Crooked Bough News Round-up

— Air Force unit executes test of Anduril’s semiautonomous combat drone

 

at 4/17/26 1:44pm

U.S. Air Force airmen operated a semiautonomous jet-powered combat drone in a series of sorties recently, boosting the service’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.The force’s Experimental Operations Unit conducted hands-on testing with Anduril’s YFQ-44A aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in an effort to utilize “principles of the new Warfighting Acquisition System,” according to a Thursday Air Force release.Previously, the concept employed by the force was fully human-piloted drones, and now, “there is no operator with a stick and throttle flying the aircraft behind the scenes,” Jason Levin, Anduril’s senior vice president of engineering for air dominance and strike, said in an October 2025 company release.The testing took place sometime last week, according to a Thursday Anduril social media post written by vice president of autonomous airpower Mark Shushnar.Shushnar said in the post that the EOU gained experience launching, recovering and turning the aircraft during the exercise, and it conducted the pre- and post-flight checks and clearances, weapons loading and unloading and direct tasking of the air vehicle during taxi and flight. The EOU operators used a ruggedized laptop to upload mission plans, initiate autonomous taxi and takeoff, task the in-flight aircraft and manage post-flight data, Shushnar said, taking out the previous need for fixed infrastructure of a large, established base. Shushnar highlighted how the YFQ-44A is designed to be easy to maintain with a small crew compared to traditional unmanned aerial vehicles. The exercise demonstrated that, he said. With only a couple days of training, a handful of EOU maintainers were able to turn the aircraft between sorties.The exercise showcases a move toward “operator-driver experimentation” to find ways to speed up the capability process, per the Air Force’s release.“By embedding the operators from the EOU with our acquisition professionals, we create a tight feedback loop that lets us trade operational risk with acquisition risk in real-time,” Col. Timothy Helfrich, portfolio acquisition executive for fighters and advanced aircraft, said in the release.From beginning to end, the exercise was executed by EOU airmen, working alongside Air Force Material Command’s 412th Test Wing, to polish procedures for deploying and sustaining CCA, a trailblazer for the Warfighting Acquisition System, in contested environments, the announcement says.The release recognized that the EOU’s main objective is to place operators at the center of this process to ensure that the CCA is workable for future conflict by “embedding the warfighter’s voice as the driving force from the beginning.”The Air Force announced in April 2024 that Anduril and General Automatics were selected to design and create this first batch of drone wingmen. Anduril began flight testing in October 2025 and announced the production for the YFQ-44A Fury CCA in March 2026. General Automatics announced that their ground testing began May 2025.Although it is not yet clear how many YFQ-44As the Air Force has ordered from the defense companies, the service has noted they want a fleet of at least 1,000 CCAs for tasks, such as conducting strike missions, carrying out operations and flying alongside manned aircraft, like the F-22, F-35 and F-47 fighter jets.Despite Anduril and General Automatics both developing aircraft for the Air Force’s CCA program, the service may choose to move forward into the production phase with only one. The Air Force is expected to make that decision sometime this year.

[Category: / MilTech] [Link to media]

— US Marine Corps releases video showcasing new Medium Landing Ship design

 

at 4/17/26 1:03pm

The Marine Corps this week released a video showcasing the design and capabilities of its new Medium Landing Ship, or LSM, a vessel designed to move troops, equipment and supplies to shorelines without relying on established ports.The new LSM is based on the Damen Shipyards Group’s Landing Ship Transport 100, or LST-100, design, which has a range of 3,400 nautical miles and can beach itself to deliver over 800 tons of cargo such as vehicles, embarked forces and long range fire assets, according to the video.The ship, measuring roughly 100 meters, is also equipped with a flight deck that can support operations with unmanned aerial systems.The Marine Corps framed the McClung-class ship as a supplemental asset within the broader fleet, capable of support operations across chains of islands or contested coastal areas, where smaller vessels can move more easily than larger ships. “Crucially, the LST-100 is not a traditional amphibious warfare ship designed for large-scale assault,” the video stated, adding, “it is a complementary asset providing the essential intratheater logistics and maneuver that enable our larger amphibious fleet to do its job.”The emphasis on more mobile platforms also comes as the Navy struggles with readiness challenges among its amphibious warfare fleet. A 2025 report found that readiness rates had dropped below necessary levels as maintenance delays and degraded ship conditions reduced the number of ships available for use. The video nodded to tensions and competition in the littorals of the Indo-Pacific region, where the U.S. has increasingly focused on countering China’s expanding military presence. The ships, the Marine Corps said, help the force establish a forward presence by getting troops, weapons and supplies on land to land and serve as part of a larger “sea denial strategy.” From those land bases, American forces can control critical terrain and strike adversarial ships, the service said, to establish deterrence.Navy leaders in December 2025 approved the ship’s design as part of a wider effort to revamp the Navy’s fleet. The LSM, the video said, supports the “Golden Fleet” initiative, a concept coined by the Trump administration that centers on massive “Trump-class” battleships that the president announced in December of last year. The concept, meanwhile, has drawn criticism. Chinese analysts have described the proposed battleships as potential easier targets for anti-ship weapons, and a recent analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies questioned the viability of such an idea, citing cost and long development timelines.

[Category: / MilTech] [Link to media]

— China turns Taiwan’s own voices against it in information war

 

at 4/17/26 7:57am

As Chinese warships and fighter jets staged massive drills around Taiwan in December, a parallel action was unfolding on smartphone screens.On Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, a news outlet run by the Chinese Communist Party posted a 51-second video of Taiwan opposition leader Cheng Li-wun accusing President Lai Ching-te of inviting Chinese aggression. Lai, Cheng said, was “dragging all 23 million of us” in Taiwan into a “dead end, a road to death” by pursuing independence. The clip quickly surfaced on Facebook, YouTube and other platforms popular in Taiwan.Chinese state media outlets are increasingly amplifying Taiwanese critics of the island’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), including influencers and politicians linked to the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), according to five Taiwanese security officials and data from Taipei-based research group IORG that was shared with Reuters. China imports the public statements of leading KMT and other opposition figures that are critical of the Taiwan government and pumps them out in a torrent of anti-DPP messaging in Chinese state media and on social media platforms in China, according to the data and sources. Those clips are then reshared and often repackaged for consumption on platforms popular in Taiwan, including Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, as well as on Douyin, sometimes embellished or presented in ways that obscure China’s hand.While China has in the past employed Taiwanese figures in its propaganda, it has turbocharged this information-warfare tactic, the Taiwan security officials said: Familiar voices and accents can sound more credible.The goal is to discredit a government Beijing accuses of seeking independence, the officials said. And, with the DPP seeking $40 billion in extra defense outlays, the campaign also appears aimed at convincing Taiwanese that China’s military power is so overwhelming that it is futile for Taiwan to spend heavily on more American weapons, according to IORG and three of the security officials.China’s Taiwan Affairs Office and defense ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment about Beijing’s information warfare.Taiwan’s defense ministry told Reuters it is countering a massive increase in Chinese “cognitive warfare” by strengthening the armed forces’ media-literacy skills and psychological resilience. President Lai’s office added that cross-strait peace must be “built on strength, not on concessions to authoritarian pressure.”Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, which are blocked in China, didn’t respond to questions about Chinese information warfare. Douyin also didn’t respond to a request for comment.China considers Taiwan part of its territory and hasn’t ruled out using military force to seize it. Taiwan’s government rejects China’s sovereignty claim, saying it is already an independent country called the Republic of China, its formal name. Beijing refuses ​to speak with the DPP administration, and calls Lai a “separatist.”While Chinese preparations for military action against Taiwan continue, the information warfare is part of Beijing’s strategy of wearing down Taiwan without resorting to force. In this regard, Taiwan’s opposition KMT provides a valuable opening for China: The party has moved to seek closer ties with Beijing in a bid to head off what it says is a crisis made worse by the DPP government’s provocation of China.Cheng, the KMT leader, met Chinese President Xi Jinping this month in Beijing, where Xi told her the KMT and the Communist Party must “consolidate political mutual trust” and “join hands to create a bright future of the motherland’s reunification.”In a statement to Reuters, the KMT said Cheng’s visit to Beijing fulfilled a campaign pledge and continued a long-established tradition of top-level meetings between the KMT and the Communist Party. The two parties have many differences, but both believe disagreements should be resolved through dialogue, it added.SOCIAL MEDIA BATTLEGROUNDData provided to Reuters by IORG, also known as the Taiwan Information Environment Research Center, shows the mechanics of the Chinese campaign. The non-partisan group of social scientists and data analysts is funded in part by the U.S. and European governments, and academic institutions in Taiwan.Some 560,000 videos were posted on Douyin by 1,076 accounts run by official Communist Party media outlets in the fourth quarter of 2025. About 18,000 videos discussed Taiwan. IORG used facial-recognition technology to identify 57 Taiwanese figures in 2,730 clips, with results verified by IORG researchers and reviewed by Reuters.The number of videos featuring Taiwanese voices more than doubled from a year earlier during October and November, and monthly airtime jumped 164% to 369 minutes.Strikingly, of the top 25 Taiwanese figures in the Chinese videos, 13 are affiliated with the KMT, from current lawmakers and party representatives to former officials under past KMT-led governments. Two others are senior officials in a small party that supports unification with China, while 10 are influencers known for criticizing the governing DPP.Cheng, the KMT leader, was the top-ranked Taiwanese figure in the Chinese clips, featuring in 460 videos across 68 Douyin accounts and generating more than five million interactions, including likes, comments and shares. The videos amplified her calls for “peace” with China, her criticism of President Lai as a “pawn” of external forces, and her characterization of the DPP’s stance on Taiwan independence as destructive. Once aired on Chinese state media and social media platforms, some of the clips were repackaged and posted on platforms popular in Taiwan.In its statement, the KMT said Cheng’s comments reflected the mainstream aspirations of the Taiwanese people for peace. “Even if mainland state media tend to incorporate more Taiwanese voices, this is based on the diversity of public opinion that already exists in Taiwan,” it added.Various influencers were also heavily cited by the Chinese outlets. Among them were Holger Chen Chih-han, a bodybuilder popular with younger audiences, and five retired senior military officials known for criticizing the DPP and Taiwan’s defenses.“Happy birthday, motherland,” Chen said on a YouTube livestream in late September, ahead of China’s National Day. Short clips of the broadcast, in which he also said the people of Taiwan and China were “one family,” were later shared by Chinese state media outlets, including China News Service.Chen didn’t respond to a request for comment.In one video posted by China News Service, former Taiwan Army Colonel Lai Yueh-chien claimed Chinese drones had “entered” Taiwan undetected during military exercises in December. Lai also suggested that China might conduct a decapitation strike against “pro-independence leaders” in their sleep. The video soon appeared on Facebook and YouTube.The assertion that Chinese drones had approached Taiwan first appeared in a video posted on a social media account run by China’s military, according to IORG. Taiwan’s defense ministry denied the drone claim.China News Service didn’t respond to Reuters questions. Lai Yueh-chien declined to comment about his presence in Chinese state media.Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council told Reuters the government hoped the retired military officers “will be mindful of public perception” and shouldn’t echo Beijing’s rhetoric. Moreover, it added, they “must not forget the oath they once swore to be loyal” to Taiwan.PSYCHOLOGICAL TARGETINGSupport in Taiwan for maintaining the status quo indefinitely has risen eight points to 33.5% since 2020, while support for maintaining the status quo but moving toward independence has declined almost four points to 21.9%, according to a long-running annual survey series released in January by the Election Study Center at Taiwan’s National Chengchi University. The combined proportion who want unification with China as soon as possible or wish to maintain the status quo but move toward unification has been relatively stable at around 7%.It’s unclear whether the intensification of China’s information warfare is having an impact. There has been no discernible shift in Taiwanese attitudes toward independence or unification since 2024, according to the annual survey data. This timeframe roughly coincides with the period of intensified information warfare examined by IORG. The DPP, China’s principal political antagonist in Taiwan, lost its parliamentary majority in 2024 but has won the last three presidential elections.Still, the barrage of messaging “creates an environment in which China can more easily win support, because its strategy really is to lower morale, instill a sense of psychological despair, convince people they have no future in being autonomous and their best option is to join up with China,” said Bonnie Glaser, head of the Indo-Pacific program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a think tank that receives funding from U.S. and European governments and companies including tech and defense firms.Taiwan’s intelligence officials recorded over 45,000 sets of inauthentic social-media accounts and 2.3 million pieces of disinformation on China-Taiwan issues last year, a January report by Taiwan’s National Security Bureau said. It described the goals of Beijing’s information warfare: to exacerbate divisions within Taiwan; weaken Taiwanese people’s will to resist; and win support for China’s stance.“They want you to doubt the military and doubt Taiwan, to make you feel that no one will come to help you if war breaks out,” one Taiwanese security official said of China’s state media.A civil-defense handbook that Taiwan’s government issued to households last year went so far as to state preemptively that amid heightened tensions with China, any claims of Taiwan’s surrender must be considered false – a recognition that the information battle is intensifying, even if no shots have been fired.

