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Defense News
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[l] at 7/28/26 11:31am
Anduril’s first Ohio-made unmanned, semi-autonomous aircraft rolled off the production line Monday, just four months after its beginning.The defense company’s first YFQ-44A was built in its Pickaway County, Ohio, manufacturing facility, dubbed Arsenal-1, according to a social media post. Anduril first announced the facility’s construction in January 2025 and slated its first products manufacturing to begin July 2026.In January 2026, Anduril declared that its first product would be the YFQ-44A, a missionized variant of the company’s FQ-44, or “Fury,” autonomous fighter jet, for the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.The $1 billion, 5 million-square-foot facility is located near Rickenbacker International Airport and plans to add 4,000 jobs to the area.The aircraft’s production comes two weeks after the Air Force conducted its first-ever live-fire test with its CCA. The YFQ-44A executed an end-to-end, beyond-line-of-sight strike against a simulated target using an inert AIM-120, which is an advanced medium-range air-to-air missile.As Anduril announced the aircraft’s production, the Air Force also revealed on Monday the completion of a recent Agile Combat Employment exercise that showcased CCA operations at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada.“Air superiority in today’s increasingly contested environments requires the rapid fielding of affordable mass,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach said in the release. “CCA are essential to this effort. By integrating uncrewed systems to fly alongside our Airmen, we extend reach and increase lethality.”The multi-day exercise was conducted by the CCA Experimental Operations Unit and was meant to build foundational tactics, techniques and procedures that will shape how the aircraft are integrated into the force, the release says.The EOU completed multiple sorties, integrated with manned platforms in the local airspace and simulated scenarios.“Our test teams can continuously use these warfighter-run exercises to gather and analyze data that aids in informed CCA fielding decisions well ahead of the normal process to deliver combat capability when needed by our Air Force and the Nation,” said Brig. Gen. Jesse Friedel, Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center commander, whose team members observed the event.Air Force officials have continuously asserted that any decision to deploy munitions still lies in the human operator’s hands, as they have control and command of the platform at all times, even though the aircraft are unmanned and semi-autonomous.In a recent roundtable, former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said that building trust between human operators and autonomous systems begins with computerized, man-in-the-loop simulations and training exercises, such as Red Flag at Nellis. The Air Force awarded the CCA contracts last month to Anduril and General Atomics for their YFQ-44A and YFQ-42A, respectively.The service has eyed 100 to 150 aircraft in its program’s first increment, with a longer-term goal of fielding 1,000 CCAs.Anduril had not yet announced Tuesday the number of YFQ-44As the facility will produce, but the production line has the capacity to build 150 each year.

[Category: / MilTech] [Link to media]

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[l] at 7/28/26 9:42am
U.S. Central Command and the United Arab Emirates will establish the first bilateral task force aimed at boosting the development of military artificial intelligence applications.The team, dubbed Task Force Talon Synapse, is slated to launch in the “coming weeks,” according to a Tuesday release, and will focus on incorporating AI applications into intelligence support, protecting critical infrastructure and monitoring the regional security environment.“This will be a historic milestone as we work with one of our most capable regional partners to rapidly deliver evolving AI advancements to our warfighters,” Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander, said in the statement.“Together, we and our Emirati partners share a strong commitment to adopting AI applications that will foster innovation at speed and scale,” he continued.The Abu Dhabi-based unit will be made up of around 20 American and Emirati personnel with AI, data and cybersecurity expertise, the announcement says.The task force’s creation was discussed last year by Cooper and UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed al-Nahyan, per the release. During a trip to the region last month, CENTCOM and AI industry leaders gathered together as well.For almost a decade, the UAE has strived to accelerate its defenses with AI capabilities through collaborations, like with Anduril to coproduce advanced autonomous drones. In March 2025, the White House hosted al-Nahyan, who views adopting artificial intelligence as a national responsibility. The talks focused on bilateral relations between the two countries, AI and emerging technology, according to a UAE release at the time of the official visit.

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

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[l] at 7/28/26 8:09am
HELSINKI — Finland’s military said on Tuesday it had closed a section of Finnish airspace and restricted maritime traffic off the country’s southern coast near the Russian border due to a risk of stray drones in the area.Ukrainian military drones targeting Russia have strayed into the airspace of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania this year, raising concerns that the war in Ukraine is spilling over into NATO’s northern borders.Russia may use captured Ukrainian drones against Poland and Baltics, Warsaw warnsFinland was taking the steps “so that we can ensure the authorities are able to operate if drones were to stray into the area, meaning safe countermeasures and the safety of bystanders,” a military spokesperson said.The spokesperson said the military could not comment on the source of the information about possible drone activity, “as it is operational information.”Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian targets with long-range drones. It and NATO countries have blamed Russian signal jamming for diverting some Ukrainian drones into NATO airspace. Moscow accuses Ukraine of intentionally steering drones across the borders.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

