Defense PolicyJun 24, 2026
Germany scraps F126 frigate program, pivots to MEKO warships amid cost and contractor chaos
Germany Navy leaders have already blessed the fallback ships as capable of meeting NATO capability requirements, but an alliance deadline looms.
Defense PolicyJun 24, 2026
Tank maker KNDS plans stock market listing, Germany to buy 40% stake
The firm showed a proposed battle tank at Eurosatory defense exhibition in Paris boasting a French turret and gun mounted on a German Leopard 2 chassis.
Defense PolicyJun 24, 2026
Designing Drones for Africa
This exclusive Cogs of War interview is with Maxwell Maduka, the co-founder and chief engineer of Terra Industries, an African defense technology company building autonomous drone and counter-drone systems designed for the continent’s operating conditions. As cheap imported airframes flood African markets and non-state actors employ drones across the Sahel, we asked Max why Terra is betting on Africa building its own defense industrial base.Cheap Turkish and Chinese drones and sensor systems have proliferated across Africa for years. Where do those systems fall short, and what capabilities do you hope to add to the crowded unmanned market?Imported Turkish and Chinese The post Designing Drones for Africa appeared first on War on the Rocks.
Defense PolicyJun 24, 2026
AI Agents and the Unseen Work of War
Armies run on more than what happens at the front. Behind every operation is a vast amount of coordination, administration, logistics, and judgment. Bill Pessin, senior vice president of national security at Salesforce and a former U.S. Army logistics officer, joins Jonathan to discuss how military organizations can use AI agents, what makes these tools different from ordinary software, and why safety and accountability matter when new technology enters national security work. They also discuss what Pessin learned early in his Army career about the gap between plans, systems, and the people who have to make them work. Image: Petty The post AI Agents and the Unseen Work of War appeared first on War on the Rocks.
Defense PolicyJun 24, 2026
From Vietnam to Iran: Wartime Diplomacy and Secret Deals
Wars rarely end in a single act of diplomacy. More often, they pass through a succession of ceasefires, frameworks, understandings, as well as provisional and even secret arrangements before anyone can determine whether peace is actually at hand. The Trump administration’s memorandum with Iran is best understood in those terms. In both form and logic, it recalls an earlier American effort to negotiate an exit from an unpopular conflict: the Paris Peace Accords of 1973.The four primary parties to the Vietnam War (1965 to 1975) — the United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the The post From Vietnam to Iran: Wartime Diplomacy and Secret Deals appeared first on War on the Rocks.