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

— US to delay weapons deliveries to some European countries due to Iran war, sources say

 

at 4/17/26 7:20am

U.S. officials have informed some European counterparts that some previously contracted weapons deliveries are likely to be delayed as the Iran war continues to draw on weapons stocks, five sources familiar with the matter said.The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the communications were not public, said several European countries will be affected, including in the Baltic region and in Scandinavia.Some of the weapons in question were purchased by European countries under the Foreign Military Sales program, or FMS, but have not yet been delivered, the sources added. Those deliveries will likely be delayed, U.S. officials told European officials in bilateral messages in recent days, the sources said.The White House and the State Department referred queries to the Pentagon, which did not respond to a request for comment. The delays underline the degree to which the war against Iran, which began with U.S.-Israeli air strikes on February 28, has begun to stretch U.S. supplies of some critical weaponry and ammunition.European officials complain the delays are putting them in a difficult position.Under the FMS program, foreign countries purchase U.S.-made weapons with the logistical assistance and consent of the U.S. government. Washington has pushed European NATO partners to purchase more U.S.-made materiel under President Donald Trump, including through the FMS program, as part of a bid to shift the responsibility for Europe’s conventional defense away from the U.S. and onto European partners.But such weapons deliveries are often delayed, causing frustration in European capitals, where some officials are increasingly looking at weapons systems made within Europe.U.S. officials say the weapons are needed for the war in the Middle East, and they fault European nations for not helping the U.S. and Israel open the Strait of Hormuz.Even before the Iran war, the U.S. had already drawn down billions of dollars’ worth of weapons stockpiles, including artillery systems, ammunition and anti-tank missiles since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and Israel began military operations in Gaza in late 2023.Since the start of the Iran campaign, Tehran has fired hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at Gulf countries. Most have been intercepted, including with the PAC-3 Patriot missile interceptors that, for example, Ukraine relies ‌on to defend its energy and military infrastructure from ballistic missiles.The sources spoke on the condition that the names of some of the countries affected be withheld. Some share a border with Russia and, as such, the cadence of weapons deliveries can be considered sensitive defense information.The delayed weaponry includes various kinds of ammunition, including munitions that can be used for both offensive and defensive purposes, the sources said.

[Category: Pentagon] [Link to media]

— Indra to make Spanish variant of amphibious vehicle used by US Marines

 

at 4/17/26 6:50am

ROME — Spanish defense firm Indra has signed to become the lead integrator in Spain’s purchase of the amphibious vehicles now in use by the U.S. MarineCorps.After Spain selected the wheeled vehicle, known in the U.S. as the Amphibious Combat Vehicle, Indra struck its deal with Italy’s IDV, which is the design authority, intellectual property owner and supplier of core components on the vehicle.IDV teamed with BAE Systems to supply the vehicle, known in Italy as Superav, to the U.S. Marines. The Italian military has since become the second customer for the vehicle.In Spain, Indra’s deal envisages integration of systems on 34 vehicles to be delivered from IDV.In Spain the vehicle has been dubbed the Marine Infantry Amphibious Combat Vehicle, or VACIM.“As part of the program, Indra Group will deliver Troop Transport, Command and Control, Recovery and Ambulance variants of the VACIM, integrating the SUPERAV 8x8 platforms with the mission systems requested by the Spanish MoD,” Indra said in a joint statement with IDV.Indra was reportedly in the running to buy IDV last year. The Italian firm was eventually sold to Italian defense giant Leonardo for €1.7 billion ($1.9 billion).IDV teamed with BAE in 2011 to offer the vehicle to the Marines and a contract was signed in 2018.First deliveries took place in late 2020, with the vehicle replacing the Vietnam War-era Amphibious Assault Vehicle, or AAV.Italy followed up with its own purchase of 36 vehicles in 2022, with the order expected to rise to 64.Unlike the U.S. vehicles, which feature a Kongsberg 30mm turret, the Italian vehicles are equipped with the Leonardo Hitrole Light remote turret with a 12.7mm caliber weapon.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

— Dutch broadcaster tracks carrier-group frigate with Bluetooth gadget

 

at 4/17/26 4:53am

PARIS — Dutch regional broadcaster Omroep Gelderland was able to track the Royal Netherlands Navy air-defense frigate Evertsen in real time by sending a Bluetooth tracker to the ship by military mail. The frigate is part of the carrier strike group around France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier currently deployed in the Mediterranean Sea.The tracker was discovered while sorting mail on board, though only after Omroep Gelderland had been tracking the Evertsen for 24 hours, the broadcaster wrote on its website on Thursday. The Dutch Ministry of Defence said it’s taking measures in response, according to the broadcaster.The tracker incident comes after a Le Monde reported in March it was able to locate a French officer taking a 7-kilometer run around the deck of the Charles de Gaulle while the carrier was at sea, through data from the officer’s connected watch via the running and cycling app Strava.“You do want to be able to intercept such a tracker,” Rowin Jansen, assistant professor of national security law at Radboud University in Nijmegen, told Omroep Gelderland. “Commercial satellite images are currently released with a delay for good reason. You certainly don’t want to make it easy for terrorists to send a similar package and track a ship’s location in real time. You then run the risk of having missiles fired at you.”The broadcaster described sending the Bluetooth tracker, a gadget used for example to find keys, to the frigate in an envelope using the military postal service, following online instructions from the MoD on how to send mail to military personnel.While the ministry checks whether prohibited or dangerous items are sent by mail by X-ray scanning packages, Omroep Gelderland noted that online videos showed envelops not being scanned, so decided to pack the tracker in a postcard, with the gadget going undetected and simply mailed.“In a large-scale conflict, everyone needs to ask themselves: What can I contribute to the safety of our men and women?” said retired Lt. Gen. Mart de Kruif, as cited by the broadcaster. “So you should no longer rely on existing rules, but on what is necessary. We’re still a bit naive, and that mindset needs to change.”Omroep Gelderland mapped the route of the tracker from the Dutch naval base in Den Helder to Eindhoven Airport, and then on to the port of Heraklion in Crete, where webcam images showed the Evertsen moored at the quay.With the frigate departing the port on March 27, the broadcaster said it was able to track the vessel sailing west along the coast of Crete before setting an eastward course. The tracker then went permanently offline 24 hours later near Cyprus, it said.The MoD has made adjustments in response to the reported incident, including no longer allowing greeting cards with batteries to be sent to the Evertsen, and the ministry will further review the guidelines for military mail, a spokesperson told Omroep Gelderland.The tracker was found during mail sorting aboard the frigate after it set sail, and while the vessel could be tracked at sea, this would not have posed an operational risk, according to the MoD.Defence Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz informed parliament about the incident on Thursday evening, Omroep Gelderland said.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