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[l] at 7/28/26 2:15am
PARIS — Wildfires raging west of the French city of Bordeaux are threatening a number of France’s key defense-industrial sites, including an ArianeGroup facility that produces propulsion components for the M51 submarine-launched ballistic missile, Dassault Aviation’s final assembly line for the Rafale fighter jet, and one of Roxel’s main manufacturing sites for solid rocket motors used in MBDA missiles.Dassault Aviation said it was moving sensitive equipment from a site closest to the wildfires to one nearer Bordeaux, with most workers staying home in line with instructions issued by the authorities. ArianeGroup had evacuated its affected sites, while the French Atomic Energy Commission CEA closed its military nuclear research site near Bordeaux as the wildfires approached.The Gironde department of southwest France has been battling one of the country’s largest wildfires on record, with over 100,000 acres burned — an area roughly four times the size of Paris. The fires in recent days approached the cluster of defense and aerospace sites west of Bordeaux that represents one of France’s most important concentrations of missile, propulsion, combat aircraft, and military electronics production.Dassault Aviation had to move “a certain number of sensitive equipment” from its site in Martignas and a logistics center in Cestas to its site in Mérignac and the local Air Base 106, working in close cooperation with France’s Directorate General for Armament and local authorities, the aircraft maker said in an emailed statement late Monday.Satellite data on Tuesday morning showed wildfires remained active less than 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) west of Dassault’s Martignas site, which is the wing assembly plant for the Rafale jet, before final assembly of the aircraft in Mérignac.NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System showed fires and hot spots west of Bordeaux were significantly reduced as of 9 o’clock in the morning local time, though authorities have warned that a new wave of hot weather with a peak on Wednesday, combined with near-record drought conditions, could cause fire activity to pick up again.Employees at the Mérignac and Martignas plants are staying home, in line with instructions issued by authorities, unless they’ve been evacuated, Dassault Aviation said. Those still working are the teams necessary for the transfer of equipment and those in charge of protecting the site to help with fire-fighting efforts, the company said.ArianeGroup is working in close cooperation with local and national authorities, and the company’s sites west of Bordeaux “have been evacuated, and all necessary measures have been taken to secure them,” the space-launch company said in an emailed reply to questions. The firm said it’s not commenting on security measures around its sites.Satellite data as of Tuesday morning showed active wildfires around 12 kilometers west of ArianeGroup’s Candale site, where the propulsion units of the M51 missile stages are integrated and assembled, around 13 kilometers from the site of Saint-Médard-en-Jalles where the missile is fueled, and some 16 kilometers of the Le Haillan site that produces the company’s solid-propulsion systems.“Whilst the unprecedented forest fires in Gironde are above all an environmental and humanitarian disaster, they also threaten sites that are of vital strategic importance to our nuclear deterrent,” said Etienne Marcuz, an associate fellow at the Foundation pour la Recherche Stratégique, in a post on the social media network X on Sunday.☢️?? Les incendies en Gironde et la dissuasion nucléaire ??☢️Si les incendies de forêt sans précédent en Gironde constituent avant tout une catastrophe environnementale et humaine, ils menacent également des sites hautement stratégiques pour notre dissuasion nucléaire.Selon… pic.twitter.com/9v18gQAzYu— Etienne Marcuz (@Etienne_Marcuz) July 26, 2026Emergency services aided by local construction companies worked during the night of Friday to Saturday and throughout the day to clear vegetation and create firebreaks around a number of sensitive sites, Gironde department Prefect Sophie Brocas said in a press conference on Saturday.Marc Vermeulen, the head of the Gironde department fire and emergency service, said that after protecting lives, the next priority is protecting at-risk strategic sites. The DGA has a missile testing site just west of Saint-Médard.Thales said its site at Mérignac has been closed since Monday as a precautionary measure, in accordance with guidelines from the authorities. The company said it’s doing everything possible to safeguard its strategic equipment at the site and ensure continuity of its commitments to customers. The Thales site sits across from the Dassault Aviation campus in the Bordeaux suburb, and supplies equipment including avionics systems for the Rafale as well as military helicopters.MBDA’s Roxel unit has one of its main production locations in Saint-Médard, where it produces propellant, solid rocket motors and carries out integration work for rockets and drones, on a site shared with ArianeGroup. Roxel produces the motors for a number of MBDA missiles, including the Aster range of air-defense interceptors.“Roxel is managing the situation and the necessary measures have been taken to ensure the safety of our staff and our operations, with the support of the relevant authorities and emergency services,” MBDA said in an emailed statement, declining further comment.The CEA said its site in Le Barp southwest of Bordeaux has been closed due to the wildfire situation. After wildfires in 2022, the center put in place new procedures, provided additional fire-fighting equipment to the in-house fire brigade, and created firebreaks around the center, the government organization said in an emailed reply to questions.The CEA Cesta site houses the organization’s megajoule laser, a research instrument used to create conditions of extreme heat and pressure similar to those produced by nuclear weapons, and part of France’s efforts to maintain the credibility of its nuclear deterrent without live nuclear testing.As of Tuesday morning, satellite data showed active wildfires around 7 kilometers from the site, after the fire front got to around 4 kilometers from the CEA site over the weekend.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

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[l] at 7/27/26 12:55pm
With the U.S. running low on expensive guided munitions, the Pentagon is pushing yet another project to develop cheap, long-range weapons that can be mass produced. But this time, the Pentagon is in a hurry. The Iran war has exposed the problem of relying on costly long-range missiles such as the Tomahawk. To remedy that, DoD is putting out a call for long-range, autonomously guided Ground-Based Affordable Mass, or GBAM, weapons that cost less than $250,000 apiece. The Pentagon also wants the GBAM munitions to be ready for demonstration within three months, and full-scale production within 18 months. The goal of the GBAM initiative is to supplement expensive smart munitions with “affordable, scalable long-range effects, and “enable commanders to service a broader target set, preserve exquisite munitions for their intended purpose, and sustain operational tempo throughout a prolonged conflict.” To facilitate that, the Defense Innovation Unit has created the GBAM Challenge. Contestants will pitch ideas in the form of a pitch deck or white paper, with a deadline of Aug. 5. Winning teams will be invited to a Phase II flight demonstration at a government test site in early November, where they will give a 30-minute presentation — and get a $250,000 cash prize. The top Phase II contenders may receive up to $5 million “to immediately deliver operational test quantities to units.” They may also be eligible for other funds, including Prototype Other Transaction agreements, follow-on production contracts and Small Business Innovation Research awards. “In total, the government has budgeted up to $250 million to support prize execution and follow-on transition activities associated with this effort,” DIU pointed out. However, grabbing that pot of gold will require much work. For starters, the timeline is tight. The Pentagon wants “mature, affordable, long-range precision strike systems that can be demonstrated within 60 to 90 days, certified, and scaled into production within 12 to 18 months.” DIU doesn’t specify whether GBAM will be a missile or a drone, though it does say GBAM will be “aligned with the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems (DRPM-UxS) mandate to field low-cost autonomous capabilities at scale.” Either way, the U.S. military wants a “favorable cost-per-effect at operationally relevant ranges while minimizing the logistical, training, and sustainment burden on employing units.” This means a ground-launched weapon with a range of at least 600 nautical miles, and a minimum payload of 35 pounds while ideally allowing for 100 pounds. It should have automatic target recognition and autonomous terminal guidance, and be “ideally mission-proven” to function in jamming and GPS-denied environments. This includes “Alternative Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) or redundant navigation capabilities suitable for GPS/GNSS-denied operations in maritime and other ‘feature-poor’ environments.” DIU is also looking for a weapon that doesn’t require any proprietary launch equipment, with “remote and low-signature launch methods strongly preferred.” Companies should have an “existing production capacity or credible path to producing 100+ systems monthly.” And with a price tag of “cost-per-effect below $500,000 based on system reliability and mission success rate, with a sub-$250,000 all-up flyaway cost at scale.” In addition to GBAM, the U.S. military is pursuing other strike weapons that don’t cost as much as traditional missiles, and can be mass produced as needed. They include the Family of Affordable Mass Missiles, or FAMM-BAR, program to launch cruise missiles from cargo planes, as well as the Low-Cost Containerized Missiles hypersonic weapons program.

