In the early 1980s, Cold War tensions were at their post-Cuban Missile Crisis height, and the US was looking for any strategic advantage it could get against its Soviet adversary.

Although submarine-based missiles were a well-established leg of the nuclear "triad" (along with ballistic missiles and strategic bomber aircraft) the US realized the strategic applicability of stealth for vessels at sea. Specifically, US military researchers wanted to test the viability of making nuclear-armed submarines invisible to sonar.

This effort resulted in Lockheed Martin's experimental stealth ship, a razor-like surface vessel called the Sea Shadow. 

First acquired by the US Navy in 1985, the Sea Shadow remained secret until it was unveiled to the public in 1993. The ship continued to be used for testing purposes until 2006, when it was removed from service. 

Built with help from DARPA and funding from the US government, Sea Shadow was designed to test if it was possible to construct ships that could be invisible to Soviet satellite detection systems and X-band radar.

Additionally, the ship was more highly automated than previous vessels, and the Sea Shadow was partly aimed at testing how well surface ships could perform under the command of a very small crew. 

SEE ALSO: This incredible wave-cutting stealth ship could be the future of naval warfare

First acquired in 1985, the Sea Shadow was never intended to be mission capable.

Instead, the ship was built to test stealth and automation technology. The sharp angles on the ship reflect designs that had previously proven successful for Lockheed's stealth Nighthawk attack aircraft.

The Sea Shadow's raised hull builds upon older technology that is widely used in ferry design for enhancing stability. The Sea Shadow was designed to be able to withstand 18-foot high waves.

As regime forces continue to beat back ISIS in Syria, the country's embattled president is using the gains to his advantage to convince the West that he's a viable partner in the fight against terrorism.

Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad retook the ancient city of Palmyra last month, and have since driven ISIS fighters out of the town of al-Quryatain.

Assad's focus on ISIS (also known as the Islamic State, ISIL, or Daesh), which he claims to have been fighting all along, likely comes as a result of the partial ceasefire between rebels and the regime.

But despite his claims to be fighting terrorists in Syria, Assad's forces have, until now, mostly focused on eliminating the moderate opposition that challenges Assad's rule.

Now, as a tenuous ceasefire continues, Assad is using regime gains against ISIS to push his message to the West of being the best partner in the war on terror. But experts say Assad has been a major driver of extremism in Syria — as he massacres civilians and refuses to step down, the moderate opposition becomes more and more radical.

Strategic security firm The Soufan Group noted on Wednesday that Assad's "role as a fundamental catalyst for extremism in Syria is being increasingly overlooked" as he sees some success against ISIS.

The firm wrote that Assad will "likely walk away as one of the biggest winners from the ceasefire." The regime's recent gains all play into Assad's master plan to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the West.

"Given that the defeat of the Islamic State is the overarching goal of the US-led coalition, continued success against the group will only further serve to entrench Assad's position in the future of Syria," The Soufan Group notes.

By focusing on ISIS rather than moderate rebels, Assad has "sculpted a position for itself as an increasingly effective, yet uncomfortable, bedfellow with the US-led anti-Islamic State coalition," the firm wrote.

"With each successful operation against Islamic State-held territory, the Assad regime compels the international community to afford it more legitimacy," it said.

US leaders have repeatedly called for Assad to step down, and many experts agree that peace in Syria will be difficult to achieve with Assad as part of the equation.

"The Assad regime staying in power is not the solution," Charles Lister, a fellow at the Middle East Institute who has written a book on the insurgency in Syria, said at an event in Washington, DC, on Friday. "It's not the solution for Syria, and it's certainly not the solution for defeating terrorism on Syrian territory."

The challenges are both military and political.

On the battlefield, moderate rebels, which are often outgunned by the regime and jihadist forces, are likely to become increasingly weakened. As long as they're having to fight a battle on multiple fronts — against both the regime and extremist groups like ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra, Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria — they'll be spread too thin to succeed and fighters may defect to extremist groups that have more power and resources.

On the political side, rebels who took up arms to protest Assad's treatment of Syrians are unlikely to accept a solution that would allow him to remain in power.

