Defense news

• Thailand to acquire Israel’s IAI Barak MX Air Defense System

  04-12-2025 23:32 via breakingdefense.com
  IAI President and CEO Boaz Levy called the deal a “significant milestone for IAI in East Asia, with Thailand being a key and influential country in the region.”
  
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• Sinking speedboats with a supercarrier: the lopsided cost of Operation Southern Spear

  07-12-2025 14:00 via defenseone.com
  Wars have long been weighed by their expenditure of “blood and treasure”—their human and financial costs. Indeed, Donald Trump has long used the phrase as a metric to judge the wisdom of deploying U.S. forces, dating to his 2013 critiques of the war in Afghanistan. Now Trump has launched his own military operation in which the United States is outspending its opponent by several orders of magnitude. History suggests that a decision point is coming soon: escalate or go home.Deba
  
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• Army stands up Western Hemisphere Command as new strategies highlight domestic operations

  05-12-2025 21:50 via defenseone.com
  The Army’s push to reduce headquarters and general officer positions made more progress Friday with the activation of U.S. Army Western Hemisphere Command, which will replace Army Forces Command and eventually absorb  U.S. Army North and U.S. Army South.The new command will take on FORSCOM’s mission of preparing troops for deployment and combine it with Army North’s experience in supporting civil authorities and Army South’s expertise in working with allies across th
  
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• Intelligence community should monitor supply chains, says new natsec strategy

  05-12-2025 21:00 via defenseone.com
  The U.S. intelligence community should monitor global supply chains as part of a sweeping goal to decouple the nation’s economy from foreign adversaries and advance American economic interests, according to the Trump administration's newly published National Security Strategy.Published late on Thursday, the 33-page strategy document adds to Trump administration direction to federal agencies to treat economic policy as a national-security matter.U.S. spy agencies &l
  
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• Today’s D Brief: New Natsec Strategy; Boat-strike video shows survivors; Russia’s worrisome template; Ukraine’s tech support to the US; And a bit more.

  05-12-2025 19:14 via defenseone.com
  National Security Strategy, releasedThe second Trump administration posted its National Security Strategy to the White House site late Thursday. Read the 33-page document, which is required by Congress but does not necessarily bind future decisions, here.As expected, it puts unprecedented focus on the Americas and immigrants. A section titled “What Do We Want In and From the World?” [formatting in the original] begins: “We want to ensure that the Western Hemisphere remains reas
  
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• Ukraine is helping the US catch up with modern warfare—for now

  05-12-2025 09:30 via defenseone.com
  Even as the Pentagon designs new tactics and tech based on lessons from Ukraine—like the new attack drones it is testing—some say the United States is still undervaluing its relationship with Kyiv.​​Take the Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, or LUCAS, a one-way attack drone modeled on wrecked Russian Shahed-136s recovered by Ukrainian troops. Developed by Arizona-based SpektreWorks, the LUCAS appeared earlier this year in a Pentagon courtyard display of new programs
  
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• Legal experts fail to see justification for continued U.S. military strikes on drug boats.

  05-12-2025 02:26 via defenseone.com
  Legal experts aren’t buying explanations for the U.S. military’s strikes on alleged drug-runners at sea and fear Congress could be swayed by what they say are the Trump administration’s murky legal justifications for continued action.Hours after a classified briefing for Congress on Thursday regarding a Sept. 2 strike that killed two survivors on a Venezuelan drug boat, legal experts speaking at the Center For A New American Security said the administration has failed to make a
  
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• NRO extends contracts for 4 providers, readies new acquisition approach

  04-12-2025 22:52 via breakingdefense.com
  NRO Deputy Director Maj. Gen. Christopher Povak said that the spysat agency soon will begin using a new commercial contract vehicle with a five-year “rolling” window for bids.
  
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• Pentagon refines zero trust for OT as Air Force treats its bases as frontline targets

  04-12-2025 22:05 via breakingdefense.com
  A zero trust end state is not redundancy or recovery but an infrastructure that never goes down in the first place.
  
