The Senate passed a massive party-line spending package Tuesday, including a one-time surge in defense spending the Pentagon is counting on for its upcoming fiscal year 2026 budget. By a vote of 51-50 — with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie — the chamber advanced the vast tax, healthcare and border security bill President…
ROME — Turkish drone firm Baykar has said it will produce its Akinci and TB2 platforms in Italy at Piaggio Aerospace, for which acquisition proceedings began in December. The drone maker revealed the plan in a statement announcing the closing of the Piaggio deal, which gives the Turkish firm a foothold in Europe after supplying…
MILAN — Competition is heating up for Norway’s envisioned Arctic-capable, long-range maritime drones, as two American manufacturers have entered the race. As part of the 2025-2036 Norwegian Defense Pledge, Oslo has committed to acquiring new unmanned aerial systems to be stationed at the Andøya Air Station, some 300 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. Earlier…
The top military commander in charge of troops deployed to Los Angeles to respond to protests against immigration raids has asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth if 200 of those forces could be returned to wildfire fighting duty, two U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Monday. President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of about 4,000…
The Defense Logistics Agency Maritime Mechanicsburg awarded a $5 billion contract this month to six businesses with the goal of boosting ship manufacturing at speed. The Maritime Acquisition Advancement Contract is an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract designed to accelerate procurement processes. The MAAC has five one-year options at $1 billion each and can potentially reach up to…
The Air Force plans to use leftover funds from the LGM-35A Sentinel nuclear missile program to help pay for refurbishing a Qatari-donated plane into a new Air Force One presidential transport aircraft. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said in a June 26 hearing that the reallocated Sentinel money was “excess to need in [20]24,” and…
The Missile Defense Agency’s budget request for fiscal 2026 is flat at $10.2 billion and depends on another $3 billion in supplemental funding not yet passed by Congress, bringing the total ask to $13.2 billion, according to Defense Department documents. If both the budget and supplement were approved by Congress, the agency would receive a…
U.S. Navy warships conducting operations in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea disrupted several Iranian air strikes, according to a release issued by the service Sunday. The U.S. 6th Fleet positioned five Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers in the area to provide defensive support to Israel. Since June 14, the ships “intercepted multiple Iranian ballistic missiles,” the release…
MILAN — Drawing from Ukraine’s battlefield successes, a growing number of European companies have begun fielding drones with artificial intelligence features. An element of Ukraine’s recent “Spider Web” operation on June 1 – a covert drone attack carried out deep inside Russia – was largely overlooked: the supporting role played by AI. According to the…
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on June 29 initiating his country’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention, the international treaty banning anti-personnel landmines. The 1997 Ottawa Convention prohibits the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of anti-personnel mines, weapons designed to be buried or hidden underground that often maim or kill…
