Defense Policy

Ukraine will hold its first coalition meeting on a homegrown ballistic missile defense system in France “in the coming days.”

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle has been on a “containerized capability campaign.”

Here’s what we’re watching for after Congress comes back in July.

U.S. Marines on Guam successfully fired the service's new Medium-Range Intercept Capability system during Exercise Valiant Shield.

Separately, MBDA and Rheinmetall were selected to develop a laser weapon system for the German Navy.

While services test teaming with Collaborative Combat Aircraft, industry faces hard questions.

From deep strike funding to a relatively tame Trump, what emerged from the event will have largely pleased most of the 32 allies.

Depending on who’s named to head the new drone-buying office, and how they handle the inevitable friction, said a former Pentagon AI chief, “it may turn out to be a master stroke … [or] it could end up looking like the F-35.”

[Sponsored] Simulations consistently point to the vulnerability of larger refuelers concentrated at a handful of airfields.

Rheinmetall and MBDA aim to field an operational laser weapon for the German Navy in 2029.

Russia has told one of its spies in Europe to find out more about air defense capabilities Western nations are sending to Ukraine.

When the United States and Iran announced their framework agreement on June 15, attention focused on the direct U.S.-Iran dimensions of the deal, including the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of the U.S. naval blockade, and the fate of Iran’s nuclear program. But the agreement also included a commitment to the “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon.” Washington had spent months treating Lebanon as a separate issue in negotiations, even as the Israel-Hizballah conflict remained active under a nominal ceasefire in place since April 16.It was ultimately this second front that The post Going Over the Brink: How Hizballah’s Risk Strategy Made Lebanon Impossible to Ignore appeared first on War on the Rocks.

On the heels of a Patriot license pledge, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed progress on billion-dollar defense tech deals with the U.S.

In a 47-page omnibus reprogramming notification, the Pentagon outlines an array of weapon and tech programs it wants to strip dollars from to pay for “unforeseen military requirements” which are “determined to be necessary in the national interests.”

“The Pentagon is building a better mousetrap while the mice are rewriting the blueprint for the house,” argues this analyst.

Welcome to The Adversarial. Every other week, we’ll provide you with expert analysis on America’s greatest challengers: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and jihadists. Read more below.***IranThree weeks after it was signed, the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran seems to be quickly unravelling. The two sides skirmished after an April ceasefire and continued to do so after the memorandum of understanding was reached, but had managed to keep those tit-for-tat exchanges from escalating into a full-on return to hostilities. Their agreement nonetheless faced death by a thousand cuts over mutual claims of violations and bad faith.A string The post Fraying Deals and Rising Strikes appeared first on War on the Rocks.

In a joint statement, the 12-member coalition linked the move to America’s shifting stance in European defense.

The program aims to minimize troops’ exposure to danger and ensure safe passage of follow-on forces, according to the Army.

President Donald Trump unexpectedly left Turkey on Wednesday aboard an older Air Force One rather than the newly renovated Qatari-donated jet.

Details were scant about a project that may amount to another European weapons-coordination umbrella rather than new technology development.

At the start of the NATO Summit, the American president lambasted allied nations that refused to aid in US strikes against Tehran, including Italy.

“Space Operational Energy is a growing focus for us. We hope to host industry days and create avenues for collaboration with industry partners in the near future,” an Air Force spokesperson told Breaking Defense.

Germany will purchase Tomahawk cruise missiles from the United States and station them on German soil.

“The most important mission that we have now is the robotization of the battlefield, because only this will allow our country to win the war.”

Two analysts and a former defense official praised the Army’s new LCI program, while also pointing to concerns over production bottlenecks, budget constraints and testing procedures.

Two analysts and a former defense official praised the Army’s new LCI program, while also pointing to concerns over production bottlenecks, budget constraints and testing procedures.

Joe Jewell left academia and his role directing hypersonic wind tunnels to oversee the Pentagon’s science and technology enterprise. He wants more researchers to make the same move. He joins Jonathan to discuss the Pentagon’s science enterprise, why he thinks academia is the envy of America’s closest allies, and how his office gets technology from the lab into the hands of the warfighter.Image: Gabriella White via DVIDS. The post The Pentagon’s Sprint to Get Tech Out of the Lab and to the Warfighter appeared first on War on the Rocks.

In the span of two weeks, the White House issued two of the most ambitious artificial intelligence directives in American history. On June 2, President Donald Trump signed an executive order mandating rapid AI adoption and hardened cyber defense across the government. Three days later, National Security Presidential Memorandum 11 directed every element of the national security enterprise to accelerate AI adoption, anchored by four pillars: adoption, adaptation, assurance, and accountability.The strategy is sound. The harder challenge is execution, and a fiscal squeeze on the Fiscal Year 2026 operations and maintenance accounts threatens to stall it before it begins. On The post The Pentagon’s AI Strategy Has a Funding Problem appeared first on War on the Rocks.

Mali is not Syria, and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin is not Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.While the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime and the rise of the Ahmed al-Sharaa government in Damascus, Syria can be seen as a net positive for regional security in the Levant, a Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin victory in Mali would devastate the region.Unlike Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin is a horizontally integrated transnational coalition committed to dismantling existing international borders, with a rank and file too radical to accept an Islamic Emirate of Mali as a terminal goal. Iyad Ag Ghali, the leader of The post Victory for al-Qaeda’s Affiliate in Mali Would be a Catastrophe appeared first on War on the Rocks.

Mali is not Syria, and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin is not Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.While the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime and the rise of the Ahmed al-Sharaa government in Damascus, Syria can be seen as a net positive for regional security in the Levant, a Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin victory in Mali would devastate the region.Unlike Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin is a horizontally integrated transnational coalition committed to dismantling existing international borders, with a rank and file too radical to accept an Islamic Emirate of Mali as a terminal goal. Iyad Ag Ghali, the leader of The post Victory for al-Qaeda’s Affiliate in Mali Would be a Regional Catastrophe appeared first on War on the Rocks.