And Sunni extremist groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS will continue to push a narrative of Sunni oppression to gain recruits — the Assad family belongs to a sect of Shia Islam and has been ruling over the majority Sunni population of Syria for decades. Many jihadist fighters in Syria have cited Assad's atrocities as a major motivation for joining extremist groups that fight the regime.

"The solidification of Assad's position threatens to undermine the possibility of any lasting peace," The Soufan Group said.

It added: "While some members of the US-led coalition may be willing to acquiesce to the survival of the Assad regime if it leads to the defeat of the Islamic State, the disparate rebel groups ... will not accept an outcome to the conflict that maintains the status quo."

Rebel commanders have made similar assessments. Ahmad al-Soud, the founder and commander of the US-backed Free Syrian Army group known as Division 13, told Business Insider that Assad must leave power before terrorism can be defeated in Syria.

"As long as there's no decision yet by the US to remove the regime, that is the reason for all of this" fighting, al-Soud said through a translator last month. "... As long as the Assad regime is still around, you're still going to have different extremist groups in Syria and they're not going to leave, we're not going to be able to get them out."

Still, even if the US were to push for a political solution that saw Assad leaving power, ousting the authoritarian ruler wouldn't be easy. Russia and Iran are both allies of the regime, and they haven't seemed willing to pressure Assad to step down. And their position is even less likely to change now that Assad can point to his forces' victories against ISIS.

The Soufan Group explained:

The regime's recent military victories against the Islamic State fundamentally alter Assad's position at the negotiating table, providing the Syrian government with far greater bargaining power. Assad will likely use the momentum against the Islamic State as leverage to attempt to persuade the US-led coalition to treat the Syrian government as a partner against the Islamic State — which has already been evidenced in the Russian invitation for the US coalition to participate in mine-clearing efforts in Palmyra.

And even if the US never sees Assad as a legitimate partner, but the regime's success against ISIS coupled with the current terror climate in Europe "make the notion of tacit cooperation with Assad somewhat more plausible," according to the firm.

The note continued: "Given that the defeat of the Islamic State is the overarching goal of the US-led coalition, continued success against the group will only further serve to entrench Assad's position in the future of Syria — regardless of whether the US-led coalition directly coordinates efforts to combat the Islamic State with Assad or not."

SEE ALSO: Another jihadist war might be about to break out in Syria — and it all fits into Assad's master plan

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NOW WATCH: The Pentagon plans to hunt enemy submarines using this drone warship

Angola is turning to the International Monetary Fund for help as it grapples with lower oil prices.

The OPEC member's Finance Ministry and the IMF announced on Wednesday that next week the two would begin negotiations on a three-year loan facility.

"The request indicates that the Angolan authorities are gradually realising the scale of their country's economic problems," Capital Economics' John Ashbourne wrote in a note to clients.

The IMF hasn't yet said how much aid it will extend. Ashbourne wrote, however, that Angola's external-financing requirement could be about $8 billion (or 9% of gross domestic product) this year, "so any package would have to be hefty."

"An EFF package should reduce the risk of a messy balance of payments crisis," he added. "But the fiscal austerity that is likely to accompany any deal supports our view that growth will be painful. This supports our view that growth in the country will be very weak."

Back in 2014, Angola relied on oil for 70% of government revenue and 97% of its export revenue — so lower prices were not exactly a welcome surprise.

In the past year, Angola's currency lost 35% of its value against the dollar, foreign-exchange reserves declined to $22 billion from $32 billion, and the government imposed new currency controls, which only helped drive up the cost of key imports, as RBC Capital Markets' Helima Croft previously observed. Plus, inflation hit a 10-year high of 20.3% in February.

Ashbourne also argued in his note that it was notable that Angola actually reached out to the IMF, given its recent history.

He wrote that Angola had "shunned Western donors in recent years, preferring to rely on Chinese loans."

"But while President José Eduardo dos Santos visited Beijing in June only last year," he added, "his country's reluctant embrace of IMF may be a sign of the Washington-based lender's lasting influence in Africa, especially when the going gets tough."

Brent crude is trading down 0.60% at 39.60 a barrel.

SEE ALSO: Why this 2,073-foot Chinese building could be an omen of economic doom

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NOW WATCH: The surprising things that cost more than gas right now

Belgian authorities have launched a public appeal for help in the search for the "man in the hat" suspect captured in an image on Brussels Airport CCTV cameras moments before two other men in the image detonated themselves and killed 14 other people last month.