[Category: / MilTech] [Link to media]

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[l] at 7/27/26 12:38pm
Austria’s coalition government plans to extend military service to nine months from six to adapt to a security landscape changed by the war in Ukraine, it said on Monday.Neutral Austria’s armed forces have for decades served mainly as a kind of civil protection force, assisting the emergency services during natural disasters such as floods and wildfires, or performing border patrols to intercept illegal immigrants rather than stop advancing foreign troops.The country has for years been trying to strengthen and better equip its military, which the authorities have long said would be unable to defend the homeland against serious attack by an outside power.“The security conditions have changed fundamentally in the past years, months and weeks. The dream of a lasting peace in Europe shattered at the latest with the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine,” Chancellor Christian Stocker told a press conference at a military barracks outside Salzburg.New threats have also emerged including hybrid attacks and cyberwarfare, he said while standing alongside the leaders of the two other ruling parties after a cabinet meeting.“These developments show clearly that Austria must take charge to a greater extent of its own capabilities for self-reliance and protection of the population,” he added.Austria is surrounded by eight countries, all but two of which — western neighbors Switzerland and Liechtenstein — are part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It borders Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Italy and Slovenia to the south, and Slovakia and Hungary to the east.Austrian boys and men currently have the choice, usually around their 18th birthday, between military service and a nine-month civilian alternative in which they typically work at institutions such as an ambulance service or retirement home.The government said it planned to make it possible to extend so-called civil service by two months on a voluntary basis.It also plans to switch to a reservist model for military service in which conscripts must carry out follow-up exercises within 10 years of their initial service. To make military service more attractive, perks are planned, such as holiday days and almost doubling pay to 1,000 euros ($1,140) a month.Making those changes will, however, require passing legislation with a two-thirds majority in parliament, for which the government needs the support of the opposition Greens or the far-right Freedom Party. Those talks have yet to start.

[Category: Global] [Link to media]

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[l] at 7/27/26 9:59am
NEW DELHI — India has successfully tested a long-range surface-to-air interceptor missile, advancing development of a domestic air defense system to counter long-range aerial threats.The Defense Ministry said that the maiden flight test intercepted a simulated high-speed, high-altitude aerial electronic target successfully, marking a “key milestone” in the program’s development. It was conducted Thursday from the A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of India’s eastern Odisha state.Although India has developed short- and medium-range air defense systems, it relies heavily on Russia’s S-400 Triumf systems for long-range air defense. The Kusha, as the interceptor that was tested is called, could fill that gap.“At present, the S-400 provides long-range coverage of about 400 kilometers, while the Barak-8 systems, co-developed with Israel provide shorter ranges of around 70 kilometers in our air defense. So there is a huge gap in between. Kusha will bridge this,” said Dinakar Peri, Fellow in the Security Studies Program at Carnegie India.The project includes development of three variants with approximate ranges of 150 kilometers, 250 kilometers, and 350–400 kilometers. However, the official statement did not disclose the engagement range of the interceptor that was tested.“The missile system is capable of neutralizing a wide variety of aerial threats including fighter jets, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and large enemy aircraft within a wide range & altitude envelope,” it said.India touts new ballistic missile defense prowess after testsThe test marked the first demonstration of New Delhi’s efforts to build an air-defense system that could eventually be counted in the same strategic class as Russia’s S-400 Triumf.“The capability in developing long range surface-to-air missile systems is possessed only by a handful of nations. This will also eliminate the import dependency for such systems and signifies a giant leap in air defense capability of the nation,” Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said following the test.Analyst Peri pointed out that when validated, the variant with a range of 350 to 400 kilometers is expected to match the range of Russia’s S-400 and could complement the ones India has already deployed. The country’s long borders with Pakistan and China require wide coverage.“The S-400 played a key role during the conflict with Pakistan last year and we have a good air defense architecture. But it may not be enough for the next potential conflict,” said Peri. “So the need is to scale up its existing long-range air defenses significantly, and this is where Kusha will play a key role. For India the reaction time, especially along the border with Pakistan, is very short, so the need is to have interceptors that can shoot down incoming aerial threats far away from population clusters.”As India steps up its military modernization program, strengthening air defense has emerged as a priority amid the growing threats posed by drones, cruise missiles, long-range rockets and combat aircraft that are reshaping modern warfare. A $ 5.4 billion approval granted by the Defence Acquisition Council earlier this month for weapons and systems for the armed forces included counter-drone and layered air-defense capability.New Delhi hopes that the missile system could eventually reduce its dependency on foreign systems significantly.Following the test, the government said that all weapon system elements, including the missiles, radars and the command center, were developed in the country by the Defense Research and Development Organization and industry partners.However India will remain reliant on foreign air defense systems for some years to come as the indigenous system still has to be validated with more trials and is only expected to be ready for operational deployment after three to four years. Earlier this year, India approved the acquisition of five additional S-400 Triumf air defense systems from Russia to reinforce its long range air defenses.India continues to rank among the world’s largest defense importers but over the past two decades, it has intensified its push for self-reliance by expanding domestic development and production of advanced military technologies and hardware.

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

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[l] at 7/27/26 5:00am
NEW TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan — U.S. President Donald Trump is still holding off approval of a $14 billion weapons package for Taiwan, a potential military rival to Beijing. He pulled back in May after meeting his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, who opposes U.S. military aid to Taiwan.But on July 15, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that includes $500 million in Foreign Military Financing for Taiwan, one in a chain of Pacific Rim allies that U.S. officials have long seen as a buffer against Chinese military expansion.While the half-billion-dollar allocation in the 2027 fiscal year appropriations bill does not commit money to a particular arms package, analysts say it’s a sign that the Republican Party-dominated Congress values the defense of Taiwan in case China ever attacks with its larger armed forces, and that Washington intends to fulfill at least older arms purchase deals.“This $500 million Foreign Military Funding demonstrates that Congress has not reduced its security support for Taiwan following the Trump-Xi meeting and reflects Congress’s desire to avoid long-term constraints on military aid to Taiwan due to White House negotiations with China through appropriations and delivery requirements,” said Huang Chung-ting, associate research fellow with the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taipei.The US usually sells weapons to Taiwan – with drones, expect the reverseTrump’s signature, needed to pass the appropriations bill, would imply continued weapons sales of some kind despite the unknown fate of the $14 billion package, analysts said.Foreign Military Financing – usually grants or loans – for U.S. allies abroad may technically go toward acquiring weapons, military training or other related services.“Foreign military financing concerns how weapons are ultimately paid for but not whether the weapons are actually sold or transferred in the first place,” said Sean King, vice president of New York-based political consultancy Park Strategies.Trump has not ostensibly withdrawn any previous but unfulfilled U.S. arms sales for Taiwan, meaning that the proposed congressional funding could go toward one of those, experts say. U.S. arms sales to Taiwan date back more than four decades and can take years before payments and delivery dates are settled. As of April, sales of 30 individual weapon types were partly unfulfilled, according to the Taiwan Security Monitor research initiative of the George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government.The most recent items appear in a $11.1 billion batch of weaponry fully approved by Washington in December. It includes M109A7 self-propelled howitzers, the high mobility artillery rocket system HIMARS, Javelin anti-tank missiles and unmanned attack aircraft systems. Taiwan’s Cabinet approved its own special budget in May to help pay for the purchases.“My assessment is that while there was indeed a political pause after the Trump-Xi meeting, it was not a complete halt to arms sales to Taiwan, but rather (it) targeted new cases that had not yet received approval,” Huang said.“This delay likely involved Trump’s negotiations with China, a review of weapons stockpiles and internal White House scrutiny, and cannot be explained by a single reason,” he said.The appropriations bill still requires U.S. Senate review before it would go to Trump’s office.China claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan and has threatened to take the island by force, if needed. Over the past four years the People’s Liberation Army has increased the frequency of military exercises near Taiwan, often in the 160km (100 miles) strait separating them.Trump said after his meeting with the Chinese president that withholding the arms deal was a “good negotiating chip.” But in June, the U.S. State Department reiterated long-standing policy that arms sales to Taiwan were not dependent on Beijing’s consent.Experts anticipate a White House announcement on the $14 billion arms package only after Trump and Xi meet in September in the United States, as announced by Washington.“It may be that Trump is delaying a public announcement until after Xi’s visit to avoid being the skunk who came to the garden party,” said Doug Barry, a professor at The George Washington University and a former communications director with the U.S.-China Business Council.“It’s odd there has been no public announcement,” he said.

