bootnotes

Aircraft at core of the Future Combat Air System canned as parties could not decide who leads on the work

One of Europe’s two major next-gen fighter aircraft programs has been hit hard by differences between France and Germany, the two main participants, leaving the UK-Italy-Japan’s Tempest as the main contender.

Reports say that the Future Combat Air System (FCAS, or Système de Combat Aérien du Futur – SCAF – in French) has been shelved by German Chancellor Merz and French President Macron.

The program dates back to at least 2017, and was expected to produce a test flight of a technology demonstration airframe by 2026 or 2027, with the aircraft coming in to operational service by 2040.

According to German publication Der Spiegel, the French firm ⁠Dassault ⁠and the European Airbus group could not agree on how to divide up the work on the project, nor on the patent rights for new developments.

However, it is also understood there were differences in the requirements, with France needing a replacement for the Rafale jet that must be capable of operating from an aircraft carrier, while the Germans were beginning to question the need for any crewed fighter aircraft in light of drone developments.

French publication Le Monde says Merz and Macron “reached the shared assessment that the companies will not be able to come together on building a joint combat aircraft.” It goes on to say that other parts of the wide-ranging project will continue.

This refers to FCAS being more than just about a single aircraft; the program also envisioned drone aircraft to accompany the crewed fighter, and a communications system “combat cloud” to link them together, described as a “nervous system that networks aircraft, drones and other components into an integrated whole.”

The program also drew participation from other European nations, such as Spain and Belgium, and it isn’t clear what these nations will choose to do next. It is likely that France will pursue its own next-gen aircraft that meets its own requirements, as happened with Rafale, while the Financial Times reports that Airbus is keen to lead a consortium to develop a new pan-European fighter jet to replace FCAS.

We asked both Dassault and Airbus to comment for this article.

There is another next-gen combat aircraft project already underway: the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP), which is a tri-partite effort between the UK, Italy and Japan. This aims to replace the Eurofighter Typhoon in service with the British and Italian air forces, and the Mitsubishi F-2 operated by Japan.  The British version of the jet is currently known as Tempest.

GCAP was proceeding well, but the current UK prevarication over defense spending is proving to be a roadblock to ongoing development, as a long-term multinational contract for the project cannot be signed until the Starmer government pulls its finger out and publishes its delayed defense investment plan.

If all goes well, GCAP/Tempest is expected to enter service by 2035, but the planned 2027 date for a demonstrator aircraft to fly is already looking unlikely.

Elsewhere, the US is developing its own sixth-generation fighter under the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program, to be built by Boeing as the F-47 and expected to enter service possibly as soon as the early 2030s.

Questions have been raised over whether this will be chosen by European air forces, however, President Trump previously warned that the capabilities of any exported aircraft would be deliberately downgraded.

This follows issues with the in-service F-35, which has seen long delays in key software upgrades, preventing the RAF and Royal Navy from using European-made weapons with their aircraft. ®

This article is crossposted from IEEE Spectrum’s careers newsletter. Sign up now to get insider tips, expert advice, and practical strategies, written in partnership with tech career development company Parsity and delivered to your inbox for free!

I’ve changed jobs more times than I ever imagined I would. In the past 12 years, I’ve worked at seven different organizations. Some of those moves were forced by layoffs. Others were deliberate bets on my own trajectory.

Job hopping, done strategically, is one of the fastest ways to accelerate your compensation and reinvent your professional identity. Engineers who understand when to move and when to stay tend to out-earn and out-rank their peers who simply wait for internal recognition.

Unfortunately, most engineers either job hop too much or not enough, and both mistakes are expensive. Here are the pros and cons of job hopping as an engineer, and when to make a leap.

Pro: It’s the fastest way to grow your salary

Internal raises and external offers operate on completely different logic, and most engineers don’t fully appreciate this until they make their first move.

Within a company, compensation is anchored to your existing salary and capped by organizational pay bands. A strong performance review might get you 5 to 8 percent.

An external offer is a clean slate. The company is bidding for your market value, not adjusting from your current baseline.

My first deliberate job hop doubled my salary in a single year. A later move, at the same job title, pushed my compensation floor to a level that I never would have reached by staying put. Neither outcome was available internally. The math simply does not work in your favor when you stay.

