• US forces started practicing conducting at-sea rescue missions with naval drones several years ago.
• These rehearsals were put to use earlier this month after Iran downed a US Apache helicopter.
• A US military official called the first-of-its-kind rescue mission a "significant step forward."

US forces began practicing using sea drones for water rescue missions years before an uncrewed vessel saved two soldiers after their Apache helicopter was shot down in the Middle East this month.

"You can rehearse medevac scenarios during exercises," a US military official told Business Insider, but to successfully execute that capability in a real emergency situation, "there's something to be said about that."

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to share insight into the unusual early June rescue mission, during which a US Navy sea drone picked up two American crew members after Iran shot down their AH-64 Apache off the coast of Oman.

The rescue mission — an operational first for the US military — involved an uncrewed surface vessel, or USV, operated by Task Force 59, a Navy unit focused on integrating drones and artificial intelligence into naval operations in the Middle East.

When the Navy launched Task Force 59 in 2021, one of its goals was to test emerging technologies — particularly USVs, with which the US had less experience compared to some other drones — "to see how they could be optimized" for everyday naval operations, the military official said.

To do that, the US military worked closely with USV manufacturers during exercises with partners in the Middle East. One such drill, held a few years ago in the Gulf of Aqaba, south of Israel, tested the concept of using naval drones for medical evacuation. The simulation involved transporting a "patient" from a ship to the shore for follow-up treatment and care.

The military official said "the concept of using drones to support personnel transport — and, in particular, support medical evacuations — is something that was thought about very early on as these systems were integrated into regional operations by the US."

A 'significant step forward'

President Donald Trump said on June 9 that Iran had shot down an Apache helicopter while it was patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz. The US military said the two American crew members were rescued off the coast of Oman within roughly two hours.

The US knew the Apache crew's location and had established contact with the soldiers while looking for an opportunity to rescue them using assets from across the military, the official said.

Among the assets available were tactical aircraft and a Corsair USV, a 24-foot-long surface drone made by Texas-based Saronic Technologies. The official said this vessel, while just one platform in a broader effort, played an "integral role" in the search-and-rescue mission.

When the vessel arrived, the Apache crew members were able to hoist themselves into the USV, which had the capability and proximity to move the crew from one location on the water to another — a necessary switch because of "operational circumstances," the official said, declining to elaborate.

Once they were moved to the second location, the soldiers could then be "feasibly" lifted by helicopter to be transferred ashore for additional treatment, the official added.

The maritime rescue mission comes amid a broader push by Washington and its allies to integrate drones into naval operations. Ukraine's use of USVs against the Russian Navy in the Black Sea has given these efforts greater urgency.

Beyond the Middle East, where US forces have primarily used uncrewed surface vessels for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions, the Navy has also been expanding its naval drone training and operations in Europe in recent years.

The military official said the Apache rescue is a "clear demonstration" of the value of integrating USVs into everyday naval operations and marks a "significant step forward" for the US in expanding its surface drone mission portfolio.

While the Apache rescue mission was out of the ordinary, casualty evacuations using drones aren't a new concept. Ukraine regularly uses uncrewed ground robots, or UGVs, to rescue wounded soldiers from the battlefield.

Warfare is becoming increasingly autonomous, and there are indications that missions like these could become more common as time goes on. Western militaries are taking note. Last December, for instance, NATO hosted an event in London to source industry solutions for battlefield treatment and evacuation in drone-saturated environments.

• Ukraine's drone operators aren't necessarily more protected than other soldiers on the battlefield.
• Saying "they are doing their job in much safer conditions is completely wrong," an official said.
• They're top targets, and a soldier said pilots sometimes need to fight just like infantry.

Ukraine's drone operators aren't necessarily spared from the horrors of war because they pilot remote systems, a senior official said. Many are in the fighting, and they're often top targets for the enemy.

Taras Berezovets, head of the military cooperation department of Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces, a part of Ukraine's armed forces, said that with drone operators, "they do just the same job" as other soldiers. "To say that they are doing their job in much safer conditions is completely wrong."

"We should never forget that drone operators are the primary targets for Russian units," he added, speaking at a recent drone summit in Latvia. "They are trying to kill them," he said, just as Ukraine is trying to do to Russian drone pilots.

"Drone operators are first of all soldiers, and they are subject to the same psychological problems and traumas" as any other soldier, Berezovets said, explaining that he would never consider operators differently.

Dmytro "Liber" Zhluktenko, a former drone operator who is now a lessons-learned analyst with Ukraine's 413th Unmanned Systems Regiment "RAID," told Business Insider that operators don't feel they are in any less danger because they have a remote-controlled weapon. "It's not like that," he said, rejecting the idea that the role is safer. "It's very dangerous."

"In some of the cases, we have our drone operators engage in small arms combat like infantry," he said, "So it's basically infantry with the drones." It means getting close to a fight, as soldiers with other weapons do.

Drones are a crucial weapon for both Ukraine and Russia in this war, filling shortages of both weapons and manpower. Ukraine says that drones are now causing 90% of Russia's front-line losses as usage expands.

Drone operators are also force multipliers. One pilot can launch countless drones over a deployment to scout and gather intelligence on enemy movements and targets or to launch cheap attacks on soldiers and weapon systems, including expensive gear.

That makes them priority targets.

The operators that control Ukraine's spy and strike drones often have to get close to the front lines to preserve the connection with their drones and to work effectively with regular infantry. It means they have to move, hide, and survive just like other soldiers.

Soldiers and drone operators have told Business Insider that Russia treats drone pilots as high-value targets because of the damage they can do on the battlefield. They said Russian forces have intensified attacks with missiles, bombs, and other weapons to hunt those operators, while Western analysts have noted rising casualties among Ukraine's drone pilots.

One drone operator, who spoke to Business Insider on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military issues, said "when the enemy spots a drone operator somewhere, it uses every single thing at its disposal — every type of weaponry" — to eliminate them. And Ukraine is targeting Russian pilots, too.

Ukraine is working to develop solutions to protect its drone operators by keeping them farther from the fighting to decrease the risk. For instance, there is new remote-control technology that allows interceptor drone pilots to control their drones from hundreds of miles away from the launch point. But many drone types still require operators staying much closer.

Zhluktenko said that Ukraine wants to have fewer people at risk on the battlefield, but that's not always possible.

Sometimes they move operators farther back for their safety, "even if it comes at the expense of our capabilities, because these are our people and we value them so much." He described it as "a very tough balance."

"We want to keep them extremely safe, but at the same time, there is some work to be done," he said.

Ukraine is heavily pushing autonomy so drones and robots can operate with less human control, keeping soldiers farther from the fight. It's part of a broader effort to move troops out of the most dangerous areas, including by scaling ground robots that could eventually handle front-line logistics.

Mykyta Rozhkov, chief business development officer at Ukrainian drone and weapons maker Frontline Robotics, told Business Insider that "the general trend is to get the pilots as far as possible" from the front line, with the absolute bare minimum of soldiers used in dangerous areas when drones and robots can't handle it alone.

But, for now, drone operators and other soldiers remain at risk.

"Russians are right now prioritizing hitting not the assault troops or soldiers;" instead, they are aiming at drone and ground robot operators, he said.

Western militaries watching the war are also aware of how at-risk drone pilots can be. The US Army course designed to catch the force up on drone warfare is teaching soldiers what it feels like to be hunted.

Maj. Rachel Martin, the course director, previously told Business Insider that the instructors deliberately use drones against students to help them understand "what it's like to be hunted by another operator from an adversary force: what it sounds like, what it feels like, how often they need to displace in order to survive or not be observed."

That matters because "the minute you're observed, you need to move," she said. "What follows that is usually fires of some capacity," such as artillery.

She said that the goal is to simulate an enemy force actively searching for them and to test their reactions "so they get used to one being hunted by the enemy." The US is used to having control of the air in its conflicts, where anything in the air above them is likely friendly, but that may not be the case in future fights.

Berezovets said Western militaries should study Ukraine's experience, including how heavily Russia targets drone units and command centers. He said Ukraine has to keep moving them because "this war, especially in terms of the drone war, is like a cat-and-mouse game. The Russians are always searching for the locations of our drone units."