— Australia refines its defense strategy and investment plan

 

at 4/17/26 3:32am

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Australia issued updates for two pivotal planning documents this week – its National Defence Strategy 2026 and Integrated Investment Program 2026 – while simultaneously promising a boost in defense spending.Defence Minister Richard Marles pledged defense accounts would receive an additional A$14 billion (US$10 billion) over the next four years, and an extra A$53 billion over the coming decade.The government is promising cumulative defense expenditure of A$887 billion over the coming decade. It also laid out an aim for defense spending to reach 3% of gross domestic product by 2033-34.This is the National Defence Strategy’s first revision since it launched in 2024.The document acknowledges that Australia has entered “a more dangerous and unpredictable era, characterized by a more overt struggle among states where thresholds against the use of force are being eroded.”It warned, “The net effect is that Australia will face elevated levels of geopolitical risk over the coming decade, and our exposure to force projection and military coercion will reach levels not seen since the Second World War.”As some countries doubt U.S. dependability, Canberra reaffirmed that “Australia-United States security arrangements, interoperability, intelligence sharing and industrial collaboration remain critical to Australia’s national security.”The NDS set out five priorities, including developing greater self-reliance and prioritizing capability acquisition and sustainment plans. It also mentioned greater resilience for Australia’s sovereign defense industrial base, better coordination with regional partners, and improved national civil preparedness.The latter point is significant, as the latest iteration of the NDS addresses a point of criticism of the previous document for being purely a military strategy. The 2026 version broadens national defense to include domains like civil preparedness, fuel security and economic security.Meanwhile, the Integrated Investment Program – or IIP – allocates A$425 billion over the coming decade to accelerate capability improvements.Among specific priorities for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) are undersea warfare, more lethal maritime capabilities and expanded long-range strike capabilities. The ADF will also increasingly adopt autonomous and uncrewed systems, as well as systems to counter those of adversaries.Other specific acquisition priorities are a more resilient multi-orbit satellite communications network, as well as integrated air and missile defense. The document recognizes that Australia has serious air defense deficiencies. The IIP therefore mentions that a medium-range air defense “program will commence as a priority from 2026.”Proportionately, little has changed from two years ago in terms of spending areas. Canberra will steer 41% of funds to maritime capabilities, 22% to enterprise and enabling (encompassing infrastructure and information technology), 17% to land, 14% to air, 5% to cyber and 2% to space.Mick Ryan, senior fellow for military studies at the Lowy Institute and a former Australian Army major general, concluded: “The 2026 NDS is best understood as a continuation of the 2024 version rather than a departure from it. With the exception of modest increases in spending on drones and missile defense, it retains the previous strategy’s trajectory.”

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

— France nears rocket artillery decision, plans ballistic missile by 2035

 

at 4/17/26 2:19am

PARIS — France is moving closer to a decision on its future rocket artillery system, with the country testing domestically developed weapons this month that will allow for a comparison with foreign systems in a few weeks’ time, the head of the country’s armaments agency said.The first tests of a French-developed rocket artillery system “went well” on Tuesday, with more testing planned for next week, Patrick Pailloux, the head of the Directorate General for Armament, said in a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday.Safran and MBDA are one of the teams working on a French-made rocket artillery system, with Thales and ArianeGroup developing a competing offer. Foreign alternatives already in active service with other European forces include Hanwha Aerospace’s Chunmoo, the PULS system from Israel’s Elbit Systems and Lockheed Martin’s HIMARS.“There is significant pressure from the Army, which considers this to be its absolute priority requirement in the event of a major engagement, because they’ll need to hold out during the first few days,” Pailloux said. “It is a capability they absolutely must have. So the question is, how much will it cost, what is the timeline, when will they be able to deliver?”The French goal is to buy 26 systems with 300 munitions, and gradually equip a rocket artillery battalion by 2030, according to Pailloux. France is in a hurry to replace its nine remaining units of the Lance-Roquettes Unitaire, a modified version of the M270 multiple launch rocket system, set to reach the end of their service life in 2027.“We’ll face a trade-off between sovereignty and speed, costs, timelines, and so on. We’ll have to make the best choice, or the least bad choice, given our needs.”France is also working on a land-based ballistic missile with a range of 2,500 kilometers, with €1 billion ($1.2 billion) budgeted to start work on the system this year. The plan is for a ballistic missile tipped with a maneuverable hypersonic glide vehicle, with the DGA’s math showing “this is likely to offer the best cost-military performance ratio,” according to Pailloux.While the published goal is for a ballistic missile in 2035, and France will have “no difficulty” to obtain a capability by then, “that is late, I admit,” Pailloux said. The DGA plans to accelerate the work to bring forward the date “as close as possible to 2030,” for example by having an initial version without anti-jamming measures, and those capabilities added later, according to the director.The DGA aims to order more than €6 billion worth of munitions this year, with plans to buy SCALP cruise missiles, AASM guided bombs, Exocet anti-ship missiles, MICA and Mistral air-defense missiles and Meteor air-to-air missiles. The budget also includes €320 million to finance an industrial ramp-up where “necessary and useful,” according to Pailloux.“We need to prepare for a major conflict by 2030, with the new understanding that we may find ourselves facing a war of attrition,” Pailloux said. “To put it very simply, a war of attrition is one where in the end, the side that still has ammunition left wins.”Work on the future F5 standard of the Rafale fighter jet will start this year. With a budget of €3.4 billion for combat aviation, projects include a new Safran engine dubbed T-REX with a thrust of 9 tons, compared to the current M88 engine with 7 tons of thrust, and changing all the sensors, particularly the radar, according to Pailloux.To upgrade the armament package of the Dassault Aviation fighter jet, the DGA is looking to accelerate work on MBDA’s Stratus RS high supersonic air-to-ground missile, and develop an air-to-air missile called Comet with longer range than the existing Meteor by 2030.“It’s a new way of working, to develop a new air-to-air missile by 2030,” Pailloux said, describing the target date as “very ambitious.” He said the design brief fits on half a page, and basically boils down to “that the missile works and has a long range.”This year’s projects also include the Chorus one-way drone, with a range of 3,000 kilometers and a 500 kilogram payload, with the goal to have the drone flying by the end of the year. The drones will be manufactured by carmaker Renault, with a unit costs of €120,000, which Pailloux called “expensive, but compared to other munitions, a lot less expensive.”

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

— ‘Actively shrinking’: Guard generals push Congress for 100 new fighters a year

 

at 4/16/26 7:46pm

The nation’s Air National Guard adjutants general are making their most unified push yet to recapitalize the U.S. Air Force’s fighter fleet, with 22 generals signing a letter to Congress this month calling for multiyear funding to buy between 72 and 100 new fighters annually. The letter, sent April 1 to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Appropriations committees and their defense subcommittees, calls on Congress to legislate multiyear procurement of F-35A Lightning IIs and F-15EX Eagle IIs at a baseline of 48 F-35As and 24 F-15EXs per year, with a desired end state of 72 F-35As and 36 F-15EXs, totaling 108 aircraft annually.“The United States Air Force is the oldest, the smallest and the least ready in its 78-year history,” the letter states. “We must build a fighting force that will win.”The letter, which was first reported by Air & Space Forces Magazine, marks the first time the Adjutants General Association of the United States has collected signatures from all 22 adjutants general commanding states with Guard fighter units. Even at 100 new fighters per year, full recapitalization of the total force could still take 10 to 15 years given the existing backlog of legacy aircraft.“When all 22 adjutants general with fighter missions speak with one voice, it’s not advocacy, it’s operational feedback from the commanders generating combat airpower every day,” Maj. Gen. Mark R. Morrell, adjutant general of the South Dakota National Guard, said in an emailed statement. “It signals to Congress that this is not a regional or parochial concern, but a clear, consistent demand signal from the field that the fighter recapitalization gap is real, growing and must be addressed.”The Air Force requested 48 F-35As in fiscal 2024, 42 in fiscal 2025, 24 in fiscal 2026 and 38 in fiscal 2027. For the F-15EX, it sought 24, 18, 21 and 24 over the same years, respectively, according to budget documents. The fiscal 2027 request totals 62 combined, still below the 72-aircraft threshold the Air Force has long said is needed just to prevent the fleet from shrinking. The last time the service acquired more than 72 fighters in a single year was 1998.The readiness cost of that shortfall is already visible at the unit level, the generals said.“Our airmen are doing a heroic job keeping these 40-year-old airframes in the air, but they are paying the price for decades of deferred modernization,” Brig. Gen. Shannon Smith, commander of the Idaho Air National Guard, told Military Times. “In the interim, we are enduring risk by asking exceedingly more from our maintenance professionals, cannibalizing parts from already broken aircraft to keep others flying, and by our pilots losing their critical warfighting edge because they cannot get enough flight hours in mission-capable jets.”Of the Air Guard’s 24 fighter squadrons, 13 currently lack a recapitalization plan commensurate with the 2026 National Defense Strategy, according to NGAUS. The August 2025 Department of the Air Force Long-Term USAF Fighter Force Structure Report to Congress independently confirmed the need, identifying all 24 ANG fighter squadrons as required to meet the objective force of 1,369 combat-coded total aircraft needed for acceptable military risk. The letter draws a sharp line on how that modernization must be structured.“Cascading legacy aircraft does not recapitalize the force, it redistributes risk,” Maj. Gen. Timothy J. Donnellan, adjutant general of the Idaho National Guard, said in an emailed statement. “Operationally, it will result in reduced survivability in contested environments, higher maintenance burdens and lower aircraft availability rates. For Guard units, it creates a structural mismatch — the Guard is an operationally ready force expected to meet the same combatant commander demands but with less capable and less reliable aircraft. To meet the 2026 National Defense Strategy the USAF must field a fighting force indistinguishable in lethality and survivability across all components, active, guard and reserve.”With the fiscal 2027 budget request falling 10 fighters short of even the minimum threshold, the generals have a direct message for appropriators. “Funding below 72 aircraft per year means the Air Force is not even sustaining current fighter capacity,” Smith said. “It’s actively shrinking.“If the requirement is to meet the National Defense Strategy, then in our best military advice, 72 aircraft per year is the absolute minimum to hold the line. Anything less means accepting greater risk.”The National Guard Association of the United States has listed ANG fighter recapitalization as a top legislative priority for fiscal 2027 defense deliberations.