The police released new images of the man, who has not yet been identified but is believed to be alive, on its official Twitter account Thursday morning.

The photos zoom in on the man's clothes, particularly the white trench coat, hat, and shoes he was wearing at the time of the attack.

The police also released a video of the suspect:

Freelance journalist Faycal Cheffou was incorrectly identified as the man in the days after the attack. He was released days after being arrested because of a lack of evidence linking him to the bombings.

Thirty-five people were killed and hundreds more were wounded after explosions ripped through the airport and at the Maelbeek metro station in Brussels on March 22.

Ibrahim El Bakraoui and his brother, Khalid, were named as suicide bombers in the attacks by the Belgian police the day after the attacks. Ibrahim died at the airport, while his brother died at the metro station, according to the police.

The police believe 24-year-old Najim Laachraoui, who appears in the photo's far left, with Ibrahim El Bakraoui between him and the "man in the hat" suspect, was the second airport bomber. Laachraoui, described by the police as an ISIS bombmaker who made suicide vests used both in the Brussels attacks and in the November Paris attacks, also died at the airport.

Only one day before the attacks, Laachraoui had been named by Belgian officials as a suspected accompliceof Salah Abdeslam, an ISIS militant suspected of carrying out the Paris attacks, which killed 130 people.

Abdeslam was detained in a raid by the Belgian police the week before the Brussels bombings and has been charged in relation to the Paris attacks. Investigators believe Abdeslam would have been involved in the Brussels plot had he not been captured days prior, but hislawyer insisted that his client "was not aware" that the Brussels attacks were being planned.

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NOW WATCH: Watch Obama’s remarks on the Brussels attacks

Kjell Lindgren always wanted to be an astronaut.

"It was a childhood dream that I never gave up on," he tells Business Insider.

Today, he is one of NASA's 47 active astronauts. And in December, he returned from spending six months in outer space.

We recently spoke to Lindgren about what it's really like to be a NASA astronaut, one of the most coveted jobs in the world.

Here's what he told us:

SEE ALSO: Getting into NASA's astronaut class is 74 times harder than getting into Harvard — here's how the selection process works

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The hiring process is extremely selective.

To be an astronaut, you have to go through an 18-month hiring process that begins with submitting an application on USAJOBS.

You must meet three requirements to apply: be a US citizen, have a bachelor's degree in a STEM major, and have at least three years of related, progressively responsible professional experiences or 1,000 hours of pilot in command time in a jet aircraft. 

Lindgren, who had previously served in the Air Force and had been a flight surgeon at NASA for two years, says when his application was accepted and he arrived for his final in-person interviews with NASA, he was blown away by the other applicants.

"Meeting the 19 other candidates made me feel like there had been a mistake," he recalls. "It's very humbling to have been chosen and makes me want to do a good job because any one of those guys could have done just as good a job as me, if not better." 

Once hired, you're required to go through two and a half years of general training.

A few months after he was selected as an astronaut candidate in 2009, Lindgren began the required two-and-a-half years of general training at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. 

His hours were like a normal workweek: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., five days a week. 

He learned how to do a space walk, operate a robotic arm, respond to emergencies, and conduct experiments in space. 

Next, you get assigned to a mission and go through two additional years of mission-specific training.

After completing his general training in 2011, Lindgren and the other 13 members of his class were dubbed active astronauts and assigned to a mission. 

Lindgren was assigned to Expedition 44/45 to the International Space Station (ISS) — set to launch in July 2015 — and then began two additional years of mission-specific training. 

Unlike the two years spent at the Johnson Space Center, 40% of this second round of training took place overseas at partner training centers in Germany, Russia, and Japan. While there was some classroom time, Lindgren says the majority of their training took place in various space simulators and mockups.

In the last two weeks before launching, the astronauts fly to the Integration Facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where the rocket launch facilities are located, for final dress rehearsals.

They spend this time in quarantine to make sure they don't carry any illnesses up to space with them. 

On the official launch day, they wake up, eat a meal, suit up, and walk out to the rocket. 

For the first time, the FBI has shed some light on the tool it purchased from a third party to hack into the iPhone involved in the high profile San Bernardino case.

