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An ultra-endurance long-range drone registered to Vanilla Unmanned crashed into a bluff near Ninilchik, Alaska on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (Contributed photo)

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Drone crashes on beach in Southcentral Alaska during military exercises

NTSB is investigating the crash, which occurred Wednesday

National Guard members put on hazmat suits before entering the simulation area on Monday, June 9, 2025. (Natalie Buttner / Juneau Empire)

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National Guard exercise begins simulation of foreign terrorist attacks

Operation ORCA brings 100 personnel to Juneau, disrupts traffic around Capitol

Members of the California National Guard are deployed outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, June 8, 2025. Protests over immigration raids were expected to continue for a third day. About 300 guard members have been positioned across Los Angeles so far, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said. (Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York Times)

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National Guard troops deployed by Trump across LA clash with protesters

President sends 2,000 troops under a rarely used power; objectors say he is trying to provoke a crisis.

Members of the Ohio National Guard participate in the Operation ORCA exercise in June of 2023 in Wasilla. (Dana Rosso / Alaska National Guard)

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Emergency simulation uses Juneau’s landscape to prepare for national threats

Alaska National Guard ORCA Exercise may disrupt community, but increases response readiness.

The Wrangell shoreline with about two dozen buildings visible, including a Russian Orthodox church, before the U.S. Army bombardment in 1869. (Alaska State Library, U.S. Army Infantry Brigade photo collection)

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Army will issue January apology for 1869 bombardment of Wrangell

Ceremony will be the third by military to Southeast Alaska communities in recent months.

Rear Adm. Mark Sucato reads the U.S. Navy’s apology to the people of Angoon on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024 commemorating 142 years to the day since the military bombarded the village in 1882. (Screen image from Sealaska Heritage Institute)

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Angoon accepts U.S. Navy apology for bombardment that destroyed village 142 years ago

“From this day forward, no more crying,” village leader says about declaration sought for generations

“We accept this apology,” says Kake elder Ruth Demmert as she addresses the audience at Saturday’s formal apology by the U.S. Navy delivered minutes earlier by Rear Adm. Mark Sucato. The apology in Kake was for the 1869 bombardment and destruction of Kake’s three villages and two forts in winter of that year. (Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire)

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A long time coming: U.S. Navy apologizes for destroying Alaska Native village of Kake in 1869

“From this time forward we will start healing our people,” village president says at historic ceremony.

Angoon students prepare to paddle the unity canoe they built with master carver Wayne Price on June 19, 2023. It is the first canoe of its kind since the U.S. Navy bombardment of Angoon in 1882 that destroyed all the village’s canoes. The Navy plans to issue apologies to Kake and Angoon residents in the fall of 2024. (Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)

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U.S. Navy plans apologies to Southeast Alaska villages for century-old attacks

Navy officials say apologies in Kake and Angoon are both “long overdue” and “the right thing to do.”

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kimball, right, and a Japanese naval training vessel travel near the island of Unalaska in 2021. The Kimball intercepted a group of Chinese military vessels operating near the Aleutian Islands on July 6 and 7. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

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Inside the U.S. Coast Guard’s Aleutian encounter with China’s military — and what it means

The Chinese warships weren’t showing up on civilian radar.

Lt. Daniel Schuerman, the ship’s operations officer, shows the 5-inch/54-caliber Mark 45 gun on the foredeck of the USS William P. Lawrence during a tour Sunday in Juneau. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

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Navy brings out big guns for visitors aboard destroyer as crew works on community projects during Juneau stop

USS William P. Lawrence open to public tours until its scheduled departure Wednesday

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., questions Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on her nomination for reappointment to the grade of admiral and to be Chief of Naval Operations, Sept. 14, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate circumvented a hold by Tuberville on Thursday and confirmed Adm. Lisa Franchetti to lead the Navy, making her the first woman to be a Pentagon service chief and the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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Tuberville under pressure from Sullivan, other Republicans, reconsiders military holds

Alaska senator co-led floor confrontation regardarding block of nearly 400 nominees

Chuck Caldwell, who served in the Army during the Vietnam War, lays a wreath on behalf of Veterans of Foreign Wars Taku Post 5559 at the base of the flagpole at Evergreen Cemetery in observance of Memorial Day on Monday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

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Remembering the true meaning of sacrifice

Memorial Day observations in Juneau see hundreds pay tribute to those who serve and persevere

In this photo released by the U.S. Army, AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters from the 1st Attack Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, fly over a mountain range near Fort Wainwright, Alaska, on June 3, 2019. The U.S. Army says two Army helicopters similar to the ones in this picture crashed Thursday, April 27, 2023, near Healy, Alaska, killing three soldiers and injuring a fourth. The helicopters were returning from a training flight to Fort Wainwright, based near Fairbanks. (Cameron Roxberry / U.S. Army)

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Army grounds aviators for training after fatal crashes

The U.S. Army has grounded aviation units for training after 12 soldiers died within the last month in…

Capt. Corey Wheeler, front, commander of B Company, 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, walks away from a Chinook helicopter that landed on the glacier near Denali, April 24, 2016, on the Kahiltna Glacier in Alaska. The U.S. Army helped set up base camp on North America's tallest mountain. The U.S. Army is poised to revamp its forces in Alaska to better prepare for future cold-weather conflicts, and it is expected to replace the larger, heavily equipped Stryker Brigade there with a more mobile, infantry unit better suited for the frigid fight, according to Army leaders. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)

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Army poised to revamp Alaska forces to prep for Arctic fight

The U.S. has long viewed the Arctic as a growing area of competition.

This Friday, March 18 photo shows an Air Force C-17 at Juneau International Airport as it ferried gear to Juneau for a hazardous materials exercise with the city and other organizations. (David Rigas / Juneau Empire)

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City and military hold hazardous material exercise

The exercise will test the city’s response to a hazmat emergency.

Two U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons, assigned to the 180th Fighter Wing, fly in formation after being refueled by a KC-135 Stratotanker, assigned to the 97th Air Refueling Squadron, during U.S. Northern Command Exercise Arctic Edge 2022, March 15, 2022. (U.S. Air Force / Staff Sgt. Taylor Crul)

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Military wraps up major cold-weather exercise

More than a thousand servicemembers traveled to Alaska from across North America for the exercise.

Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship Brandon sits off Auke Bay after offloading passengers on March 6, 2022 as part of exercise Arctic Edge 2022. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

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Freedom of the seas: Royal Canadian Navy practices minesweeping outside Juneau

The practice comes as part of an Alaska-wide exercise.

U.S. Air Force photo / Airman 1st Class Andrew Britten Two Avenger Air Defense Systems sit on a flatbed trailer Feb. 25 at the Port of Anchorage for exercise Arctic Edge 2022.

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Military holds major Arctic exercise across Alaska

From Juneau to the Arctic Circle, servicemembers will be practicing their cold-weather warfare.

A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft assigned to the 25th Fighter Squadron taxi during exercise Red Flag-Alaska 21-02 at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, June 14, 2021. (Tech. Sgt. Peter Thompson / U.S. Air Force)

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Air Force kicks off major multinational exercise in Alaska

More than 100 aircraft from three countries will be involved.

U.S. Marine CorpsU.S. Marine Corps F/A-18C Hornets assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 251 prepare to take off from the flightline during Red Flag-Alaska 17-2 on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, in 2017.

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Military leaders: Partnerships are key as Alaska’s strategic importance grows

The Alaska Native community and military must work together, commanders say