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

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[l] at 7/26/26 7:20am
Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned a Ukrainian attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, saying it resulted in an explosion that killed one sailor and injured another. Throughout the war in Ukraine, Kyiv has had to counter Iranian-designed drones deployed by Moscow. Kyiv has offered its drone interception expertise to countries in the Middle East that have suffered strikes from Iran.Tehran described the attack on its vessel as an act of aggression and said it would defend its national interests and security, while accusing Kyiv of seeking to expand the war in Ukraine.The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran to convey its protest over what it described as a “hostile and criminal” attack, Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported. The Iranian denunciation coincided with comments by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Kyiv had noted Russia was passing on its satellite observations in the Middle East to Iran to enable it to direct strikes in the region.Zelenskyy had earlier said that Ukraine’s forces struck a Russian warship and vessels used for transporting Iranian-linked military cargo in the Caspian Sea.The Ukrainian president, in subsequent remarks posted on X, said Kyiv had recorded since the beginning of July “active Russian satellite surveillance of the Gulf states and U.S. military facilities located there. These images subsequently appear in Iran.”“At the same time, there is a clear correlation between Russia’s satellite imagery of these sites and Iranian strikes — both before the attacks, in preparation for them, and afterward, to assess the damage inflicted,” Zelenskyy said.He said that on July 19 and 20 alone, Russian satellite observation had included four air bases: two in Bahrain, one in Jordan and one in Kuwait.

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

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[l] at 7/24/26 2:59pm
In a field in southern Ukraine, soldiers scrawled sardonic messages on a sleek grey attack drone that would soon be hunting Russian ships on the Black Sea — part of a widening Ukrainian campaign to isolate Crimea and weaken Moscow’s war effort.Operating far behind the front line on Ukraine’s sweeping steppe, such units have hit more than 180 vessels and other sea-borne targets around the peninsula over the past three weeks, opening a new front in the war.The attacks, first in the Sea of Azov and now expanding into the Black Sea that it opens into, are designed to raise the cost for Russia of occupying Crimea and to swing the initiative towards Kyiv in the fifth year of full-scale war in Ukraine.“We work day and night, every day, without time off,” said battalion commander “Ray” of Magyar’s Birds, a brigade that is an important part of the effort. In line with Ukrainian military practice, he identified himself only by his call sign.During a recent visit by Reuters, his team launched drones every couple of minutes. The unit said it struck a cargo vessel and floating crane in the Black Sea and a power substation in south Crimea. Reuters could not independently verify this.The attacks are part of the growing duel in strategic waters in recent weeks, during which Russia has stepped up strikes on Ukrainian ports and international cargo ships.Kyiv’s agriculture minister said on Thursday that shipowners had ​temporarily suspended vessel arrivals at Ukraine’s Black Sea ports for agricultural exports following the surge in attacks.BATTLE OVER CRIMEACrimea, which serves as a transit and military hub for Moscow’s troops, has become a new focus for Ukraine’s drone forces as they scale up their strike capabilities.In recent months, they have targeted road and rail links in a swath of occupied southern Ukraine that connects the peninsula to Russia — which seized and annexed it in 2014, long before Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.That has led to fuel shortages and a state of emergency in Crimea, with power and gas facilities also systematically hit.Now, attacks on oil tankers, dry cargo ships and other vessels mark a widening of Kyiv’s effort to pressure Russian forces by starving them of resources.Since the new phase of their campaign began in July, drone forces under commander Robert “Magyar” Brovdi have reported hitting about six vessels per day, detailed by Brovdi in mocking, emoji-riddled reports.The attacks have choked Russian shipping through the Sea of Azov, which receives ships from Russia’s main southern grain-producing region via the Don River.Brovdi’s forces said the Kerch ferry crossing between eastern Crimea and Russia’s Krasnodar region had lost around 75% of its capacity. Reuters could not verify this.The commander told Reuters the attacks were aimed at “ruining the myth” of Russian domination and establishing total control over Ukraine’s territorial waters.The new campaign is dubbed “Molochko”: a portmanteau that sounds like the word “milk” but denotes the phrase “Moscow will collapse because of Crimea.”Sidharth Kaushal, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank in London, said Ukrainian attacks on Russian overland logistics had led to an increase in shipping through the Sea of Azov, thus providing more sea-borne targets.The attacks, he said, are “a logical continuation” of Ukraine’s Crimea campaign.RUSSIAN ATTACKS ON PORTS AND VESSELSUkraine’s strikes have been mirrored by intensifying Russian attacks on southern Ukraine, particularly the city of Odesa and ports that send much of the country’s grain through a maritime corridor to international markets.On Sunday, 10 sailors were killed after Russian forces struck a Guinea-Bissau-flagged vessel carrying corn from the port of Odesa, Ukrainian officials said.Last week, at least three people were killed in attacks on Odesa and Mykolaiv, another port city.In the first two weeks of July alone, Russia struck Ukrainian ports 23 times and civilian vessels 17 times, Kyiv’s seaports authority said last Thursday, leaving traders struggling with logistics headaches.Agricultural exports such as grains and vegetable oils remain Ukraine’s biggest source of foreign currency earnings, with more than 90% shipped from ports in the Odesa ​region through a maritime corridor.Russia has said its attacks are aimed at infrastructure storing military cargo and fuel.HUNTED BY RUSSIANSThe Ukrainian-made FP-1 and FP-2 drones used by battalion commander Ray’s team are a staple of Kyiv’s growing arsenal. They fly automatically to the operational zone, then pilots — often based far away — take over to land the final blow.Minutes after catapulting their last propeller-powered drone using a small jet booster, the launch team packed up and prepared to move. No site is re-used and teams are often sent to new locations at a few hours’ notice.Although technological advancements have allowed them to launch from over 100 km, or 62 miles, behind front lines, they are still a prized target for enemy drone teams.“This is a constant war — a continuous struggle of measures and countermeasures,” said Ray, who commands his brigade’s ninth battalion, called Kairos.Panama, a squadron commander, said he and fellow troops were motivated by the “tangible results” of their operations.Beyond complicating Russian logistics, the campaign is boosting Ukrainian morale.“It’s great that our tempo is so high,” he said, “but we still need to sustain it.”