[Category: / MilTech] [Link to media]

— Combat search and rescue’s uncertain future: As A-10s phase out, US Air Force faces questions of what comes next

 

at 4/16/26 2:21pm

The callsign “Sandy,” used by U.S. Air Force aircraft and pilots conducting combat search-and-rescue operations, traces to late 1965. Capt. J.W. “Doc” George, a U.S. Air Force A-1 Skyraider pilot, arrived at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, as part of a CSAR replacement rotation from Bien Hoa, South Vietnam. When asked what callsign his flight would use, he suggested the one he used at Bien Hoa: “Sandy.” The name stuck, was passed to his replacement and soon became the standard callsign for all A-1 Skyraiders flying CSAR missions protecting downed aircrews.The Sandy role was later transferred to the faster LTV A-7D Corsair II in 1972 as the last Skyraiders were withdrawn from Southeast Asia. However, the A-7 struggled in the role due to its higher maneuvering speeds, which made it less effective for low-and-slow visual searches and close helicopter escort than the A-1.In the late 1970s, the Corsair passed the CSAR baton to the A-10 Thunderbolt II Warthog, which offered excellent loiter time, survivability and firepower suited to the mission. The A-10 airframe and its pilots still carry the “Sandy” callsign today.As the Air Force accelerates plans to retire the A-10 Thunderbolt II by fiscal year 2029, the service faces a growing set of unanswered questions about what replaces it in combat search and rescue, one of the military’s most specialized mission sets. More than an analysis of replacement aircraft and their capabilities, the transition raises concerns about the pilots in the cockpit, who for nearly five decades have received specialized training in the combat search-and -rescue mission and built trust within the CSAR community. With congressional oversight and legislation underscoring concerns about CSAR operational readiness, and on the heels of a CSAR mission over Iran that brought two F-15E airmen home, the stakes of those unanswered questions have taken on a new sense of urgency.Highly skilled Sandy pilotsIn the past several decades, A-10s have assumed the Sandy role in CSAR operations in the Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and most recently in the April 3, 2026, operation that recovered two American F-15E Strike Eagle airmen from Iranian territory. One supporting A-10 sustained heavy battle damage during the mission; its pilot continued flying long enough to eject safely over Kuwait.During an April 6, 2026, press conference detailing that mission, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the role of a Sandy: “A Sandy has one mission: to get to the survivor, bring the rescue force forward, and put themselves between that survivor on the ground and the enemy,” Caine said. “They are committed to this. This is what they live for. And this is what they’ve trained for, for many, many years.”The rescue mission that brought 2 F-15E Strike Eagle crew members homeOnly the most experienced A-10 pilots are selected for Sandy qualification, which requires specialized training in CSAR tactics and procedures as part of a full CSAR task force, including HC-130 tankers and HH-60 helicopters.This advanced training takes place primarily at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, home of the 357th Fighter Squadron, the Air Force’s formal A-10 training unit. Here, Sandy pilots participate in integrated exercises, local ranges and large-scale events like Angel Thunder, the Air Force’s largest and most comprehensive CSAR exercise. Additional operational integration takes place at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia.In a typical four-ship A-10 Sandy CSAR formation, each aircraft has a specific role, according to USAF documents. Sandy 1 is the lead pilot, serving as the rescue mission commander and on-scene commander, responsible for overall command, survivor authentication and threat suppression. Sandy 2 provides cover and backup leadership. Sandy 3 and Sandy 4 focus on the escort mission, protecting the HH-60 rescue helicopters throughout.For nearly five decades, the A-10 has proven ideally suited for the Sandy role. Still, the Air Force is moving forward with plans to retire the A-10 by fiscal 2029. What replaces it in the Sandy role, and whether any other platform can replicate what the Warthog and A-10 Sandy-qualified pilots bring to the CSAR mission, are questions the service has not yet answered.CSAR in a world without WarthogsThe Air Force has confirmed there is currently no formal or informal transition underway for the Sandy 1 rescue mission commander role — the on-scene command function of every CSAR operation — to any other specific airframe. “Discussions are still ongoing regarding the use of multi-role platforms serving in the A-10’s Sandy 01 RMC role,” an Air Combat Command spokesperson said. The same applies to the Sandy 2, 3 and 4 escort roles, the spokesperson said.The service’s stated transition strategy centers less on the aircraft and more on the expertise of A-10 pilots themselves, suggesting the F-35A as the likely destination platform for Sandy-qualified A-10 pilots. “The Air Force is leveraging the extensive experience of its A-10 pilots to ensure a successful transition to other aircraft,” the 355th Wing Public Affairs office said. “A-10 pilots bring a wealth of expertise in close air support and combat search and rescue experience, which is invaluable as the A-10 continues to divest and they transition to 5th generation assets like the F-35.”The service also acknowledged that standards for validating successor-platform performance in the CSAR mission are a work in progress. The Pentagon “is carefully reexamining future Close Air Support and Combat Search and Rescue requirements,” the 355th Wing Public Affairs office said, “including how the Air Force will validate the effectiveness of its multi-role fighter fleet in performing all aspects of the CAS mission.”No specialized Sandy qualification program for any successor platform, such as the one that existed for the A-10 for many years, has been confirmed to exist or be under development.Lt. Col. Joel Bier, a retired U.S. Air Force Weapons School instructor pilot and Sandy 1 instructor with more than 2,500 hours in the A-10, said the service’s transition strategy underestimates the complexity of the Sandy mission. “No other pilots train to Close Air Support, Forward Air Control (Airborne), and Combat Search and Rescue with the ferocity of the A-10 community,” Bier said.The challenge, Bier said, is not simply whether the F-35A, F-15E or F-16 airframes are capable of performing the Sandy mission, but whether the pilot is properly trained for it. “A jack of all trades is master of none. Each of the fighter communities trains to a half-dozen or more equally complex missions, but CSAR is fundamentally different. It is friendly-centric and combines elements of air superiority and contingency planning at lower speeds and longer durations that fighter platforms do not routinely train to.”A-10 versus F-35In 2016, the Air Force conducted testing to evaluate potential Sandy replacements at the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. Lt. Col. Joshua Wood, the squadron’s commander at the time and an F-35 pilot, was on record expressing skepticism about direct platform comparisons.“When you try to have a comparative analysis of a single-mission platform like the A-10 against a platform like the F-35, which is fundamentally designed from the ground up to do something completely different,” Wood told Combat Aircraft magazine, as reported by War is Boring in 2016, “you run the risk of drawing unrealistic conclusions.”Still, Wood described what happened when a former A-10 Sandy 1 instructor who had recently cross-trained into the F-35 stepped into a lackluster CSAR exercise. “No kidding, he shows up and within five minutes on station he’s quarterbacked the whole thing,” Wood told the magazine. “They’ve rescued the survivor and everyone goes home.” Wood attributed the result not to the F-35’s capabilities, but to the pilot’s CSAR background and Sandy training. “I would say 75% is the pilot,” he said.Bier said the test results underscored the importance of Sandy training more than the F-35’s suitability for the mission.“Would the F-35 pilots have stepped in if an F-16 or F-15E CSAR test had been going smoothly? Would they have intervened at all if they weren’t both recent A-10 Weapons School graduates and Sandy 1 instructors who had only transferred to the F-35 six to nine months earlier? And in the decade since, has anyone in the F-35 community created a single new Sandy qualified for the mission? The answer to all three is no,” Bier said. “Those F-35 pilots, who I personally know and respect, never even flew another CSAR in the F-35 outside that test environment — a fact that speaks volumes about how the Air Force has prioritized the Sandy transition plan," he added.A separate 2022 Pentagon test report comparing the F-35A and A-10C, obtained through Freedom of Information Act litigation, found that F-35A pilots reported a significantly higher workload than A-10C pilots in the forward air control mission, a role closely aligned with the on-scene command demands of Sandy. The report also noted that pilots from both aircraft found that the A-10C and F-35A performed more effectively together in contested CSAR than either platform did alone, pointing more toward a combined model than a direct replacement.The test report was completed in February 2022, nearly three years after testing concluded in 2019. The report was finally made public more than six years after the tests took place — years after Congress had already begun approving the A-10 retirement the test was meant to inform.CSAR community trusts the WarthogThe flight characteristics that define the Sandy mission present their own challenges for potential successor airframes. “It’s fast enough to stay ahead of the rescue force, but slow enough to scour the ground for threats to it, and rugged enough to take hits from that threat when necessary,” Bier said of the Warthog.The A-10’s unique capabilities extend to the rescue helicopter crews the Sandy pilots are tasked with protecting. “A-10 Sandys serve HH-60W Jolly Green crews as their Rescue Escort — ensuring they arrive safely and with all the pertinent information at the downed aircrew,” Bier said. “Fighters will struggle to expose the small arms and AAA threats from medium altitude, while shifting to rotary wing fires sacrifices speed, armor and communications relay. These shortfalls increase risk to both the Jollys and the isolated personnel.”The relationship between the A-10 and the accompanying CSAR aircraft is not incidental, Bier said, but rather by design. “Calling the HH-60W or HC-130J flawed in the Sandy role is like saying the A-10 is deficient in the Jolly or Crown missions. It’s not intended as disrespect, nor is it a design flaw — it’s an intentional symbiosis. That’s precisely why Sandy, Jolly and Crown are synonymous with the CSAR mission.”Lt. Col. Ryan Rutter, commander of the 357th Fighter Squadron at Davis-Monthan, described the relationship between the A-10 community and the rescue force in a recent 355th Wing release. “The trust between the A-10 and the rest of the rescue community is absolute,” Rutter said. “They know we will do whatever it takes to protect them while they work to bring our teammates home.”On April 3, 2026, the same day A-10s in the Sandy role helped recover Dude 44 Alpha from Iran, the 357th Fighter Squadron graduated its last class of A-10 pilots. In official photo captions, the Air Force called the ceremony “the end of an era for A-10 training.” Air Combat Command confirmed the 357th is on track to inactivate in fiscal 2026, although specific timelines were not available.Whether the closure of the 357th marks the end of the Sandy qualification pipeline entirely, or whether the Air Force plans to establish a similar program for successor platforms, remains unclear. Neither the 355th Wing nor Air Combat Command Public Affairs responded specifically to questions about the future of Sandy qualification training by the time of publication.Congressional oversightThe fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law in December 2025, was the latest in a series of congressional measures aimed at slowing the A-10’s retirement. The measure required the Air Force to deliver a detailed briefing to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees no later than March 31, 2026, on the status of A-10 aircraft inventory and the service’s transitional plan for divesting all A-10s prior to fiscal 2029.That deadline has passed. The Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs office could not confirm whether the briefing had been delivered. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., a member of the House Armed Services Committee who has pushed to stave off the A-10 retirement, did not immediately respond to questions about whether the committee had received the briefing.It is unclear whether the A-10’s recent effectiveness in Operation Epic Fury factors into the Air Force’s transition briefing or divestment plans.The NDAA also mandated that the Air Force maintain a minimum inventory of 103 A-10s through Sept. 30, 2026, an amendment authored by Scott, reflecting congressional concerns about the service’s transition planning and potential gaps in mission readiness.In a statement provided to Defense News, Scott cited the A-10’s recent performance in Iran. “For 50 years, the A-10 Warthog has reliably supported critical military missions. I was proud to lead an amendment in the FY26 NDAA blocking the premature retirement of A-10s currently in service today. Because the fleet is alive, the A-10 is proving why it’s critical to our forces, providing air power for freedom and leading the rescue efforts for our airmen that were recently secured from hostile forces in Iran,” Scott said. “I will continue to work diligently to ensure that our military is properly equipped with the best weapons systems available.”Scott pressed the issue at an April 15 HASC Subcommittee on Readiness hearing, when he asked Gen. John Lamontagne, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, what the service was doing to prepare for CSAR operations when the A-10 retires. Lamontagne responded: “It’ll be a mix of platforms, just like it’s been a mix of platforms in the past with HH-60s and overhead folks doing that coordination role that the A-10s have done very well over the years.”Scott noted that the HH-60 is a helicopter, the rescue platform, not the Sandy escort. Lamontagne clarified he had understood the question to be about CSAR broadly, rather than the fixed-wing Sandy escort role specifically.Despite these unanswered questions, Lt. Col. Bier offered a potential path forward.“If the Air Force proceeds with final A-10 divestment in fiscal year 2027, significant CAS and CSAR capabilities risk being lost due to the compressed timeline,” Bier said. “Extending the remaining A-10 squadrons until a viable replacement is identified offers a logical bridge.” Bier noted that, barring congressional intervention, an indefinite extension is unlikely given the service’s well-documented intention to move on from the A-10.Absent extending the A-10 platform, one of the multi-role fighters already slated to replace A-10 units would likely inherit the Sandy mission. But platform selection alone is not enough, he said.“The key is selecting an aircraft to deliberately carve out dedicated squadrons with a Designed Operational Capability statement for the Sandy/CSAR mission,” Bier said. “This must include a dedicated training mandate — modeled on the A-10’s current Ready Aircrew Program tasking — and unique Air Force Specialty Codes to prevent diluting that training in the larger multi-role platform community. These actions protect the Sandy community from mission creep and preserve its unwavering commitment to the CSAR covenant: that others may live.”Bier warned that the Air Force cannot afford to ignore the hard-won lessons of the past.“As the old military saying goes, lessons are written in blood,” Bier said. “Sacrificing over 50 years of hard-won institutional knowledge dooms our future warriors to relearn them the hard way.”

