more sophisticated weapons, to improve targeting and communication with other aircraft and ground units and to harden cybersecurity.

But the Pentagon report, to be published as soon as this week, said that as of Sept. 30, the software upgrades by Lockheed Martin Corp. for the US’s most expensive weapon program “continue to face challenges in delivering reliable, fully functional software” for rigorous combat testing prior to installation. “The F-35 program continues to show no improvement in meeting schedule and performance timelines for developing and testing software, failing to deliver on the expectations of its agile development framework” as “the process of addressing deficiencies and adding new capabilities has stagnated,” according to the report. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cut staff last year from the Pentagon test office that produces the congressionally mandated report each year.

A spokesman for the F-35 program office didn’t have an immediate comment. The TR-3 upgrade is designed to increase processing power 37 times and memory 20 times over the F-35’s current capabilities. The US plans to buy 2,470 Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps jets within a program cost estimated at more than $2 trillion. That includes $485 billion in development and procurement and at least $1.5 trillion in long-term operations and support costs over 77 years, according to the US Government Accountability Office. As of Sept. 30, 812 jets were delivered to US forces. The test office also raised concerns that the jet has not completed all its needed cybersecurity testing. Only three of nine planned cyber vulnerability tests were completed last year, primarily because of a “significant reduction in personnel” and other program office “funding priorities,” it said. The tests are expected this year. Still, even during the truncated testing “additional deficiencies were found.”

the US starts another war and all F-35s instantly fall out of the sky since the Chinese hacked them

The U.S. military desperately needs drone capabilities for President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, and fast. Coincidentally, his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., are on the case. Indeed, the Trump brothers are pumping money into defense-tech oriented firms that have already secured Pentagon contracts, or have already put battle-tested products to market. For example, they've invested in Powerus, a new drone company aiming to harness its “strong relationship with Ukraine” as a means to acquire and leverage war-tried Ukrainian drone technologies in a competitive U.S. market. Having bought out several competitors, Powerus already does business with the U.S. military. In other words, the Trump family stands to benefit financially from the war, and already are. Eric Trump also invests in Israeli drone firm and DoD contractor Xtend, whose “low cost-per kill” attack drones have been used by the IDF in Gaza. Expanding to the U.S., the company opened an office near Tampa last summer. Donald Trump Jr. has a $4 million stake in, and sits on the board of Unusual Machines, a drone parts startup. In December, it secured a $620 million DoD loan — the largest loan in the history of the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital — to make drone parts. And Trump Jr. is a partner at 1789, a “patriotic capitalist” venture capital firm which backs a number of defense-tech startups. The firm, which Trump Jr. joined in November 2024 — right after his father was re-elected to the presidency — has since seen explosive growth: the assets it manages jumped in value from $150 million to more than $2 billion by the end of last year. Suggesting the firm influences U.S. policy outright, Trump Jr. explained at a Future Investment Initiative event last year that 1789 “understand[s] what the administration wants to do, because [the firm] helped craft some of the messaging.”

well, good to know that the US military procurement is just a personal Trump family pump-&-dump scheme

Conflicts of interest percolate

As William Hartung, a Quincy Institute senior research fellow, tells RS, the Trump family’s defense-tech pursuits can be linked to a larger network of technology firms and venture capitalists that has significant influence within the Trump administration. “The emerging military tech sector has deep ties to the administration, starting with vice-president J.D. Vance's relationship with Palantir founder Peter Thiel, who employed Vance and helped fund his Senate run,” Hartung said. “The fact that Donald Trump Jr. — not only the president's son but a close political advisor and unofficial spokesperson — will now profit personally from the fate of specific military tech firms adds an even more profound conflict-of-interest.” To this end, 1789’s portfolio includes a number of defense-oriented companies, such as Anduril, Hadrian, SpaceX, and Vulcan Elements, a DOD contractor that makes rare-earth magnets, which are also backed by controversial venture capitalist Peter Thiel or his VC firm Founders Fund. A Silicon Valley kingmaker and Palantir co-founder to boot, Thiel has simultaneously worked to influence U.S. politics, bankrolling Congressional campaigns while many in his orbit now occupy major positions in the Trump administration. Notably, Trump Jr. also sits on the advisory board of controversial prediction market Polymarket