After a speech at Kenyon University on April 6, FBI director James Comey revealed that the Justice Department has a "a tool that works on a narrow slice of phones" and not newer models from the iPhone 5s on.

The iPhone that the FBI originally wanted Apple to create a back door into the iPhone 5c that belonged to San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook. The day before its court hearing with Apple, the FBI dropped the case and said it had been contacted by an outside party with a method of hacking that didn't require Apple's help.

"The FBI is very good at keeping secrets," Comey told the crowd at the beginning of a lengthy Q&A at Kenyon on Wednesday. "The people we bought this from, I know a fair amount about them and I have a high degree of confidence that they are very good at protecting it and their motivations align with ours."

Reports have said that the FBI is working with the Israeli mobile forensics firm Cellebrite, which has helped the Justice Department with similar requests in the past. Security experts have theorized that the method likely involves a technique called NAND mirroring, a tedious process that involves disassembling the iPhone and replicating its chip repeatedly.

If the tool used by the FBI doesn't work on newer iPhones after the 5s model, the reason likely has to do with the Touch ID fingerprint sensor and Secure Enclave processor Apple added in the 5s.

Comey said that the government is having internal discussions about if it should tell Apple about the workaround in its possession. "We tell Apple, they're going to fix it, and we're back where we started from," he said. "As silly as that may sound, we may end up there. We just haven't decided yet."

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NOW WATCH: The FBI says it unlocked the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone without Apple’s help

The US Naval Institute just completed a poll of its readers to determine the best warships of all time. The Naval Institute urged readers to consider vessels from ancient times to now, and with more than 2,600 votes and almost 900 written responses, they've developed a diverse list spanning hundreds of years.

In some cases, readers wrote in recommending whole classes of ships, like aircraft carriers or nuclear submarines, but the list below will only reflect the five specific ships that made the grade.

SEE ALSO: Here are the super-advanced missiles the US Navy wants to keep Russia and China in check

5. USS Nautilus

Congress authorized the construction of the world's first nuclear-powered submarine in 1951, and in 1954 first lady Mamie Eisenhower christened it.

The Nautilus changed the game when it came to naval warfare, and it ushered in an entirely new era for submarines. This nearly silent sub could hide among the ocean floor undetected, while offering up substantial contributions to surface warfare with cruise, or even nuclear, missiles. 

The nuclear sub would go on to form one-third of the US's nuclear triad.

4. HMS Dreadnought

The HMS Dreadnought ushered in a new era of "all big-gun ships." Unlike battleships before it, the Dreadnought only had 12-inch cannons aided by electronic range-finding equipment. For defensive, the ship was completely encased in steel.

The Dreadnought presented a suite of technologies so cutting edge that it is often said that it rendered all battleships before it obsolete.

Though the Dreadnought did not have a distinguished service record, it did become the only surface battleship to sink a submarine. It is remembered largely for shifting the paradigm of naval warfare, as opposed to its victories in battle.

3. USS Enterprise

Unlike the Dreadnought, the historians remember the USS Enterprise for its outstanding record in combat. 

As the sixth aircraft carrier to join the US Navy in 1936, the Enterprise was one of the first craft to respond after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, and it survived major battles in Midway, Guadalcanal, Leyte Gulf, and the "Doolittle Raid" on Tokyo during World War II.

After the war, the Enterprise was decommissioned as the most decorated ship in US naval history.

Technology and manpower never guarantee a military victory by themselves. And neither can tactics and strategy — sometimes, it takes an extra measure of trickery and subterfuge to swing the tide on the battlefield. 

A group of Quora users sought to answer the question "What are the most mind-blowing tricks used during any war?" The answers provide a fascinating insight into some of the minds responsible for the most ingenious successes in the history of war.

SEE ALSO: 7 unbelievable military weapons most people have never heard of

1. Operation Mincemeat

During World War II, the British launched a successful disinformation plan called Operation Mincemeat. The operation was created in an effort to convince the Germans that the Allies planned on invading Sardinia and Greece — instead of Sicily, where they actually landed in July 1943. 

The operation was carried out successfully by obtaining the corpse of a homeless man in London, who was then given a false identity as a major in the Royal Marines. This man was then given false plans documenting an invasion of Sardinia and Greece, before being thrown to the tide off the coast of Spain. 

