The U.S. Navy has taken delivery of the first C-130J-30 Hercules airframe destined to become an E-130J Phoenix II, the service’s next-generation aircraft for maintaining communications with its nuclear ballistic submarines. The aircraft will now undergo extensive mission-systems integration before it can begin testing for the Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO) mission.

The @USNavy's future TACAMO aircraft is here.

The C-130J-30 Super Hercules keeps strategic command and control connected when it matters most.

Four engines. Long endurance. Proven reliability. pic.twitter.com/huX0qlzKkm

— Lockheed Martin (@LockheedMartin) October 16, 2026

Lockheed Martin handed over the newly built aircraft at its facility in Marietta, Georgia, on October 15. The delivery marks the start of the transition from the Navy’s aging E-6B Mercury fleet to the turboprop-powered E-130J, which is intended to provide a survivable communications link between national leadership and U.S. Navy nuclear ballistic missile submarines, including the ability to send them orders to launch strikes while they are submerged.

“Today’s delivery from the historic Marietta line represents far more than a new airframe; it marks the foundation of our future strategic deterrence posture,” Capt. Roger Davis, program manager for the Navy’s Airborne Strategic Command, Control, and Communications program office (PMA-271), said in a statement.

“Through our close partnership with Lockheed Martin and our industry team, we are ensuring our nation maintains an unshakeable communications lifeline to our ballistic missile submarine fleet.”

The aircraft is the first of three C-130J-30s initially procured by the Navy in September 2024. It will be transferred to Northrop Grumman, the E-130J program’s prime contractor and mission-systems integrator, for conversion. Collins Aerospace is providing the very low frequency (VLF) communications system, a key component of the TACAMO mission.

TACAMO aircraft provide a means for the president, secretary of defense, and U.S. Strategic Command to communicate with nuclear forces, including submarines submerged at sea. The mission is designed to preserve the ability to transmit emergency action messages even if conventional communications infrastructure is disrupted or destroyed.

The E-6B accomplishes this in part through a long, trailing wire antenna that enables VLF transmissions to submerged submarines. The E-130J will receive a comparable system as part of its conversion.

Hardening against the effects of electromagnetic pulse (EMP), which occurs during the detonation of nuclear warheads, is another key requirement for these planes.

The Navy plans to acquire 31 E-130Js, nearly doubling the 16 E-6Bs currently in service. That total includes six developmental aircraft and 25 production examples, although it remains unclear how many of the developmental aircraft will ultimately be available for operational use.

The larger planned fleet should provide additional aircraft to support training, maintenance, and operational demands. However, the transition also brings technical challenges. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has previously warned that integrating the specialized mission equipment into the smaller C-130J-30 airframe could affect operational availability and create additional engineering and manufacturing difficulties.

In the past, TWZ has discussed the potential operational readiness and other trade-offs that could come from selecting a C-130-based platform to replace the E-6B in the TACAMO role. As we wrote previously:

“It’s certainly worth pointing out that the E-6Bs, conversions of what were some of the last and most modern 707 airliners built, were larger and higher performance platforms than the EC-130Qs. The C-130J-30 is certainly a more capable aircraft than the C-130H on which the EC-130Q was based, but it won’t have the base speed and altitude capabilities of an airliner-sized multi-engine jet. Compared to the Mercuries, any TACAMO-configured C-130J-30 would not be able to get on station as quickly, or fly as high, limiting its ability to get above bad weather or establish a better line of sight for its communications systems.”

“At the same time, as the Navy itself has noted, the C-130J-30 platform does immediately open up the ability to use a larger number of air bases, airports, and airfields, including austere ones that the E-6B cannot operate from. This could be very useful in a contingency scenario where an opponent may have destroyed or otherwise rendered unusable many well-established bases, as well as larger secondary dispersal sites, which include large commercial airports. Being able to fly from smaller, tertiary locations could help to ensure that the TACAMO mission continues without significant disruption under such circumstances. This is also true during peacetime, as targeting the TACAMOs on the ground would be much harder if they could easily operate from and sit alert at a much larger number of airports.”

“A C-130J-30 configured for the TACAMO mission would certainly have a mid-air refueling capability, and the Hercules is already a platform that has demonstrated the ability to loiter over particular areas for long periods of time. Unlike the Boeing 707, the C-130J is still in production, as well, meaning that TACAMO aircraft based on this plane would be inherently easier to maintain and support logistically, and may also be easier to convert to this specialized configuration to begin with. As time goes on, the J looks set to increasingly become the default base C-130 model across the U.S. military, as well. Compared to the long out-of-production 707-based E-6, support for the C-130J is already distributed across the U.S. and beyond. Training C-130J crews is even an easier proposition.”