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• Hegseth broke rules, DODIG concludes, even though he said Yemen strike details were ‘safe to declassify’

  04-12-2025 21:42 via defenseone.com
  Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the inspector general investigators looking into his alleged use of Signal to share classified strike plans that he determined the details he shared either weren’t classified to begin with or were “safe to declassify,” according to a written statement included in a report released Thursday by the Defense Department’s independent oversight office.Though Hegseth had the authority to make that decision, the IG found he was still in violati
  
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• F-35As inch closer to carrying Meteor missiles after ‘pivotal’ ground tests

  04-12-2025 21:16 via breakingdefense.com
  Italy is sponsoring integration of the ramjet powered weapon on the F-35A, while the UK is leading integration on the F-35B model.
  
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• Golden Dome and National Defense Strategy rollouts may come at Reagan

  04-12-2025 20:22 via breakingdefense.com
  The national security establishment is gathering this weekend in Simi Valley, Calif., for the annual Reagan National Defense Forum.
  
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• Navy blames crew, training for losing F-18s, other mishaps from Truman CSG deployment

  04-12-2025 19:30 via breakingdefense.com
  Navy investigators found one commanding officer’s decision to fire on friendly fighter jets was neither “reasonable” nor “prudent” given the information he had at hand.
  
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• Saab developing minimally viable AI-assisted after-action review platform

  04-12-2025 18:55 via breakingdefense.com
  The product provides an AI-generated response, acting like a chatbot, that informs users on how warfighters performed during a training event based on data from the company’s exercise control (EXCON) software suite.
  
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• The D Brief: Evolving boat-strike defense; Signalgate report, published; The $148B failure; New poll on natsec issues; And a bit more.

  04-12-2025 17:26 via defenseone.com
  The White House’s boat-strike defense reportedly continues to evolve. Trump officials now say the second strike that killed two survivors of a Sept. 2 attack was intended to destroy the speedboat and not the crew, Hugo Lowell of the Guardian reported Wednesday, describing this as “the firmest legal ground” to base the attacks, which numerous lawmakers and critics have said appear to have been either murder or a war crime. (Former Justice Department attorney Joyce Vance wrote Tu
  
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• Signalgate IG report: Hegseth risked ‘harm’ to mission with texts

  04-12-2025 17:24 via breakingdefense.com
  “The Secretary’s actions created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed U.S. mission objectives and potential harm to U.S. pilots,” the IG found, but the classification question is more complicated.
  
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• How to design a credible air deterrent for Ukraine after a ceasefire

  04-12-2025 16:52 via breakingdefense.com
  If a ceasefire in Ukraine happens, the European Union should lead the creation of an Allied Air Command for Ukraine (AAC-U), write Dave Deptula and Jahara Matisek.
  
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• Northrop Grumman to fly new, improved CCA offering next year

  04-12-2025 06:07 via defenseone.com
  MOJAVE, Calif.—When Northrop Grumman lost its initial bid for the U.S. Air Force’s collaborative combat aircraft, the company went back to the drawing board. Now, it wants to fly a new prototype, called Project Talon, in the next nine months. Project Talon—previously referred to as Project Lotus internally—builds on the company’s initial offering for the first increment of the U.S. Air Force’s collaborative combat aircraft program. But while CCA’s f
  
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• Poll finds increasing support for international engagement, Golden Dome spending 

  04-12-2025 06:01 via breakingdefense.com
  “Majorities want the United States to take the lead in international affairs, believe American military superiority is essential, and support a force sized to deter and, if necessary, win conflicts against more than one major adversary at a time,” said a summary of the annual Ronald Reagan Institute poll.
  