The British alerted the Spanish, who were nominally neutral during the war, to be on the lookout for a British Marine carrying documents that had to be recovered. The papers were promptly handed over to the Nazis by the Spanish and convinced Hitler to reposition troops away from Sicily. 

2. Heroin-Laced Cigarettes

The British and Ottomans were locked in extremely slow-moving trench warfare during World War I's Palestine Campaign. Eventually, the British learned that the Ottomans had run out of cigarettes. In an attempt to demoralize their enemy, the British began sending cigarettes wrapped in propaganda to the Ottomans. 

Instead of surrendering, the Ottomans threw away the propaganda and smoked. So, before the British scheduled one raid, they switched tactics and threw over cigarettes laced with heroin.

The British met little opposition from the Ottoman forces during their assault.

3. Moving A Naval Fleet Over Land

During the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the invading Turks faced a major challenge. The Byzantines had erected a giant chain across the Golden Horn, a stretch of water that connected Constantinople to the sea. This chain effectively blocked the Ottoman navy from making their way to the enemy capital.

In order to overcome the chain, the Ottomans moved their navy overland using log rollers. This allowed the Ottomans to bypass the chain and attack the Byzantines from multiple fronts, ultimately aiding in the capture of the city that's now called Istanbul. 

Notorious terrorist leader Osama bin Laden was bullish on gold, telling Al Qaeda leaders in a 2010 letter to invest in the precious metal while "overall price trend is upward," The New York Times reported this week.

The letter was part of a trove of documents released by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence last month. In it, bin Laden implores Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, Al Qaeda's general manager, to earmark $1.7 million of a $5 million ransom for gold bars and coins.

Bin Laden also advocated buying euros, Kuwaiti dinars, and Chinese yuan. He outlined specific instructions on how to spend the money.

"As for the money you received in local currency, it should be gotten rid of, because its value has been declining and it continues to go down," bin Laden wrote. He then detailed how much of the ransom money should go to various currencies and said al-Rahman should "use the euros first, then the dinars, the yuan and then the gold."

He then goes on to analyze the outlook on gold.

"The overall price trend is upward," bin Laden wrote. "Even with occasional drops, in the next few years the price of gold will reach $3,000 an ounce. Right now it is at $1,390 an ounce, but before the events in New York and Washington it was $280 an ounce."

The Times noted that this would have been a "bad bet," because on the day the letter was dated, December 3, 2010, gold closed at $1,414.08 an ounce. Today gold is at about $1,230 an ounce.

It's unclear whether al-Rahman followed bin Laden's instructions in this case, according to The Times.

Bin Laden wasn't alone in his assessment of gold's potential. The Times said:

Bin Laden may have lacked investing acumen — gold peaked at $1,900 an ounce five months after his death in 2011 — but he seems to have had a keen sense of the financial zeitgeist. His belief in gold's bright future was shared at the time by many Americans and a number of financial luminaries, including George Soros and John Paulson, both of whom were investing heavily in the precious metal. Demand was so high that in 2010, JPMorgan Chase reopened a long-closed vault used to store gold under the streets of downtown Manhattan.

Read the full letter below:

Osama Bin Laden gold letter

SEE ALSO: Assad's master plan is working — and now he's entrenching himself even deeper

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NOW WATCH: Melania Trump: If you attack my husband 'he will punch back 10 times harder’

On A&E's "60 Days In" seven innocent people went undercover in an Indiana jail to reveal issues in the system. Maryum Ali, daughter of Muhammed Ali, was one of these participants. Here she explains how she coped with the food.

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Spanish special forces train to carry out quick aquatic evacuations. That can mean driving a boat full of soldiers into the back of a Chinook helicopter idling over water.

The Spanish army's Department of Communications has uploaded an incredible video showcasing a quick retrieval of its special forces from a lake aboard a Chinook. In under 3 1/2 minutes, the Chinook conducts an aquatic landing, opens its hatch, secures the soldiers' boat after it rides into the helicopter, and takes off.

We have created GIF highlights of the exercise below.

The exercise begins with a Chinook helicopter conducting landing on a lake:

Immediately upon landing, the Chinook opens its back hatch. The interior compartment begins to flood ...

... but the flooding allows the special forces to ride their zodiac boat directly into the helicopter.

