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Defense News
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[l] at 3/12/26 3:58pm
A U.S. Air Force KC-135 refueling aircraft has reportedly gone down in friendly airspace in western Iraq during ongoing combat operations against Iran, U.S. Central Command announced in a release Thursday. Two aircraft were reportedly involved in the incident, the statement read, and “one of the aircraft went down.” The second aircraft landed safely, it added. “The incident was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire,” the release said. The CENTCOM statement did not clarify whether the aircraft had crashed, noting only that “U.S. Central Command is aware of the loss a U.S. KC-135.” Numerous KC-135s are currently deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of operations, where crews have provided aerial refueling for other aircraft as a part of Operation Epic Fury. Additional information regarding the incident Thursday was not yet available as of press time. “We ask for continued patience to gather additional details and provide clarity for the families of service members,” the CENTCOM statement read.

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[l] at 3/12/26 3:22pm
The U.S. Air Force has confirmed that a B-21 Raider flight test aircraft conducted a “close-proximity flight” with a KC-135 Stratotanker on Tuesday as part of the bomber’s ongoing test campaign.The event, spotted by aviation photographers over the Mojave Desert near Edwards Air Force Base, California, during a mission lasting approximately 5.5 hours according to spotter reports and online flight tracking, represents a precursor step toward validating capabilities essential for the B-21’s long-range, penetrating strike role. The Air Force statement did not mention aerial refueling or fuel transfer. Publicly available images show the stealth bomber positioned behind the tanker in a formation typical of refueling preparations, but ground-based observations alone cannot confirm physical connection or fuel offload.I believe I captured a "first" today. ?#b21 #b21raider #stealthbomber pic.twitter.com/ZHj1WnTTQk— jmh.creates (@JarodMHamilton) March 10, 2026 “We can confirm that a B-21 Raider completed a test event involving a close-proximity flight with a KC-135 Stratotanker,” an Air Force spokesperson said in a statement. “This flight is part of the ongoing, rigorous test campaign to validate the B-21’s capabilities and operational readiness. To maintain enhanced security measures, we will not provide further details on specific test points. The B-21 program remains on track to deliver a survivable, long-range, penetrating strike capability to the U.S. Air Force.”Heres a few shots I snapped of the B-21 doing AR tests over California yesterday. Much more to come later ? pic.twitter.com/2yEWXsqyUU— jmh.creates (@JarodMHamilton) March 11, 2026 Aerial refueling remains a critical milestone for the Northrop Grumman-built B-21 Raider, enabling extended endurance in contested environments without reliance on forward basing. The program continues flight testing at Edwards, building on prior achievements, including the delivery of the second aircraft to the base in September 2025, which enabled progression into mission systems and weapon integration testing.The first operational B-21s remain on track for arrival at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, in 2027, supporting initial operational capability in the late 2020s.

[Category: Air Warfare] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/12/26 3:20pm
The U.S. Navy and the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit chose Anduril to participate in the Combat Autonomous Maritime Platform Project, or CAMP program, to develop an extra-large unmanned underwater vessel. The Pentagon announced the CAMP program last April with the release of a solicitation calling for a new class of XL-AUV, or extra large underwater vehicle.The solicitation called for a large underwater vessel that could maneuver in GPS-denied environments, dive over roughly 656 feet (200 meters) deep and drop “various payloads to the sea floor.” It specified that the vessel had to stay underwater for prolonged periods and be able to be transported and recovered easily by commercially available freight and logistics equipment. Anduril was chosen for the CAMP program after wrapping the longest-ever XL-AUV demonstration, per a company statement. It will conduct an extended demonstration of its Dive-XL platform within four months of contract award.“The subsea domain currently is patrolled and serviced by a very small number of exquisite capabilities,” Dr. Shane Arnott, senior vice president of Anduril’s maritime division, told reporters at a March 11 roundtable. “The Pacific and also the High North, which is the new fight that’s starting around the Arctic, are water-based fights. So it’s a no-brainer that robots are needed to supplement the crewed systems.” The Dive-XL meets many of the desired features noted in the original CAMP solicitation. The vehicle is propelled by an all-electric powertrain that allows it to speed through the depth without needing to break the surface and can travel in excess of 2,000 nautical miles. It has a highly flexible design that be modified for different mission types, including reconnaissance, and can carry up to three payload modules at once. These loads can include smaller unmanned underwater vehicles, effectively making the Dive-XL an type of mothership for even smaller drones that can conduct surveillance or strike underwater. Additionally, the Dive-XL platform fits into commercial freight containers and can be transported via train or trucks, which corresponds to the Navy’s demand for a modular, easy-to-use system. Anduril’s selection for the project follows its formal adoption last September by the Royal Australian Navy to deliver a fleet of AI unmanned submarine called Ghost Sharks within the next three years.

[Category: Unmanned] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/12/26 10:40am
ROME — Leonardo will see annual orders of €32 billion ($37 billion) a year by 2030, up from €23.8 billion last year, the firm said on Thursday as it announced a bullish new industrial plan reflecting soaring global defense spending.The Italian state-controlled firm will see revenue leap 50% by 2030, reaching €30 billion from last year’s €19.5 billion, it predicted.During a presentation in Rome, CEO Roberto Cingolani said the company would up its focus on cyber security and digitalization as well its new Michelangelo Dome, a multi-layered air defense system which should yield €21 billion in new business in the next ten years.Cingolani has previously said Leonardo is working hard to manage its growth as demand grows.Since 2023 Leonardo has increased its workforce from 51,400 staff to 62,700 last year and expects to have 75,500 on the payroll by 2030, a growth of around 24,000 in seven years.On Thursday the company also published forecasts for 2026, predicting new orders will reach €25 billion and revenues will hit €21 billion.Final results for last year revealed Leonardo’s biggest sectors was Defense Electronics, accounting for about half of revenue, with income from new electronically scanned radars for British Eurofighters, new Defensive Aids Sub-System (DASS) for Italian Eurofighters and combat management systems for naval vessels for Indonesia.New electronics work also included a healthy input from the firm’s U.S. subsidiary Leonardo DRS, featuring electric propulsion components for the next-generation Columbia-class submarine for the US Navy, electro-optical sensors for M2 Bradley vehicles and work on the Naval AEGIS system.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/12/26 10:35am
Pentagon officials told senators in a classified briefing this week that the first six days Operation Epic Fury cost American taxpayers an estimated $11.3 billion, according to a person familiar with the session. The figure, however, omitted a range of war-related expenses, indicating the overall total is likely to rise.Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., in brief remarks to reporters on Wednesday, said that he believes the $11.3 billion figure was “roughly accurate,” adding that the war’s current operation total is “significantly above that.” A Defense Department spokesperson declined to discuss details of the closed-door meeting, but emphasized to Military Times that the exact price tag will remain unknown until the mission is complete. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.President Donald Trump on Wednesday, speaking at a campaign-style event in Kentucky, declared that “we’ve won” the war. But the commander in chief continued: “We don’t want to leave early, do we? We’ve got to finish the job, right?” Trump has been criticized in some quarters for shifting statements about the war, although the White House insists he has been consistent on four objectives: putting a nuclear weapon beyond reach, degrading Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities, inflicting severe damage on its navy and stopping it from supporting militant proxy groups in the region. Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress have introduced a series of new war power resolutions aimed at forcing the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the operation against Iran unless it is formally authorized by lawmakers. Similar efforts have previously failed to pass in the Republican-controlled House and Senate, where GOP leaders argue that Trump acted within his constitutional authority when the U.S. and Israel launched a joint assault on Iran on Feb. 28.U.S. Central Command said that American forces have struck roughly 6,000 targets inside Iran since the war began. The Islamic Republic’s retaliation has largely focused either on Israel or on America’s Gulf allies – including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar – all of which host U.S. troops. Iranian strikes have killed seven American service members, and wounded approximately 140 – with eight remaining in serious condition. Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, vowed in his first public statement on Thursday that Tehran would not waver in “avenging the blood of its martyrs.” He succeeded his slain father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli offensive.