He said allies ought to consider building drone command centers "deeper underground," like Ukraine does when it can, even though it's expensive work. He said that "they should be as deep as possible."

• Ukraine's fast-moving fight means once-cutting-edge defense tech can quickly lose relevance.
• An official said counter-drone tech no longer ideal for Ukraine could still help allies.
• Partner nations want defenses fast as they prepare for Shahed-style drone threats.

A Ukrainian official said the country's earlier counter-drone technology, even if it's no longer sufficiently cutting-edge for its own fight, could still be useful for partner nations worried about similar threats and searching for good-enough solutions now.

Ukraine is in a constant innovation race with Russia, with both sides trying to rapidly develop drones and counter-drone defenses to beat the other side. Technology that was once key can rapidly become obsolete on the battlefield, yet still be a better option than what many allies have available now to meet the challenge.

Davyd Aloian, the deputy secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said some Ukrainian drone technology, including some early designs for interceptor drones built to shoot down incoming attack drones, may no longer be an ideal solution for Ukraine's needs but could still work elsewhere, where the weapons race is moving more slowly.

In the event of attacks against other countries in Europe, for example, he said "it would be better to have at least the solutions that showed their efficiency months ago."

Aloian's idea aligns with a key lesson NATO nations are learning from the war in Ukraine: having a lot of good-enough weapons available today beats a limited arsenal of perfect ones that come too late.

The deputy secretary said that this dynamic was visible in the Middle East during the Iran war, when the US and its Gulf allies faced attacks by Iran's Shahed drones. Though Tehran used some newer jet-powered one-way attack drones, like Moscow is increasingly deploying, it relied heavily on propeller-driven Shahed designs — the kind that Ukraine had been battling since early in Russia's war.

During the Iran war, Ukraine sent roughly 200 military experts to the Middle East to help nations strengthen their air defenses. It also sent troops and Ukrainian anti-drone solutions, which were used in combat. The fight triggered a sharp increase in interest in interceptor drones.

Aloian said that designs that were a year old and less relevant at home still proved effective in the region.

"We are ready to share our operation, technologies, and experience, and everything that will be needed in order for our partners to achieve the same level of defense deterrence that we have in Ukraine," Aloian said.

A starting place could be gear that Ukraine no longer has use for but could still prove practical for another operator in another kind of fight.

Aloian said it would be useful for allies to have "access to those solutions that are efficient." Even if they're not used in a fight, they could hold value as training tools, he said.

Ukrainian officials have said that Kyiv is willing to send partner nations defense technology, including interceptors, when it can do so without hurting its fight. It is also planning to export some systems, including long-range drones, that are no longer useful on its battlefield but still interest partners.

Aloian said that in the war with Russia, "speed is essential," and the defense industry has to work much faster than what allies are used to. Within months, "solutions will already be outdated."

Ukrainian officials have said that interceptor drone designs can change so quickly that the advantage of a new model may be negated within months. Companies are constantly upgrading platforms while swiftly phasing out obsolete systems. There are possibilities for those systems, though, in regions like the Middle East or elsewhere in Europe.

NATO countries are increasingly concerned about drones, especially after several Russian long-range drone incursions, but they are not under the same immediate pressure as Ukraine, which faces bombardments regularly. Officials have argued that, as they prepare for future drone threats, there is real value in defenses that are available now.

Ukraine has shifted from being a country many expected to be quickly overrun by Russia and urgently seeking help from cautious partners to being a source of new battlefield technology and tactical lessons that many Western militaries now want to study.

Aloian said Ukraine has "the experience, and we have the knowledge, we have the solutions" that it's already sharing "with our, not even partners, but with friends."

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Bose wants a bigger chunk of the music business.

The audio-equipment maker has created Bose Studios, an in-house content studio designed to help it shift from campaign-driven marketing, the company exclusively told CMO Insider.

One key differentiator is the launch of a new record label, Bose Records. Bose CMO Jim Mollica said in an interview that the plan isn't to go toe-to-toe with the "Big Three" label conglomerates, but rather to help break underappreciated or new artists and — crucially — not have to pay for music rights when they feature in Bose commercials. (Mollica said Bose wouldn't look to own the artists' masters, the company wouldn't take a share of their record sales or streams, and that they would be free to sign with other labels.)

Other big projects include commissioning original TV series and films "attached to some legendary Hollywood names," Mollica said. Bose is also planning a YouTube series, podcasts, and live music events — and could perhaps even buy a music media company. Some of those properties will generate their own ad revenue.

The launch of Bose Studios reflects a reality most CMOs face. Ad prices are higher, even though audiences are more fragmented and, in the case of TV, smaller. Consumers are actively avoiding advertising. Social media algorithms and the rise of AI search are disrupting the old ways that brands were discovered. Brands need to entertain to cut through.

"Our category, music, has a bunch of rituals baked into it," Mollica said. "If we have the opportunity, not to sell products, but become part of that ritual, then ultimately Bose is not an audio-equipment business anymore. We're about deepening people's relationship with music."

Much of Bose's prior marketing already focused on forging partnerships with music artists. Last year, for example, it teamed up with Blackpink's LISA to create customized earbuds, which it launched at a pop-up store in Los Angeles. This past February, it collaborated with the Grammy-nominated Twitch streamer PlaqueBoyMax, who created music on the spot during a livestream that aired during the NBA's All-Star weekend.

The record label and film productions signal Bose's expanded ambitions. Other brands, including Red Bull and Starbucks, have launched music labels in the past, though they were eventually retired.

Alexandra Annable, founder of Holl'r Music, an artist management and booking agency, said competition is fiercer than ever for emerging artists. For Bose to succeed, it might want to consider aligning itself with a specific genre, she added, pointing to Wingstop, which created its UK Freestyle Series for emerging drill, rap, and hip-hop artists.

"I think the only way brands can effectively engage with music fans is to create unique, content-led experiences, but these must be really authentic and culturally relevant," Annable said.

Steve Ackerman, a board advisor and consultant to media and entertainment businesses, said Bose Studios needs to ensure the content comes before promoting its products.

"The graveyard of branded content is littered with brands that have gone down this route and not understood what it means to be a content creator," Ackerman said. "They often defaulted to advertising agencies that don't understand how to engage with audiences; they just understand how to create content that gets in the way of the thing that audiences want to engage with."

Mollica, who previously worked at Disney and Viacom, said he understands the assignment. He said Bose Studios is not working with ad agencies and is recruiting and partnering with talent across the film, TV, podcast, and publishing industries.

"This isn't product placement; this isn't a long, 30-minute commercial," Mollica said. "These things are truly about how we are taking this authentic love of music and elevating the content that's out there today for true music fans to experience more."

• Testosterone-maxxing is a hot trend in fitness and longevity, but too much can have side effects.
• New research suggests a majority of men are getting testosterone therapy without the right safeguards.
• A urologist explains who can benefit from testosterone and who should avoid it to prevent risks.

America is reaching peak testosterone.

In 2026, interest in the hormone is everywhere, from T-maxxing trends on social media to the US government's MAHA campaign. Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) use has quadrupled in the past three decades, up to as many as 11 million Americans.

For some of them, the treatment may be doing more harm than good, new research suggests.

A majority of men who are prescribed testosterone don't meet the current guidelines for safe, effective treatment, according to a study from the University of Michigan.

That could worsen the risk of serious side effects, including infertility, heart attack, and stroke, and long-term dependence on TRT, which can dampen the body's natural production of testosterone.

While testosterone is an essential hormone for health, finding the right balance is complex because there's no one-size-fits-all treatment. A urologist explains what to know about the risks and benefits of testosterone, and how hormone trends are changing the landscape of men's health.

Who can benefit from testosterone therapy?

Healthy testosterone levels are crucial for energy, sex drive, muscle, and metabolism.

T-maxxing influencers might promise that it can get you a six-pack and supercharge your focus and performance, but doctors say the benefits are much more modest — if you need a boost at all.

A blood test can check if you have low testosterone and could benefit from TRT. It's typically taken first thing in the morning, and confirmed with a follow-up blood test on a different day.