Upon reaching the back of the Chinook, the Special Forces climb into the helicopter and help pull the zodiac boat aboard.

The boat is secured to the hull of the Chinook with cables.

Once secured, the helicopter takes off from the lake. All of this takes place in under 3 1/2 minutes.

You can watch the entire exercise below:

SEE ALSO: 20 jaw-dropping photos of some of the toughest military training regimes in the world

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A federal prosecutor in Argentina opened an investigation on Thursday into President Mauricio Macri's financial dealings because of two offshore firms revealed in the so-called Panama Papers leaks, according to AFP.

Prosecutor Federico Delgado said that he had asked a judge to request information from the national tax authority and anticorruption office to determine whether the conservative president "omitted, with malicious intent, to complete his sworn declaration" of assets, a requirement for Argentine public officials, AFP reported.

"As a first step, it is necessary to check if Mauricio Macri maliciously failed to complete his tax declaration," Delgado wrote in his appeal to Judge Sebastián Casanello, noting that it was a crime that carried a sentence from 15 days to two years, according to Reuters.

Argentine newspaper La Nacion, which examined documents leaked from Panama-based international law firm Mossack Fonseca, reported that Macri was listed as a director of Fleg Trading, a company based in the Bahamas, from 1998 until 2009.

The president said that he was simply director of the Bahamas-based company, Fleg Trading Ltd., now closed, which was created by his tycoon father to make investments in Brazil, Reuters noted.

Macri, however, did not list the company in his financial declaration in 2007, when he became mayor of Buenos Aires, or in 2015, when he was elected president, according to the BBC.

Earlier this week, Macri's office confirmed that a business group owned by his family had created an offshore company through Mossack Fonseca, the BBC noted. But the president's office said that he never received income from it, so there was no reason to declare it in financial disclosures.

Macri, who has denied any misdeeds, campaigned in part on vows to fight corruption, and he said during his state of the union earlier this year that "Corruption can't nor should be left unpunished."

The Argentine president is not the only Latin American leader with links to the suspect financial dealings divulged by the Panama Papers.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and his wife have also been shown to have ties to people named in the documents.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that a Mexican contractor — a close friend of the president — had worked with Mossack Fonseca to move roughly $100 million to offshore trusts in the midst of a government investigation into whether that contractor had granted the president's family special favors in a real-estate deal.

So far, however, Macri and Peña Nieto have not fared the worst in the wake of the Panama Papers' leak. Iceland's prime minister resigned on Tuesday after secret investments revealed by the Papers ignited a firestorm of criticism.

AFP contributed to this story.

SEE ALSO: The world's most powerful drug lord has been linked to the Panama Papers

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NOW WATCH: Watch Obama show off his tango skills in Argentina

Billionaire hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen has pledged $275 million to support military veterans and their families by opening up free mental-healthcare clinics across the country.

The Cohen Veterans Network officially launched its operations this week. The clinics will treat veterans, free of charge, who suffer from post-traumatic stress (PTS) and other mental health conditions, Cohen and executive director Dr. Anthony Hassan said in a release.

"The wounds of war are serious. It is not easy to serve your country in combat overseas and then come back into society seamlessly, especially if you are suffering," Cohen said in a statement. "These men and women have paid an incredible price and it’s important that this country pays back that debt." 

He continued: "We will treat anyone who served in the U.S. Armed Forces during the war on terror. If you wore the uniform, and you need help, you are welcome at Cohen Veterans Network–period."

More than 2.6 million men and woman have served in the military during the past 14 years of war. Around 20% of veterans experience some form of PTS and traumatic brain injury (TBI), while nearly 40% of returning veterans who suffer from mental health issues don't seek treatment, CVN said in its release.

Over the next five years, Cohen Veterans Network plans to open 20 to 25 clinics. The first four Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinics, located in New York, Dallas, San Antonio, and Los Angeles, will open by July. The fifth clinic will be in Philadelphia, and it's scheduled to open in the spring of 2017.

Cohen will also pledge an additional $30 million or more through Cohen Veterans Bioscience, CVN's sister organization, for research programs.

On Wednesday evening, Cohen was honored by the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, an organization that provides free education for the children of fallen Marines and law enforcement members.