[Category: / Mideast Africa] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/12/26 7:09am
HAMNVIK, Norway — Several countries slated to participate in NATO’s largest Arctic warfare exercise have withdrawn their military hardware, including warships and fighter jets, amid growing concerns over the widening conflict with Iran.A number of American, Italian, and French military capabilities were expected to be part of NATO’s Cold Response 2026 exercise, taking place from March 9-19 across Norway.Among them was the Italian Navy destroyer Andrea Doria, which was nowhere to be seen on March 11 during a NATO press tour organized here.During a visit to the amphibious ship San Giusto, which made the five-week journey to northern Norway, Italian personnel on board told Defense News that the Andrea Doria had departed a few days earlier. It is currently making its way back to Southern Italy in case it is needed there amid the Iran war fallout.Fears about the conflict widening emerged after a British military base in Cyprus was targeted in an Iranian drone attack in the first days of the war, started by the United States and Israel on Feb. 28.Also absent here was a squadron of U.S. F-35B Joint Strike Fighters from the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, which was scheduled to participate in Cold Response.Citing operational security concerns, a spokesman for U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa said he could not confirm whether the squadron had been redirected for potential deployment to the Middle East.The Norwegian Military stated that they were informed of the decision weeks ago, adding that the scheduled training objectives would not be affected. U.S. Air Force F-35s and around 4,000 Marines are still partaking in the exercise.In January the French Charles de Gaulle carrier strike group began its deployment to the North Atlantic, expected to participate in the France-led activity Orion 26 and Cold Response.However, on March 3, French President Emmanuel Macron changed course and announced that the carrier would be sent instead to the Eastern Mediterranean. The group of warships has since arrived near Cyprus.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/12/26 4:27am
ISTANBUL — The Turkish Ministry of Defense announced that a Patriot air defense system is being stationed in Malatya, following waves of Iranian missile and drone attacks against key military infrastructure in the region.“In addition to the national measures we have implemented, NATO has enhanced air and missile defense measures,” a government statement reads. “As part of this framework, a Patriot System is currently in Malatya and is being prepared for operational readiness to support the protection of our airspace.”There is currently one Patriot system, from Spain, deployed at İncirlik Air Base near Adana as part of NATO defenses since 2015.The second Patriot system was deployed from NATO’s Allied Air Command in Ramstein, Germany, the Turkish Ministry of Defense said. A TV crew from Malatya shared a short video on X showing one Oshkosh HEMTT A4 M983A4 Patriot tractor and trailer on the road yesterday.Alman Patriotları Malatyaya konuşlandırılırken görüntülendi. pic.twitter.com/YCqCnge29s— Yusuf Akbaba (@ssysfakb) March 11, 2026The second Patriot system will be located near the Kürecik radar base outside Malatya. An AN/TPY-2 radar is based there as part of NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense architecture. In 2011, Turkey announced its decision to host a U.S.-owned missile defense radar as part of the alliance’s Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) capability.The sensor provides warning against ballistic missiles fired from Iran early in their flight, providing precise tracking data to the NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defense System.Forward-based missile defense radar systems in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were attacked by Iran during the first week of the U.S. and Israeli Operation Epic Fury.Since the start of the war, two ballistic missiles fired from Iran toward Turkey have been successfully intercepted by NATO forces in the region.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/12/26 3:55am
BERLIN — Ukrainian military instructors will deploy to German army schools to help the Bundeswehr meet a readiness target against a hypothetical Russian attack on NATO by 2029, the head of the German army said Wednesday.The announcement, reported by Reuters, marks a striking role reversal from years of Western forces training Ukrainian troops and underscores the value of lessons learned on the increasingly drone-dominated battlefield of the Russian invasion. ​“We have high expectations,” Lt. Gen. Christian Freuding told Reuters in an interview. “The Ukrainian military is currently the only one in the world with frontline experience against Russia.”Ukraine’s top drone units to bring frontline lessons to Washington this monthThe deployment follows an agreement signed between the German and Ukrainian defense ministries, under which Ukrainian instructors will embed at Bundeswehr schools to pass on battlefield knowledge accumulated over more than four years of full-scale war. The first contingent is expected to number in the “middle double-digits” and will rotate through for several weeks at a time, Freuding said.Their expertise will span artillery, engineering, armored operations, drone employment, and command and control − precisely the capability types where the Ukraine war has produced the most rapidly evolving battlefield lessons. The move reflects growing recognition across NATO that European armies have more to learn from Kyiv than they can offer in return.​Freuding grounded the urgency in Western intelligence assessments suggesting Russia could be in a position to mount a large-scale offensive against the alliance as early as 2029. “That’s almost the day after tomorrow. We have no time - the enemy doesn’t wait for ‌us ⁠to declare we’re ready. So we have to use every possibility to prepare,” he said.Germany has trained Ukrainian personnel on platforms including the Marder infantry fighting vehicle, Leopard main battle tanks, artillery systems, and air defense since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. That the relationship has now effectively inverted − with Kyiv dispatching trainers north rather than receiving them − is, Freuding said, a reflection of “an equal partnership in the field of security.”Berlin is currently Kyiv’s most significant backer, having provided the most aid of any country aside from the United States, which has paused direct military support to Ukraine under the Trump administration. By the end of 2025, Germany had provided a total of €20 billion ($23.1 billion) in military aid to Ukraine, according to a running tally by the German-based Kiel Institute, an economics research organization. Defense and government officials from both countries have launched a number of initiatives to benefit from each other’s comparative advantages, including taking steps to foster tighter integration of their defense industrial bases. The latest announcement comes as Berlin accelerates its broader Bundeswehr buildup, with Defense Minister Boris Pistorius targeting defense spending of 3.5% of GDP by 2029 as part of an ambition to field Europe’s most powerful conventional army.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/12/26 3:28am
PARIS — France’s “unprecedented” deployment of warships to the Middle East is meant to position the country as a credible security partner for the region, a move that could set up the French to benefit from any realignment of alliances following an end to the American-Israeli war on Iran, analysts said.France has deployed around half its fleet of major surface combatants to the Eastern Mediterranean, including its only aircraft carrier, after Iran struck countries across the Middle East with missiles and drones and closed the Strait of Hormuz. The operation is aimed at protecting navigation, French citizens and France’s allies in the region, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday.With Arab Gulf states seeing the United States as an increasingly unreliable partner that started a war against Iran they tried to avoid, the French display of naval power positions the country as an additional security provider, said Laure Foucher, a senior research fellow at the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research.“We’ve been useful partners for the Gulf, but occasionally; we’ve not been able to translate our occasional usefulness into strategic partnerships,” Foucher said by phone. “By doing this, France is waving the flag a little, showing that we can act, saying ‘It’s not true that we don’t matter, that we can’t protect your interests.’”France has a comprehensive defense agreement with the United Arab Emirates that covers military assistance, with a permanent base in Abu Dhabi, and more limited defense cooperation agreements with most other states in the region. Failure by France to honor those agreements would be “very complicated” for credibility, according to Foucher.The country was also the third-biggest major arms exporter to the Middle East in the 2021-2025 period, accounting for 11% of the region’s weapons imports, behind the U.S. with a 54% share and Italy with 12%, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.The deployment is a way for France to demonstrate it can lead and is a relevant naval power, said Mihai Sebastian Chihaia, an analyst at the Brussels-based European Policy Centre. It positions the wider European Union as a credible actor that stands ready to protect shipping, and share the burden of ensuring freedom of navigation and security of supply chains, he said.“It’s also about showing that the partnership with the Gulf countries is very relevant, and we’re willing to put, in this case, military assets behind the words,” Chihaia said. “And the Gulf countries have been very happy with the European reaction. There is an opportunity here to enhance the EU-Gulf relations.”France was deploying eight frigates and two helicopter carriers to the region, in addition to the Charles de Gaulle with its embarked air wing, an “unprecedented mobilization,” Macron said on Monday, making a point of thanking European partners for joining in.“Grey hulls have to float somewhere, what’s not to like about having them float in newsworthy places?” said Nick Witney, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He said that “back in the last century,” the United Kingdom would station a carrier in the Eastern Mediterranean whenever there was trouble in the region.The deployment also positions assets that would be needed for any potential operation similar to France’s maritime evacuation during the 2006 Lebanon War, said Chihaia.France has more than 400,000 citizens in the Middle East, more than any other European nation and compared with an estimated 300,000 British citizens in the region. The two helicopter carriers and the frigates will allow France, together with other European countries, to organize evacuation and repatriation operations if necessary, according to Macron.The French president said late March 3 he ordered the carrier strike group to sail to the Med from the Baltic and northern Atlantic, a trip of around 7,000 kilometers by sea, then boarded the Charles de Gaulle off Cyprus six days later. The nuclear-powered flat top was carrying 20 Rafale jets, three E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft and three helicopters, according to the president.“Few navies are capable of doing what you did, and you did it at a sustained pace, and in an exceptional maneuver,” Macron told troops gathered in the hangar of the Charles de Gaulle, saying their presence demonstrated both France’s power and that of Europe.The Italian frigate Federico Martinengo and the Spanish frigate Cristóbal Colón joined the carrier strike group on Tuesday, according to the French Navy. The Dutch air defense and command frigate Evertsen got the government go-ahead to participate in defense operations late Monday after escorting the Charles de Gaulle from the northern Atlantic.Meanwhile, the U.K. Royal Navy destroyer Dragon set off from Portsmouth on Tuesday to head to the Mediterranean, a week after the Ministry of Defence said it was deploying the Type 45 vessel, with the government coming under fire for the delay and the limited scale of the deployment.U.K. Parliament’s Defence Committee noted a “considerable gap” between international rhetoric and the reality of U.K support to the U.S. and regional partners, saying the situation underlined “longstanding and grave concerns, which we share, about whether the Royal Navy has sufficient capacity and resilience to respond effectively to a crisis at a time of worsening global security.”Meanwhile, with the deployment to the Eastern Med, the French Navy had 19 of its 23 main surface vessels at sea, according to a count by specialized publication Mer et Marine. The Navy declined to confirm specific numbers, describing the deployment only as “large-scale,” with the forces constantly adapting their posture in response to threats.The French Navy targets an 80% availability rate for its vessels, and maintains double crews for its major combatants to keep operational rates up.Both France and the U.K. had already sent additional fighter jets and air-defense assets to the region, ahead of their warships. The naval deployment could participate in “these purely defensive missions,” Macron said on Monday. “We stand by our friends and our allies.”France is the only European country able to carry out such a naval operation, with the British no longer capable of doing so and the Germans unwilling to, former French President Francois Hollande said in a TV interview on Monday. He said it’s important that France can protect its assets and citizens in the region, and deploy an aircraft carrier to help ensure the security of its partners.The U.S. is increasingly seen by policymakers in the Gulf states as a net liability, with “serious questioning of the utility of the U.S. security umbrella,” Hasan Alhasan, a senior fellow for Middle East policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said in a webinar on Monday. He said the U.S. has now twice dragged the Gulf states into a confrontation with Iran they did not want.There’s also “quite a bit of disappointment” of how the U.S. seems to have made reduced focus on defending the Arabian Peninsula to prioritize defense of Israel, according to Alhasan, He cited further unhappiness with both America’s strategic rationale and the operational effectiveness of its defense of Gulf Cooperation Council partners and preemptive strikes on Iranian capabilities.“I expect a long term strategic rethinking of the U.S.-GCC relationship if and when this war ends,” the IISS researcher said. “It’s quite interesting to see that certain European countries have been forthcoming, the U.K., France, Italy and others, in lending some assistance. So there might be a greater willingness to engage there.”Alhasan said there’s additionally disappointment with other partners, especially in Asia, some of which have yet to condemn the Iranian attacks on Gulf states, “so I suspect there will be a 360 degree rethinking of GCC foreign relations once we are out of this present conflict.”Regional perception of the U.S. as a reliable ally started to change in the early 2010s, with the Iran nuclear deal in 2015 “really a betrayal for the Gulf capitals,” said Camille Lons, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, in the Collimateur podcast. The Americans negotiated the deal without real consultation or taking into account the interest of the Gulf countries, she said.The Gulf countries have bought “extremely sophisticated,” expensive systems from the U.S., but are concerned that the Americans will prioritize the defense of Israel, which is “somewhat what is happening,” according to Lons. With questions around the number of available air-defense interceptors, there is a risk for Gulf states “to run out of stocks fairly quickly.”Macron said on Monday the French Navy deployment “demonstrates France’s desire to contribute to de-escalation, to the safety of our citizens, to the safety of our partners, and the freedom of navigation and maritime security.”“It’s important to be able to stand alongside the countries in the region with which we have defense agreements, and which may be undermined by what is happening,” Macron told gathered crew on the Charles de Gaulle.The deployment shows France’s capability to act independently from the Americans, contribute to defense in the Middle East and be a reliable partner, unlike the U.S., whose war is hurting the interests of its allies in the region, according to Foucher. While Israel is well protected, that’s “much less” the case for the Gulf states, she said.“The fine line Macron is walking is that we’re not coming in with the heavy-handed approach of the Americans,” Foucher said. “There is only one risk, that we get bogged down.”“The broader stakes are those of geopolitics and credibility towards our partners,” Foucher said. “It’s really about positioning France as one of the most important military powers in the world. To position France, not as an alternative power, because we can never replace the Americans, but as having a shared vision of the region that is not the same as the Americans.”France will contribute two frigates “over the long term” to the European Union-led Aspides mission to secure shipping in the Red Sea, according to Macron. The country is also preparing a mission with both European and non-European partners to escort container ships and tankers to “gradually reopen” the Strait of Hormuz, once the hottest phase of the conflict is over, the president said.France already leads a monitoring mission in the Strait of Hormuz to protect trade there, and if a military operation to support opening the strait does get underway, Macron could take credit for acting to keep down the cost of living down in France and elsewhere, said Ed Arnold, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.Deploying the carrier group deeper into the Middle East and towards Hormuz is risky, with traffic in the strait congested and due to Iran’s capabilities, according to Arnold. If France wants to stick to providing defense support to allies, it can do that from the Eastern Mediterranean, he said.Iran has a large number of cheap aerial drones and unmanned surface vessels that make the Strait of Hormuz a riskier operating area than the Red Sea, and those risks will persist after the end of hostilities, according to Chihaia at the EPC.On the upside, France’s deployment bolsters deterrence by showing Europeans can naval power and are willing to engage, while lessons learned from deploying such a large force to the region will be “hugely useful” for any potential future conflict, Chihaia said.Arnold at RUSI said deploying forces into an area where there is danger but also a lot of support from allies is critical to building up experience, especially at the sailor level. While European navies have been shooting down drones in the Red Sea, “that’s a long way from the Falkland years in terms of operational and fleet experience,” he said.With the French defense staff considering a larger war with Russia possible in coming years, the naval deployment strengthens France’s strategic posture as a military power, according to Foucher at FRS. In a hypothetical future conflict, there will be the question of the alignment of the countries in the Middle East, she said.“If there is a war with Russia in the future, who in the Middle East can we count on?”