The E-130J also represents a return to the Hercules family for the Navy’s TACAMO mission. The EC-130Q performed the role from 1963 to 1993, before the E-6A Mercury took over. The E-6B subsequently added an airborne command post mission known as Looking Glass, supporting U.S. strategic forces beyond the submarine communications role.

The Navy’s current plan is for the E-130J to assume the TACAMO mission, while the Air Force pursues a separate effort to replace the Looking Glass airborne command post capability.

Following its delivery, the first E-130J airframe will enter mission-systems modification, ground testing, and developmental flight testing. The aircraft is not yet an operational TACAMO platform, and further integration and testing will be required before the Navy can begin fielding the new fleet.

The transition is intended to preserve one of the most critical links in the U.S. nuclear command, control, and communications architecture as the E-6B fleet becomes increasingly difficult to sustain.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

The post First C-130J For Navy’s New E-130J Phoenix II Ballistic Submarine Communications Fleet Delivered appeared first on TWZ.

The series, set at an elite tennis academy, hails from Universal Television in association with Entertainment 360 and Amazon MGM Studios.

FIFA has fined world champions Spain $20,000 over Islamophobic chants by supporters during a friendly against Egypt earlier this year.

The chants were heard during Spain's 0-0 draw with Egypt at Espanyol's RCDE Stadium in Barcelona on 31 March.

Sections of the crowd chanted "Whoever doesn't jump is Muslim", while Egypt's national anthem was also jeered before kick-off.

Spain winger Lamine Yamal, who is Muslim, condemned the chants after the match as disrespectful and intolerable.

"Using a religion as a taunt on the field makes you look ignorant and racist," he said.

FIFA said its appeals committee had upheld the sanction following an earlier ruling by its disciplinary committee.

The Spanish Football Federation has been ordered to pay a $20,000 fine and must also close at least 15% of the seating at Spain's next home friendly.

FIFA said the affected seats could instead be allocated to groups including families, students and anti-discrimination organisations.

The governing body's disciplinary judges said "harsh sanctions were necessary", while acknowledging that it was the Spanish federation's first offence and that officials had acted quickly after the chants began.

Stadium announcements were made during the match calling on supporters to stop discriminatory behaviour.

The Spanish federation also condemned the chants and co-operated with authorities seeking to identify those responsible.

Spanish police opened an investigation the following day into what they described as "Islamophobic and xenophobic" chanting.

The incident came amid wider debate over racism and discrimination in football. FIFA's current anti-racism framework includes a crossed-arm gesture allowing players and officials to report racist abuse during matches.

FIFA rejected the Spanish federation's argument that the word "Muslim" was not inherently insulting, ruling that otherwise neutral language can become discriminatory when used as a taunt or marker of inferiority.

The federation said on Friday that it considered the punishment disproportionately severe and would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

FIFA has also imposed sanctions elsewhere this year for breaches of anti-discrimination rules, including a fine against the Israeli Football Association over its handling of racist behaviour by Beitar Jerusalem supporters.

The March incident came before Spain went on to win the 2026 World Cup, defeating Argentina in the final in July.

The Egypt match had already drawn wider attention to anti-Muslim sentiment in European football, an issue TNA has examined in the context of the growing far-right backlash against Muslim players and supporters.

Formula One will return to Africa for the first time since 1993. There is concern Rwanda are using it as another sportswashing opportunity, but there is also hope the event's legacy can impact wider African society.

On the road into the stadium at Olympia, at the foot of Mount Cronius, ancient Greek athletes passed a stone platform with steps cut through it. A row of bronze statues of Zeus, the god the Games were held to honour, stood beside it. None of them celebrated a victory. Each had been paid for […]

Brian Flores, the Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator who filed a bombshell lawsuit accusing the NFL and several of its teams of racial discrimination that generally stops Black men from getting head coaching jobs, got a big boost this week when a federal judge unsealed a recruiting memo for a high-profile job in the league.

That memo, particularly its criticism of Flores based on negative stereotypes about Black men, is likely to make even people who aren’t football fans pay attention to this drama, especially women and people who aren’t white who’ve applied for work in corporate spaces.

Korn Ferry prepared a one-pager on Flores that described him as “polished and a good presenter despite growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn (same as Mike Tyson).”

As first reported by Front Office Sports, as the Las Vegas Raiders were considering hiring Flores in 2024, executive search firm Korn Ferry prepared a one-pager on Flores that described him as “polished and a good presenter despite growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn (same as Mike Tyson).” The report noted that Flores “was able to build a strong friendship with a billionaire’s son which gave him opportunities to socialize and learn how to build relationships with white-collar and upper-class individuals.”