— which 1789 and Thiel’s Founders Fund also back — fostering an environment where people with insider awareness regarding the outcomes of world events could theoretically profit from that knowledge. Hartung warns such political access — and, in the case of 1789, venture capital funding — can give certain defense-tech startups an unwarranted edge. “Venture capital allows firms to stay in the market longer before they score their first big government contract, be it with the Pentagon, an intelligence agency, or the Department of Homeland Security,” Hartung told RS. “But once these influential firms have sunk substantial funds in a startup, they may use their influence to get that firm a contract whether or not its technology is ready for prime time, just to get a return on funds invested up to a given point in time.” “If they can recruit the president's son to join in boosting a particular firm, whether or not its product has been proven effective, they have a whole new level of influence, which can be wielded to serve their financial interests rather than the public interest,” Hartung said.

Jumping to profit

Leveraging powerful family ties to break into the weapons industry, Trump’s sons appear poised to profit even more as their father’s administration ramps up spending for militarized drone technologies — for the conflicts it pursues abroad, but also at home. Xtend’s attack drones have already been deployed to Iran, under a contract for a "government defense customer in the Middle East” worth up to $25 million. As Anduril Executive Chairman Trae Stephens told Bloomberg TV earlier this month: Anduril has “all sorts of primarily counter-air systems that are present in conflict zones,” where the company is “actively working day to day” with the DOD. Anduril received a ten-year U.S. Army contract this weekend worth up to $20 billion. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is pursuing a $1.1 billion “unleashing drone dominance” initiative, which aims to field over 200,000 American-made attack drones by 2027. Trump brothers-backed companies have actively pursued that funding: Xtend was among 25 companies invited to participate in the program’s first competition rounds for some of that funding, although it did not advance. Beyond the battlefield, law enforcement and border security agencies are increasingly adopting war-tested, dual-use drone technologies — which could create further opportunities for drone-sector defense contractors the Trump siblings bankroll. As RS has highlighted, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has put forth hundreds of millions toward procuring drone and counter-drone technologies to secure the upcoming World Cup from the threat of unauthorized drones or cyberattacks.

Par for the military industrial complex course

As experts tell RS, the potential conflicts of interest on display in the Trump brothers’ defense ventures are par for the course in Washington, where such entanglements have long defined the relationship between government and the weapons industry — and altogether drive prospects for conflict. “The revolving door between corporations and government has been undermining democracy and accountability in the U.S. for generations. This helps explain why the U.S. is always at war: no one gets rich when the U.S. doesn't sell weapons, or doesn't launch an invasion, or doesn't bomb civilians,” Shana Marshall, a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute, told RS. “But there's a massive network of lobbyists, think tank 'experts,' strategic consultants, corporate executives, asset managers and investors who get very rich when these things do happen.” The Trump brothers’ “extreme graft is only possible because the more subtle profiteering in every preceding administration went unpunished too,” Marshall said.

VA Secretary Doug Collins said that despite spending billions of dollars, we're losing the same number of veterans every year. For veterans under the age of 45, a recent report shows suicide is the second-leading cause of death.

They’re not faceless statistics, but fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters who couldn't survive the wait for help.

dang, I wonder what all those people they murdered in the Middle East were then

What makes this unbearable is that while those veterans were in crisis, veterans wait an average of 17 days to see a mental health professional for the first time. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), ranking member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, wrote that these delays ‘pose serious risks to the health and safety of those who served.’

y'know, I feel like regular people probably wait way more than 2-3 weeks to get to see a psychologist?

The problem isn't money. In November, President Trump signed a $133 billion VA funding bill that includes $698 million for suicide prevention outreach. And the problem isn’t resourcing, as more than 9 million scheduled visits go unutilized each year due to missed appointments. The problem is that the infrastructure can’t keep up. The VA operates on electronic record systems that don't communicate across facilities, community providers, or state lines, the very kind of coordination that's standard in private health systems. Consider the veteran who needs help for mental health or PTSD treatment. There might be an appointment at their local VA, an available telehealth appointment, or a nearby walk-in clinic. But the scheduling infrastructure can't surface those pathways together. Staff can’t schedule across the network, even though there's availability to address a veteran’s needs that day. The veteran can't book online, and they're told to wait, call back, or try another number.

The really silly thing about American healthcare is that a more socialized system would solve a ton of these problems! It is precisely its privatized nature of everything that leads to this quagmire, where this whole jumbled mess of different insurers and providers have to bounce information between one another. If you just had "the hospital owned by the state", with "the doctor employed by the state", and you went it for "the medical procedure paid for by the state", you wouldn't need to do all this!