[Category: Air Warfare] [Link to media]

— Starlink outage hit drone tests, exposing Pentagon’s growing reliance on SpaceX

 

at 4/16/26 11:41am

Last August, U.S. Navy officials carrying out a test of unmanned vessels realized they had hit a single point of failure: Starlink. A global outage across Elon Musk’s satellite network affecting millions of Starlink users had left two dozen unmanned surface vessels bobbing off the California coast, disrupting communications and halting operations for almost an hour.The incident, which involved drones intended to bolster U.S. military options in a conflict with China, was one of several Navy test disruptions linked to SpaceX’s Starlink that left operators unable to connect with autonomous boats, according to internal Navy documents reviewed by Reuters and a person familiar with the matter. As SpaceX rockets toward a $2 trillion public offering this summer – expected to be the largest ever – the company has secured its position as the world’s most valuable space company in part by being indispensable to the U.S. government with an array of technologies spanning satellite communications to space launches and military AI. Starlink, in particular, has proved key to crucial programs - from drones to missile tracking - with a low-earth orbit constellation of close to 10,000 satellites, a scale that provides the military with a network resilient against potential adversary attacks. But the Navy’s mishaps with Starlink for its autonomous drone program, which have not been previously reported, highlight the challenges of the U.S. military’s growing reliance on SpaceX and the risks it brings to the Pentagon.“If there was no Starlink, the U.S. government wouldn’t have access to a global constellation of low earth orbit communications,” said Clayton Swope, a deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The Pentagon did not respond to questions about the drone test or SpaceX’s work with the Navy. The Pentagon’s chief information officer, Kirsten Davies, said the “Department leverages multiple, robust, resilient systems for its broad network.”The Navy and SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment.Despite facing growing competition from Amazon.com, which announced an $11.6 billion agreement this week to acquire satellite maker Globalstar, SpaceX remains far ahead in low-earth orbit communications.Beyond drones, SpaceX has cemented a near-monopoly for space launches and provides satellite communications with Starlink and its national security-focused constellation, Starshield, generating billions of dollars for the company. Last month, U.S. Space Force said it had reassigned its upcoming GPS launch to a SpaceX rocket for the fourth time, due to a glitch in the Vulcan rocket made by the Boeing and Lockheed Martin joint venture United Launch Alliance.WARNINGS ABOUT RELYING ON SPACEX Democratic lawmakers have warned the Pentagon about the risks of its reliance on a single company led by the world’s richest man to deliver crucial national security capabilities. More recently, the Defense Department’s disagreements and blacklisting of AI startup Anthropic quickly revealed how an over-reliance on one AI vendor could create problems should that vendor be dropped. Reuters reported last year that Musk unexpectedly switched off Starlink access to Ukrainian troops as they sought to retake territory from Russia, denting allies’ trust in the billionaire. In Taiwan, SpaceX faced criticism over concerns it was withholding satellite communications to U.S. service members based there, “possibly in breach of SpaceX’s contractual obligations with the U.S. government,” according to a 2024 letter sent by then-U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher to Musk, reported by Forbes at the time. SpaceX disputed the claim in a post on X.Reuters could not determine whether SpaceX has since provided Starlink service in Taiwan to U.S. service members. The Pentagon and SpaceX did not respond to questions about Taiwan. “As a matter of operational security, we do not comment on or discuss plans, operations capabilities or effects,” an official said in a statement. STARLINK ‘EXPOSED LIMITATIONS’SpaceX’s Starlink broadband has been crucial to the Pentagon’s drone program, providing connection to small unmanned maritime vessels that look like speedboats without seats, and include those made by Maryland-based BlackSea and Austin, Texas-based Saronic.In April 2025, during a series of Navy tests in California involving unmanned boats and flying drones, officials reported that Starlink struggled to provide a solid network connection due to the high data usage needed to control multiple systems, according to a Navy safety report of the tests reviewed by Reuters. “Starlink reliance exposed limitations under multiple-vehicle load,” the report stated. The report also faulted issues linked to radios provided by Silvus and a network system provided by Viasat.In the weeks leading up to the global Starlink outage in August, another series of Navy tests was disrupted by intermittent connection issues with the Starlink network, Navy documents reviewed by Reuters show. The causes of the network losses were not immediately clear. Despite the setbacks, the upside of Starlink – a cheap and commercially available service – outweighs the risk of a potential outage disrupting future military operations, said Bryan Clark, an autonomous warfare expert at the Hudson Institute. “You accept those vulnerabilities because of the benefits you get from the ubiquity it provides,” he said.