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/11/26 7:05pm
As the Pentagon increasingly relies on artificial intelligence, a question has arisen: How can one be sure that the AI models are working the way they should? The best way is to test new AI before users get their hands on it. So, the Defense Department — along with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — is seeking a system that can test whether AI models meet specified criteria. “As artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities evolve at an extraordinary pace, the government requires evaluation infrastructure that can keep pace by continuously assessing new models against mission-specific benchmarks as they are released,” according to an Area of Interest announcement from the Defense Innovation Unit. DOD also wants to ensure that AI and humans work well together. “Evaluation must assess not only whether AI systems can perform tasks in isolation, but whether human-AI teams achieve better mission outcomes than either humans or AI alone,” the announcement said.DIU envisions a “harness” with a standard, pluggable architecture that can test any AI — developed by any contractor — and provide a consistent, structured evaluation. This includes studying workflows across different environments, safely auditing AI agents and allowing human experts to assess “human workload, usability, and mission performance across human-only, AI-only, and human-AI team scenarios.”The harness should also test whether the AI can function amid chaotic, low-information conditions. The system must simulate “operational stress and network degradation in a controlled, reproducible environment,” DIU said. Also evaluated will be whether enemy AI can hijack or confuse friendly AI models. The system must support “automated red-teaming, including the execution of adversarial prompts and attack patterns.”AI will be assessed against a variety of benchmarks. They include “identifying what capabilities matter for a given mission context” and breaking down complex AI capabilities into smaller, measurable tasks. Results should be clear, including establishing what constitutes a good score for an AI, and delivered in a format that is “easily understood and can be acted upon by decision makers.”DIU was also careful to note that the evaluation system must be fair, with “no systemic advantage to particular architectures or vendors.”The deadline is March 24.