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

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[l] at 7/24/26 12:49pm
COLOGNE, Germany — The German government is pulling back two navy ships from the Gulf of Aden sent there weeks ago on stand-by to support an eventual post-war Strait of Hormuz security mission, as hope is fading in Berlin that the conflict in Iran will end anytime soon.Defense leaders ordered the mine hunter Fulda and the support vessel Mosel to redeploy from Djibouti, a European and international naval hub at the southern mouth of the Red Sea, to the eastern Mediterranean, the Ministry of Defense announced on Thursday. The ships and crew will hold there and await further instructions about whether an international Hormuz mission will come to pass at all.After the U.S-Israeli war against Iran began in late February, European nations pledged to assign naval vessels to a multinational mission for securing shipping in the economically vital Strait of Hormuz, over which Iran claims control. A precondition for such a deployment, governments here said, was that the conflict would ebb to such a degree that none of their ships would come under fire in a war many here consider pointless.The prospect of a “permissive environment” is now deemed slim by Berlin, the Ministry of Defense announcement reads, as open hostilities have broken out again between Iran and the United States following a period of calm.Aside from the geopolitical aspect of the redeployment, there is also a more mundane rationale, Navy officials acknowledge: The two vessels’ cooling systems, which rely on sea water, were not built for the high temperatures of the Gulf of Aden environs. The eastern Mediterranean will be a more suitable parking spot for the ships, constructed decades ago with operations in the North Atlantic and Germany-adjacent waters, the hope goes.The redeployment of the Fulda and the Mosel has been “coordinated with international partners,” the ministry statement reads, as the vessels await an opportunity to tag along with a beefy air-defense escort to make the journey to the Mediterranean. On the way to Djibouti in June, the British air-defense destroyer Dragon provided protection through the Red Sea leg of the voyage.“I can imagine Trump will criticize the move as a lack of staying power in the region,” said Sebastian Bruns, a fellow at the Royal Swedish Society for Naval Sciences (KÖMS), about the German naval redeployment plans.But fellow European nations will understand it, as they all are puzzled by the dizzying pace of U.S. President’s Donald Trump’s proclamations variously trumpeting military strikes and prospects of some kind of peace deal, sometimes at the same time, he said.Bruns criticized the German government for jumping on a bandwagon of “Symbolpolitik” in the first place — taking action only for the envisioned signal of aiding the Americans in some form even though the security context was unclear.“For such highly specialized units as mine hunters, that role must feel like a waste for the crew,” he said.The German Ministry of Defense said it will continue to keep the Fulda and the Mosel deployable for a future Strait of Hormuz operation, with officials eying “durable indications for a near-term start” of such a mission.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

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[l] at 7/24/26 12:09pm
The Pentagon on Thursday nominated Lt. Gen. Kevin D. Admiral to serve as the next commander of the U.S. Army Europe and Africa theater. Admiral, who currently serves as the commander of III Corps and Fort Hood, Texas, could take over the top job from Gen. Christopher Donahue, who unexpectedly relinquished command earlier this month after only 18 months in the role. Since Donahue’s exit, Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie has been serving as acting commander.If confirmed, Admiral would also serve as commander of NATO’s Allied Land Command, coordinating with 104 countries in USAREUR-AF’s area of responsibility. He would remain a three-star, despite the role previously being a four-star position. Prior to leading III Corps and Fort Hood, Admiral served as the commanding general for the 1st Cavalry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas, and in Poland, and director of force management in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3/5/7, according to his official Army bio.Donahue’s early July departure came amid the Pentagon’s broad senior leadership changes under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who in April asked U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to step down and retire ahead of the typical four-year term.Since taking office, Hegseth has removed more than a dozen senior military leaders, including former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown and former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti.Eve Sampson contributed to this report.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

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[l] at 7/24/26 11:11am
Defense tech firm Anduril is in discussions with investors for a new funding round that could see it valued at roughly $100 billion, rivaling companies such as Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.The funding round and the valuations, reported here for the first time, are still fluid, the sources said. One idea that had been floated was for the company to use a two-stage process, where investors would need to commit to financing a second round at a higher valuation that could occur within a year, the sources said. The valuation for the second funding round could involve Anduril meeting certain financial benchmarks, they said.Reuters could not determine how much Anduril planned to raise. In a statement, a spokesperson for Anduril said no decisions had been made about any future financing. “As a private company, we regularly evaluate opportunities to fund the growth of the business,” the spokesperson said.The talks come as the company has posted booming military sales and generated investor enthusiasm around its suite of drones, software and missiles amid the U.S. conflict with Iran. Just two months ago, the company doubled its valuation to $61 billion in a $5 billion funding round led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.The discussions also underscore how fast-growing startups are increasingly wielding market power and demanding highly unusual concessions from investors. Before going public in June, SpaceX, for example, imposed unusual conditions on investors in its private fundraising rounds, including extensive vetting and limited financial disclosures.The potential valuation would make California-based Anduril nearly as valuable as Lockheed Martin, one of the world’s largest defense conglomerates and maker of several of the Pentagon’s priciest fighter jets, including the F-22, F-15 and F-35. Lockheed is valued at $130 billion.Led by founder Palmer Luckey, Anduril has been announcing new military weapons and drones at a rapid pace. The company said in January it had reported $2.2 billion in revenue in 2025, and doubled its workforce.Earlier this week, the company announced a new vertical-takeoff-and-landing drone called Thunder at the Farnborough Air Show in England, which it hopes will fly alongside military helicopter units.