"coordination that's standard in private health systems"?! have you motherfuckers ever interacted with, like, literally any company ever? are you a fucking Soviet citizen from the '80s who genuinely hasn't been exposed to actual capitalism yet and so you actually believe the myth of efficiency?

The inefficiencies are well documented. The VA's own Access to Care website shows it: mental health, primary care, specialty services, all backed up. At the West Los Angeles VA, new patients wait 69 days for mental health, 49 days for pain medicine, and 100 days for substance use treatment. VA clinicians are mission-driven and understand the wounds of war, but they're working with systems that can't deliver at the speed healthcare demands.

"let's just have these guys destroy their knees and backs on deployment and then make them wait months for painkillers, I'm sure that'll end well"

The largest health systems in America manage their networks in real time. Open appointments, provider resourcing, and patient needs are all visible in a single ‘pane of glass’ that call center staff can reference to route patients. For decades, VA has struggled to do the same. For a fraction of what VA spends, that same capability can be deployed systemwide. Not to add bureaucracy but linking the network so it operates as one. Veteran suicide is complex. Stigma keeps many from seeking help, and nearly 33,000 veterans are homeless each night, many struggling with mental illness and disconnected from care. That makes it even more critical that when a veteran reaches out—after overcoming enormous barriers—the system responds immediately. We can't afford to lose them to wait times and scheduling friction after they've found the courage to ask for help. Of course, technology alone won't solve this. Some argue that expanding community care—a program that lets eligible veterans see local private providers—is the solution. It's part of the answer. But more choice doesn't help if veterans and schedulers can't see what's available, most convenient, or the soonest.

When a veteran reaches out, the person on the other end should be able to see every available option, including a nearby clinic, a VA specialty appointment, a community care provider, a virtual visit, a VA physician, and a mental health counselor. The VA should—and can—work as a single system that connects veterans in that moment. VA Secretary Collins said the finger-pointing is done. Not “we can't do it.” Not “we don't have enough money.” The VA must modernize its legacy systems with navigational intelligence that provides staff with a real-time view of its entire network. One interface. All the appointments. All the providers. And the ability to match a veteran in crisis—or one just looking to book an annual physical—to care now, not next month. The funding and technology are there. What’s needed is urgency to deploy. Because somewhere today, a veteran will reach out for help. And whether they get it in time shouldn't depend on whether the right systems happen to be talking to each other. Veterans unite us. Rural or urban, red state or blue state, they're ours. We asked them to serve and sacrifice. The least we can do is make sure they can see a doctor when they need one.

see, the great thing about moving away from conscription is that that's just no longer true - veterans don't represent a unifying cross-section of society anymore, they're knights, an elite warrior class that most people have no actual contact with, beyond some incredibly surface level veteran-worship in public

On Tuesday, two organizations connected to his legacy — the César Chávez Foundation and the United Farm Workers — both released statements acknowledging allegations involving women and minors.

The César Chávez Foundation said it has become aware of “disturbing allegations” that Chávez engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with women and minors during his time leading the United Farm Workers.

“We are deeply shocked and saddened by what we are hearing,” the foundation said in the statement.

In a separate statement, the United Farm Workers said it had learned of “deeply troubling allegations” involving its co-founder, including claims of abuse of women and minors.

The union said it has no firsthand knowledge of the allegations but called them “serious enough” to take “urgent steps” to learn more and to create a confidential, independent channel for potential victims to come forward.

“Allegations that very young women or girls may have been victimized are crushing,” the statement said.

Both organizations said they are working with its leaders and outside experts to establish processes for individuals to safely share their experiences and seek support.

The United Farm Workers also announced it will not participate in any César Chávez Day activities this year and instead urged supporters to focus on immigration justice and service efforts.

Multiple sources told the San Antonio Express-News that a report by a national news publication is expected in the coming weeks and may be driving the cancellations of marches.

Chávez, who co-founded the United Farm Workers with Dolores Huerta in 1962, helped transform the American labor movement through strikes, marches, and nationwide boycotts that brought attention to farmworkers' conditions and led to the first union contracts in the industry.

He died in April 1993 at age 66 and would have turned 100 next year, a milestone organizers had begun preparing to commemorate. But interviews with former insiders and historians describe a different narrative that has largely remained outside public view.