Pro: It lets you reinvent yourself

Every new company is a chance to walk in as a slightly updated version of yourself: the version that learned something from the last place. The version that does not carry the baggage of whatever decision you made two years ago that all your coworkers still remember.

Especially when you’re early in your career, this matters. You get to reframe your experience, take on a different scope, and establish a new reputation from scratch. That kind of reset is difficult to manufacture inside the same organization.

Con: You don’t see the long-term outcome of your work

This is the part nobody talks about, and it took me years to fully appreciate it.

When I joined one company, I built a component library for a website from scratch. Starting projects from scratch is exciting, and the initial implementation held up well for the early use cases. But as the organization scaled, the limitations of my original design became apparent.

I stayed long enough to address them rather than handing that problem to someone else. That experience taught me more about software architecture than any new project ever had.

Engineers who move every 18 months only ever experience the exciting part of building something. They never experience the part where their original decisions stop working. They just repeat the exciting part on a loop, never realizing the debt they are leaving behind.

Con: You cannot job hop your way to a promotion

Above a certain level, things can change significantly.

A new employer can evaluate your past performance through interviews, portfolios, and references. What they cannot do is evaluate your future potential the way a manager who has watched you grow over two or three years can. If you arrive as a senior engineer, you will almost certainly be hired as one.

The promotions that actually changed my career trajectory—from senior to staff engineer, then engineering manager—all happened at one organization over four years. Those transitions required someone to observe my growth over time and make a bet on where I was headed next. That kind of credibility cannot be transferred on a resume.

So when should you actually leave?

The threshold I use is straightforward. If I have produced at least one measurable, clearly definable outcome at an organization, I have a reasonable basis for leaving. Impact, not tenure, is my unit of measure.

I personally think that moving deliberately while early in your career will build a strong compensation baseline.

Then become selective.

Find an environment where real growth is available and stay long enough to build the credibility that job hopping cannot manufacture. Neither constant movement nor blind loyalty is the answer. The question worth asking at every stage is simple: Have I produced something meaningful here yet? If the answer is no, stay. If yes, it might be time to decide what’s next.

—Brian

What if robots didn’t just help us with physical tasks? USC Professor Maja Matarić helped define the era of socially assistive robotics, designed to provide personalized therapy and care through social interactions. Despite her influence in the field now, the award-winning roboticist didn’t see herself as an engineer at first.

Read more here.

Steve Jobs is best known as the co-founder and CEO of Apple. But the 12 years he spent away from the company taught him the lessons necessary for his success. A new book tells the forgotten story of Jobs’ “wilderness” years and what he learned while at NeXT Computer. IEEE Spectrum spoke to the book’s author about Apple’s most iconic CEO and the company’s future as it prepares for new leadership under John Ternus.

Read more here.

Cybersecurity consultants have never been more in demand, with data breaches and attacks costing organizations more than US $10 trillion annually to repair. To help you find the skills you need to stand out in the cybersecurity job market, the IEEE Computer Society offers a “What Makes a Great Cybersecurity Consultant” guide. It includes advice from experts, a list of certifications to pursue, and information on key cybersecurity conferences.

Read more here.

Security software company Ivanti has released patches to address two critical vulnerabilities in its Sentry secure mobile gateway solution, including a maximum-severity flaw that enables remote attackers to execute code with root privileges.

Formerly known as MobileIron Sentry, Ivanti Sentry is a security gateway appliance that secures traffic between back-end corporate systems and remote mobile devices.

Tracked as CVE-2026-10520, the maximum-severity vulnerability stems from an OS command injection weakness. The second Sentry security flaw patched on Tuesday (tracked as CVE-2026-10523) is a critical authentication bypass that can be exploited remotely by unauthenticated attackers to create rogue administrative accounts and gain full administrative access.

Ivanti patched both security issues on Tuesday with the release of Sentry versions R10.5.2, R10.6.2, and R10.7.1.

Luckily, the company said it has no evidence that the two vulnerabilities are being exploited in the wild and advised admins to upgrade their systems to protect against potential attacks.

“We are not aware of any customers being exploited by these vulnerabilities at the time of disclosure,” Ivanti said. “Currently, there is no known public exploitation of this vulnerability that could be used to provide a list of indicators of compromise.”