[Category: Pentagon] [Link to media]

— How the US military could clear mines from the Strait of Hormuz

 

at 4/16/26 8:18am

As the United States embarks on clearing mines from the Strait of Hormuz, it could draw on an arsenal of drones, explosive‑laden robots and helicopters to reduce risks, though de‑mining crews could still be vulnerable to Iranian attacks.The U.S. is trying to secure the strait from mines as part of efforts to end Iran’s disruption of shipping, which has severely curbed global energy supplies since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran at the end of February.But while the U.S. can draw on modernized technology to remotely check for and remove mines, clearing a strategic waterway such as the Strait of Hormuz will still be a slow, multi‑step process, former naval officers and industry specialists say. The U.S. military said over the weekend it had started the mine-clearing operation, sending two warships through the strait, but offered few details about the equipment involved. It said on Saturday that additional forces, including underwater drones, would join the effort in the coming days.Iran had recently deployed about a dozen mines in the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported last month, citing sources familiar with the matter. It is not publicly known where mines may have been laid.U.S. President Donald Trump said over the weekend that all of Iran’s minelaying ships had been sunk. But there is a risk Tehran could deploy additional devices, some specialists said.Mine warfare is effective because the devices are cheap, are costly to clear and “even the threat of a minefield is enough to stop ships, especially commercial ships,” said Jon Pentreath, a retired British navy rear admiral who is now a consultant.MODERNIZING MINESWEEPING Traditionally, the U.S. Navy relied on manned minesweeping ships that physically entered minefields, using sonars to locate the devices and mechanical gear dragged behind the vessel to clear explosives, sometimes supported by human divers. Much of that aging fleet has been retired. They are being replaced by lighter vessels known as littoral combat ships, which carry modern mine‑hunting equipment such as semi‑autonomous surface and underwater drones as well as remote‑controlled robots that enable crews to distance themselves from the minefield. The navy has three of these in deployment.Two of those ships were undergoing maintenance in Singapore, a senior U.S. official told Reuters in late March. At the time, the U.S. minesweeping capacity in the ⁠Middle ​East included unmanned undersea vehicles, four of the traditional Avenger-class vessels, helicopters ​and divers, according to the official. The U.S. Navy did not respond to a comment request on the mine-clearing capability it currently has in the Middle East. U.S. Central Command declined to provide further details.Tehran is believed to possess several types of maritime mines, former naval officials and other specialists say. These include bottom mines that rest on the seabed and detonate when ships pass above, tethered mines that are anchored but float closer to the surface, drifting mines that move freely on the water, and limpet mines that attach directly to a ship’s hull. The U.S. operation will likely involve searching for mines using unmanned surface and underwater vehicles equipped with sensors. Once a mine‑like object is detected, the data is typically transferred to crews operating outside the minefield, who identify the device. They then determine how it should be neutralized. The Navy’s search capability now includes sonar-mounted unmanned surface and undersea vehicles, as well as helicopters that are used to spot mines near the surface, former naval officials say.To destroy mines, the Navy can deploy systems such as the torpedo‑shaped Archerfish, a remotely operated device about 2 meters long that carries an explosive charge and transmits video back to operators via cable, according to its manufacturer, BAE Systems. Designed to be expendable, it costs tens of thousands of dollars.The U.S. could also use unmanned boats towing mine‑sweeping sleds that trigger detonations or gather mines, said Bryan Clark, a retired U.S. naval officer and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. Human divers are also sometimes used, including for intelligence gathering, specialists say.SLOW PROCESSClearing the strait could take two or three weeks, Clark said, and Iranian attacks on mine‑clearing crews could slow the process and raise risks. As a result, he said, the U.S. military may deploy defensive measures like ships and airborne drones to defend crews and equipment.“Finding and destroying mines is very time consuming,” U.S. Admiral Daryl Caudle, chief of naval operations, said in March. That leaves mine‑clearing capability “vulnerable,” he added.New technologies are being developed to speed up mine clearance, particularly through advances in sensors used for detection, specialists say.French technology and defense group Thales says its latest sonar can scan a suspected mine from three different angles in one pass, a process that typically requires multiple sweeps. Advances in artificial intelligence are also enabling more data analysis to be carried out onboard unmanned vessels.Longer term, the ambition is to deploy groups of unmanned systems that can search for, identify and destroy mines, rather than it being a multi-step process.“That doesn’t exist today,” said Mark Bock, a retired U.S. Navy captain who is now vice president of business development at Thales’ U.S. Navy business. “But it is what all nations are trying to achieve now.”

[Category: Naval] [Link to media]

— Iran war exposes weakened state of Britain’s armed forces

 

at 4/16/26 7:34am

LONDON — The Iran war has left Britain’s armed forces exposed, heaping pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to act on his promises to invest in defense, after years of warnings from military bosses about the U.K.’s shrinking capabilities.When a British military base in Cyprus was hit by a drone early on in the Iran conflict in March, Britain, whose navy was the largest in the world at the start of World War Two, took three weeks to deploy one warship to the eastern Mediterranean.France, Greece and Italy sent warships to Cyprus within days.Britain’s diminished military capacity has registered with U.S. President Donald Trump. He has dismissed Britain’s two aircraft carriers as “toys” while his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, mocked what he called the “big, bad Royal Navy.”Defending his record on the armed forces, Starmer said on Wednesday his government, in power for nearly two years, had put in place the biggest sustained increase in military spending since the Cold War. Britain’s military now is about half the size it was then and its army is the smallest it has been since the early 19th century.Below are details regarding the scale of the decline and the country’s current capabilities.Royal NavyBritain’s Royal Navy has 38,000 personnel. It operates two aircraft carriers and a combined fleet of 13 destroyers and frigates.This has shrunk from about 62,000 personnel, three aircraft carriers and about 50 destroyers and frigates in 1991.The delays in sending a warship to Cyprus prompted criticism of the navy’s available surface fleet.HMS Dragon, a Type 45 air defense destroyer, arrived in the eastern Mediterranean on March 23, while the Royal Navy has said since the outbreak of the Iran war that it is upgrading RFA Lime Bay to improve its mine-hunting and autonomous tech capabilities.That deployment compares to the Gulf War in 1990-91, when the Royal Navy sent 21 surface ships and two submarines plus 11 Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships to the region.The smaller fleet comes after decades of cuts to defense funding since the early 1990s, when about 3.8% of gross domestic product was spent on the military compared to the 2.3% spent in 2024.Britain until December 2025 had a warship present in the Middle East for decades but that ended when HMS Lancaster was decommissioned in Bahrain just weeks before the start of the Iran war.The Royal Navy’s aging frigates need to be retired before replacements become available, while its destroyers are undergoing maintenance work. A fleet of 13 new Type 26 and Type 31 frigates is due to enter service in the coming years.The Royal Navy is also being stretched by Russian threats closer to home, with British warships recently spending a month in the North Atlantic tracking Russian submarines.About a fifth of Britain’s defense budget is spent on nuclear submarines. This includes the Trident nuclear deterrent, comprising four Vanguard-class submarines. Under the Continuous At-Sea Deterrence policy, at least one of those submarines is on patrol at sea at any time.The Vanguard-class submarines will be replaced by the Dreadnought-class in the early 2030s. Royal Air ForceThe RAF has over 150 fighter jets in service, two-thirds of which are Eurofighter Typhoons and the remainder Lockheed Martin F‑35s. It has a permanent staff of around 31,000 people.In 1991, the RAF had about 700 fast-jet fighter aircraft and about 88,000 people. During the 1990-1991 Gulf War, it deployed 157 aircraft to the region, including over 80 fighter jets.Before the start of the Iran war, Britain sent six F-35s to Cyprus and four Typhoons from 12 Squadron, a joint RAF and Qatar unit, to Qatar. It then sent four extra Typhoons to Qatar in early March after the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran began.Unlike the Gulf War, when Britain was an active member of the U.S.-led coalition fighting Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, it is not directly involved in the current conflict with Iran, though Starmer has allowed what he calls defensive missions aimed at protecting residents of the region, including British citizens.ArmyBritain’s army strength is currently 74,000 full-time personnel, down from 148,000 in 1991.The number of main battle tanks has dropped from a fleet of about 1,200 at the end of the Cold War to around 150 that are currently operational.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

— EU pumps over $1 billion into defense R&D, centered around Ukraine war lessons

 

at 4/16/26 5:37am

GRAZ, Austria — The European Commission this week unveiled the results of its 2025 European Defence Fund call for proposals, selecting 57 collaborative research and development projects for a combined €1.07 billion ($1.26 billion) in EU funding − a package that makes clear where the bloc’s defense priorities lie: drones, autonomy, and an increasingly institutionalized partnership with Kyiv.Of the total, €675 million ($796 million) will support 32 capability development projects, and €332 million ($391 million) will go to 25 research initiatives. The selected projects involve 634 entities from 26 EU member states plus Norway, with small and medium-sized enterprises making up more than 38% of participants and receiving over 21% of the total funding, according to a summary of the spending plan.The most striking cluster of projects marks a shift to 21st-century warfare, with at least four separate initiatives − EURODAMM, LUMINA, SKYRAPTOR, and TALON − devoted specifically to loitering munitions and affordable mass drone production.The concentration reflects an uncomfortable lesson absorbed from the war in Ukraine: cheap, expendable strike drones have reshaped the battlefield, and Europe’s defense industry has been slow to catch up. Lessons learned in Ukraine are referenced repeatedly throughout the EDF’s materials on the funding round and individual projects. That battlefield knowledge is now being plugged into the fund’s architecture. For the first time, Ukrainian entities are eligible to participate in EDF projects as subcontractors and third-party recipients, marking a significant step toward integrating Ukraine’s defense-technological and industrial base into the European ecosystem. In the coming months, Kyiv and Brussels are expected to complete the required association agreement to allow Ukraine full participation on equal terms with EU member states in the future. The EU Defence Innovation Office in Kyiv, established under the European Defence Industrial Strategy in 2024, has been the institutional engine behind that push. One flagship project, STRATUS, will develop an AI-powered cyber defense system for drone swarms and includes a Ukrainian subcontractor, a model the Commission explicitly frames as bringing “direct battlefield experience” into EU-funded R&D.More than 15 of the 57 projects are tied to the Commission’s four European Readiness Flagships, a set of priority capability areas the bloc identified last year as critical to near-term operational readiness. Project AETHER, for instance, will develop propulsion and thermal management systems in support of the Drone Defence Initiative.To widen the industrial base, several projects focused on mass-producible drone munitions will launch sub-calls specifically for startups as well as small and medium-sized firms, including Ukrainian ones, that can receive up to €60,000 each to integrate innovations into larger consortia. It is a modest sum, but the intent is structural: to lower the barrier to entry for firms without prior defense experience at a moment when the Commission is under pressure to demonstrate that its defense spending is generating real industrial capacity outside of the usual suspects of established prime contractors.The 2025 funding awards are separate from both the 2026 EDF Work Programme, which carries a €1 billion ($1.18 billion) budget adopted last December, and the European Defence Industry Programme, whose €1.5 billion ($1.77 billion) work program was adopted in March. Taken together, the three tranches reflect an EU defense funding environment that has expanded dramatically in scale and ambition since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and one that is now deliberately building Kyiv into its foundations.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