Low testosterone is anything below 300 nanograms per deciliter for most healthy adult men.

You should also rule out conditions like sleep apnea, which are linked to low testosterone but can worsen with testosterone therapy.

Men who could benefit from testosterone might experience symptoms ranging from brain fog and low energy to reduced libido and erectile dysfunction. It can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months for TRT to make a difference, depending on the symptoms.

When T backfires

In the latest research, endocrinologists looked at data from 200 men who were prescribed testosterone at the university clinic.

They found that only 12% of the men met the criteria for treating low testosterone, confirmed by two blood tests.

That means the other 88% — 176 men — may have been inappropriately given TRT, including some who had sleep apnea or prostate cancer.

On average, the men studied were in their 50s, but some as young as 18 were also prescribed testosterone.

If they don't need it, young men on testosterone could be putting their long-term health at risk, since taking TRT can make it harder for the body to produce its own supply of the hormone over time.

High testosterone levels can also increase the body's volume of red blood cells, a risk factor for high blood pressure that, in extreme cases, may lead to a heart attack or stroke. It can also impair fertility by temporarily reducing sperm count.

And taking T can potentially exacerbate serious health conditions like prostate cancer, potentially fueling tumor growth, per the Mayo Clinic.

The findings are concerning, given how popular testosterone has become in the wellness industry and the potential for misuse without clear guidelines, said study authors Dr. Maria Papaleontiou and Dr. Sophia Sinha, both professors at the University of Michigan.

"Testosterone has been coined as the 'fountain of youth' to optimize performance through enhancing muscle and improving energy levels in social media," they told Business Insider in a joint email interview. "Testosterone therapy can help some people who truly have low testosterone, but it is not risk-free."

Major update coming soon for testosterone therapy guidelines

Doctors understand that this is not a black-and-white issue.

While testosterone treatment can have side effects, low testosterone is also a health concern, Dr. Justin Dubin, director of men's sexual health at Baptist Health Medical Group, told Business Insider.

Dubin, who was not involved in the study, said prescribing TRT outside the guidelines may not always be harmful. Yes, TRT can be overprescribed to men who don't need it, but it is also underprescribed to men who could benefit, Dubin said.

"Guidelines are guidelines, they're not law," Dubin said. "There are gray areas, and we need to give care in the gray. That's where most doctors live and where most patients live."

The benchmark for healthy testosterone is so nuanced, Dubin said, that the American Urological Association has gathered a panel to discuss a major update to its guidelines on treating testosterone deficiency in the coming year or two.

For now, Dubin said the growing popularity of testosterone is a good thing, as it's prompting a more proactive approach to medical care for men, who are notorious for avoiding the doctor's office until there's an emergency. As long as guys are going about it the right way by speaking to their doctor instead of just buying stuff online, he's all for it.

"I think that's a wonderful thing because this is a gateway to men's health. This is how we can access a lot of guys, get them in to learn about their blood pressure, whether they have diabetes, heart disease," he said. "I'm actually excited and hopeful."

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to partner with Silicon Valley.
• Zelenskyy said the tech hub's AI skills and Ukraine's wartime drone experience could be "powerful."
• Ukraine has built a drone arsenal that's captivated the world as it fights Russia's invasion.

Ukraine has experience fighting and defending itself using drones. American tech companies have AI firepower. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the combination of the two could be world-changing.

"American technological companies have a lot of different interesting AI technologies that we don't have. And we have a lot of things that they don't have because of our experience on the battlefield," Zelenskyy said on CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday. "I think this cooperation can be huge and the most powerful in the world."

Ukraine, out of necessity, has built an arsenal of drone tech and anti-drone tech on a shoestring budget, captivating the global defense industry as it's largely held the line — despite its underdog status — since Russia launched its full-scale invasion over four years ago.

Ukraine said three types of homegrown drones allowed it to strike in the vicinity of Moscow earlier this month, and that it had developed a fixed-wing mid-range attack drone that's helped it strike in areas Russia once deemed safe. It's learned valuable lessons in the process, like the need for drone units to always be on the move and for their command centers to be buried underground to protect them.

The AI craze in the United States, meanwhile, coupled with a Defense Department eager to develop new autonomous military technology, is fueling the growth of a Silicon Valley defense tech industry. Companies like Anduril, led by Palmer Luckey, who built the Oculus virtual reality headset that Facebook bought in 2014, have raised billions to develop new uncrewed weapons systems.

Ukraine has since become an important potential proving ground for some of that new hardware.

Through a state-backed "Test in Ukraine" program launched last year, hundreds of international companies have applied to test drones, counter-drone systems, AI, electronic warfare tools, naval drones, and ground robots in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy on Sunday said he wants to deepen this symbiotic relationship further, and soon. His message to Silicon Valley: Stop talking and start building.

"We need to negotiate already," Zelenskyy said Sunday. "Not to speak about it. Just to take steps and to do it as quick as possible."

• Russia hunts Ukrainian drone operators, units, and command centers.
• As a result, Ukraine tries to keep them on the move and concealed and underground.
• A Ukrainian defense official said the West should take heed, even though it makes things expensive.

RIGA, Latvia — The West would do well to make sure that its future drone units and command centers are mobile and ideally underground because they are such high-value targets, a Ukrainian defense official said.

The West is investing heavily in drone warfare and tactics after seeing how effective they have been in the war in Ukraine, and Ukraine has hard-earned lessons to offer.

One of the lessons Taras Berezovets, the head of the military cooperation department of Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces, a branch of the country's armed forces, said the West can learn from its experiences is just how high-value drone units and command centers are as targets and how much effort is required to protect them.

"This war, especially in terms of the drone war, is like a cat-and-mouse game. The Russians are always searching for the locations of our drone units," he said, so Ukraine is always relocating them, especially if there is a chance they have been exposed.

Speaking at a drone summit in Latvia attended by Business Insider, he said that Western allies also need to consider building drone command centers "deeper underground."

"This is much more expensive, but with Russians and our Ukrainian experience, you can believe that it's always better to hide these command centers and training centers deeper underground," Berezovets said.

He said, "They should be as deep as possible."

Berezovets said that the lesson may be harder to apply in the smaller NATO countries, which have less room than Ukraine to keep relocating drone units and command centers. Ukraine is nearly 10 times the size of Latvia, and in smaller countries, he said, "it would be much harder for you to find these locations."

As an alliance, NATO gains more depth by dispersing units across its members, but in a wartime situation, moving command centers, training sites, and combat drone units across borders would bring its own complications, from logistics and communications to permissions and coordination.

Many of Ukraine's drone command centers are kept concealed and operate underground when they can. Some centers have been built as mobile vehicle-based systems, with the command apparatus established inside trucks and armored vehicles.

Drone operators also regularly operate from concealed or underground positions, flying their drones as remotely as possible to stay safe.

Drone command centers, which can range from small to large operations, are high-value targets because they coordinate the work of high-impact weapons. Ukraine says drones are causing 90% of Russia's front-line losses. Ukraine has also publicly celebrated when it has hit Russian drone command centers.

And it's not just command posts that are in the crosshairs. Individual Ukrainian drone operators are also priority targets.

Ukrainian soldiers and officials have described drone pilots as Russia's top targets, and Berezovets called them "the primary targets for Russian units," saying that "they are trying to kill them." The threat extends up the chain as well. The head of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces said last year that Russia had tried to strike multiple Ukrainian drone unit leaders at once.

These warnings align with growing realizations that for future fights, Western militaries will need to be more mobile, discreet, and dispersed.

Sir John Stringer, NATO's Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told Business Insider that Ukraine demonstrates that what the West has become used to in the decades since the Cold War, the "big single air operation center, which a lot of people have grown up with over the last sort of 35 years," is no longer viable.

Force dispersal comes with complications though. "The more distributed it becomes, the more difficult and challenging it is," he said.

Some Ukrainian defense companies have said their Western counterparts should consider no longer producing in a single large site, but instead break up their efforts across multiple locations. It makes the work harder, they say, but it's safer.

Many Ukrainian companies break up their work like this to avoid being a target, and some also work underground.

Achi, the CEO of Ukrainian defense firm Ark Robotics, told Business Insider that the company makes sure to keep different parts of "manufacturing independently from the other" and is flexible about location.