[Category: / MilTech] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/11/26 5:27pm
As the Ukraine war has shown, drones equipped with thermal sensors have made the battlefield so hazardous that the best defense is not to be spotted at all.Thus, the U.S. Marine Corps is looking for camouflage cloaks that shield wearers from prying eyes and infrared cameras, according to a Marine Corps Systems Command Sources Sought notice. The Multispectral Camouflage Overgarment, or MCO, “is intended to provide individual signature management for Marines by mitigating detection across the visual (VIS), near infrared (NIR), and short-wave infrared (SWIR) spectrums as well as suppress thermal signatures in the mid-wave infrared (MWIR) and long wave infrared (LWIR) to reduce the likelihood of detection by thermal sensors,” the notice notes. The deadline is April 22.The Marines want 13,000 cloaks by 2027, and 61,000 by 2030. “MCO will serve as the individual signature management solution for all Marines in training and on deployment,” according to the notice. “The system is not intended for routine garrison wear.”The notice includes a table that lists various nondetection thresholds depending on the wearer’s distance from the sensor, the type of sensor and whether the sensor is on the ground or in the air. For example, the cloak should preclude daytime visual detection from a ground-based sensor at a minimum of 600 meters, and ideally at 50 meters. For an aerial sensor, such as on a drone, the minimum is 1,000 meters, with an eventual goal of 10 meters.For mid-wave infrared sensors, the cloak should mask wearers at a minimum of 2,000 meters, and ideally at 600 meters. Against aerial MWIR sensors, the MCO should provide camouflage at a minimum of 5,000 meters — more than 3 miles — and ideally at 2,000 meters.The notice describes the MCO as “a single-piece, generously-sized draped design constructed to provide full-body coverage, including individual gear and equipment. It shall be donned and doffed over existing uniforms and gear within 15 seconds.” The garment should be sturdy enough to last 90 days to one year of use, and withstand laundering up to 50 times. It should weigh no more than 3.5 pounds, and preferably less than 2 pounds. Britain’s Royal Marines are already using the Barracuda cloak from Swedish manufacturer Saab. Meanwhile, Russian troops have frequently used thermal cloaks to camouflage themselves against omnipresent Ukrainian drones equipped with heat sensors. However, the Russian experience also illustrates the danger of using cheap, poorly designed cloaks. In some cases, the garments have actually made the wearers more conspicuous, by contrasting them as cold spots against a warmer background.

[Category: / MilTech] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/11/26 4:43pm
Some of Ukraine’s best-known drone military commanders and experts will be visiting Washington later this month to brief policymakers and defense leaders on the rapidly evolving landscape of modern drone warfare. The Ground Truth Symposium will be hosted on March 25 by the Peace Through Strength Institute, a foreign policy and defense think tank based in Washington. The event promises to translate “Ukraine’s frontline reality into clearer congressional understanding of the war, the capabilities shaping it and the conditions required to help bring it to an end on terms consistent with both Ukraine’s survival and United States strategic interests,” according to a release.Representatives from several Ukrainian drone units will participate in the symposium, including soldiers from the country’s most effective UAV squads like Lazar Group, the 12th Special Forces Brigade and the 414th UAV Brigade “Magyar’s Birds.”Discussions are expected to focus on Ukraine’s expertise in drone tactics and technology, along with the best practices for integrating the newer class of weapons into countries’ existing air defense systems. The heavy use of several types of drones by multiple countries since the start of the recent conflict in the Middle East, currently involving about a dozen countries, will be a major talking point.“Ukraine’s experience offers critical lessons for the United States and its allies — lessons the United States and our allies need now in the Iranian conflict,” the event’s press release stated. Ukraine first made the shift to cheap interceptors not by choice, but because Russia’s nightly Shahed waves were burning through Western-provided missiles faster than allies could resupply them.Last month, Ukrainian interceptors destroyed more than 70% of incoming Shaheds over Kyiv, freeing scarce Patriot missiles for the ballistic threats they were designed to stop.Interceptor drones are small, fast, semi-autonomous unmanned aircraft — often costing between $1,000 and $2,500 each — designed to hunt and destroy incoming drones by ramming into them or detonating alongside them at altitude.Compact enough to fit inside a duffel bag and fast enough to chase a Shahed in the dark, Ukraine’s interceptors can fly at speeds between 195 and 280 miles per hour, depending on the model.Most combine thermal imaging with radar tracking and AI-assisted guidance, with a human operator taking manual control for the final seconds of the intercept.