In recent years, Ivanti vulnerabilities have often been targeted in attacks because they provide an easy way for cybercriminals to breach targets’ enterprise networks and steal sensitive corporate and customer data.

For instance, most recently, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) ordered U.S. federal agencies in May to patch their Ivanti devices after the company warned customers to immediately patch a high-severity remote code execution vulnerability in Endpoint Manager Mobile (EPMM) that was exploited in zero-day attacks.

Multiple other Ivanti zero-days have been exploited in recent years to breach a wide range of targets, including government agencies worldwide, including two other critical EPMM vulnerabilities addressed by Ivanti in January after being exploited as zero-days in attacks against a “very limited number of customers.”

In total, CISA has tagged 34 vulnerabilities across various SolarWinds products as actively exploited in attacks over the past several years, with 12 of them also used in ransomware attacks.

Ivanti’s IT asset management solutions are used by over 40,000 clients worldwide and are supported by a network of over 7,000 partners and over 3,000 employees.

Security teams log 54% of successful attacks and alert on just 14%. The rest move through your environment unseen.

The Picus whitepaper shows how breach and attack simulation tests your SIEM and EDR rules so threats stop slipping by detection.

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Square Enix surprised players during the June 9 Nintendo Direct with the reveal of Final Fantasy Resonance, the first entry in the long-running series to use the HD-2D art style. The game launches worldwide on October 22, 2026, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC through Steam and the Microsoft Store.

The normal version is priced at $49.99. If you’re ready to pay a little more, you can get the Digital Deluxe Edition for $59.99, which includes a bunch of useful in-game goodies. If you want to go all-in, the Collector’s Edition ($209.99) includes the base game, digital goodies, a physical artbook, the soundtrack, and a unique Final Fantasy Trading Card Game card.The plot revolves around Rain, a Grandshelt knight, his adoptive brother Lasswell, and the mysterious Fina as they work to defend the world’s crystals from Veritas of the Dark. Their adventure takes them all over the Lapis world, via villages, optional dungeons, and shrines that unlock additional Visions and some extremely cool memory cutscenes, all set in a big open overworld region that you may explore for free.

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The story is based on the first major arc of the mobile game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. Lancarse and Synthese have essentially recreated the entire thing from the ground up, rather than simply throwing it on a console and calling it good. The end result is a full-fledged console RPG that fits well into the series. When you need to travel, you can do so on foot, chocobo, or airship, and there are numerous destinations to visit across multiple continents.

You’ll solve dungeon puzzles and complete side missions to help fill out the world. The transition from the mobile version’s node-based map to full-fledged open world movement gives the game a nice big Final Fantasy vibe without losing sight of the fundamental crystal conflict plot.

Combat centers on a group of four, with a helpful timeline indicating when each character’s next move will happen. Do something big or make the right move, and you can move one of your characters’ turns a bit later down the line, so timing is essential. Each character has a Vision to use, which is a form of ghost fighter with strength from several Final Fantasy games, and these things level up on their own. The verified Visions include Warrior of Light, Terra, Cloud, Zidane, Shantotto, and Y’shtola, among others.

Enemies have a stagger meter that fills up faster when you strike them where it counts. A fully staggered foe takes more damage and gives the party extra turns. When every enemy on the field staggers at once, the equipped Visions trigger a coordinated Resonance Attack shown in a short CG sequence. Fina can also call Espers for powerful summon moves, while Limit Bursts deliver big individual damage once the meter fills.

The game also looks amazing, with realistic pixel sprites set against rich, layered backdrops that create a beautiful blend of old and new. Places feel deep and real, with proper lighting and shadow placement, and the overall experience makes you feel as if you’re actually there. The music has several familiar tracks from Brave Exvius as well as 33 brand new compositions created particularly for this game.
[Source]

• Logitech unveils a brand new folding mouse
• The Mobil Fold is small and durable
• It promises more than a month of battery life

I’ve had all manner of computer mice over the years, but by far my favorite is a travel mouse. They come in so many different shapes, sizes, and configurations. I fondly remember a promotional USB travel mouse, perhaps no bigger than my thumb, that featured a spring-loaded retractable cable. When that died after multiple road trips, I switched to a Microsoft Surface Arc Bluetooth travel mouse. It was darn near perfect. In travel mode, it was flat, and when you wanted to use it, you bent it to a perfect, palm-hugging curve. That one died after years of business travel.