"We try to avoid building a gigafactory. I would love that, to be honest, I think this is literally the best way to do it. You build a huge factory, everything is in there," he said, speaking using a pseudonym as a security precaution.

But even as the company explores manufacturing in other parts of Europe, it still wants to keep that principle, and thinks the wider defense industry there should learn that lesson.

Achi said that "as default for defense-based manufacturing going forward, you don't want to have huge factories in one place because they are these targets. " He called it "a much deeper long-term lesson" rather than something that only companies in Ukraine need to pay attention to.

Karmo Saar, the head of sales for Estonian company Krattworks, which makes drones used by Ukraine, told Business Insider that some of Ukraine's big drone makers have more than 15 production sites, even though it would be easier and cheaper to run everything in one big facility. He said the rest of Europe needs to learn from that, warning that if a war starts, "I think we're going to be punished."

• The Army's defense industry partners put a rocket launcher on a resupply drone in a recent test.
• The tech could give the drone a lethal payload and soldiers a precision-kill option at range.
• Military leaders want drones that can quickly swap payloads, including weapons.

Defense industry operators recently tested whether a resupply drone could not only carry a rocket launcher but also fire it. The test at Fort Rucker showed a potential lethal loadout for a US Army logistics drone, the service said Tuesday.

The TRV 150 drone made by Survice Engineering Company is already used by the Marine Corps and Army for logistics missions. With a three-shot rocket launcher on board — similar in some respects to what the Ukrainians have done — ground forces could use this drone to strike at range.

Last week, Survice Engineering paired the TRV 150 resupply drone with BAE Systems' Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System during an exercise at Fort Rucker in Alabama. Both defense industry partners and US military officials attended the event.

The TR150 has been described by Survice engineers as the "pickup truck" of the sky. It can carry up to 150 pounds, it has ports for various payloads, and it features autonomous calculations for flight, range, and targeting.

The TRV 150's autonomy simplifies much of the work in operating it, such as finding the target, plotting a route, and telling the pilot when it's ready to drop its payload.

This recent test looked at a different use for the drone: carrying and firing APKWS-guided 70mm rockets.

The APKWS is already used on AH-64 Apache helicopters and "other more exquisite assets," Clark Dutterner, Survice Engineering's vice president of business development, said, per an Army release. Those platforms include other helicopters and fighter aircraft.

During the exercise, the Army and its partners tested how the drone handled the rocket launcher and reacted when firing.

Putting the launcher on a tactical drone gives troops some of the striking power of a helicopter without putting aircrews at risk. These drones could switch from logistics to attack depending on the mission.

US military officials at the exercise said that the testing helped anticipate the potential future needs of soldiers. Leaders have also mandated that all uncrewed aerial systems have lethal payload options, meaning that troops will consistently have that weapon in their arsenal.

Swappable payloads have become a Pentagon priority as the services experiment with and field more drones for different missions. US military leaders have been drawing key lessons from Ukraine, where troops rely on a wide mix of drones and payloads tailored to the mission, terrain, and threat.

• Flip phones, portable CD players, and point-and-shoot cameras — what's old is new again.
• Meet the 28-year-old founder of Kickback, a brand that sells retro-inspired and refurbished gadgets.
• London Jackson runs a full-time business around nostalgia for the earlier days of tech.

London Glorfield isn't a Luddite — he just wants tech products to feel a little less soul-sucking.

"Tech is a sea of sameness right now," Glorfield, who goes by London Jackson professionally, told Business Insider in an interview. "It's so boring."

Young people are hungry for retro tech, especially in the AI era. Analog has taken on a new meaning. It's often not used literally, but instead as a blanket term for any tech that feels slower than what we've grown accustomed to. Digital point-and-shoot cameras? Analog. CD player? Analog. Wired headphones? Analog.

"I call it dumb tech," Jackson, a 28-year-old based in New York, said. He's built a business around it called Kickback, which he cofounded in 2024, after years of working as a musician.

The business started with cassette tapes, then a record player (which sells for $500), and then a portable CD player (which goes for $99 and has been stocked at Urban Outfitters and the MoMA Design Store). Kickback's business is one part re-imagined retro tech and another part refurbished gadgets. For the latter, Kickback works with a network of resellers and takes up to a 40% cut.

Late last year, Jackson dropped a limited collection of refurbished Motorola Razrs, a cellphone you may remember from the 2000s. The phones are sleek and colorful, and they bring back memories — at least for me — of flipping the phone open to hit speed dial.

The collection — 100 phones — sold out within minutes. A set of MP3 players also sold out.

Most recently, Kickback launched a line of $70 point-and-shoot cameras modeled after 2000s designs, in a collaboration with the musician Brent Faiyaz.

"It's just as much of a fashion flex as it is a way to unplug," Jackson said of the company's products.

Nostalgia is paying off.

In 2025, Kickback's total revenue surpassed $750,000, and it sold over 7,000 products, according to documentation provided by Jackson. Kickback brought in a gross profit of roughly $460,000.

Nostalgia as a marketing engine

Yearning for the early 2000s is shaping Kickback's design choices and marketing.

Whether it's rebooting Y2K gadgets or reviving the aesthetic of disposable film cameras, nostalgic marketing messaging is all about bringing people back to an offline world.

"It allows us to tell the story of this elusive, simpler time," Jackson said.

"I don't actually know if it was simpler," he added. "I was a baby. But when I look back at a time without constant notifications and constantly being expected to be online … that sounds like a vacation. To me, that sounds like a luxury."

Ironically, being online is also part of the business. Jackson's own presence on Instagram and TikTok is the crux of Kickback's marketing strategy.

Jackson is one of many young founders turning to the content creation engine. Between posts about brand building and design aesthetic, Jackson promotes Kickback's products — like its portable CD player — by talking about wanting to get offline.

"I'm trying to spend less time on my phone, man," he said in a February video.

Old tech, new business

Selling physical products direct-to-consumer isn't a gold rush, though it has become Jackson's full-time job.

"There's months where I've had to tap into savings," he said. "It's totally changed month to month, and that's something we're really trying to stabilize this year."

Kickback raised about $300,000 in venture capital funding in 2025.

Jackson wants to grow Kickback's team. So far, he has primarily run the business by working with third-party factories, a designer based in Copenhagen, and a network of refurbishers. In April, he hired a chief operating officer.

"This cultural shift away from wanting to be on your phone all the time has been hugely beneficial to us," Jackson said.

• Donald Trump Jr. married Bettina Anderson, a Palm Beach model and socialite, on May 24.
• Trump Jr. was previously engaged to Kimberly Guilfoyle and married to Vanessa Trump.
• Anderson and Trump Jr. were first linked in September 2024 and attended the inauguration together.

Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson are married.

The couple tied the knot on a private island in the Bahamas over Memorial Day weekend.

Trump Jr., 48, and Anderson, 39, made their public debut as a couple at President Donald Trump's inauguration following months of speculation about the nature of their relationship.

Since going public in January 2025, Trump Jr. and Anderson have appeared together at numerous White House events and Palm Beach galas.

Trump Jr., who is Trump's oldest son, was previously married to Vanessa Trump, with whom he has five children, but they divorced in 2018. In 2020, he got engaged to Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host and campaign advisor whom Trump appointed as his administration's ambassador to Greece, but they broke up in 2024.

Anderson, a Palm Beach socialite, model, and the founder and executive director of the wildlife conservation nonprofit Project Paradise, was first spotted in the Trump family's orbit at the Republican National Convention in July 2024.

Trump announced his son's engagement to Anderson at a White House holiday party in December.

Representatives for the White House, Trump Jr., Guilfoyle, and Anderson did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Here's a timeline of their relationship.

July 2024: Bettina Anderson was seated behind Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle at the Republican National Convention.

Anderson was photographed sitting behind Trump Jr., Guilfoyle, and other members of the Trump family on the third and fourth days of the Republican National Convention.

Guilfoyle was still wearing her engagement ring.

September 2024: The Daily Mail reported that Anderson and Trump Jr. were seen kissing and eating brunch together in Palm Beach.