It’s no wonder that Korn Ferry, which isn’t a defendant in the Flores lawsuit and handles executive searches across many industries, argued that its report should remain sealed.  The document gives full expression to the he-speaks-so-well prejudice that Black people commonly face. As such, the document will feel uncomfortably familiar to Black candidates in corporate America who have felt the constraint of the glass ceiling.

The Raiders never interviewed Flores.

“The recently unsealed documents demonstrate two unfortunate, but unsurprising, realities,” Flores’ lawyers at Wigdor LLP and Elefterakis, Elefterakis & Panek said in a statement Tuesday. “First, that Mr. Flores’ decision to hold the league and its teams accountable for systemic race discrimination has been met with unlawful retaliation. Second, discrimination continues to play a significant role in the hiring process for NFL Head Coaches, as evidenced by the fact that the candidate profile prepared for the Raiders leans heavily on racial stereotypes. We and Mr. Flores are committed to eradicating the institutional racism and retaliation that permeates the league, its teams and their partners.”

Neither Korn Ferry, the Raiders or the NFL responded to The New York Times’ request for comment.

During the NFL’s most recent offseason, none of its 10 head coach vacancies was filled by a Black candidate. The only new head coach who isn’t white is the Tennessee Titans’ Robert Saleh, who was born in the U.S. to Lebanese immigrants. Though Flores’ focus is football, it’s hard not to think of Korn Ferry’s dossier on him as a peek into executive hiring that most Americans never see. Job candidates who’ve suspected that their fitness for a position was assessed by people with backward views of race don’t get to see copies of the memos confirming their suspicions.

Though Flores’ focus is football, it’s hard not to think of Korn Ferry’s dossier on him as a peek into executive hiring that most Americans never see.

Regarding Flores growing up in Brownsville, surely other executive candidates with blue-collar beginnings have learned to navigate elite spaces without it being deemed remarkable. Anyone on the short list for an NFL head-coaching gig would likely be comfortable with rich decision-makers. It’s hard to imagine an executive headhunter describing a candidate as having grown up in Howard Beach, Queens, like John Gotti did.

In detailing Flores’ strengths and weaknesses, Korn Ferry did make some relevant assessments. It noted his “unorthodox” defensive schemes that make life difficult for NFL quarterbacks (a positive) and his history of sometimes clashing with the front office (a negative). In corporate America, one could imagine a similar analysis applied to a CEO candidate whose product launches have been profitable but whose management style rankles the rest of the C-suite and board of directors.

The firm’s assessment that Flores “has a chip on his shoulder” was listed as a strength and a weakness. In its view, his desire to prove his own worth, an essential trait for almost any ascendant professional, was offset by the claim that he “can be a dictator with players, coaches, and can even be a difficult with ownership.”

From @theathletic.com: A recruiting firm's memo assessing Brian Flores as a potential coaching candidate said he was “polished and a good presenter despite growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn." Flores is suing the NFL and multiple teams for discrimination.

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) 2026-10-13T20:55:06.520543Z

Concerns related to personality might be defensible. Black professionals are certain to hear bigoted coding in assessing a Black man as well-spoken but with a chip on his shoulder, yet personality and cultural fit matter when the job is a direct report to billionaires and the work includes managing a team of 53 wealthy, elite performers. It’s harder to excuse other language Korn Ferry used: “He can fool you with his polish upwards” and “needs someone at the top to reign [sic] in some of his worst behavior.”

Korn Ferry listed Flores’ lawsuit accusing the NFL of racism as a demerit to his candidacy, which is ironic because the Korn Ferry report wrongly assesses him based on racist expectations of how Black men should act. The league makes millionaires out of elite players who are majority Black, but its teams are mostly owned by white billionaires who have long been accused of failing — or not even trying — to grant equal opportunity for top-level jobs to Black candidates like Flores or his co-plaintiffs, former NFL coaches Steve Wilks and Ray Horton.

Korn Ferry listed Flores’ lawsuit accusing the NFL of racism as a demerit to his candidacy, which is ironic because the Korn Ferry report wrongly assesses him based on racist expectations of how Black men should act.

Their lawsuit was filed in 2022, three years before President Donald Trump made dismantling the Black managerial class a focus of his domestic policy by attacking diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at major companies, in academia and in the federal government.