His legacy is embedded in public life across the country, from holidays to schools and landmarks. Several states observe César Chávez Day on March 31, his birthday, and President Barack Obama proclaimed it a federal commemorative holiday in 2014, the same year Chávez was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Streets, schools, and parks across the country bear his name; a U.S. Navy cargo ship, the USNS César Chávez, was named in his honor; and he was featured on a U.S. postage stamp issued in 2014.

The César Chávez Foundation has evolved into a large nonprofit focused on housing and community development. Through its Housing and Economic Development Fund, the organization builds and manages affordable housing for working families and seniors across California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. It reported investing more than $200 million in underserved communities in a single year and constructing hundreds of housing units.

The San Antonio march, scheduled for March 28, has been held annually since 1997 and has grown into one of the largest César Chávez events in the country. The event traces its roots to the late Jaime P. Martinez, a San Antonio labor activist who helped establish the annual march, led efforts to rename Durango Street as César Chávez Boulevard after Chávez died in 1993, and later helped establish the local foundation that organizes the march.

The statements follow a series of cancellations this month, including San Antonio’s César E. Chávez March for Justice, a decades-old event that draws thousands each year, and a Corpus Christi march that was called off last week after labor leader Dolores Huerta withdrew.

Ernest J. Martinez, chairman of the César E. Chávez Legacy & Educational Foundation in San Antonio, confirmed the cancellation but declined to elaborate, indicating the decision came from the national organization.

“With regards to the cancellation of the march that falls in my wheelhouse, I’ll definitely navigate that and communicate to the community for that,” Martinez said. “Anything outside the scope of San Antonio … I don’t speak for the family nor the foundation.”

A memo sent to City Council members said the local César E. Chávez Legacy & Educational Foundation canceled the event at the direction of the Chávez family. Deputy City Manager María Villagómez wrote that the organization told city officials the cancellation involved a “sensitive matter” but did not provide details.

According to its most recent tax filing, the San Antonio-based César E. Chávez Legacy & Educational Foundation reports about $200,000 in annual revenue and less than $100,000 in assets.

The cancellations have fueled concern among organizers and elected officials, who say they have been given little information.

In Tucson, Arizona, organizers announced Monday they would move forward with a renamed event, dropping the march and rebranding it a “Comunidad y Labor Unity Fair.” In a social media post, the coalition said it made the “difficult decision to cancel the March” while continuing with a rally focused on community issues.

Sources familiar with the discussions told the Express-News that additional events tied to Chávez’s upcoming centennial have been affected, though details have not been shared.

Mark Day, a former Franciscan priest who worked with the United Farm Workers for about five years in the 1970s, said he believes allegations involving Chávez could soon become public.

Day said at least two women raised allegations.

“What I know is that definitely those young women spoke out,” he said. “And it never went anywhere.”

Matt Garcia, a historian at Dartmouth College and author of “From the Jaws of Victory: The Triumph and Tragedy of César Chávez and the Farm Worker Movement,” has documented internal conflicts within the United Farm Workers, including accounts of leadership disputes and allegations of misconduct.

In interviews with the Express-News, Garcia said he became aware of allegations against Chávez after former activists discussed them following the publication of his book.

“I’ve seen the allegations from at least one victim,” Garcia said. “There are more victims, I’m told.”

Garcia said the allegations surfaced among longtime participants in the movement who spoke out on a closed listserv.

On Sunday, Garcia declined to comment further.

“I have been asked to remain quiet, and I will abide by those wishes,” he wrote. “At this point, the most important issue for me is allowing the victims to have the space to express themselves as they wish.”

Another longtime participant in the movement, Enos Flores, said in an interview that he believes some victims have spoken to reporters. He said the cancellation of the march in San Antonio suggests leaders may be responding to something significant.

“When I saw that article, the first thing that flashed in my head was the jig is up,” Flores said.

Not all Chávez events have been canceled.

In San Francisco, organizers of a long-running César Chávez celebration said they plan to move forward, underscoring a split among organizers as events in Texas were canceled.

Now in its 33rd year, the San Francisco celebration draws thousands of participants, including labor unions, students, and community groups, and includes both a march and a festival in the Mission District.

Eva Paterson, who has led the San Francisco César Chávez and Dolores Huerta Holiday Parade and Festival for more than three decades, said in an interview last week — before the Chávez family issued its statement — that the event would continue.

“We’re moving forward,” Paterson said. “This is more than one man. The workers need support now.”