Anderson and Trump Jr. were photographed dining together at the Honor Bar, a restaurant located about 4 miles from Mar-a-Lago, The Daily Mail reported.

Neither responded to a request for comment at the time about the nature of their relationship.

October 2024: Anderson cohosted a Trump campaign fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago featuring Tulsi Gabbard, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Tickets to the fundraising dinner cost $100,000 a couple, and admission to a fireside chat cost $30,000 a couple, the Palm Beach Daily News reported. Serving on the host committee of the event required a $250,000 contribution.

December 2024: Anderson and Trump Jr. were photographed holding hands in Palm Beach.

Anderson and Trump Jr. were photographed holding hands as they left Buccan, a restaurant in Palm Beach, on Anderson's 38th birthday, The Daily Mail reported.

Anderson also shared a photo on her Instagram story of a bouquet of flowers and a card reading, "Many have said you're aging out but I think you're perfect...happy birthday!" She tagged Trump Jr. in the post, suggesting he was the sender.

Later that month, Anderson joined Trump Jr. at the Trump family's New Year's Eve party at Mar-a-Lago.

December 2024: Trump Jr. told Page Six that he and Guilfoyle "will never stop caring for each other."

While Trump Jr. did not officially confirm that he and Guilfoyle had broken off their engagement, he said in a statement to Page Six that they "will always keep a special bond" and that he "could not be more proud of her and the important role she'll continue to play in my father's administration" as ambassador to Greece.

January 2025: Anderson and Trump Jr. attended inauguration events together, marking their public debut as a couple.

Anderson and Trump Jr. attended an inaugural reception at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, DC, on January 18. On January 19, they held hands and danced to "YMCA" by The Village People at the Turning Point USA Inaugural-Eve Ball.

Anderson and Trump Jr. traveled to the Capitol Rotunda together on Inauguration Day but sat separately for the ceremony. Trump Jr. sat with his family members on the inaugural platform, while Anderson took her seat in the crowd.

Guilfoyle was also seated in the audience for the inauguration, but not with the Trump family as she had been at the RNC.

February 2025: They attended the Super Bowl together.

President Trump was the first sitting president to ever attend the Super Bowl. He was joined by Trump Jr., Anderson, and other family members and associates to watch the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Kansas City Chiefs at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

March 2025: Trump Jr. and Anderson engaged in public displays of affection at Trump's address to a joint session of Congress.

Trump Jr. and Anderson were photographed cuddling in their seats in the House chamber before Trump's speech began.

March 2025: The couple walked the red carpet together at a gala in Palm Beach.

Trump Jr. and Anderson attended the mfAR Palm Beach Gala in support of the organization's AIDS research and global HIV prevention.

Other celebrities in attendance included Martha Stewart, who received mfAR's Award of Inspiration, Tommy Hilfiger, and Ricky Martin.

The gala was held days after People magazine reported that Trump Jr.'s ex-wife, Vanessa Trump, was dating Tiger Woods.

April 2025: Anderson and Trump Jr. attended the White House Easter Egg Roll.

That same month, they also attended a golf event at Trump National Doral, Trump's golf resort in Doral, Florida.

June 2025: They appeared together at another official White House event, the US Army's 250th anniversary military parade.

Trump Jr. and Anderson were seated in front of Tiffany Trump and Michael Boulos for the military parade in Washington, DC, which featured 6,600 troops, 150 vehicles, and over 50 aircraft.

July 2025: Anderson joined Trump Jr. and two of his children on Trump's visit to Scotland.

Trump Jr. and Anderson joined Eric and Lara Trump at Trump Turnberry, one of Trump's golf clubs in Scotland, for the announcement of a new trade deal between the US and the European Union.

They were then joined by two of Trump Jr.'s children, Spencer and Chloe, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new golf course at Trump International Golf Links.

December 2025: Trump announced the couple's engagement at a White House holiday party.

Around the same time that Page Six broke the news of Trump Jr. and Anderson's engagement, Trump announced that the two were engaged and called them up to the White House podium to say a few words.

In a video from the event shared by far-right activist Laura Loomer, Trump Jr. thanked Anderson "for that one word, yes."

Anderson could be seen in the video wearing a diamond ring.

"This has really been the most unforgettable weekend of my life, and I get to marry the love of my life, and I feel just like the luckiest girl in the world," Anderson said at the holiday party, according to the video.

May 2026: Trump Jr. and Anderson held their wedding in the Bahamas over Memorial Day weekend.

Trump Jr. and Anderson obtained a Florida marriage license and legally wed on May 21, days ahead of their ceremony on a private island in the Bahamas on May 24, TMZ was the first to report.

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Eric Trump and Lara Trump, and Tiffany Trump and Michael Buolos were in attendance in the Bahamas, their social media posts showed.

Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that he was unable to attend the wedding.

"While I very much wanted to be with my son, Don Jr., and the newest member of the Trump Family, his soon to be wife, Bettina, circumstances pertaining to Government, and my love for the United States of America, do not allow me to do so," the president wrote. "I feel it is important for me to remain in Washington, D.C., at the White House during this important period of time. Congratulations to Don and Bettina!"

• US Marines tested deploying and controlling FPV drones from helicopters.
• They also passed control of a drone launched by ground forces to a helicopter miles away.
• These practices could deliver advantages in combat for Marines.

US Marines have been trying out new roles for their H-1 helicopters, exploring whether they can serve as airborne launch and control platforms for first-person-view drones.

The concepts combine crewed and uncrewed capabilities, using helicopters to extend the reach of small, low-cost drones, giving Marines another way to strike targets without pushing aircraft as deep into contested airspace.

During a recent training exercise in California, Marines tested whether their helicopters could serve as "airborne motherships" for launching and FPV drones and aerial command centers for controlling them, the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing said in a release.

For the testing, Marines from Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169 and 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion used two modern H-1 helicopters: the UH-1Y Venom utility helicopter, which entered service in 2008 as an upgrade to the UH-1N Twin Huey, and the AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter, which replaced the AH-1 SuperCobra.

At the Twentynine Palms testing event, Marines successfully deployed an FPV drone from a moving helicopter.

Marines also practiced handing off control to a distant helicopter with a line-of-sight connection. After Marine ground forces got their Neros Archer FPV drone flying, control of the uncrewed aircraft was passed to a specialized operator team inside a UH-1Y Venom helicopter miles away. That helicopter maintained the connection and flew the drone on to its target, functioning as a "flying command post" and "aerial control station."

The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing said that these approaches offer "commanders a scalable, cost-effective option to service a wide range of threats without risking the aircraft or expending expensive munitions on every target."

The Neros Archer is the most popular first-person-view drone in the Marine Corps infantry. Necros has a $17 million contract with the Marines to build thousands of drones and has also produced systems for Ukraine.

Like many FPV drones, the Archer can carry different payloads, and how far it can fly depends partly on how much weight it is carrying. The Marines used it for the test because it is already widely used and has performed well.

Launching and controlling FPV drones from helicopters has the potential to reduce the risk to Marine aircrews, a UH-1Y crew chief said. "We are still providing our ground support, and close air support, but in a way that lets the drones close with and destroy the enemy, rather than putting our Marines in harm's way," said Sgt. Matthew Pocklington.

More drones aboard the helicopters could allow onboard operators to potentially swarm the systems in coordinated attacks.

Beyond the Marines' latest test, the US is more broadly focused on manned-unmanned teaming. The US Air Force and US Navy have several projects in the works that have advanced drones flying alongside crewed aircraft, either operating autonomously or taking direction from human pilots.

• Google unveiled a new AI-powered search this week. It could ruin the internet.
• The changes mean you'll get a traditional list of links much less often.
• Instead, you'll get AI-powered answers, personalized just to you. That's not the internet we know.

Google is about to ruin the internet.

And I love the internet. I love websites. I love sending links to my friends. I spend nearly my entire workday looking at various Chrome tabs. I enjoy looking at websites I've never looked at before.

All of that is going to change with Google's new search updates, which lean into AI-generated answers. Its plans gave me an awful sinking feeling.

The big change will be to integrate AI even more into search — instead of typing in a few keywords and getting a list of links, Google will spit out more AI-powered answers to questions and personalized requests (I'll explain more in a bit.)