Cohen comes from a military family. His son, Robert, served in the US Marine Corps in Afghanistan and is currently serving in the Reserves. Cohen's father served in the Pacific during World War II.

"My dad taught me to believe that if you worked hard, and took risks, you could succeed in this country. And when my son became a Marine, he taught me that nothing I achieved would have been possible without the men and women of our military," Cohen said during his speech.

"Our lives and our hopes rest on the freedom and security that they provide. We owe our veterans a debt that can never truly be repaid." 

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NOW WATCH: James Altucher makes an argument for not paying back your credit card debt

Retired DEA agent and "Deal" author Mike Vigil spent roughly 20 years undercover in Mexico and Colombia. He spent a lot of time working alongside killers and drug dealers, but when he went back home things were a lot different. This is what he would say to his friends and family about what he did for a living. 

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People all over the world watched Thursday's bizarre LA police chase that began after residents reported a house burglary in Cerritos, an LA suburb.

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Two people were found dead Friday morning at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, in what the police think was a murder-suicide.

Sheriff's office spokesman James Keith said the situation, initially believed to be an active shooting, was "over,"Reuters reported. The buildings were still being searched, but the police did not expect to find more victims.

CNN, The Air Force Times, and The Associated Press reported that an airman had shot his squadron commander, but Brig. Gen. Bob LaBrutta declined to comment on these reports during a news conference as the investigation and next-of-kin notification process were ongoing.

The dead were found in an office in Forbes Hall, a multiuse building at the base, LaBrutta said. Two Glock pistols were found at the scene.

Lackland and nearby schools were put on lockdown after the initial reports of a shooter, but the lockdown orders have since been lifted.

The FBI's San Antonio division responded to the scene to assist. The bureau took over the investigation later in the morning, Reuters reported, citing the sheriff's office. In a news conference, an FBI official said the incident was not being investigated as an act of terrorism.

The US Air Force carries out its basic military training at the Lackland base, which is part of the Joint Base San Antonio.

Texas State Senator Jose Menéndez released a statement Friday afternoon condeming the shooting.

"This senseless violence strikes at the heart of the San Antonio community," he said. "Lackland Air Force Base and the other military installations are woven into the fabric of our community. Together we mourn with the families who tragically lost a loved one. This situation is still being investigated and as my office receives more details, we will respond."

Republican presidential candidate and Texas senator Ted Cruz also released a statement on the shooting. 

"As details of this horrific incident continue to unfold, Heidi and I pray for peace, comfort, and safety for those involved," Cruz said. "IIt is tragic to once again see an active shooter commit murder at one of our domestic military bases, where servicemembers and their families should feel safe and secure."

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NOW WATCH: Melania Trump: If you attack my husband 'he will punch back 10 times harder’

The US and Russia have been competing arms exporters since the dawn of the Cold War. Although the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the deep-seated rivalry between the US and Russia never fully died out and is now stronger than it's been in decades thanks to the Russian annexation of Crimea, the war in Ukraine, and competing interests in Syria. Likewise, the two countries are equally competitive in the realm of military hardware.

The US and Russia are producing their own fifth-generation fighters. While the US is developing the F-35 in conjunction with select worldwide partners, Russia is developing its own fifth-generation fighter, the Su-50. And like the F-35, the Su-50 will have multiple variants. The following chart from Russian arms manufacturer Sukhoi shows the intended plan for all versions of Russia's most advanced fighter jet.

The base model of the Su-50 is also known under its prototype name: the T-50 PAK FA. There have been five T-50s built so far. The plane's final version — the Su-50 — is supposed to be fully operational by 2016. Once complete, the Su-50 will serve as a base model for future fifth-generation aircraft. Some versions of the plane are intended for export, with the bulk of them being developed for India.

The Indian version of the plane, the Su-50E, will be similar to the Su-50 but modified according to certain demands from the Indian air force. Russia and India are also codeveloping the Su55-FGFA, a twin-seater version of the Su-50 that will be specially designed for the Indian air force.

This close level of coordination between Russia and India highlights the consistently close military relations the two countries have enjoyed. India is the world's largest arms importer, and it received 75% of all of its armaments from Moscow in 2013. Aside from India, Russia also plans to complete variants of the Su-50 for South Korea and Iran. The South Korean version, the Su-50EK, should be ready for export by 2018 while the Iranian Su-50ES version will be ready by 2022.