So you can imagine my excitement when Logitech showed me its new Mobi Fold ($79.99 / $119.99CAD/€79.99 / £69.99). As the name suggests, it is a truly foldable Bluetooth travel mouse.

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After Independence Day, director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin could have easily kept feeding the multiplex more flag-waving alien carnage. Instead, with Robert Rodat’s Saving Private Ryan pedigree tempering the “U-S-A!” machinery, The Patriot became something more grounded, darker, and far better researched than anyone had reason to expect. It is still historical fiction with Hollywood fingerprints all over it, but compared to the glorious cheese fountain of ID4, this is a far more serious and satisfying story about American grit, personal loss, and the ugly cost of revolution.

Mel Gibson’s Benjamin Martin is not based on one specific individual but a composite of militia who fought so bravely to win our freedom from Great Britain some two-and-a-half centuries ago. As a veteran of the French and Indian War, specifically “the wilderness campaign,” he’s not only witnessed but perpetrated unspeakable horrors and is reluctant to see his people thrust into another bloody conflict. But when the war comes for him and his family, this expert in guerilla warfare answers the call and helps turn the tide. Beyond the relatively minor indignities such as the Tea Act Monopoly, the Stamp Act and the Writs of Assistance, we’re shown the atrocities visited upon the colonists by the British forces, a brutality born of arrogance, and it’s hard not to be invested in the struggle by the climactic battle.

A quick glance over my left shoulder at the shelf marked M through Z tells me that, damn, I must really like this movie. I’ve owned The Patriot on five different five-inch discs (see photo), and that was before Sony dropped its new and improved SteelBook 4K edition, once again serving up both the R-rated theatrical cut and the longer unrated version. On the 2018 UHD disc release, just the theatrical cut was in Atmos and 4K, but only in HDR10, with the unrated version in 1080p/5.1. This SteelBook set now offers both cuts each on its own BD-100 platter, in 4K, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, with breathtaking cover artwork by Paul Shipper.

Say what you like about ol’ Mad Max here, but he is one intense thespian, and his closeups convey his grief, his conviction, and the inner demons that fuel Martin’s resolve. Not every shot is razor-sharp, but nonetheless it looks like we’re watching the Revolutionary War, the roll-up and the aftermath through an immaculate window. A light, consistent layer of film grain accentuates the 2.39:1 image, and the high dynamic range delivers consummate detail in the many period-authentic low-light scenes, illuminated by candles, fireplaces or campfires. Even the glisten of a brocaded epaulet is preserved. Whether through the use of filters, magic hour scheduling or post-production wizardry, Caleb Deschanel’s Oscar-nominated cinematography has an enticing golden glow, and the colors are significantly upgraded from the 2018 4K, with only the slightest perceptible drop in picture and sound quality at the inserts within the unrated cut.

Subtle LFE for hoofbeats and fireworks early in the story lull us into false resignation, until the realities of warfare are fully unleashed. Showoff scenes don’t come much better than Gabriel’s rescue–this is the one I routinely use to test speakers, in particular my surrounds and sub–conveniently located at the start of Chapter 5 on the theatrical version, 36:42 into the film. Our vantage point shifts frequently amid the chaos but the hard placement of off-camera voices keeps us in the middle of the action, with frequent booming gunshots all around. (I plan to watch it again after this review publishes, just because.) The whiz and impact of cannonballs are also outstanding. The active overhead channels bring a wonderful sense of spaciousness throughout, and dialogue scenes that proved challenging on past editions are now crystal-clear. The Patriot boasts a John Wiliams score, lesser-known despite its Oscar nomination, and it amplifies the excitement exponentially.

The extras are all ported from past editions, some dating back almost 26 years, spread across the two platters. The theatrical version carries an enjoyable Emmerich/Devlin audio commentary in addition to brisk featurettes about the production and the historical fact. Interestingly, the comprehensive deleted scenes section–13 minutes total with optional commentary–is located on the unrated disc, even though most of that footage has been integrated back into the movie to create the longer cut. Also on this disc are vignettes devoted to the visual effects and concept art.