When a Big Tech company gives a demonstration of a new product, you've always got to look at it with some skepticism, so let's take this with at least a grain of salt: But Google, this week, said its new features would let an AI agent send you updates whenever your favorite athletes launch a new sneaker, for instance. (I am not sure how it knows your favorite athletes, but, at the same time, of course, Google knows that about you.)

A personalized internet isn't the internet

I really struggled to get into the mindset of someone who wants this. I'm not a sports fan or a sneakerhead, so new athlete-endorsed shoes don't thrill me, but I do enjoy shopping, so I can see the appeal of buying cool new sneakers. Do I want an alert when an athlete or brand announces this? Do I expect this to be something I wouldn't see in a TV ad, read in a style magazine, or see on the athlete's Instagram? Like, I guess I can see some convenience here, but there's already a robust ecosystem of ways to get this information that I find generally pleasurable to engage with.

Another example: Someone asking Google for advice on where to go for a hike with restaurants and parking nearby. That's a nice, wholesome project for a demonstration, but I can't imagine using Google in this way. I use Google in that time-honored way we've all been taught: typo-laden, two-word utterances — not elegantly worded requests.

I usually already know what I want to find; I just need help getting to the website that gives me the thing I want.

Google, of course, is bullish on its new product — and especially the personalization of it all. "We believe the best version of search is one created just for you," said Robby Stein, vice president of product for Google Search, during the I/O presentation this week.

I guess? Sure?

Stein gives an example of a college student asking about black holes. The student types a question in the search bar, and Google gives an AI-generated answer and creates a customized animation that shows how black holes work. (Eventually, it will give you a few links to other information about black holes.)

OK, cool. But that's not really what "search" is, right? That's just an AI chatbot that answers highly specific questions.

'Google Zero' might be coming

All this is obviously potentially very bad news for websites that have depended at least in part on Google search traffic, including the one you're now reading. There's been an expectation of this coming eventually — a doomsday event referred to glumly as "Google Zero" when Google traffic, which has been dropping across the news industry for the last few years, eventually hits zero. AI Overviews and people using other AI tools like ChatGPT to find information have already cut deeply into publishers' search traffic.

I am aware that my aversion to this new search experience may seem like self-preservation, since this is ostensibly not good for the journalism industry (in the short term, at least). But I assure you that my complaints are more personal and short-sighted. I am annoyed that this will change how I search and how I experience the internet.

I think of "the internet" as a place you go to; it shouldn't come to you.

I know it's outdated, but imagine the information superhighway — a physical space of roads, silos, and dungeons you can wander around. Google is the doorway to it. It hands you the map so you can give yourself a self-guided tour. But you're on your own in there.

By doing this for, say, 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for, say, two decades, you become quite adept at knowing where to look and how to navigate. I still think of the internet this way.

The new Google seems like a gated community

But a version of the new AI search is one where you never have to venture out onto the internet; it's brought to you in a sanitized form by an intermediary. It's like living in a gated community with a strict HOA vs. a walkable city with public transit.

I know that harping on the virtues of "websites" is something only old people do; a leftover of the techno-optimism of people who spent time on old-timey messageboards or blogs. And, well, sure, I'm an old crank, but I've also got the youth on my side on this one. As my colleague Dan DeFrancesco writes, Gen Z has an aversion to AI — and this may affect how they adopt these new Google search products. I say, if Gen X fads like hacky sacks are back, then so should caring about the open web.

I don't want Google search to trap me into its AI HOA! I want my internet experience to have a tacky-colored house, an unkempt lawn, and a year-round 12-foot Home Depot skeleton. That's what the internet should feel like to me: something to explore and venture out into, even if that means a tiny bit of imperfect friction.

The Navy's new refueling drone completed its first test flight over the weekend. The MQ-25A Stingray is the Navy's first carrier-based unmanned aircraft. Right now, there are no unmanned refueling aircraft in service, but the Navy said the Stingray is expected to enter service in 2027.

Built by Boeing, the Stingray costs about $209 million per unit. The Navy invested about $16 billion in the system. After years of delays in the Stingray's development, this test flight gets the Navy closer to using it in military operations.

The Navy says the drone will be a valuable tool to extend the reach of crewed fighters and aircraft.

• Spiking jet fuel prices have left airlines looking for ways to recoup their extra costs.
• Many airlines have already increased ticket prices, and now some are bumping checked bag fees.
• Delta Air Lines said it will increase fees for first and second checked bags by $10 from Wednesday.

Travelers are feeling the pinch from the war in Iran.

Many airlines have already increased ticket prices and introduced fuel surcharges, but now there's a new target: checked bags.

Three major US airlines have increased baggage fees in recent days as soaring jet fuel prices have left them scrambling to offset skyrocketing costs.

The US and Israel's war on Iran has caused supply chain disruptions, leading to a surge in jet fuel prices, which has tightened margins for airlines.

Flight prices are rising as a result, and some airlines have already canceled — or are planning to cancel — flights due to the jet fuel shortages.

See which airlines have increased their fees for checked luggage:

Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines will increase fees for first and second checked bags by $10 from Wednesday, according to a statement shared with Business Insider.

For the third checked bag, fees will increase by $50. The changes apply to domestic and select short-haul international routes, and will not impact long-haul international flights or complimentary bag benefits, the airline said.

"These updates are part of Delta's ongoing review of pricing across its business and reflect the impact of evolving global conditions and industry dynamics," Delta said in the statement on Tuesday.

United Airlines

United Airlines said on Friday that it was raising the fees for first and second checked bags by $10. Like Delta, it said it will charge an extra $50 for third bags.

The airline said in a previously shared statement to Business Insider that this would apply to "customers traveling in the US, Mexico, and Canada and Latin America beginning with tickets purchased Friday, April 3."

JetBlue

JetBlue increased its checked baggage fees at the end of March.

The price of a first checked bag for a domestic flight has risen to $39 from $35 on non-peak days, and to $49 from $40 on peak travel days.

In a previous statement to Business Insider, the airline did not directly reference rising fuel prices as the reason for the fee increase, though it did note that its operating costs are rising.

"As we experience rising operating costs, we regularly evaluate how to manage those costs while keeping base fares competitive and continuing to invest in the experience our customers value," a spokesperson for JetBlue previously told Business Insider.

• The acting head of the TSA said more than 480 officers working without pay have quit during the shutdown.
• She said they can't be replaced fast enough to adequately staff airports for the World Cup in June.
• It could be another saga of long security lines due to understaffed TSA during a peak travel period.

Even if the partial government shutdown ends soon, the fallout at the Transportation Security Administration could spill into the summer's marquee event.

In a House testimony on Wednesday, acting TSA administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill said that so many officers have quit since their pay stopped in mid-February that the agency can't get replacements fast enough to adequately staff airports ahead of the World Cup in June.

She said TSA officers spend four to six months in training before working checkpoints, but the games — which will take place across 16 cities in the US, Canada, and Mexico — start in just 80 days.

"This is a dire situation," she said, adding that more than 480 officers have quit so far. "We are facing a potential perfect storm of severe staffing shortages and an influx of millions of passengers at our airports."

TSA agents haven't been paid for nearly six weeks, yet are deemed "essential" and expected to work during the shutdown, with back pay promised afterward. Their annual pay starts at around $40,000 and averages $60,000 to $75,000 a year with experience.

Still, many live paycheck to paycheck and can't afford to work unpaid for months at a time — quitting and finding another job or doing gig work is often their best option.

Mass TSA agent quits and callouts amid the shutdown, compounded by peak spring break travel, have already created hourslong security lines and stranded travelers. It's a preview of the chaos that could repeat when an estimated 6 million fans descend on potentially understaffed airports for the World Cup.

"If we see any spikes [in attrition], we're going to have to pivot and assess how we are going to staff the FIFA locations adequately," McNeill said.

Passengers traveling to the scheduled World Cup games in San Francisco and Kansas City, however, are likely safe from staffing chaos.

Both city airports use private security officers employed by contract companies instead of TSA, meaning their agents are being paid despite the shutdown.