— France readies AI-powered combat data-management similar to US ‘Maven’

 

at 4/16/26 4:47am

PARIS — France’s armed forces are working on a data-management system powered by artificial intelligence as a sovereign equivalent to the U.S. Defense Department’s Project Maven, said Gen. Benoît Desmeulles, the commander of the French 1st Army Corps.The armed forces are working with partners on a system to provide what Desmeulles called “true distributed working capability” centered on data and using advanced AI, “a sovereign system that will essentially be the equivalent of Maven.”The system could be available within a few months, and available for exercises in September 2027, the general said, declining to provide specifics.Project Maven is a Pentagon program that uses AI to process drone and surveillance data to automatically detect and track objects, using technology provided by contractors including Palantir Technologies. Maven has faced controversy amid questions about AI-assisted targeting in Iran, with concerns about speed, accountability, and harm to civilians related to automated kill chains.“We’ve really positioned data as the center of everything we do,” Desmeulles said in a briefing with three reporters on Saturday at the Montmorillon military camp in western France, describing data as the ammunition of the command post.“The centrality of data is something that’s well understood by the corps, the Army, and the French forces,” he said. “So, we’re really focused on that.”The armed forces are on track to develop “a true distributed working capability, based on highly advanced artificial intelligence and centered on data,” Desmeulles said. “We’re following that logic, to remain sovereign, and that’s an area where we are strong.”Desmeulles said his corps is already seeing “very, very good” results from a data-centric approach, even if there is “still a little way to go before it’s practically perfect in my eyes.”France has several AI companies that are active in defense, including Comand AI, ChapsVision and Safran’s AI business, and is also home to a major developer of large-language models with Mistral AI. France in 2024 created an agency under the Armed Forces Ministry that works on AI for defense.

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— Senate Republicans back Trump military sales to Israel

 

at 4/15/26 7:25pm

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday blocked two resolutions that would have stopped the sale of some $450 million in bombs and bulldozers to Israel, as President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans rallied behind his support for the Jewish state.But support for the resolutions from a large majority of the 47-member Senate Democratic caucus underscored growing frustration within that party about the effect on civilians from Israeli strikes on Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.A decades-long tradition of strong bipartisan support for Israel in the U.S. Congress means resolutions to stop weapons sales are unlikely to pass, but backers hope raising the issue will encourage Israel’s government and U.S. administrations to do more to protect civilians.Supporters of the sales say Israel is an important ally to whom the United States should sell military equipment.Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, forced votes on the resolutions, saying the sales violate criteria for foreign assistance in the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act.The first resolution would have prohibited the $295 million sale of D9R and D9T Caterpillar bulldozers, parts and other support. The vote was 59 to 40 against advancing the measure.Seven Democrats voted with every Republican against advancing the resolution of disapproval of the bulldozer sale. Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming did not vote. The second would have prohibited the $151.8 million sale of 12,000 BLU-110A/B general purpose 1,000-pound “dumb” bombs and related logistics and technical support services.Eleven Democrats joined every Republican to block the measure by 63 to 36. Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina did not vote.Israel uses the bombs in attacks on Gaza and Lebanon and uses the bulldozers to demolish homes in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank, Sanders said.“The United States must use the leverage we have - tens of billions in arms and military aid — to demand that Israel ends these atrocities,” he said, urging support for the resolutions.Israel says it does not intentionally target civilians, and that its strikes are intended to neutralize militants and military infrastructure.Wednesday’s vote showed an uptick in support for efforts to limit military sales to Israel. In July, two resolutions that would have blocked arms sales in response to civilian casualties in Gaza were blocked in the Senate.Also introduced by Sanders, they failed by 73 to 24 and 70 to 27 in the 100-member chamber.The Trump administration bypassed the normal congressional review of military sales early in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, saying there was an emergency that made it necessary to immediately transfer the weapons.

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

— White House offers no hint of Iran war cost as it seeks military funding surge

 

at 4/15/26 6:52pm

White House budget director Russell Vought said on Wednesday he could not estimate the cost of the Iran war, as he defended President Donald Trump’s request for a massive $1.5 trillion annual military budget against bipartisan criticism from U.S. lawmakers who cited the Pentagon’s historic lack of financial accountability.“We’re not ready to come to you with a request. We’re still working on it. We’re working through to figure out what’s needed,” Vought told a hearing of the House of Representatives Budget Committee. “I don’t have a ballpark.”The cost of the war with Iran, which Trump began alongside Israel on February 28, has remained an open question on Capitol Hill. An initial $200 billion request for additional funding for the war met with stiff opposition in Congress last month. Vought appeared before the panel to discuss Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2027, with its $500 billion increase in military spending and 10% reduction for non-defense programs. The request is intended to reflect Republican priorities heading into the November midterm elections, in which Trump’s Republicans hope to retain control over the House of Representatives and the Senate but face growing public concern about the cost of living, energy prices and the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. ‘Never passed an audit’Democrats took issue with Vought’s assertions that healthcare, education and low-income energy assistance programs were marred by fraud. “I’m so glad you asked about fraud, because you are coming back to ask for a $1.5 trillion budget for the Department of Defense,” Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington state told the budget director. “The Department of Defense is the only federal agency that has never passed an audit ... But you’re not going after any of that.”Vought said the administration is pursuing “inefficiencies” at the Pentagon.“I don’t think you’re doing enough,” said Republican Representative Glenn Grothman, who called for a Pentagon audit to be completed before Congress votes on defense spending.“There is so much arrogance in that agency,” added Grothman, of Wisconsin. “They just say we don’t have to do it on audit. We’re so damn important. We don’t care what Congress thinks.”Vought promoted Trump’s budget proposal for the fiscal year beginning October 1 as aimed at reducing spending. He promoted Trump’s 2025 tax-cut-and-spending package known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” as an initiative that achieved $2 trillion in mandatory savings through cuts to Medicaid health coverage and food assistance to low-income families. That bill, which extended 2017 tax cuts, will add $4.7 trillion to U.S. deficits over the next decade, while reduced immigration will add another $500 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Straight faceRepresentative Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the budget panel’s top Democrat, pointed to forecasts saying the legislation’s healthcare cuts would mean the loss of health coverage for more than 15 million people. Vought said they were able-bodied adults, people in the country illegally or ineligible for benefits. “You’re going to sit here with a straight face and say they’re all illegals? They were all defrauding the system? That’s actually your position?” Boyle asked.“Yes,” Vought replied.Democratic Representative Scott Peters of California pointed out to Vought that the watchdog Government Accountability Office has found the administration illegally withheld billions of dollars allocated for National Institutes of Health grants, public schools and Head Start early education programs nationwide.“Do you dispute GAO’s findings?” Peters asked. “Yes. GAO is typically wrong. They’re very partisan,” Vought replied. GAO disputed that claim.“That’s not accurate,” spokesperson Sarah Kaczmarek said in an email. “GAO is an independent, nonpartisan agency that Congress has long ⁠relied on ​for fact-based analysis of federal spending and compliance with the law.”To become law, Trump’s proposed budget needs approval from Congress at a time when Republicans are trying to overcome Democratic opposition to funding for Trump’s immigration crackdown, just months after the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Democrats have already declared the budget proposal dead on arrival, leaving government funding to closed-door negotiations between appropriators.

[Category: Pentagon] [Link to media]

— US Navy destroyer intercepts Iranian-flagged vessel trying to skirt blockade

 

at 4/15/26 4:03pm

The U.S. Navy prevented an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel from leaving Iran on Tuesday after it attempted to evade the maritime blockade that began Monday, U.S. Central Command announced.The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance redirected the vessel back toward Iran after it fled Bandar Abbas, exited the Strait of Hormuz and was making its way along the Iranian coastline, according to a CENTCOM release.“Ten vessels have now been turned around and zero ships have broken through since the start of the U.S. blockade on Monday,” the command’s post on X stated.The U.S. Navy blockade, which involves 10,000 troops, over a dozen warships and more than 100 fighter and surveillance aircraft, went into effect Monday after President Donald Trump announced on social media that the U.S. would seal off the Strait of Hormuz following failed peace talks between the U.S. and Iran.Any vessels transiting to and from Iranian ports are subject to the blockade, CENTCOM officials stated Tuesday, while ships not visiting Iranian ports can still navigate the Strait of Hormuz.The America-class amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli is also in the Arabian Sea in support of the blockade.Failed peace talks occurred on April 11 and 12 in Islamabad, Pakistan, and involved Vice President JD Vance, along with special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.The talks did not yield the intended result after Iran refused to allow the removal of enriched uranium from the country and commit to ending their nuclear program, according to Vance.The U.S. and Iran are currently in the midst of a two-week ceasefire, which went into effect on April 7.

[Category: Naval] [Link to media]

— US Air Force debuts operational AI wargame system

 

at 4/15/26 3:47pm

The U.S. Air Force for the first time utilized the service’s new artificial intelligence wargame system in an event late last month.The department premiered WarMatrix for its inaugural use at the March 27 GE 26 Benchmark Wargame, marking the system’s move from development into operational capacity, according to a Tuesday Air Force release.WarMatrix, described by the force as an “active wargaming environment,” is an AI-powered system that integrates existing models, data and workflows while expediting analysis.The Air Force at the end of 2025 said it was looking for technology capable of producing simulations 10,000 times faster than real time.WarMatrix is a “human-machine teaming system” meant to keep human judgment integral to planning and decision making, according to the release.The use of WarMatrix during the event served as the system’s initial operating concept evaluation, signaling a change in how the Air Force conducts operational analysis and wargaming.“Designed by wargamers for wargamers, WarMatrix provides transparency, auditability and speed, enabling decision-makers to better understand assumptions, outcomes and tradeoffs,” the statement reads.Air Force leaders portray WarMatrix as an evolution in wargaming rather than a replacement, and the release says that the use of WarMatrix provided a more “connected and traceable wargaming process.” It also said that the system’s design allowed for faster scenario development, repeat findings and increased collaboration with joint and coalition partners. The two-weekslong event, hosted at Systems Planning and Analysis in Alexandria, Virginia, was attended by more than 150 people, including technical experts, Air Force leadership and allied planners.Attendees during the event fulfilled more than six 24-hour “game-time moves” that balanced physics- and simulation-based models to ensure outcomes were realistic.