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Russia's air force recently grabbed the international spotlight with its bombing campaign in support of Syria's Bashar Assad. But how does it stack up against the world's greatest air force?

During Russia's stint in Syria, four of their latest and greatest Su-35 Flanker jets flew sorties just miles from the only operational fifth-generation fighter jet in the world, the US's F-22 Raptor.

Given the fundamental differences between these two top-tier fighter jets, we take a look at the technical specifications and find out which fighter would win in a head-to-head matchup.

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F-22 specs

Max Speed: 1,726 mph
Max Range: 1,840 miles
Dimensions: Wingspan: 44.5 ft; Length: 62 ft; Height: 16.7 ft
Max Takeoff Weight: 83,500 lb
Engines: Two F119-PW-100 turbofan engines with two-dimensional thrust-vectoring nozzles
Armament: One M61A2 20-mm cannon with 480 rounds, internal side weapon bay carriage of two AIM-9 infrared (heat seeking) air-to-air missiles, and internal main weapon bay carriage of six AIM-120 radar-guided air-to-air missiles (air-to-air load out) or two 1,000-pound GBU-32 JDAMs and two AIM-120 radar-guided air-to-air missiles (air-to-ground loadout).

Source: Af.mil

Su-35 specs

Max Speed: 1,490 mph
Max Range: 1,940 miles
Dimensions: Wingspan: 50.2 ft; Length 72.9 ft; Height 19.4 ft
Max takeoff weight: 76,060 lb
Engines: Two Saturn 117S with TVC nozzle turbofan, 31,900 lbf/14,500 kgf each
Armament: One 30mm GSh-30 internal cannon with 150 rounds, 12 wing and fuselage stations for up to 8,000 kg (17,630 lb) of ordnance, including air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles, rockets, and bombs.

Source: CombatAircraft.com

Maneuverability

Russia based the Su-35 on the rock-solid Su-27 platform, so its status as a "supermaneuverable" fighter is a matter of fact.

Russian pilots familiar with previous generations of the Sukhoi jet family's thrust-vectoring capabilities have carried out spectacular feats of acrobatic flight, like the "Pugachev's Cobra."

On the other hand, the F-22 has a great thrust-to-weight ratio and dynamic nozzles on the turbofan engines. These mobile nozzles provide the F-22 with thrust-vectoring of its own, but they had to maintain a low profile when designing them to retain the F-22's stealth edge.

Most likely, the Su-35 could out-maneuver the F-22 in a classic dogfight.

A selection of photos from some of this week's biggest news that you might have missed.

US Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz celebrates winning the Wisconsin Primary with his wife Heidi and Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker, during a primary night rally at the American Serb Banquet Hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin April 5, 2016.

Read more about Ted Cruz winning Wisconsin.

A white-tailed eagle lands on a wolf's carcass in the 30 km (19 miles) exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, in the abandoned village of Dronki, Belarus, February 15, 2016. Thirty years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, booming populations of wolf, elk and other wildlife in the vast contaminated zone in Belarus and Ukraine provide a clue as to what happens after humans disappear.

Learn more about Chernobyl and its animals.

First lady Michelle Obama, Malik Robins, and Erin Hinson, help plant vegetables during the eight annual White House Kitchen Garden planting on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 5, 2016.

Throughout the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the US were constantly trying to check each other's military power. This drive for each country to outdo the other led to some truly bizarre pieces of military hardware.

One of the most astounding Soviet creations was the Bartini Beriev VVA-14. The plane, whose pontoons give it the bizarre look of a bomber airframe strapped to two "Star Trek"-like nacelles, was the work of Italian designer Robert Bartini.

It was envisioned as a vertical-takeoff amphibious aircraft designed to act as a defense against US nuclear submarines. It was supposed to be able to skim the surface of the water, allowing it to have eyes on underwater targets while keeping it safe from sub attacks.

Only two Bartini Beriev VVA-14 prototypes were built, and the project was eventually scrapped.

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The Bartini Beriev VVA-14 had a three-person crew.

The plane's first flight was held on September 4, 1972. At the time, the prototype had yet to be outfitted with its pontoons for aquatic landings.

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The addition of the pontoons allowed the VVA-14 to land at sea.