[Category: / MilTech] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/11/26 1:47pm
EVENES, Norway — Norwegian F-35s intercepted Russian intelligence-gathering aircraft two days in a row during an ongoing NATO military exercise here.On March 11 at 9:30 am, the deep and distinctive rumble of two Norwegian fighter jets echoed across the silent, mountainous terrain here in northern Norway, where NATO forces are currently conducting part of the biennial Cold Response 2026 exercise.Seconds later, two F-35s from the Norwegian Air Force darted off from Evenes Air Station to monitor a Russian Ilyushin Il-20M aircraft detected along the Norwegian coast. The military plane, which Moscow primarily uses for surveillance and reconnaissance missions, flew with its transponder switched off, according to the Norwegian Armed Forces.A statement from the Forsvaret, Norways armed forces, described the event as “routine and expected” during large-scale military exercises.“They identified and shadowed the aircraft along the Norwegian coast before it turned northwards off Vesteralen – the [Russian] plane then flew south twice more, reaching as far as Lofoten, before returning to the Kola Peninsula around 1:30 pm,” the statement said.It was the second instance in as many days in which Russian aircraft were detected and identified as operating in international airspace off Finnmark, Norway’s northernmost region that straddles the Barents and Norwegian seas.On March 10, two F-35s were deployed for the same mission. That time, the Russian Ilyushin Il-20M was reported to have headed north of Sørøya and then returned to the Kola Peninsula.During a media briefing, Col. Hans Martin Steiro, the Norwegian air wing and base commander at Evenes, explained that in quick-reaction alert (QRA) missions, an alarm sounds when a non-allied aircraft is detected, and fighter crews have 15 minutes to be airborne.Norwegian pilots have flown an average of 38 QRA missions aimed at unidentified Russian planes per year since 2022, according to a military briefing to reporters.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/11/26 11:27am
South Korea’s president said this week that some U.S. air defense systems stationed on the Korean peninsula could be deployed overseas as the United States’ war with Iran intensifies, a move that highlights how the ongoing conflict could force Washington to shift scarce missile defense assets across regions. President Lee Jae Myung said during a cabinet meeting that U.S forces may dispatch some air defense systems abroad, depending on how the Middle East conflict unfolds, despite opposition voiced by Seoul. Lee acknowledged that it cannot bar the U.S. from relocating its own assets, but said that the country’s own defenses were sufficient for deterrence against North Korea. ‘Race of attrition’: US military’s finite interceptor stockpile is being testedThe Washington Post on Monday reported that the U.S. Army was moving parts of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, THAAD, system from South Korea to the Middle East and local news in Korea reported the departure of military transport aircraft to and from the region.The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.THAAD, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, is designed to intercept short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. The system includes interceptor, radar, launcher and fire control system parts. It is not immediately clear which components may be relocating. Satellite imagery analyzed by CNN last week suggests Iranian strikes may have targeted radar sites tied to U.S. missile defense systems in the Middle East, including radars associated with THAAD batteries. THAAD saw its first known operational use in 2022, when a THAAD battery in the United Arab Emirates shot down a ballistic missile fired by Iranian-backed Houthi fighters in Yemen. The system was originally deployed to South Korea in 2017 to defend against missile threats from North Korea, making it a cornerstone of the peninsula’s missile defense network. The U.S. Army operates only a small number of THAAD batteries across the world, meaning that a deployment is a significant movement that can affect multiple theaters. When the U.S. sent a THAAD battery to Israel in 2024, Army leaders warned the move would strain the service and possibly complicate efforts to modernize missile defense systems.The growing use of ballistic missiles and drones has made missile defense interceptors like THAAD essential in modern warfare, Wes Rumbaugh, an expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote in a brief last December. The significant number of missile interceptors expended during the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran in June highlighted the “scarcity and importance” of the systems, he argued. The war with Iran is already testing U.S. missile defense capabilities. Analysts say recent operations have consumed a significant portion of the country’s THAAD inventory, raising concerns about America’s long-term defense capabilities if the timeline of Operation Epic Fury continues to consume weapons that cannot be replenished quickly enough to sustain wartime demand.

[Category: Land] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/11/26 10:38am
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine warned allied governments for years to prepare for a new kind of war, one in which cheap, mass-produced drones would overwhelm both the tactics and economics of traditional air defense.“You don’t have time,” Andrii Hrytseniuk, the CEO of Brave1, recalled telling officials in recent years. “Shahed [drones] will come not only to Ukraine, but to other countries. You need to use your time not to stick to previous conventional warfare, but to work on the new era.”Brave1 was established in 2023 as Ukraine’s state-backed defense innovation hub, which funds, tests, and fast-tracks new military technology from hundreds of Ukrainian startups. Three years after Brave1’s formation, the Iran war has made Hrytseniuk’s warning prescient. In the first week alone, the U.S. and Israel struck more than 3,000 targets across Iran while Tehran fired over 500 ballistic missiles and nearly 2,000 drones at U.S. bases and Israeli cities across 12 countries, burning through over 800 Patriot interceptor missiles in three days — more than Ukraine received from allies throughout four years of war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pointed out on Thursday.“And we are not slowing down,” U.S. Central Command posted on X the next day.The conflict has since drawn in at least a dozen countries and put Ukraine’s counter-drone expertise at the center of a global scramble, with the Pentagon and at least one Gulf state now in active talks to buy Ukrainian-made interceptor drones, according to Financial Times. An EU envoy, meanwhile, is reportedly brokering introductions between Gulf governments and Kyiv’s manufacturers.“They are really asking for some help with interceptor drones specifically,” Hrytseniuk told Military Times on Friday.Ukraine first made the shift to cheap interceptors not by choice, but because Russia’s nightly Shahed waves were burning through Western-provided missiles faster than allies could resupply them.Last month, Ukrainian interceptors destroyed more than 70% of incoming Shaheds over Kyiv, freeing scarce Patriot missiles for the ballistic threats they were designed to stop.The irony is hard to ignore: the besieged country that spent four years begging for Patriot batteries to combat a nuclear power 10 times its size has quietly built a new layer of air defense at a fraction of the cost, according to The New York Times — and now Washington, which spent roughly $4 billion on missile defense interceptors in the first week of the Iran war alone, is calling Kyiv for help.Interceptor drones are small, fast, semi-autonomous unmanned aircraft — often costing between $1,000 and $2,500 each — designed to hunt and destroy incoming drones by ramming into them or detonating alongside them at altitude.Compact enough to fit inside a duffel bag and fast enough to chase a Shahed in the dark, Ukraine’s interceptors can fly at speeds between 195 and 280 miles per hour, depending on the model.Most combine thermal imaging with radar tracking and AI-assisted guidance, with a human operator taking manual control for the final seconds of the intercept.Ukraine now has more than 20 companies producing interceptor drones, the National Security and Defense Council announced in January.“The most impressive thing is how far we have technically advanced,” Roman Yeremenko, a director at Aero Center, a Ukrainian full-cycle manufacturer that builds both drones and their ammunition, told Military Times earlier this week.Modern Ukrainian interceptors started with Mavic scouts dropping jerry-rigged grenades — simple, improvised. Then came FPV drones: first 7-inch frames, then 10, then 12. Aero Center’s first munition, Malyuk (“Baby”), weighed just 450 grams — enough for one or two Mavic drops.“But the troops kept asking for more capabilities,” Yeremenko said. Then came “1 kg payloads, 1.5 kg, even bigger,” he said. Engineers working long into the night learned to wire warheads directly to flight controllers, built initiation systems and moved into producing kamikaze FPVs.What’s getting developed now? Heavy bombers carry 5–10 kg of ammunition and fly 25–35 miles regularly, according to Yeremenko.“This is a war of technology,” he said. “And the one who is ahead will win this war.”Several Ukrainian companies are now fielding systems with combat records no Western manufacturer can match.Wild Hornets' Sting has been in combat longer than any other Ukrainian interceptor.A spokesman for the group told CBS News last week that the $2,500 FPV drone has downed 3,900 drones since May 2025 — including, the company says, the first confirmed downing of Russia’s jet-powered Geran-3 and a Shahed fitted with an air-to-air missile. Reaching 195 mph with a thermal camera and AI-assisted terminal guidance, it can engage targets up to 15 miles away and fits in a standard duffel bag.At the lowest price point is SkyFall’s P1-SUN, a fiber-optic Shahed hunter on a 3D-printed modular airframe that costs Ukrainian units just $1,000 a pop.A company representative recently told Reuters that the drone, which SkyFall says has been upgraded to 280-mph capabilities with computer vision and thermal imaging, has downed more than 1,500 Shaheds and 1,000 other drones in four months — and is a hot ticket item internationally since Iran came under fire.Then there is Ukrspecsystems' Octopus, now built under license by more than 15 Ukrainian manufacturers and, since November, at a new factory in the United Kingdom.It flies at night, cuts through electronic jamming at up to 4,500 meters, and locks onto targets autonomously — the kind of all-conditions reliability that made it the MoD’s pick for mass production.The UK deal marked the first time a Western government licensed a Ukrainian-designed interceptor for domestic production, a model that five NATO countries — Germany, France, Italy, Poland and the UK — have since agreed to build on by jointly developing affordable interceptor drones of their own, per Militarnyi.Not every system follows the same blueprint. Aero Center is teaming up with Dwarf Engineering, a software company focused on creating multiplatform mission control systems for UAVs, to build a comprehensive interceptor drone package for Ukrainian units and international partners that includes the drone, payload and software needed to integrate it into current air defense systems. It’s a different approach to development entirely, Ihor Matviyuk, who heads Aero Center Drones, Aero Center’s subsidiary UAV division, told Military Times.“An extra 100 grams [on a combat drone] can mean minus two kilometers range,” Vladyslav Piotrovskyi, Dwarf Engineering’s CEO, told Military Times on Friday.Piotrovskyi added that the trade-off only works if all three components are optimized as one.But every groundbreaking interceptor system in Ukraine’s arsenal faces the same expiration window.Russia’s latest strike drone, the feared Geran-5, can reach speeds up to 370 mph — technically fast enough to outrun every Ukrainian interceptor currently in service, according to Business Insider — and they grow deadlier every day.“The Russians are trying. They are not as stupid as they look,” Yeremenko told Military Times. “They are adapting to our means of destruction.”Ukrainian and Russian tech becomes outdated every six weeks on average, the drone experts explained, so Ukraine cannot stand still.Aero Center is now building medium-class drones with payloads up to 10 kilograms and ranges of roughly 25 kilometers — “middle-sized drones, but with the functions and features of big bombers” — designed for a battlefield where the threat evolves faster than any single airframe can answer, the company’s UAV expert said.Ukraine has already learned how to build and integrate an entirely new air defense system in an asymmetric war. Now, it’s offering the playbook to allies — in exchange for the kind of help Kyiv still cannot produce on its own. “We are ready to help. We are suggesting help,” Brave1’s CEO told Military Times. “For us, it’s important to have an alliance that is strong — to stop the war and prevent the start of new wars.” Alongside an image of a burning Shahed posted Friday on X, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense spelled out its current offer to the West:“We can help you fight against Shaheds. Help us fight against ballistic missiles.”