In that context, the firm’s report on Flores feels especially heavy. Black professionals everywhere are being told that DEI initiatives are wrong because they focus on race, and this report about Flores is clearly looking at him through a racialized lens. That’s why it’s bigger than football. The Korn Ferry document will certainly be received as an important piece of the puzzle to many others not named Flores who are struggling to reconcile their skills and accomplishments with the incongruent trajectory of their careers.

The post A memo about this Black NFL coaching applicant absurdly brings up Mike Tyson appeared first on MS NOW.

Nearly 20 years after arriving in England, Manchester City's UAE owners could exit amid cheating charges. That would pose a challenge for a city — and prime minister — closely tied to Abu Dhabi.

Expected global revenue of over $1 billion and new faces at the U17 World Cup show women's football is booming, but a recent report also highlights need for better structures globally.

The last time Formula 1 hosted a race in Africa was way back in 1993. But a new track in Rwanda is set to host a Grand Prix in "the early 2030s," continuing the country’s investment in international sport.

Germany's win against Australia saw Ena Mahmutovic excel in goal. The 22-year-old Bayern Munich goalkeeper is considered the successor to Ann-Katrin Berger and is making a name for herself.

THE gloves are off, the engines are roaring and Germany is bracing itself for a motorsport showdown of epic proportions! Forget the calculators. Forget the cautious driving. And forget playing it safe. The 2026 DTM championship reaches its explosive conclusion at Hockenheim this weekend, with SIX drivers still dreaming of lifting one of European motorsport’s most coveted trophies.

And the man with the biggest target on his back is Porsche superstar Thomas Preining.

The Austrian arrives at the legendary Hockenheimring with a commanding 23-point advantage over his nearest challenger.

But with 56 points still available across the final weekend, the champagne will have to stay firmly on ice.

PREINING IN POLE POSITION — BUT RIVALS ARE CIRCLING

Preining, already a DTM champion, knows exactly what it takes to survive the pressure of a title fight. Driving for Manthey, the Porsche ace has put himself in the driving seat for a second championship crown.

But Mercedes-AMG star Maro Engel is breathing down his neck, and BMW veteran Marco Wittmann, a two-time champion, is lurking dangerously in the background. Both have the experience, machinery and determination to turn Preining’s dream weekend into an absolute nightmare.

Then come the outsiders. Mercedes driver Lucas Auer, Ferrari racer Matteo Cairoli and Aston Martin’s Nicki Thiim all retain mathematical chances of snatching the championship.

For those three, however, it would take something approaching a motorsport miracle. They need brilliant results — and some serious misfortune for the men ahead.

HOCKENHEIM: WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE — OR DIE

There could hardly be a more fitting battlefield.

The Hockenheimring has hosted the DTM season finale more than 30 times, earning its reputation as the place where champions are crowned and reputations shattered.

Its 4.5-kilometre Grand Prix circuit demands precision, courage and nerves of steel.

Get your braking wrong and a rival can pounce. Make a mistake in traffic and an entire season’s hard work could disappear in seconds.

And nobody needs reminding what happened here last year.

Turkish racer Ayhancan Güven snatched the 2025 championship with a breathtaking late move against Wittmann at the Sachs-Kurve.

It was the sort of dramatic finish that makes motorsport irresistible.

Now Wittmann is back, determined to ensure history does not repeat itself at his expense.

GERMAN GIANTS PREPARE FOR BATTLE

The DTM is no ordinary racing championship. This is a contest in which some of the biggest names in the motor industry throw their engineering expertise into a furious battle for supremacy.

Porsche, Mercedes-AMG, BMW, Ferrari and Aston Martin are represented among the six title contenders, and with GT3 machinery producing spectacular performance, the racing promises to be fierce.

Unlike Formula One, where aerodynamic advantages can sometimes leave the field stretched out, DTM’s competitive format regularly produces close battles, aggressive overtaking and unpredictable finishes.

Track position is precious. Pit-stop execution matters enormously. And a poorly timed safety car can transform the championship picture.

One moment a driver can be heading towards glory, the next, he can be staring at disaster.

TWO RACES. ONE CHAMPION.

Saturday’s race begins at 1.30pm local time, with Sunday’s championship decider scheduled for 4.30pm.

That leaves precious little room for error.

For Preining, the equation is straightforward: protect the advantage without becoming so defensive that his challengers seize the initiative.

For Engel and Wittmann, the message is equally clear. Attack.

They cannot afford to sit behind the Porsche and hope for the best.

And should Saturday’s race produce a major surprise, Sunday’s finale could become an extraordinary winner-takes-all spectacle.

MORE THAN JUST A RACE

Away from the championship battle, Hockenheim is preparing a full-blown motorsport festival.