[Category: / MilTech] [Link to media]

— AeroVironment launches new multifunctional drone variant

 

at 4/15/26 2:24pm

AeroVironment is debuting a new drone with the capacity to carry out reconnaissance, electronic warfare and strike missions, building on a lethal loitering system that is already being fielded by the Army, according to a Wednesday announcement. The defense technology firm introduced the system, known as MAYHEM 10, which expands upon its Switchblade family. The Army in February announced a $186 million purchase that includes two variants of Switchblade one-way attack, or “kamikaze,” drones: the Switchblade 600 Block 2 variant and the Switchblade 300 Block 20 variant.The difference is that MAYHEM 10 is multifunctional, meaning it can perform tasks in addition to striking. The new system can carry a 10-pound payload and has a range of over 62 miles, per the release. The system is capable of 50 minutes of endurance, with a launch assembly that can be done in under five minutes, the statement says. It can also be launched from the air, ground or maritime platforms.“By integrating advanced autonomy, multi-domain payloads, and rapid adaptability, we empower our forces to sense, disrupt, and strike with precision — even in the most contested environments,” Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in the statement.Last year, U.S. soldiers tested the Switchblade 600 system, which has a range of 27 miles and is designed to engage a target using onboard cameras. The Switchblade 300 Block 20, unlike the heavier 600 variant, is small enough to be carried in a backpack. For the first time, according to a February AeroVironment announcement, it will come equipped with an Explosively Formed Penetrator, a deadly warhead that is made to penetrate armored vehicles.

[Category: / MilTech] [Link to media]

— France puts mobile corps command to the test in major war scenario

 

at 4/15/26 9:59am

PARIS — On the edge of a meadow in western France, Gen. Benoît Desmeulles moves between two closely-parked armored personnel carriers tucked against a cover of trees and shrubs to reach his makeshift office, a patch of grass covered by a tent and multi-spectral camouflage netting.It’s war, France is in charge, and Desmeulles for the first time is deploying the new mobile command structure of the French 1st Army Corps in its full configuration, as part of the Orion 26 exercise.“Welcome to CP1,” says Desmeulles, taking a dark metal chair at a scuffed green-topped table, from where he oversees some 120,000 troops in the exercise as commander of the army corps.Command Post 1 was set up in a few hours the day before, centered around six APCs packed with computing and communications gear, and will relocate shortly to follow five divisions maneuvering eastwards through ‘Arnland,’ a fictional country in the exercise suspiciously shaped like France.With Orion 26, France is validating its ability to lead a corps-level European force in high-intensity conflict, acting as framework nation at a time when the United States is pushing NATO allies to take on more of their own defense. In the exercise, the 1st Army Corps commands French, Polish, British, Italian and Spanish divisional headquarters.Desmeulles is testing a tiered command structure with a mobile forward post some 80 to 100 kilometers from the engagement zone, deployed under armor for mobility and survival. It’s a departure from NATO’s usual fixed corps commands in the rear, and designed to optimize the observe-orient-decide-act (OODA) loop for decision-making.The small forward command post allows commanders “to be in contact with the divisions, to be as close as possible to the engagement zone,” Desmeulles said in a briefing with three reporters on April 11 at the Montmorillon training camp. “Hence this remilitarization, these armored capabilities, survivability features.”A second command node farther back provides host-nation support and logistics, with a data-heavy headquarters in Lille in northern France.Desmeulles, wearing combat fatigues, jokes one thing gained with the new setup is “a lot less hassle,” with about 50 people at the mobile headquarters instead of 500.Ukraine has been a major source of reflection and inspiration but not a template for the rethink, with Desmeulles saying he also looked at the Gulf Wars and World War II. “We mustn’t lose sight of the fact that one day we might be engaged in something completely different.”The 1st Army Corps general, in a previous command at the 11th Parachute Brigade, already worked “to put an end to these command posts that don’t move, that can’t move. That was the same logic.”In Ukraine, distance no longer protects command and control, creating a need for mobility, dispersion and “digital hygiene,” Ukrainian Maj. Gen. Volodymyr Horbatiuk said in a Modern War Institute interview this month.U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Curtis Buzzard, who helps coordinate Western aid to Ukraine, said in the same interview the forward line “is so lethal, but yet commanders have to get out there to feel and understand what’s occurring on the battlefield.”Setting up CP1 under cover takes about 20 minutes, and two hours with improved camouflage and a defensive perimeter, according to Capt. Charles of the 41st Signal Regiment, attached to the corps. He said a challenge of the command overhaul was fitting the armored vehicles with the required kit, in the venerable Véhicule de l’Avant Blindé for now and the new Griffon APC at a yet-to-be-determined date in the future.“The main thing we’ve gained is the ability to be as close as possible to the divisions leading the battle,” Desmeulles said. “As corps commander, that to me is the most important. If I were at war, I’d be with the divisions rather than here to see how things are going. The structures in place before didn’t allow for that at all.”Desmeulles said Orion 2026 is the first tactical deployment of NATO command networks, taking devices, networks and data flows usually confined to fixed buildings into the field. He recalled the fixed command compounds of past NATO deployments, with the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan “a city in itself; it was out of the question to imagine it moving.”“The threat was different. Now, we’re preparing to fight a different battle, so the tools evolve.”The forward post is linked to CP2 in the rear and CP3 in Lille through a hybrid network of satellite, radio and mobile networks, “because none of this makes any sense unless it’s connected,” said Desmeulles. The corps headquarters in the 17th-century Lille citadel houses about 90% of the command staff and the main data infrastructure, allowing the forward posts to remain mobile.France in coming months will add its own “true distributed working capability” with artificial intelligence-enabled data processing, similar in function to the U.S. Project Maven, according to Desmeulles.In addition to armored mobility, the new forward command relies on anti-drone measures and electronic warfare to survive. For Saturday’s deployment, the 41st Signal Regiment set up a decoy command post, including fake emissions.“We’ve strengthened the military aspect,” Desmeulles said. “At a NATO training center, people are in buildings, they work with phones, at night they go to a hotel. It’s a different approach that puts us a little ahead of other NATO units in terms of the command post, a commitment to really create a tool that can be realistically deployed.”As the 1st Army Corps practices field deployment, there’s still work to be done on electromagnetic emissions and decoys, according to Desmeulles.Three lieutenants from reconnaissance, signals and artillery regiments acting as the opposing force said they found the forward command post with relative ease on Thursday, first tracking electromagnetic emissions and then using a Parrot drone for visual confirmation.On Saturday, the search was more difficult, with the red team losing time due to tracking a decoy command post.During Orion 26’s offensive phase, Desmeulles places himself closer to the front to support division commanders “who, like any leader, suffer from the loneliness of leadership,” saying his presence provides reassurance.France is one of a handful of NATO countries with fully national corps headquarters that can be integrated into alliance operations. The corps deployed from Lille to Dunkirk by A400M transport aircraft and barge, then onward by roll-on/roll-off ship to La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast.As the exercise scenario escalates to a larger-scale conflict, integrating the deployed French-led corps into a NATO structure for the first time is “technically quite complex,” according to Desmeulles. Orion 26 includes parallel French and NATO command chains to expose the friction between national sovereignty and alliance operations.There’s no actual mass troop movement through France, with divisions represented by their commands, and combat simulated using software from French firm Masa Group, which Desmeulles described as “somewhere between Call of Duty and full-scale global strategy games.” A next phase this month will see 12,500 French troops deploy in a live exercise including wet-gap crossings.After decades of counterinsurgency focus, the French Army has resumed training for high-intensity warfare, and the country aims to field a division ready for war in 2027 and a combat-ready corps by 2030. Reflecting the changing times, the 1st Army Corps was renamed from Rapid Reaction Corps-France in January, reviving a Cold War-era designation.“We are now envisaging deploying the entire army corps for a much shorter period, but in a way that is obviously far more intensive, with real high-intensity combat,” Desmeulles said. “This shift from one operational framework to another has in fact led to a shift in the approach to command posts, in how we train, and in what an army corps actually is.”The command-post overhaul positions France as a driver of NATO land force transformation, according to Desmeulles, who says he’s seeing “a lot of interest” from fellow NATO commanders.“Though everyone agrees with the idea, only we have made the effort to implement it,” the general said. “We’ve invested money to completely reorganize the army corps command structure. Before we started our transformation, by and large everyone agreed with the principle. Now that we’ve done it, everyone sees that’s the direction we need to go.”The 1st Army Corps can deploy without U.S. support, with sovereign communications, according to Desmeulles, who said the biggest capability gap for a European or French army corps deploying without American support would be firepower. French lawmakers for years have raised concerns about a capability gap in rocket artillery and a lack of sufficient howitzers.“I’m not saying it would be as easy,” Desmeulles said. “But overall, we’re good.”Transforming corps-level command took less than 18 months after putting the plan on paper, and while CP1 is only a small part, “it’s one that is quite representative of the evolution we’ve led,” according to Desmeulles. He said changing the command structure meant transforming everything from operating procedures to equipment and the people serving.“It’s easy to say, ‘We’re going to set up three CPs, that’s it, piece of cake.’ And I grab a checkbook and buy vehicles,” Desmeulles said. “That’s actually the easiest part. The real challenge lies in how you’re going to implement this change across all areas.”Asked about the strategic signal of Orion 26, Desmeulles responds the idea is simply to telegraph that France’s land forces are ready.“Whatever happens, France has an army corps ready for deployment,” he said. “It’s not perfect, the firepower, all that. But in fact, it is deployable.”

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As of 4/18/26 2:33am. Last new 4/17/26 2:44pm.