The timing of the new The Patriot 4K SteelBook is curious, too late for Memorial Day and too early for The Fourth, but take it from me: This one would make a terrific Father’s Day gift. (Father’s Day feature incoming, but this one deserved its own review.) With top scores for the movie, audio and video, this one gets our highest recommendation.

Movie Details

• STUDIO: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• FORMAT: Ultra HD 4K Blu-ray (June 9, 2026)
• THEATRICAL RELEASE YEAR: 2000
• ASPECT RATIO: 2.39:1
• HDR FORMATS: Dolby Vision, HDR10
• AUDIO FORMAT: Dolby Atmos with TrueHD 7.1 core
• LENGTH: 165/175 mins.
• MPAA RATING: R/Unrated
• DIRECTOR: Roland Emmerich
• STARRING: Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Jason Isaacs, Chris Cooper, Tchéky Karyo, Joely Richardson

Our Ratings

★★★★★★★★★★ Movie

★★★★★★★★★★ Picture

★★★★★★★★★★ Sound

★★★★★★★★★★ Extras

Where to buy:

Related Reading:

• Which? discovers ‘potentially lethal’ phone chargers are being sold by major retailers
• Cheap chargers pose serious risks of fire, electric shock and more
• Consumer group demands stricter government regulation

British consumer watchdog Which? has revealed many of the third-party phone chargers available to consumers could present “potentially lethal” risks – and they’re often hidden in plain sight.

Nine of the 15 chargers tested by Which? posed serious electric shock risks, while eight also presented potential fire or explosion hazards, but more worryingly, many were available from popular and trustworthy high-street and online retailers like Amazon, B&Q and Debenhams.

Rivian engineers took everything they learned from the larger R1 models and applied it to a vehicle sized for more people and more driveways. The result is the R2, a two-row electric SUV that starts well below sixty thousand dollars for loaded early versions and dips into the mid-forties for simpler single-motor models arriving next year. That pricing alone sets it apart from bigger adventure-focused rivals while still delivering real capability.

The body looks just like you’d expect from a car with a specific function, with no unnecessary frills and a nice, boxy form that declares its intent without being too huge for its own good. At 186 inches long, it’s around the size of a Honda CR-V in terms of footprint, but its stretched-out wheelbase makes it feel a little longer. The ground clearance is 9.6 inches, and the approach and departure angles are adequate for off-road adventures.

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Stepping inside, you get the idea that the cabin is a huge open space with useful touches all over. The back seats provide ample leg and headroom and are exceptionally comfortable even on extended trips. The materials used are an excellent mix of nice everyday goods and some very smart eco-friendly choices, such as birch trim created from repurposed birch and a headliner built from ocean-rescued plastic. There are also spacious door pockets for holding water bottles, and the rear liftgate glass lowers to make loading heavier items easier.

The controls are one of the car’s most noticeable elements. There is a large, wide touchscreen that handles all of the normal features like as navigation, media, and vehicle settings, and it responds rapidly. You also get two huge halo dials on the steering wheel that allow you to change the climate, radio, drive modes, mirrors, and other settings with a few twists, pushes, pulls, or tilts. This strategy immediately became popular among reviewers, who considered it more user-friendly than scrolling menus while driving. One thing they needed was smartphone mirroring, but the native apps fulfill the most of your demands, and the interface is constantly updated with new features.

Under the hood, there’s an 88-kilowatt-hour battery and some extremely efficient motors. The top dual-motor Performance model generates 656 horsepower and accelerates to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds flat. Acceleration is powerful and immediate, but never uncomfortable. With 350 horsepower, the single-motor rear-wheel-drive car is a great option for people seeking for something a little more efficient. If you’re curious about how far you’ll get on a charge, the car’s range can reach 345 miles on the most efficient settings, thanks to its extraordinarily light weight (about 5,000 pounds) and sophisticated aerodynamic architecture that decreases the drag coefficient to 0.3.

Charging is quite speedy, with up to 230 kilowatts charging the battery from 10% to 80% in around 29 minutes under optimum conditions. You can also do bidirectional charging of up to 11 kilowatts, which allows you to power tools or even transmit electricity back to your home when the power goes out. Production of these things has already begun at Rivian’s plant in Normal, Illinois, with the intention of delivering the higher trims to clients this summer first.