[Category: Pentagon] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/11/26 8:10am
Facing jittery global markets and drooping poll numbers since launching a war on Iran, President Donald Trump has cycled from calls for “unconditional surrender” to sounding amenable to an end state in which Iran trades one hard-line ayatollah for another.Shifting comments from the Republican president and his top aides are adding to the precariousness of the 12-day-old conflict, which is impacting nearly every corner of the Middle East and causing economic tremors around the globe. With neither side budging, the war is now on an unpredictable path — one in which a credible endgame is still unclear.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday told reporters it’s up to Trump “whether it’s the beginning, the middle or the end” of the war. Trump, during the course of one speech at a House Republican gathering on Monday, went from calling the war a “short-term excursion” that could end soon to proclaiming “we haven’t won enough.”The vacillation has fueled criticism from those who say Trump lacks a clear goal. “They didn’t have a plan,” Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., told reporters. ”They have no timeline. And because of that, they have no exit strategy.”A constantly shifting goal lineSince ordering the Iran bombardment, Trump has continually shifted his timelines and goals for his war against Iran, a crosscurrent of rhetoric that has delivered more questions than answers.Over the last few days, Trump has called for the “unconditional surrender” of Iran’s leaders, while suggesting he’s already succeeded in achieving his objective of decimating Iran’s military.At the same time, Trump’s team has sought to soothe anxious Americans that this won’t be a long, drawn-out conflict, even as the president has insisted he hasn’t ruled out the option of putting U.S. boots on the ground.The U.S. military says that it has effectively destroyed the Iranian navy and made huge strides in defanging Iran’s ability to launch missiles and drones at its neighbors throughout the region. And yet, the critical Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil passes on a typical day, remains effectively closed to business, and Iranian leaders remain unbowed.The Revolutionary Guard vowed Iran would not allow “a single liter of oil” through the vital waterway until the United States stops its bombing campaign. And Ali Larijani, Iran’s top national security official, offered a menacing message on Tuesday after Trump had threatened to attack Iran “TWENTY TIMES HARDER” if Tehran stopped oil flowing through the strait.“The sacrificial nation of Iran doesn’t fear your empty threats,” Larijani wrote on X. “Even those bigger than you couldn’t eliminate Iran. Be careful not to get eliminated yourself.”Making the case to AmericansTrump has struggled to make his case to Americans about why preemptive action against Iran was necessary and how it squares with his pledge to keep America out of the “forever wars” of the last two decades that he’s bemoaned for costing too much money and too many American lives. Thus far, seven U.S. troops have been killed and about 140 injured in the retaliatory salvos from Iran throughout the region. An eighth service member died on March 6 following a non-combat incident, the Pentagon said.One of several reasons Trump has offered to justify launching the war is that he had a “feeling” that Iran was getting set to attack the United States.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slightly amended that position, telling reporters that the president “had a feeling” that was “based on fact.”However, Pentagon officials in private briefings have told congressional staffers that the U.S. does not have intelligence indicating that Iran was planning to preemptively attack the U.S.Recent polling shows Trump’s decision to attack Iran hasn’t come with the rallying-around-the-flag effect that has typically accompanied the start of recent U.S. wars.About half of voters in Quinnipiac and Fox News polls said the U.S. military action in Iran makes the U.S. “less safe,” while only about 3 in 10 in each poll said it made the country safer. A CNN poll found about half of U.S. adults thought the military action would make Iran “more of a threat” to the U.S., while only about 3 in 10 thought it would lessen the danger.In that CNN poll, about 6 in 10 U.S. adults said they trusted Trump “not much” or “not at all” to make the right decisions about the U.S. use of force in Iran.European allies are treading carefully after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez faced the wrath of Trump, who deemed them not sufficiently supportive in backing his war of choice.But even German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has been broadly supportive of the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, said on Tuesday that “more questions arise with every day of war.”“Above all, we’re concerned that there is apparently no joint plan for how this war can be brought quickly to a convincing end,” Merz said.Merz stressed that “Germany and Europe have no interest in an endless war” or in Iran’s territorial integrity disintegrating.Deflecting responsibility for school bombingThe president has chosen to deflect responsibility for the bombing of a girls’ school in southern Iran on the first day of the conflict, a strike that killed at least 165 people.Trump on Saturday blamed the attack on Iran, saying its security forces are “very inaccurate” with munitions.On Monday, after the investigative group Bellingcat posted verified video that showed a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile hitting a Revolutionary Guard facility near the school, causing the explosion, Trump again insisted it could have been Iran’s fault but said that he would accept whatever an ongoing U.S. investigation into the matter might find.The president erroneously claimed that Tehran had access to Tomahawks, a U.S.-manufactured weapon system that is only available to the U.S. and a few close allies.Asked by a reporter, Leavitt didn’t directly answer why Trump falsely asserted that Iran has access to the U.S.-made missile.Instead, she responded in part that “the president has a right to share his opinions with the American public” while noting “he has said he’ll accept the conclusion of that investigation.”Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters that Trump’s claim “is beyond asinine.”“Again, he says whatever pops into his head no matter what the truth is,” Schumer said. “And we all know he lies, but on something as formidable as this, it’s appalling.”Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, was among Trump allies gently making the case that it was important for the Trump administration to clarify what happened to the school.Cramer said the military must “do everything you can to eliminate those mistakes going forward.”“But you also can’t undo it,” he added.