[Category: / MilTech] [Link to media]

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[l] at 7/24/26 3:35am
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — The Indonesian Air Force will soon add yet another aircraft type to its eclectic fleet, after a deal with Leonardo for a dozen M-346F Block 20 light fighters was announced this week.Lorenzo Mariani, Leonardo’s CEO and General Manager, said: “The introduction of the M-346F in Indonesia provides clear evidence not only of the aircraft system’s inherent quality, but also of the country’s continued and yet growing trust in our capabilities across domains.”Leonardo said the sale “includes the localization of a range of support, maintenance, overhaul and training capabilities, as well as human capital development.”The Italian-built M-346 is well known as an advanced jet trainer, but the F variant is a dedicated, multirole, light fighter. It has an active electronically scanned array radar, Link 16 data link, seven hardpoints for carrying weapons, aerial refueling capability and electronic countermeasures system.The first M-346s should be handed over to Jakarta in 2030. This will make Indonesia the 23rd operator of the M-346, but the first Asian customer of the newest Block 20 variant.“Just eight months after the first order, strong and rapid global demand for the latest version of the aircraft clearly demonstrates it is meeting customer requirements,” reads a Leonardo statement. The firm said the M-346 has logged 170,000+ flight hours to date.Indonesia is currently inducting Dassault’s Rafale fighter, but the air force maintains a hotchpotch fleet that includes the American F-16, Russian Su-27/Su-30 and Korean T-50i.Jakarta invested in the Korean KF-21’s development, and it has also professed devotion to the Turkish Kaan. However, neither has resulted in production contracts yet. Indonesia’s defense minister has also expressed a desire for the Chinese J-10.If all these aspirations came true, Indonesia would end up operating perhaps the world’s most complicated and varied fleet of combat aircraft.“The Indonesian Armed Forces have been facing existing challenges related to interoperability,” Alban Sciascia, director of consultancy firm PT Semar Sentinel Indonesia, told Defense News. “It’s no secret that Indonesia has been focusing on procuring different equipment from different countries, as part of its diversification strategy, and that its joint operations concept is limited because of the relative inability to get all this equipment interoperating on the battlefield.”Meanwhile, Leonardo, PT ESystem Solutions and the Indonesian Ministry of Defense also signed a letter of intent on July 21 for the prospective procurement of Leonardo AW149 medium helicopters for the Indonesian Navy.“If followed by a contract, this could lead to the supply of AW149 helicopters for search and rescue and disaster relief, for both land-based and embarked operations,” Leonardo said in a statement.The navy currently operates eleven Airbus AS565 Panther helicopters, but as guardian of the world’s largest archipelagic waters, it has a requirement for more shipboard helicopters.

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

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[l] at 7/23/26 2:07pm
KYIV, Ukraine — A Ukrainian F-16 shot down a Russian fighter jet for the first time since the American-designed planes arrived on the battlefield in 2024, the top-ranking U.S. general told Congress on Tuesday, emphasizing the impressive progress of Kyiv’s air defense forces in shielding the country’s skies.Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pointed to the kill at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing while being asked about a three-year halt in U.S. air-defense funding.“I want to highlight the incredible work the Ukraine industrial base is doing as they scale their own capabilities,” Caine said. “Recently we had the first air-to-air kill where a Ukrainian F-16 shot down a Russian fighter, so I think their ability to scale their layered defense has come a long way over the last couple of years.”Although Caine did not specify which type of Russian aircraft was taken out, Ukraine’s Air Force announced earlier this month that it had shot down a Russian Su-35 on the eastern front.CJCS Gen. Caine confirms that a Ukrainian Air Force F-16 shot down a Russian Su-35 in air to air combat. pic.twitter.com/P02lthZsLa— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) July 21, 2026Until now, Ukraine has primarily used its F‑16s to defensively knock down incoming drones and cruise missiles — not offensively hunting enemy aircraft. The air-to-air kill is the latest example of Kyiv’s rapidly expanded air defense network forged after persevering through years of full-scale war, Caine said.Russia’s defense ministry has not acknowledged the loss. Pro-Russian military bloggers on Telegram confirmed a Su-35 went down and said the pilot survived and ejected safely, while other Russian channels claimed a Patriot battery delivered the fatal shot.Ukraine’s F-16s have shot down 2,200 of roughly 3,000 Russian drones and missiles it has intercepted, air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat told Dutch broadcaster NOS earlier this month.The kills are in spite of the technical advantages favoring Russia’s Su-35 over Ukraine’s F-16s. Most of it’s F‑16s were given to Kyiv by the Netherlands and Denmark, who sent rebuilt 1970s‑ and 1980s‑era F‑16A and B airframes — closer to the F‑16s that the U.S. Air Force flew in the early 2000s than to today’s newer models, according to a Sandboxx analysis.The Su‑35S is one of the most modern fighters Moscow flies and usually comes out as the winner in a long‑range fight, experts say.Its Irbis‑E radar can detect a fighter‑sized target at up to 250 miles (400 km) in a narrow search mode, according to its Russian manufacturer, far beyond the range of the 1990s‑era AN/APG‑66(V)2 radar on Ukraine’s F‑16s.The Su‑35 also has the advantage of carrying the longer‑reaching R‑77M missile, which Moscow credits with a range of roughly 120 miles (190 km), against the 75 to 100 miles of the AIM‑120C‑8 AMRAAMs Ukraine is known to field, according to The War Zone.Allies have taken notice of Kyiv’s recent battlefield successes, signing billions in arms contracts with Kyiv since the war with Iran drove up demand for the latest defense tech from Europe and the Middle East. Ukraine’s homegrown interceptor‑drone industry has scaled rapidly in the past year, with some producers now capable of turning out over 100,000 drones per month, officials say.Washington is also inching toward a multibillion dollar weapons‑production deal with Kyiv. The Ukrainian armed forces are “the strongest, most powerful armed forces in all of Europe,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in May, months before the CIA director confirmed last week that Russian recruits last just 20 to 30 minutes after arriving on the battlefield thanks to Ukraine’s fierce drone fighting tactics.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

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[l] at 7/23/26 7:41am
ATHENS — Greece has approved the purchase of a multi-layer air defense system worth up to €3.5 billion ($4 billion) from Israel, several types of drones and Embraer’s C-390 military transport aircraft, its defense minister said on Thursday.The country’s security council, KYSEA, gave its initial approval earlier this year and approved the procurement contracts on Thursday, Nikos Dendias told journalists.Greece wants to build a multi-layer anti-ballistic, anti-aircraft and anti-drone system, called “Achilles Shield,” with Israeli radars and missiles from Rafael and IAI defense companies forming the core of the system.“It will be ready and fully operational within 35 months, starting from today,” said Nikos Dendias, adding that companies in Greece will produce at least 25% of the system.Greece, which currently uses U.S. Patriot and old Russian S-300 systems to protect its airspace, plans to spend about €28 billion by 2036 to modernize its armed forces.This includes buying up to 40 new F-35 fighter jets from the United States and frigates from France and Italy.Dendias said that KYSEA had also approved the purchase of three C-390 military transport aircraft, 10 British-built VICTA mini-submarines for special operations, U.S. V-BAT unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and Heron UAVs from Israel.Greece spends nearly 3.5% of its gross domestic product on defense, a higher proportion than many fellow NATO countries, due to its long-standing dispute with Turkey. With strong economic and diplomatic ties, Greece and Israel operate an air training centre on Greek territory, hold joint military annual drills and cooperate on anti-drone systems and cybersecurity. Last year, Athens bought 36 Israeli-made rocket artillery systems for about €650 million.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