It's not just the TSA sounding the alarm

Former Republican Sen. from Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin — who was confirmed as the new head of the Department of Homeland Security on Monday after Kristi Noem's ousting in early March — said in a Senate hearing last week that the US is "behind" on World Cup preparations and the shutdown is making it worse.

"It'll take four months once funding comes in to start replacing those that we've lost for training before we can get them out in the field; we don't have four months with FIFA," he said. "How do we expect these people to stay on the job and work? We're losing institutional knowledge, we're losing people we've already trained."

The mass quits are exacerbating a problem that was already flagged last year.

A February 2025 report from the US Travel Association — long before the shutdown's impact could be factored in — warned that the TSA may not be efficient enough to handle surging travel volumes during the World Cup.

On its busiest days, the agency screened about 3 million passengers. During the games, the organization said that level of traffic would be the norm.

Lawmakers are still negotiating a funding deal to reopen DHS and end the partial shutdown.

• Noise-canceling headphones have been around for decades, but I never tried them — until now.
• I was so confused and freaked out by the sudden silence when I put in my new AirPods 4.
• I felt scared, like a caveman at a monster truck rally. Embarassing, really!

It's March of 2026, and I just bought my first pair of noise-cancelling headphones. I'm shocked, astounded, perturbed, and horrified: Is this how you people have been walking around all this time?!

Last week, after losing my right AirPods 3 earbud, I ordered a new pair of AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation. They're the first headphones I've ever worn with noise canceling.

Of course, noise-cancelling technology in headphones has been around since the 1980s, and became popular in big squishy over-the-ear Bose headphones in the 2000s. Noise canceling has been part of the AirPods Pro lineup since 2019. For some reason, I just ... never tried them.

My first experience with noise canceling

I set up my new AirPods over the weekend while waiting around in the parents' zone at a trampoline park. Because I didn't bother reading the instructions, which suggest pairing by holding the case next to your phone, I simply put the unpaired earbuds into my ears.

Immediately, everything went quiet. I looked around, confused. Did the loud trampoline park just turn off the upbeat pop music they were blasting? Why was everyone suddenly silent? Is there an emergency? Was someone hurt? Oh god, was my kid hurt?! I was panicked, scanning the other tables where adults idly sat looking at phones or tying preschoolers' shoes. No one else seemed to be concerned.

I took out the AirPods, and whoooosh — the music and din flooded back. My brain scrambled to make sense of the sensory experiences hitting it, slowly realizing that this was what noise-canceling does. I was like a caveman being shown a Bic lighter; fearful and confused. I was like the proverbial Victorian child who would pass out if you showed it the AI-generated video of anthropomorphic fruits on "Love Island."

This is incredibly embarrassing on one level because I am a professional technology journalist who generally tries to stay up to date and informed about interesting personal tech devices. The fact that I had never used noise-canceling headphones was an odd oversight.

I don't have good reasons for this, but I do have some weak excuses.

First and foremost, I'm cheap. And in my mind, headphones are something you shouldn't have to spend more than $20 on — up until the iPhone 12, Apple included a free set of corded headphones in the box with a new iPhone or iPod. I had a drawer overflowing with them! Headphones were just something that came into your life, like a cheap black umbrella — you didn't seek them out or intentionally buy them. Now, suddenly, I'm expected to drop a C-note on them?

When AirPods launched in 2016, I initially waved them off as overpriced and frivolous. It looked too easy to lose one. But eventually I gave in and, of course, realized that AirPods are incredibly convenient and great to use (I was right about them being easy to lose, however). Now, it's hard to imagine ever going back to wired headphones, no matter how much Gen Z makes it look cool.

My other main reason is that because I use headphones while walking down the street, riding the subway, or in other public situations, the idea of not being able to hear my surroundings felt like a safety issue. Sure, it might be nice on a plane, but it didn't make sense for my main headphone use.

Jury's still out on whether I like the noise canceling

As I've been playing around with the new noise-canceling headphones, I'm not sure how much I actually like them. Taking them in and out is disorienting, like coming up to the surface too fast while scuba diving (or, what I imagine that feels like).

I tried them at the gym, where they seemed useful, but at home, my husband (who has had noise-canceling headphones for a decade) was mildly frustrated when he tried to talk to me, not realizing I had them in. Understandable!

The AirPod 4s can turn active noise-canceling on and off if you rub the earbud's stem, but I haven't quite mastered this yet — I've tried and sort of fumbled around, turning my podcast on and off and knocking it out of my ear. I'll keep working at it.

I'm just glad to have finally joined the 21st century.

• Houston and Atlanta airports are warning travelers of four-hour security lines.
• Delta, United, and Allegiant have waived some fees to give passengers rebooking flexibility.
• TSA agents have been calling out of work as they aren't being paid due to a government shutdown.

Some airlines are waiving change fees for passengers affected by hourslong waits at airport security.

Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and Allegiant have issued advisories giving travelers more flexibility during the ongoing travel chaos. Most airlines eliminated most change fees after the COVID pandemic, but many still charge them for changes to basic fares.

Due to a partial government shutdown, TSA agents have been working without pay since February 14. As a result, more of them have been calling out of work.

As many as 10% of all TSA agents called out on several days last week, the Department of Homeland Security said. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been deployed to some major airports.

The shutdown persists as Republicans and Democrats are at loggerheads over funding for the DHS. Republicans want to allocate billions more to ICE, but Democrats want it to be reformed in the wake of January's violence in Minnesota.

Here are the airlines that are offering waivers:

Delta Air Lines

In a travel advisory, Delta said that travel from its main hub, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International, "may be affected" by longer security wait times. The airport is advising passengers to allow at least 4 hours for domestic and international screenings.

Delta customers flying from Atlanta on Monday or Tuesday can rebook to travel on or before March 30, and the fare difference will be waived.

Within a year of the ticket being issued, passengers could rebook without a change fee but would still need to pay the fare difference. Or, they could apply any unused value of the ticket toward the purchase of a new one.

A Delta spokesperson said this only applies for people on flights originating from Atlanta, not connecting through the hub.

United Airlines

United issued an alert for Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, saying travel "may be affected."

Tickets purchased on or before Sunday, for travel on Monday or Tuesday, can be rescheduled for a United flight until March 31. "Tickets must be in the same cabin and between the same cities as originally booked."

The airline didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on whether this was directly related to TSA staffing shortages. A banner on the airport's website on Tuesday said security wait times could exceed 4 hours.

Allegiant Air

Allegiant announced a "travel with confidence" policy that allows customers with new and existing tickets through the end of the partial government shutdown to change or cancel their flights at no extra charge.

This includes "no change fees for eligible bookings" and the "option to cancel and receive a refund without penalty."

JetBlue

"With the exception of Blue Basic, all JetBlue fares are flexible — meaning no change or cancellation fees for customers who want to adjust their travel plans ahead of time," an airline spokesperson told Business Insider.

Customers who miss their flight due to long security lines will be rebooked on the next available flight, they added.

JetBlue advises customers to arrive earlier than normal, and said that it's working closely with TSA and continues to monitor the situation.

Southwest

Southwest said it is rebooking passengers who miss their flights due to long TSA lines at no cost.

The airline added that customers are also being offered change waivers and that it's "accepting checked bags well in advance of scheduled flights."

• Western militaries need to study one Ukrainian operation in particular for drone warfare lessons.
• Officials say Operation Spiderweb, which struck dozens of Russian jets, offers key lessons.
• The US Army's drone course director told Business Insider it's "the one event that I teach to the students."

Western militaries are investing heavily in drone warfare after seeing their impact in Ukraine's fight against Russia's invasion. And while it isn't necessary to absorb every lesson, current and former military officials say one major operation is worth studying closely.

Maj. Rachel Martin, director of the US Army's Unmanned Advanced Lethality Course designed to accelerate training on small drone warfare, told Business Insider that the 2025 Operation Spiderweb is "the one event that I teach to the students."

Offensive potential

In the operation, Ukraine smuggled drones into Russia, drove them to positions close to Russian airfields, and launched them at strategically valuable aircraft. The Ukrainian drones hit 41 Russian warplanes and caused an estimated $7 billion in damage.

