Defense news

• Men lie, strategies lie—numbers don’t

  12-02-2026 22:41 via defenseone.com
  Measuring the frequency of words and themes in a document can offer insights, reveal underlying messages, and even illuminate what’s on the minds of its writers. The 2026 National Defense Strategy is meant to help align ends, ways, and means, and to signal goals and values. But to find the truth, sometimes you just have to count. This kind of content analysis can act like an X-ray for a document, unveiling structural DNA that the authors themselves might not realize they’ve left
  
  Read more

• Another Osprey makes emergency landing as military rushes to fix elusive mechanical woes

  12-02-2026 22:25 via defenseone.com
  A gearbox failure forced a Marine Corps V-22 to make an emergency landing on Feb. 3, days before Navy leaders briefed lawmakers on fixes being implemented for the troubled tiltrotor aircraft.A MV-22B with the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing landed in the Tactical Flight Training Area on Oahu, Hawaii, “after experiencing an in-flight malfunction,” according to an emailed statement from the aviation wing.None of the crew was injured but the aircraft will “require maintenance actions and
  
  Read more

• US-NATO exercise rehearses taking out 1,500 targets a day to ‘overwhelm’ an enemy

  12-02-2026 21:27 via defenseone.com
  The U.S. Army and its NATO allies in Europe are honing their ability to to fight back against an incursion by throwing enough artillery at an enemy so stop them in their tracks for good, most recently during the annual Dynamic Front exercise with the Germany-based 56th Multi-Domain Command earlier this month. The goal is to be able to shoot down 600 to 1200 ballistic missiles in a 24-hour period, the command’s boss told reporters Thursday, as well as be able to fire on 1,500 targets d
  
  Read more

• Crowded field of robot-boat makers vies for Navy's attention

  12-02-2026 19:07 via defenseone.com
  SAN DIEGO, California—Boston-based Blue Water Autonomy aims to take its 190-foot robot patrol craft from prototype to production this year, joining a newly crowded field of startups and established players trying to get their unmanned surface vessels in front of U.S. Navy buyers, commanders, and operators.“Right now, the focus really should be on the suppliers” so the Navy can “see the performance of these vessels,” CEO Rylan Hamilton told Defense One ahead of the W
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• The D Brief: El Paso, explained; Navy ships collide; Marines’ aviation plan; Estonia’s warning; And a bit more.

  12-02-2026 17:03 via defenseone.com
  Border patrol agents prompted the extraordinary U.S. airspace closure over El Paso Tuesday night and into Wednesday after using a high-powered laser to shoot down what was later revealed to be a party balloon that had drifted into the sky near the U.S.-Mexico border. Initially, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy claimed the U.S. military was responsible and said the Federal Aviation Administration lifted its 10-day closure after “a cartel drone incursion” had been “neutra
  
  Read more

• Russia still sees US as its top adversary, Estonian intelligence report says

  12-02-2026 02:00 via defenseone.com
  Recent U.S.-Russian talks about ending Moscow’s war on Ukraine should not be taken as a sign that Russia poses less of a threat to the United States and Europe, according to a new report from Estonia’s foreign-intelligence agency.“Despite this illusory thaw, Russia continues to regard the U.S. as its principal global adversary,” says “International Security and Estonia 2026,” released Tuesday.Such talks are designed to “exploit the new U.S. administratio
  
  Read more

• Marines will use Air Force-tailored drone to help develop its robot wingman

  12-02-2026 00:18 via defenseone.com
  The Marines have tapped one of the companies competing to build the Air Force’s drone wingman to help develop its own Corps-specific Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, a key element of its new aviation plan.Nearly two years after the Air Force chose General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. to compete for its robot wingman concept, the Marine Corps is paying the company to supply a YFQ-42A to use as a testbed for CCA concepts and gear, the company said in a Tuesday announcement.The wor
  
  Read more

Follow @Defense_news_us on Twitter!