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[l] at 7/23/26 6:00am
The United States has the most lethal military on Earth. But even the most advanced weapons system is only as strong as the supply chains behind it. The hard truth is this: America cannot dominate the modern battlefield if the Department of War does not know where its critical materials, components and software come from. A fighter jet, missile battery, naval vessel, radar system, drone or armored vehicle does not begin on the factory floor of a prime contractor. It begins with minerals, metals, magnets, chips, chemicals, software, castings and forgings — thousands of components moving through supply chains that stretch across the world. In a major defense program, those chains may run five or six tiers deep, while government visibility often stops at the first or second. That gap is the danger. America’s vulnerabilities are buried in the lower tiers — the subcontractors and vendors supplying specialty metals, electronics, chemicals, software and raw materials that Washington is not watching.And that is exactly where President Trump’s new executive order, “Securing America’s Defense Supply Chains and Ensuring Domestic Acquisition of Critical Materials,” strikes. For too long, Washington has pretended a weapons system is “American” if final assembly happens in America — even when critical inputs come from foreign adversaries or suppliers vulnerable to foreign ownership, control or influence. That fiction may satisfy a lobbyist. It will not survive a war. Congress recognized the danger in 10 U.S.C. 4872, which restricts acquiring covered materials from covered nations. But laws are only as strong as their enforcement — and waiver culture, contractor convenience, and bureaucratic inertia have hollowed out those rules. That era is over. The Trump policy is simple and tough: end the loose waiver process, expose hidden supply chains, vet the lower tiers, qualify trusted sources and hold contractors accountable. Beginning January 1, 2027, waivers under 10 U.S.C. 4872(c)(1) and (e) will no longer be business as usual. A contractor seeking relief must identify the noncompliant source, document exhaustive efforts to find compliant material or prove none was available, lay out the steps to remove it from the supply chain and commit to a strict timeline. Failure to qualify a domestic source will not count as “non-availability” unless the contractor shows active, adequately funded and ongoing efforts to qualify one. In plain English: No more, “We tried nothing, and we’re out of options.” To expose hidden supply chains, the order directs the Secretary of War to begin rulemaking requiring contractors to map critical supply chains for national-security acquisitions identified by the department — from raw materials to the end products delivered to the military — through a tier-by-tier bill of materials tracing components, parts, software and materials back to their origins. This is not paperwork. It is battlefield preparation. If a missile system depends on a foreign-controlled supplier, the Department of War needs to know before the shooting starts. If a naval platform relies on a sole-source supplier vulnerable to bankruptcy, takeover, cyber disruption or production bottlenecks, that risk must be surfaced and mitigated. If a supply chain runs through an adversary-controlled chokepoint, that is a strategic exposure, not an accounting detail. To vet the lower tiers, contractors must screen suppliers and subcontractors supporting critical supply chains for financial risk; foreign ownership, control or influence; and manufacturing and supply risk. They must report significant risks and fix them on a strict, tracked timeline. On trusted sources, the message is blunt: qualify or replace. For decades, contractors have hidden behind slow qualification processes while adversary-linked suppliers stayed embedded in America’s defense industrial base. No more. Contractors relying on supply chains that include materials or components supplied by unreliable foreign suppliers must promptly qualify and use alternatives, consistent with law, safety, mission requirements and contract terms. The Department of War will speed the testing and qualification of new sources and materials. And when outdated regulations block rapid qualification for defense production, those roadblocks must come down. On the accountability front, national security contracting is not a game of hide-the-ball. Contractors that fail to qualify required alternatives can lose task orders, contract options or the contract itself. And contractors who commit fraud, deliberately mislead the government, or knowingly or willfully fail to implement approved mitigation plans face every lawful action and contractual remedy the secretary deems appropriate, with possible referral to the Attorney General. The broader message of this new Trump administration EO should be clear. America’s arsenal of democracy begins in the mine, the refinery, the forge, the foundry, the chemical plant, the semiconductor fab and the machine shop. Peace through strength requires strength through secure supply chains: American weapons built with domestic, allied, and trusted materials; sunlight, enforcement, qualification and accountability. And one overriding rule for every defense contractor: Never put an American warfighter at risk because an adversary-linked supplier was buried five tiers down. Peter Navarro is the White House Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing.

[Category: Opinion] [Link to media]

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[l] at 7/23/26 5:16am
VIENNA — The European Union has authorized its naval mission in the Indian Ocean to stop and board Russian shadow fleet tankers suspected of operating under false flags, the bloc announced on Wednesday.EU member states have authorized Operation Atalanta, the union’s counter-piracy naval mission off the Horn of Africa, to begin conducting flag-verification boardings of vessels suspected of belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet in the western Indian Ocean. The decision, announced this week by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, extends to Atalanta a power already exercised by the EU’s Mediterranean mission, Operation Irini.Kallas made the announcement alongside news that Irini forces had boarded the sanctioned oil tanker MV South Star on July 20, acting on suspicion that the vessel was sailing under a false flag. “Every illicit voyage helps sustain Russia’s war machine. We are matching our sanctions with action at sea,” Kallas said, adding that the Atalanta authorization “further tightens the net.”The move considerably widens the EU’s geographic reach against the shadow fleet, a loosely defined network of tankers with opaque ownership structures that Moscow uses to sell oil above the Western-imposed price cap. While Irini patrols the Mediterranean, Atalanta operates across the Somali Basin, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez, the Gulf of Aqaba and waters around Oman, and was launched as the EU’s first-ever naval mission in 2008 to combat piracy.It is separate from the EU mission ASPIDES, which is designed to protect shipping in the Red Sea from attacks by the Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels. The corridor where the mission operates is a critical transit route for tankers carrying Russian crude toward buyers in Asia. Brussels has already sanctioned more than 600 vessels suspected of belonging to the network.Generally, ships on the high seas cannot simply be stopped and boarded by any third country. However, Article 110 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea permits warships to stop and inspect a vessel only where there is reasonable suspicion it is stateless or flying a flag to which it is not entitled. This falls short of a blanket authority to stop any sanctioned or Russia-linked ship, but flying false flags has been a frequent practice on Russian shadow fleet vessels.The council decision, the operational plan and the rules of engagement that would spell out exactly how far Atalanta’s new powers extend have so far not been made public.The approach has already produced results elsewhere. Irini’s flag checks contributed to pressure that culminated in a Cameroon purge of 39 vessels from its shipping registry after investigators uncovered fraudulent paperwork and fake registry websites used to disguise shadow fleet tankers.Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously denounced such interceptions as “piracy,” underscoring how the expanded mandate is likely to further sharpen tensions between Brussels and Moscow over enforcement at sea.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

