🔷 Memorial Day

Memorial Day

This weekend you probably have plans to sun-and-fun, smash beers and burn burgers, or take advantage of all the shopping deals.  

But it’s all about tomorrow—Memorial Day—the US holiday for honoring military personnel who died in service.

The exact beginnings are a bit murky, but here’s how it started: during the Civil War, people started placing flowers on soldiers’ graves. After the war, communities began to host regular observances to come together to decorate the graves and remember the fallen.

Because of the tie to flowers, these community events took place in May—when the first summer blooms and warming weather makes grave decorating possible.

Way Back When

In 1868, a dude named John A. Logan proposed a national holiday on May 30th “for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion.”

OK, he just wasn’t any dude. 

John Logan was a veteran of the Mexican–American War and was a congressman when the Civil War broke out. 

He left office to fight as a Union colonel and rose to be a brigadier general—and was known as one of the exceptional ‘political generals’ of the war.

When the war ended, Johnny L switched political parties and returned to Congress.

Having lived the war, he had a personal connection to the fallen and wanted to use his position to make an official remembrance.

So, Decoration Day began.

Remember

Originally, Decoration Day was heavy. Personal. Emotional.

But over time, as generations passed and families became more removed from their direct losses, the day evolved—and so did the name. Decoration Day was renamed to Memorial Day.

Today, Memorial Day isn’t about grief—it’s about gratitude.

It’s a day of thankfulness and appreciation for the freedom afforded by sacrifice.

So…push it up this weekend to celebrate FREEDOM!

‘Murica!

Stuff You Didn’t Know

• Logan Circle in Washington DC (just north of the White House) is named after John Logan and has a bronze statue of him on a horse—a nod to his battlefield leadership

• The date was originally May 30^th and chosen simply to deconflict from the Civil War battle anniversaries at the end of May 

• On the first official Decoration Day, 5,000 volunteers decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried in Arlington National Cemetery, kickstarting a tradition the remains today

• After World War I, the holiday expanded to honor those who died in all of America’s wars

• On Decoration Day 1921, the first unknown soldier in Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery was selected from four exhumed graves in France

• The holiday wasn’t officially renamed Memorial Day until 1967

• In 1971, the holiday changed from a date (May 30th) to a day (last Monday in May) to create more 3-day weekends

• 1.1 million Americans have fallen in service to their country

Last but not least:

The association of flowers, decoration day, and the fact that the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier’s selection happened on Memorial Day, started another tradition: the ceremonial laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns every Memorial Day.

In That Number

1,000th

Northrop Grumman delivered its 1,000th AN/APG-83 SABR AESA radar for U.S. Air Force F-16 upgrades and all new Block 70/72 variants.

TRIVIA

Super Glue was created during World War II by researchers who were trying to develop what?

A) Clear plastic gun sights
B) Waterproof seals for submarine hatches
C) Heat-resistant jet canopies

On the Radar

Sealift Crisis. A new maritime logistics report outlines severe operational vulnerabilities within the U.S. Military Sealift Command (MSC), including extensive shortfalls in both ships and manpower.

• The Merge’s Take: MSC is not only refuels and resupplies the U.S. Navy underway, but it’s also responsible for trans-oceanic logistics for all the military services. The report estimates a major conflict would require an immediate surge of 3,000 mariners and highlights a number of personnel issues and recommendations. The stand-out recommendation was to re-activate the U.S. Maritime Service (USMS); an WW2 era agency focused on maritime workforce development. It’s still on the books and falls under the Department of Transportation—it just needs to be funded. Starting salary for a licensed Merchant Mariner: $156k (triple the starting salary of a military officer).

Army Seeks $1B to Counter Drones. The U.S. Army requested $994M for FY2027 to aggressively scale its counter-UAS (c-UAS) capabilities. The funding, which is nearly double what the service received in 2026, is to aggressively build up defenses for drones.

• The Merge’s Take: The breakdown offers great insight on how the Army is thinking about things: $414M for C-UAS platforms and sensors, $165M on fixed-site base defenses, $80M on brigade and below protection, $108M on dismounted individual protection, and $24M on expeditionary launchers. The service also requested $132M on effectors (800+ kinetic and 29 non-kinetic) and another $66M to prototype additional directed energy weapons.

AC-130J + AESA Radar + Cruise Missiles. U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) plans to upgrade AC-130J gunships with an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar and the newly designated AGM-190A Havoc Spear 450-mile-range small cruise missile. The FY2027 budget request has $5.9M to get it started.

• The Merge’s Take: Though not stated, out bet is the radar will be RTX’s PhantomStrike—a compact first-of-its-kind air-cooled AESA radar. It was purpose-built to bring this radar technology to non-traditional platforms like jet trainers, CCAs, helicopters…and C-130s! As for the AGM-190A, it is a CRADA success story. Developed by Leidos under a small cruise missile (SCM) cooperative research with SOCOM 3+years ago, it became the Black Arrow before being renamed Havoc Spear.

Sandy replacement. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach told Congress that the F-35 and F-15 fleets will absorb the specialized Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) mission as the A-10 heads toward a final retirement. The service plans to dedicate additional flight hours in 2027 to start training.

• The Merge’s Take: This was experimented with over a decade ago with highly experienced F-15E crews. They we’re put through the “Sandy” upgrades by the A-10 division at the Air Force Weapons School and all of it was documented in test reports, along with issues and recommendations. Please dig this report up and read carefully before proceeding…

They Said It

“This environment demands exactly what Wild Bill Donovan said 80 years ago: We need PhDs who can win a bar fight.”

— Navy Adm. Frank Bradley, Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), regarding the necessity of evolving operator skill sets

Knowledge Bombs

• The Drone Dominance Program invited 48 companies to Phase 2

• Perennial Autonomy won a $500M counter-drone contract from JIATF 401

• Shield AI was tapped to integrate autonomy into the LUCAS drones

• SpaceX filed for a public stock market debut under the ticker SPCX 

• Mach Industries acquired solid rocket motor start-up Exquadrum

• Red Cat acquired Quaze Technologies to add wireless power to drones  

• Amca raised a $300M Series B, reaching a $1B valuation 

• Indonesia is buying 12 Bayraktar Kizilelma UCAVs (options for 48 more)

• The DIU launched a prize challenge for autonomous deliveries via road           

• Rocket Lab won a $90M Space Force contract for GEO satellites

• Japan ground tested a Mach 5 ramjet engine for future hypersonic aircraft

• The UK issued an RFI for the $160M INSTIGATOR drone program 

• REGENT demoed off-grid Seaglider charging

• Airbus won a $1.6B Italian contract for 6 A330 tankers

• Origin Robotics signed a drone interceptor deal with Latvia

• L3Harris successfully tested a rotating detonation engine 

• GA-ASI flew an MQ-9B with AEW radar pods

• The Navy approved low rate initial production for the MQ-25A Stingray

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ANSWER
A) clear plastic gun sights, but if you picked jet canopies…keep reading! In 1942, the Eastman Kodak Company accidentally created a new compound while attempting to make clear plastic gun sights for Allied soldiers. The compound, cyanoacrylate, was incredibly durable but way too sticky to use, so it was abandoned. A decade later, the inventor rediscovered the adhesive compound while researching heat-resistant polymers for jet canopies. In 1956, the patent for “Alcohol-Catalyzed Cyanoacrylate Adhesive Compositions” was filed. It hit the market in 1958 as “Eastman 910” before being rebranded to “Super Glue.”