In our news wrap Friday, a federal judge says the Kennedy Center must continue its court-ordered removal of President Trump's name from the institution, a judge extended a block on the Justice Department's proposed $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund and the DOJ signed off on Paramount's $110 billion bid for Warner Bros.

In our news wrap Thursday, the Interior Department is investigating what appears to be an anti-Trump message etched into the grass of the National Mall in Washington, severe storms in the Midwest are disrupting travel and the gunman who killed Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband pleaded guilty in federal court.

In our news wrap Wednesday, Bill Gates told a congressional panel he made a "grave error in judgment" by meeting with Jeffrey Epstein, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned the government of Cuba not to seek out weapons that could strike the U.S. or its military bases and tensions remain high in Northern Ireland following anti-immigrant violence brought on by a stabbing attack.

In our news wrap Tuesday, Israel's bombing campaign against Hezbollah continued inside Lebanon, complicating prospects of a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran, protests over a proposed Ebola quarantine center for Americans in Kenya led to violent protests and Iran's soccer federation says FIFA has revoked its ticket allocation for fans to attend the team's three World Cup matches in the U.S.

In our news wrap Monday, authorities reported three more cases of New World screwworm in the U.S., a federal judge struck down Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee, a stabbing at New York City's Penn Station left six people injured, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed at least 35 people in the Philippines, and "Schmigadoon" was crowned best musical at the Tony Awards.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry has codified and approved the domestically produced MAC OWL "Sova" armored vehicle. It has a V-shaped armored hull, 16 mm-thick side armor, and a capacity for up to 10 electronic-warfare modules forming a defensive dome against Russian FPV kamikaze drones, Oboronka reports, citing the Defense Ministry.

MAC OWL "Sova" is a joint Ukrainian-European product developed by Ukrainian company MAC HUB together with Paramount Greece, a European subsidiary of South African defense manufacturer Paramount Group.

It is rated to STANAG 4569 4a/4b, which is the highest mine-protection class, withstanding explosions of up to 10 kilograms of TNT equivalent.

MAC OWL "Sova" addresses the two most operationally lethal threats to Ukrainian troops in 2026: anti-vehicle mines and Russian FPV kamikaze drones.

Design philosophy and origins

The MAC OWL "Sova" is built on the armored body of the South African Mbombe 4 MRAP, which has been substantially adapted for the realities of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Work on the project lasted more than a year. Ukrainian engineers, together with the military, including representatives of Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Directorate (HUR), refined the construction, increasing the number of firing ports, improving ergonomics, optimizing the chassis for Ukrainian operating conditions, per Espresso.

"Designers together with the military implemented 30 years of experience from local conflicts... The result was an armored vehicle with the highest level of crew protection," the Defense Ministry said.

Depending on configuration, MAC OWL "Sova" weighs 14.2 to 15 tonnes

It is equipped with an 8.9-liter turbodiesel engine producing 450 horsepower, which is the most powerful among all Ukrainian special armored vehicles. The vehicle has a 45-centimeter ground clearance, comparable to that of heavy military trucks, with a total height not exceeding 2.8 meters.

The cabin accommodates two crew members plus six or eight troops. The vehicle's 16-mm-thick side armor is reportedly the thickest among Ukrainian and foreign analogs in this class.

The FPV-defense dome and the 2025 procurement scaling

The 10-EW module capacity is the most operationally distinctive feature of the MAC OWL relative to earlier Ukrainian armored vehicles. Russian FPV drones, operated by individual pilots and used against Ukrainian vehicles, infantry, and frontline infrastructure, have become the dominant tactical threat in 2025-2026, with Ukraine documenting more than 11,000 Russian FPV attacks on civilians alone.

In our news wrap Friday, Senate Republicans passed a $70 billion bill to fund immigration enforcement, Trump said he wants his new acting director of national intelligence to slash the agency's staffing, a federal judge struck down the Trump administration's immigration processing freeze for 39 countries, and the International Space Station experienced an air leak.

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