[Category: / Mideast Africa] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/11/26 6:35am
MANILA, Philippines — Japan is working to accelerate the tri-nation GCAP fighter jet collaboration with the U.K. and Italy despite reported fiscal and contract delays, which experts say will unlikely push back target deployment in 2035.The move comes as the ruling party advances efforts to relax stringent export restrictions on defense equipment and weaponry. The government has not disclosed yet how it plans to overcome fiscal bumps, but the National Diet, Japan’s legislature, is expected to approve allocations for the jets this month.Parliament had earlier eased export restrictions on GCAP, which is short for Global Combat Air Programme, but an overhaul of the key defense transfer policy may completely lift limitations and allow future exports to countries at war.The changes are also expected to clear the way for the 11 Mogami-class frigates for the Royal Australian Navy, which Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi is scheduled to finalize later this month.In the next-generation warplane effort, there has been a delay in the contract between the three governments, represented by the GCAP International Government Organisation (GIGO), and the industry joint venture named Edgewing, which represents national contractors BAE Systems, Leonardo and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co. Ltd., a firm owned by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies.BAE says its Eurofighter pipeline is filled until first GCAP assemblyEdgewing was set to get its first design work contract by the end of 2025, but the contract has been held up by the delay of delivery of the British Defense Investment Plan, which was due to contain the necessary funding.That plan, in turn, was originally due last fall, but has been held up amid high-level efforts to contend with budget shortfalls in the U.K.Shigeki Muto, a retired lieutenant general and former head of the Air Defense Command, told Defense News that delays in the contract signing between GIGO and Edgewing “indicate uncertainty in financial commitments in design and organizational setup,” which could impede major investments from Edgewing.For now, the British delay seems manageable, perhaps impacting prototype manufacturing by a matter of months or a year, said Muto.“At present, this situation should be interpreted as a funding adjustment phase rather than a structural crisis,” he added.GCAP is Japan’s most expensive defense project and its first international co-production deal with European allies. Set to replace the defense forces’ F-2 fighters, compounding delays with the new aircraft could create gaps later on, according to retired Lt. Gen. Eiichirou Fukazawa, a former Northern Air Defense Force commander.‘Madness’: Italy’s Crosetto slams British secrecy on GCAP fighter jet“Considering the increasing pressure from China’s military capabilities, delays in introducing new combat capabilities would impact negatively on Japan’s overall defense posture,” he said.Reports indicate that costs have tripled, but it’s unclear if the Japanese government under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi would augment this year’s budget for GCAP, earlier earmarked at 700 billion yen ($4.44 billion) for initial research and development from 2023 until 2027.Experts say a front-load contribution can be justified while easing political backlash: Japan will likely become GCAP’s primary operator, and the tech transfer for fighter development will boost the domestic defense industry, which will advance global expansion goals.Additionally, shouldering the initial fiscal burden creates an advantage because it allows “expanded access to technology, gives Japan stronger negotiating power, and achieves greater leadership influence, which would be beneficial for future defense exports,” Muto explained.The government has largely been satisfied with the GCAP program, says Yoko Iwama, Professor at the Tokyo-based National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, a state think tank.“This partnership with the Europeans is a new experiment and a sort of de-risking from the Americans — it’s been seen that way here,” Iwama told Defense News.“We are quite aware of the difficulties involved with an international collaboration because we have experience dealing with the Americans. We know it’s not going to be easy, but we thought it was a risk worth taking and it has shown it was worth taking, seeing the Trump administration,” Iwama said.Reports surfaced that Germany might be open to joining GCAP, but details remain behind closed doors. Japan’s position on Germany’s participation will be weighed by numerous factors, experts say, but concerns are ripe in Tokyo that adding any new player could hold up development.The government “places high importance on adhering to the original development schedule and would likely view the participation of new players as undesirable,” Fukazawa said.Tom Kington in Rome contributed to this report.

[Category: / Asia Pacific] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/11/26 4:41am
CHRISTCHUCH, New Zealand — The Australian government announced on March 10 it would send an E-7A Wedgetail early-warning aircraft to the Middle East and help replenish United Arab Emirates stocks of AIM-120 air-to-air missiles.Officials in Canberra said the Wedgetail from the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) No. 2 Squadron would provide a “long-range reconnaissance capability which will help secure the airspace above the Gulf” for an initial four-week period.No details on its planned basing were provided, but Al Minad Air Base near Dubai is a likely locale, as the Australian military has maintained a presence there since 2003.Twelve Gulf nations have been targeted by Iran so far since the United States and Israel launched strikes against the Tehran regime on Feb. 28.Australian E-7A airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft are no strangers to overseas deployments. One was in Europe for six months to support Ukraine, where it flew 45 sorties – including a record 17.1-hour mission.The platform also supported U.S. operations against Islamic State in Syria from 2014-2020.The aircraft is expected to provide a “huge boost” to the region’s defenses against Iranian drones and missiles, Malcolm Davis, senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, wrote on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.The UAE, home to 24,000 Australians, has defended itself against 1,500 Iranian rockets and drones so far. To help replenish weapon stocks, Australia will dispatch an unknown quantity of AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) to the country.The U.S. approved the sale of 200 AIM-120C-8 and 200 AIM-120D-3 AMRAAMs to Australia in April 2025, so the UAE will probably receive older missile variants still held in stock. The missiles will arm UAE Air Force F-16 Block 60 fighters that can fire the beyond-visual-range missile.Australia stated it “supported action aimed at preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and preventing Iran from continuing to threaten international peace and security.”However, Australian leaders have said the country won’t be a protagonist in Israel and U.S. combat operations.“The Albanese government has been clear that we are not taking offensive action against Iran, and we have been clear that we are not deploying Australian troops on the ground in Iran,” reads a government statement, referring to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.Eighty-five Australian troops will deploy to the Middle East, and last week Canberra announced the deployment of a C-17A transport aircraft and KC-30A aerial tanker to the Gulf.