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• Majority of Americans favor more support to Ukraine, Ukrainian victory

  04-12-2025 06:01 via defenseone.com
  A widening majority of Americans want Ukraine to prevail over Russia and support sending U.S. weapons to Ukraine to support that goal, according to survey data released Thursday.Ukraine has bipartisan support from a majority of Republicans and Democrats surveyed, or 62 percent overall, according to the latest Reagan National Defense Survey. The results come after the Trump administration last month asked Ukraine to make deep concessions in terms of its territory and its ability to defend itself
  
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• Project Talon: Northrop unveils new loyal wingman drone design

  04-12-2025 03:20 via breakingdefense.com
  “The idea was to see if we could build an aircraft that had all the same capability of our original offering [for the Air Force’s CCA program], and do it faster,” said Tom Jones, Northrop’s head of aeronautic systems.
  
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• To rebuild America’s defense industry, unleash private capital

  04-12-2025 02:27 via defenseone.com
  Our defense industrial base is under strain—munitions stockpiles are low, supply chains are brittle, and outdated regulations are slowing down private investment. To stay ahead of emerging threats, we must rebuild American manufacturing and empower the private sector to help secure our future.We need capital to flow into eight national security drivers: AI and quantum, biotechnology, critical minerals, cybersecurity, space, energy, agricultural tech, and semiconductors. America’s inv
  
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• The $148 billion failure: Watchdog's final report excoriates America’s attempt to rebuild Afghanistan

  04-12-2025 00:03 via defenseone.com
  More than $148 billion was spent by the U.S. government in its failed attempt to build a free Afghanistan, according to the final report by the official watchdog office, whose careful documentation of waste and fraud, and its warnings of Taliban resurgence, went largely unheeded.For 17 years, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, tracked every dollar allocated to the country for security, development, and humanitarian aid. As early as 2012, the office saw signs
  
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• New offensive cyber operations squad standing up for Air Force Reserve

  03-12-2025 23:17 via breakingdefense.com
  As cyber veterans exit active duty, a new Reserve offensive squadron gives them a way to keep executing missions, an officer told Breaking Defense.
  
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• GDIT chief Gilliland bets her humans will master artificial intelligence

  03-12-2025 21:01 via breakingdefense.com
  “It’s early days,” said Amy Gilliland, president of General Dynamics Information Technology. “Right now, the battle that we are waging is education: It is about understanding what AI can do for you.”
  
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• USV producer Saronic to invest $300M into Louisiana shipyard

  03-12-2025 20:30 via breakingdefense.com
  The new construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
  
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• Germany receives first Arrow 3 air defense system from Israel

  03-12-2025 20:13 via breakingdefense.com
  The $4 billion deal to deliver Arrow 3 to Germany was finalized in late 2023.
  
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• The D Brief: Hegseth cites ‘fog of war’; USAF axes China-focused reforms; CENTCOM’s new attack-drone unit; Firms qualify for Golden Dome work; And a bit more.

  03-12-2025 17:33 via defenseone.com
  Amid allegations of his involvement in possible war crimes, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth now cites the “fog of war” as a factor in the reported killing of survivors of a U.S. missile strike on an alleged drug-trafficking boat off the coast of Latin America in September, and claims he “watched that first strike live” but “didn’t stick around” for subsequent strikes. Rewind: “I watched it live,” Hegseth told Fox on Sept. 3. “We kne
  
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• Gargantuan Golden Dome contract vehicle clears 1,000-plus firms to vie for slices of $151 billion

  03-12-2025 16:57 via defenseone.com
  More than 1,000 defense companies have been picked to compete for Golden Dome work worth up to $151 billion—one of the biggest contract vehicles ever.The Missile Defense Agency selected 1,104 “qualifying offerers” out of 2,463 applicants, according to a Tuesday evening Defense Department announcement, choosing about 45% of those who entered. The qualifying firms are permitted to vie for contracts under the the multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract dub
  
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• The US needs more than troops at a Syrian airbase to constrain ISIS, Iran

  03-12-2025 00:52 via defenseone.com
  The U.S. proposal to establish a military presence at an airbase near Damascus is a welcome sign of deepening cooperation with Syria’s new government, but it may be insufficient to secure regional U.S. interests. A Damascus presence should complement—not replace—the U.S. partnership with the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, which remains essential to preventing a resurgence of the Islamic State, or  ISIS, and constraining Iranian activity.The ISIS challenge is concen
  
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