The strikes showed how arsenals of small, cheap drones can destroy high-value military assets far from the front — and how difficult they are to defend against.

The operation was complex and took roughly a year and a half of planning, but, Martin said, it showed "that a small amount of money could be spent to destroy something at the strategic level," in this case, bombers and other high-dollar aircraft.

It cost Russia billions of dollars when it "is already hurting financially from being in a prolonged war."

Seeing that kind of low-cost attack destroying assets that could take years to replace, she said, "was a big eye-opening experience for the world." It highlighted not only what was possible with attack drones on offense, but also critical vulnerabilities.

Defensive realizations

The Ukrainian operation sparked a realization in the West about the need for significantly more protection at air bases, especially those hosting essential mission tools, such as nuclear deterrence elements.

Lt. Gen. Andrew Gebara, the deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration for the US Air Force, said of the operation last year that "disruptive" technologies like the drones seen in the Ukraine war "will have big implications not just for our bomber force or our nuclear force but really any critical infrastructure."

"We have counter-drone capabilities at these bases. Do we need to continue to modernize? Do we need to accelerate?" he said. "Yeah, absolutely, all that."

The majority of the most strategic US air assets are based inside the continental US. American airpower also depends heavily on warplanes stationed at air bases around the world. Defending against drones has proven challenging at both home and abroad, as the Tower 22 disaster and a number of domestic incidents have highlighted.

European air bases have likewise grappled with the challenge of drones, making the lessons of Operation Spiderweb particularly poignant.

Retired Air Marshal Greg Bagwell, who spent 36 years in the British Royal Air Force and served as its director of joint warfare, said last month that Operation Spiderweb holds key lessons that NATO allies need to learn.

When it comes to modern drone warfare, the West has more to learn from operations like Spiderweb than from day-to-day front-line drone fighting, he said at the UK think tank Chatham House. The West doesn't necessarily need to engage in heavy quadcopter warfare at the front when it has artillery and substantial airpower.

"The lessons that we need to learn are more from Operation Spiderweb, where Ukraine employed these drones in a much more sophisticated way and really did start to take out some significant targets," Bagwell said. That operation had a high-level strategic effect on a stronger adversary for a comparatively lower cost. It's asymmetric warfare that the West can't ignore.

Picking up lessons from the war

The US is using drone warfare in ways beyond what Spiderweb demonstrated, drawing on other lessons from the war. In its war with Iran that started last month, it has used drones to attack Iranian targets, including the new one-way attack LUCAS drones.

It's also still employing traditional drone tactics, using platforms like the uncrewed strike and reconnaissance drone MQ-9 Reaper.

The Army's new drone course is just one of the many ways that it is advancing its drone warfare capabilities, along with other moves like plans to buy at least a million drones in the next two or so years. Allies across NATO are taking similar steps.

Martin said their power is undeniable, and the course itself was created because the Army could see that it was behind in small drone warfare and needed to fix that. But the US is not in the same existential fight that Ukraine is, nor is it facing the same weapons shortages.

Drones have kept Ukraine in the fight against Russia even as other weapons ran out. They haven't been decisive, though, indicating that deep stocks of traditional and advanced weaponry still matter.

The US Army course teaches soldiers that drones aren't always the right weapon.

Bagwell also cautioned against leaning too heavily on drones. He said that drones have been "hugely useful" for Ukraine, but "these have not won the war for either side."

He said that Ukraine has "had to adapt and fight the way they can only fight, and I applaud them for what they have done. But there is a question for us in the West as to whether that is the way we want to fight."

• Southwest Airlines will no longer serve Chicago O'Hare and Washington Dulles starting June 4.
• It will still fly from Chicago Midway, Baltimore/Washington International, and Reagan National.
• Midway and Baltimore are Southwest hubs, but it has a small presence at O'Hare and Dulles.

Southwest Airlines is retreating to its strongholds.

It announced late last week that it will no longer fly from Chicago O'Hare and Washington Dulles Airports starting June 4.

The move is part of its "ongoing efforts to refine its network," it added.

However, it said there won't be any "significant changes" to flight availability from the cities because it's still operating at other nearby airports: Chicago Midway (MDW), Baltimore/Washington International (BWI), and Washington Reagan National (DCA).

O'Hare and Dulles are both popular international airports, ranked third and 22nd in the US, respectively, by passenger numbers. That heightened competition drives up operating costs and gate fees, which isn't ideal for a budget carrier like Southwest.

Meanwhile, Midway is a major hub for Southwest. It carries over 90% of passengers there, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Data from the aviation analytics firm Cirium shows over 6,000 Southwest flights scheduled from there this month. That's more than 13 times as many as from O'Hare.

"We are confident we can serve Chicagoland from our long-standing base at Midway, where we will continue to offer service to more than 80 destinations, including the 15 markets we serve from O'Hare," the airline said.

It comes as United Airlines and American Airlines are fighting for dominance at O'Hare. The former is increasing its flight schedule and working to acquire two gates from Spirit Airlines' bankruptcy proceedings.

Southwest said that operating from O'Hare "continues to be challenging." It only started flights there in 2021.

In and around the nation's capital, the airline is similarly exiting an airport where it has a weaker presence.

Cirium data shows just 93 Southwest flights scheduled from Dulles this month: Twice daily to Denver, and once a day to Phoenix.

United Airlines is the main player there with a majority of the market share.

Meanwhile, Southwest operates nearly three-quarters of flights from Baltimore. It's the second-biggest airline at Reagan National, behind American on 27%, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Southwest said it is "the largest carrier in the Washington area in terms of passengers carried."

It will offer up to 271 departures to 79 nonstop destinations from DCA and BWI, it added.

Frontline employees at O'Hare and Dulles will be able to bid for positions at other airports where Southwest operates, the airline said.

• War in the Middle East has pushed fuel costs, and therefore airfares, sharply higher.
• Business Insider charted the increase in ticket prices for three major flight paths in recent weeks.
• Fares from New York to LA, New York to London, and from the US mainland to the Caribbean have jumped.

Your next flight could be twice as expensive because the Iran war is causing volatility in oil prices.

Brent crude is up more than 50% over the past month, to around $101 a barrel. Jet fuel costs are rising faster. The Argus US Jet Fuel Index is up 72% over the same period.

That spells difficulty for airlines because jet fuel is typically their biggest expense after labor. While many airlines around the world hedge against fuel costs, most American ones do not.

Using data from Deutsche Bank, Business Insider charted rising airfares in three major markets.

The data looks at the lowest available published fares 21 days in advance of the flights. The published fare doesn't necessarily mean a ticket has been purchased for that amount, the Deutsche Bank research analysts said.

Cross-country flights, often known in the industry as transcontinental flights, have seen the biggest week-over-week spike — more than double, on average.

New York to Los Angeles is the country's busiest domestic route, with a capacity of 3.4 million seats out of JFK Airport last year, according to OAG data.

The average price of a transcontinental flight has risen from $167 to $414, Deutsche Bank's analysis showed. In the past week, the average has spiked 107%.

United Airlines is offering flights from Washington Dulles Airport to San Francisco for $502, up from $149 a month ago.

International business travellers are also seeing flight prices rise.

New York to London is the country's most popular international route, and the 10th-busiest in the world. Nearly 4 million seats were scheduled on flights between JFK and Heathrow last year, per OAG.

While the average Transatlantic flight is some 40% more expensive than a month ago, there are bigger rises for the New York-London route. However, it also appears more volatile here with a big dip last week.

Delta Air Lines' service is up from $285 to $553 over the past month, while United's is up to $846. That's a 177% rise compared to a week earlier, according to Deutsche Bank's analysis.

There's bad news for vacationers, too.

Flights to the Caribbean on March 27 are up 58% on average compared to a week before.

JetBlue's flight from New York to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, has risen from $165 to $566 on March 27.

Compared to a year earlier, that's a more than fourfold rise, Deutsche Bank found.

Southwest Airlines' flight from Baltimore to Montego Bay, Jamaica, has more than doubled over the past week. And Alaska Airlines' service from Los Angeles to San Jose, Costa Rica, is up 40% compared to a week earlier or 120% versus a year ago.