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[l] at 7/23/26 4:35am
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Australia successfully tested a “Frankenstein” medium-range air defense system last month, harnessing existing and new capabilities in a way nobody has tried before.After dawdling over the need to improve its ground-based air defense (GBAD) capabilities, Australia — with American assistance — is prioritizing a hybrid solution that takes sensors, software and weapons already in the Australian inventory.This first-of-type integration, which successfully fired an SM-2 interceptor missile, offers an alternative to buying expensive Patriot-type air defense systems, for example.A Department of Defence press statement said the SM-2 test “followed a period of close collaboration, innovation and engineering to produce this successful prototype.”Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy were heavily involved, for example.Piece of the puzzleDuring Exercise Taipan Strike 2026, an SM-2 was launched from a Derringer trailer-mounted launcher – also called the Expeditionary Launch System – at the Woomera test range in the south of Australia.To shoot down a BQM-74E target drone, the SM-2 was controlled by a virtualized Lockheed Martin Aegis combat system, and guided by a phased-array radar from Australian firm CEA Technologies.Lockheed Martin’s Morfius X-Rotor built to fry 50 enemy drones in one flightAegis, normally utilized aboard warships, was deployed in a small-scale, expeditionary form factor. The Aegis test setup was based on the baseline version found on the Australian navy’s Hunter-class frigates and Hobart-class destroyers.In a statement to Defense News, Lockheed Martin said this approach “unlocks cross-service integration and interoperability, delivering greater capability and value.”Jeremy King, chief executive of Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand, also remarked that “this prototype system leverages existing weapons, launchers and command and control. It can fire any of the weapons currently fielded on the Hobart-class destroyers or future Hunter-class frigates.”This is an important revelation for the Royal Australian Navy, as the service has the SM-2 Block IIIB and Block IIIC missiles in its inventory, as well as the SM-6.The SM-6 could now be considered a candidate for an Australian defense against ballistic missiles. However, this would require a strike-length variant of the Mk 41 Vertical Launching System on the mobile Derringer launcher.Taking aiming at GBADThe novel Australian air-defense technology pairing appears to have been on the drawing board for a while, at least conceptually.“When you have a limited [missile] inventory, you want to be able to be as flexible as possible, so that might be using maritime stocks on land, it might be using land stocks in the maritime domain,” Air Vice-Marshal Nick Hogan, head of Air Force Capability told Defense News last year. “There are many options to go forward. What we’re trying to do is make sure, where possible, we can get the biggest return on investment using sovereign capabilities.”Australia’s 2023 Defence Strategic Review urged, instead of “pursuing a long-term, near-perfect solution at unaffordable cost,” that Canberra should allocate sufficient resources “to deliver the initial capability in a timely way”.Later, the 2026 National Defence Strategy called for “accelerated introduction of medium-range, ground-based, active missile defense through investment in missile launchers and munitions and integrating them with … command-and-control systems.”Missile threatsThe same document identified missile defense as a priority, with a need to protect critical defense infrastructure from long-range and high-speed missile threats.In fact, the July 9 timing of Australia’s announcement of the SM-2 test was significant. The test had actually been conducted a month earlier, but Canberra publicized it just three days after a Chinese submarine hurled a nuclear-capable ballistic missile deep into the South Pacific.After the Chinese launch, Australia’s opposition party warned how “dangerously exposed” military bases are and the country’s insufficient ability to counter ballistic or cruise missiles.Australian defense officials stress that the new air-defense weapon is still a work in progress. However, the test reduces technical risk and validates the prototype system’s performance, as Australia weighs cost-effective medium-range GBAD options.Lockheed Martin added that this hybrid solution represents a “robust air defense capability option paving the way for continued integration efforts.”The significance of this demonstration extends beyond Australia, as Lockheed Martin said “it demonstrates the potential for enhanced air defense capabilities that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of countries and regions.”

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

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[l] at 7/22/26 1:26pm
Concerned by the lack of docks on the West Coast that can service large vessels such as aircraft carriers, the U.S. Navy is moving forward with plans to build a new dock at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. The Navy recently published a Sources Sought notice for a massive, multi-award contract — worth up to $30 billion — for the multi-mission dry dock. The dock is part of the Navy’s Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program, which aims to modernize the service’s four long-neglected shipyards at Portsmouth, Virginia, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and Kittery, Maine, as well as the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility. The contract is for five years plus three one-year options.“The Multi-Mission Dry Dock is a fully pressure-relieved dry dock capable of accommodating shipyard repair services for the newest Ford-class aircraft carrier, Nimitz-class carriers, and other surface and subsurface ships served by PSNS & IMF,” according to the Sources Sought notice.The project was spurred by the need to service Ford-class carriers on the West Coast. “The Navy does not currently have the capacity and capability to perform depot-level maintenance on a Gerald R. Ford-class carrier in the Pacific Northwest,” according to the Navy’s Multi-Mission Dry Dock website. The capability to even service older carriers is limited at Puget Sound: “The only dry dock on the West Coast able to accommodate a current Nimitz-class aircraft carrier is Dry Dock 6 (DD6), which does not meet seismic resiliency standards and cannot fully accommodate Ford-class carriers,” the site reads.The multiple-award construction contract, or MACC, includes several task orders that typically range between $2 billion and $6 billion each. However, there may be smaller task orders for early contractor involvement and alternative technical concepts.“The focus of this MACC will be the construction of a new proposed Multi-Mission Dry Dock at PSNS & IMF, located at Naval Base Kitsap (NBK) Bremerton, Washington,” the Sources Sought notice said. Located within the existing Dry Dock 3 and Piers 6 and 7, the project includes “dry dock drainage, dewatering, and flooding systems; a caisson; roadways and rail networks; portal crane track; access and egress elements; mechanical, electrical, and communications systems; support buildings; and utility routing tunnels. The proposed project also includes demolition of facilities and utilities.”The Navy expects the first task order to include dredging, as well as work on piers, buildings and utilities. The second task order will see demolition of Dry Dock 3 and construction of the multi-mission dry dock. Task order three will provide infrastructure, such as electrical substations, utility tunnels and building crane rails. Task order four will be for the dock caisson. Puget Sound has been a fixture for the Navy for more than a century. It began in 1891, when the Navy bought 190 acres for $10,000 (about $367,000 today) to create Naval Station Puget Sound. The station became a shipyard in 1900 and was the Navy’s only West Coast repair facility until 1941. “Between 1917 and 1969, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard constructed a total of 85 ships, including the largest vessels on the West Coast,” the Navy said.

[Category: Naval] [Link to media]

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