[Category: / Asia Pacific] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/10/26 5:56pm
The U.S. Space Force has cleared a major design hurdle in its Resilient Missile Warning and Tracking program, completing the preliminary design review for the 10-satellite Epoch 2 medium Earth orbit constellation.Space Systems Command announced Sunday that System Delta 84, working with prime contractor BAE Systems Space and Mission Systems, achieved the milestone nine months after the contract award. The critical design review is scheduled for this summer.Space Systems Command awarded BAE Systems Space and Mission Systems a $1.2 billion firm-fixed-price other transaction authority contract for Epoch 2 in May 2025, the command said. First delivery is planned for fiscal year 2029, according to Space Systems Command. “This milestone was achieved by a talented and dedicated team working in close collaboration,” 1st Lt. Sabrina Taylor, SYD 84 Epoch 2 chief systems engineer, said in a statement. “Using advanced digital tools allowed us to ensure the design is sound and ready for the next phase. … Collectively, we are demonstrating we can move quickly while maintaining technical excellence.”Epoch 2 follows Epoch 1, a 12-satellite constellation being built by Millennium Space Systems, according to SpaceNews. The program is designed to provide persistent tracking of advanced missile threats.“Our team is delivering to outpace the threat,” Lt. Col. Brandon Castillo, SYD 84 Epoch 2 system program manager, said in a statement. “This expanded constellation will provide the global coverage needed to protect our Nation, service members, Allies, and partners from the most advanced missiles.”

[Category: Space] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/10/26 3:45pm
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., the sons of President Donald Trump, invested in a newly formed company that aims to produce autonomous drones for the U.S. military.Aureus Greenway Holdings Inc., a golf course holding company backed by the two eldest Trump sons, is merging with drone producer Powerus Corporation, the companies announced Monday in a release that names Eric and Donald Jr. as “notable investors.”“We’re huge fans of our backers,” said Brett Velicovich, a co-founder of Powerus. “Eric and Don Jr. have been just fantastic supporters behind the scenes. They see the need for us to build drone technology at scale.”Their investment will enable Powerus to create a manufacturing strategy and acquire other drone technology companies, Velicovich said. Pentagon acknowledges tough quest to counter Iranian dronesMatthew Saker, the interim chief executive officer of Aureus Greenway Holdings, said in a statement that the merger was a “compelling opportunity” made “even more relevant by current geopolitical uncertainties.” “The need for and uses of autonomous technologies, such as those produced by Powerus, are front page news given developments in the Middle East and elsewhere,” he said.News of the merger came nine days after the U.S. and Israel launched military strikes against Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top Iranian leaders. In the days since, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has launched thousands of one-way drones toward U.S. military bases and diplomatic sites across the region. Trump administration officials conceded that Iran’s Shahed-136 drone, which costs only $20,000 to $50,000 to produce, is proving more disruptive on the battlefield than the Pentagon had anticipated. The U.S. has turned to Ukraine for assistance in countering the drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said March 5. Engineers in Kyiv have developed a range of anti-drone laser systems, some of which cost as little as $1,000. “We’re learning we have a lot of gaps in our air defenses, and right now there is a race at high levels to fix it, to pour money into it,” said Velicovich, an Army special operations veteran and Fox News commentator. “I worry that soldiers have a false sense of security, tactically, to what is out there, and that makes me very nervous. We need to get the right tools in their hands.” Velicovich spent more than a year in Ukraine after Russia invaded the country, taking with him U.S. defense technology on behalf of various defense firms. “In many cases, it failed miserably,” he said of the technology, adding that U.S. counter-drone systems, in particular, “are a real false sense of security wrapped around a very expensive price tag.”Powerus intends to bring lessons learned in Ukraine to the U.S. military, Velicovich said. “There are a number of engagements at senior levels of the Pentagon where they’re trying to find ways to formally bring in Ukranian technology and get it in the hands of soldiers,” he said. “We want to be part of that. We want to provide the Department of War an outlet as a company to connect those dots and add an American face to it.” The Wall Street Journal was the first to report about the investment made by Trump’s sons. Eric Trump shared the article Monday on X with the comment, “I happen to believe drones will be a much better investment than companies that still print newspapers.”Eric Trump invested in another defense technology company Feb. 17, according to PitchBook, which tracks private capital markets. The company, Xtend, developed an AI-driven operating system that enables drones “to execute complex, dynamic missions with immediate operational readiness,” it said in a release, which goes on to say Eric Trump made a strategic investment in the company.“The demand for systems that keep operators out of harm’s way is surging as the global security environment grows more volatile, and this represents one of the largest market opportunities in defense technology today,” Xtend CEO and co-founder Aviv Shapira said in a statement.

[Category: Unmanned] [Link to media]

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[l] at 3/10/26 9:51am
NEW DELHI — Two Iranian warships have docked in India and Sri Lanka after a U.S. submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean just off Sri Lanka’s coast last week.The sinking of the Iris Dena on March 4th was the first military strike outside the Middle East since the war began, and analysts say it raised concerns that the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran could widen beyond the Persian Gulf if it drags on.It also became a diplomatic embarrassment for New Delhi, which had hosted the sunken vessel for peacetime multilateral naval drills.All three Iranian ships — the two vessels that are now in India and Sri Lanka as well as the torpedoed ship — were sailing in the Indian Ocean after participating in the exercises along India’s east coast.The South Asian countries have called their decision to permit the ships to enter their ports a “humanitarian” gesture.Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told parliament Monday the Iranian ship Iris Lavan sailed into the southern port of Kochi last week after it reported a technical problem. Its crew, mostly young cadets, have been housed at Indian naval facilities.He said that the government believed “it was the right thing to do.”Sri Lanka, an Indian Ocean island country lying southeast of India, took control of Iran’s Irins Bushehr and offloaded some 288 crew members at Trincomalee port after the ship had sought assistance saying one of its engines malfunctioned.A day earlier, its navy rescued 32 sailors and recovered 87 bodies from the sunken Dena.The South Asian country has stressed its neutrality after finding itself caught in the conflict saying it would take no sides.India, which has friendly ties with all parties in the conflict — the U.S., Israel and Iran — has steered clear of explicitly supporting or condemning any side since the hostilities erupted. Neither has made any official comment on the sinking of the Dena. Foreign Minister Jaishankar has only said that the ships were caught “on the wrong side of events.”Washington has vowed to destroy Iran’s military capabilities, including its navy.“An American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated last week, calling it a “quiet death.”The ship was torpedoed in international waters, but the U.S. attack on the vessel close to Sri Lanka raised questions about the expanding scope of the military campaign against Iran.“So far we had assumed the conflict was confined to the Persian Gulf. But when the ship was sunk off the coast of Sri Lanka, which is 3000 kilometers away, the implication was that there are chances of the conflict spreading,” said Arun Prakash, a former Indian navy chief.“Perhaps it was also a message to India and others – after all the ship was no direct threat to the U.S. — that the U.S. has an extensive reach and can strike wherever it wants,” he added.The naval exercises hosted by India, in which 74 countries and 18 foreign warships participated, intended to showcase its influence in its maritime neighborhood. New Delhi, which has been building its naval prowess, has often stated its ambitions to become the “preferred security partner” in the Indian Ocean, which is also a crucial artery for seaborne oil trade.But analysts said that Dena’s sinking had cast a shadow over India’s regional aspirations.“This episode demonstrates that we are not really the sentinels of the Indian Ocean — it shows the gap between India’s rhetorical position and the reality. Even though New Delhi was not obliged to protect the ship which the U.S. struck in international waters, there was an ethical dimension because the ship had been its guest,” according to Manoj Joshi, distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.The targeting of the vessel also showed that the defense partnership which New Delhi and Washington have been cultivating in recent years remains “asymmetrical” and has limits, Joshi said. “When push comes to shove, the U.S. does what it feels like. Even in the Indian Ocean, it operates as it wants.”Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh, who was in New Delhi last week, said that India must ask the United States why it is targeting Iranian ships in the Indian Ocean.Iran and the U.S. have sparred over whether the Dena was a legitimate wartime target. While Iran says that the ship was unarmed, the United States Indo-Pacific Command has rejected that claim.

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