The supporting programme includes the ADAC GT Masters, Porsche Carrera Cup Germany, ADAC GT4 Germany and BMW M2 Cup. Fans can also enjoy pit-lane walks, driver appearances and live entertainment.

But the biggest attraction remains the battle on the circuit. Six drivers started the weekend with a mathematical chance of becoming champion. Only one can leave with the crown.

When the chequered flag falls on Sunday evening, there could be tears, triumph — and the sort of last-lap drama that makes the DTM one of Europe’s great racing spectacles.

Main Image: By Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=195366194

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Since winning the right to hold the 2034 World Cup unopposed, Saudi Arabia has been pulling away from sport. With reports that its most ambitious stadium project will be abandoned, what does this mean for the World Cup?

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The 2026 Asian Games in Japan drew to a close on October 4 following two weeks of competition between 45 countries and territories across 43 sports. Despite the official slogan “Imagine One Asia,” fragmented regional politics came to the fore as the event unfolded. Just days before the games officially began, tensions between Japan and […]

The post How geopolitical tensions tainted the 2026 Asian Games appeared first on Asia Times.

The International Olympic Committee has revealed the six other countries intending to bid for the 2036 Olympic Games. This comes after Germany selected Munich as its Olympic candidate.

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A 2,500-seat stadium in suburban Nagoya has become the unlikely setting for one of sport’s most combustible rivalries — and a glimpse of cricket’s growing reach beyond its traditional heartlands.

There are few sporting rivalries capable of transporting an entire stadium thousands of miles away from home. On Saturday, India and Pakistan managed precisely that — turning a modest Japanese baseball facility into an arena charged with all the anticipation, colour and emotion normally associated with the great cricket grounds of South Asia.

The setting could hardly have been more incongruous. The Asian Games final was being staged at Korogi Athletic Park in Nisshin, near Nagoya, a purpose-built cricket venue with capacity for only about 2,500 spectators. Beyond the boundary stood the unmistakable features of a Japanese baseball ground, including a pitcher’s mound.

Yet for those inside, this was no novelty fixture.

Hours before the first ball, Indian and Pakistani supporters were queuing to enter. Flags were draped over shoulders, shirts provided the national colours and tickets had become sufficiently scarce to generate reports of inflated resale prices. For many members of the South Asian communities living in Japan, the occasion represented a rare chance to see the two countries meet in person.

That matters because India-Pakistan cricket is not simply another international sporting contest. Political tensions mean that the teams generally encounter each other only in major tournaments, making every meeting an event in its own right. Their February T20 World Cup encounter in Sri Lanka was played before a sell-out crowd of 35,000; television audiences in the two countries routinely run into the hundreds of millions.

Japan therefore found itself hosting one of cricket’s most valuable commodities: scarcity.

For Japanese spectators, meanwhile, the spectacle offered an introduction to a sport that remains distinctly niche in the country. Some had attended earlier matches simply out of curiosity. Teachers from nearby Gifu admitted that they knew virtually nothing about cricket, but found themselves enjoying the experience after reading explanatory material and watching the action.

The comparison with baseball is inevitable. Japan possesses one of the world’s great baseball cultures, while cricket remains a relative outsider. But the recent arrival of India has provided an intriguing bridge between the two.

Last week, Japan played India in its first-ever T20 international against a full-member cricket nation. The hosts came within two runs of a remarkable victory in a rain-shortened five-over contest, giving Japanese cricket precisely the sort of exposure its administrators could scarcely have manufactured themselves.

The significance extends beyond the scoreboard.

India’s appearance in Japan was linked to the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the countries, while the Asian Games have provided an unusually prominent platform for cricket. The sport is already established among expatriate communities, but encounters involving India’s global stars can introduce it to an entirely new audience.

That is perhaps the most interesting aspect of Saturday’s extraordinary scene. Cricket did not need to conquer Japan overnight. It merely needed to persuade a few thousand people to come and watch.

And India versus Pakistan is perhaps the ultimate sales pitch.

The match was always going to generate passion. What nobody could have guaranteed was that the passion would survive the journey from the packed stadiums of Colombo and Mumbai to a small baseball field outside Nagoya.

It did.

The geography changed. The rivalry did not.

Main Image: By 運動会プロテインパワー – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=112511600

Franz Reindl has been elected president of ice hockey's world governing body. The former forward was a member of West Germany's Olympic bronze medal-winning team.

It may have taken a little longer than he would have liked, but Jürgen Klopp has finally won a game as Germany coach. Despite a number of debutants, it was a familiar face who stood out in the victory over Serbia.