Know What's Happening in Defense
Know What's Happening in Defense
Israeli intelligence aids U.S. rescue of downed airman in Iran
Israeli intelligence agencies provided critical location data and operational guidance to U.S. forces during a rescue mission for a stranded airman in Iran on April 5, 2026. The coordination enabled a safe extraction and prompted Israel to temporarily pause regional attacks to avoid interference. The operation highlights rare direct cooperation between the two nations in a high‑risk environment.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Kraken Robotics acquires Colvya Group for $615M
The failed December 7, 2025 coup in Benin has left Niger’s military government even more isolated, sharpening a diplomatic opening for Washington. Niger’s junta seized roughly 1,000 tons of uranium yellowcake from French firm Orano, but legal rulings and transit obstacles have frozen the material at Niamey’s airport. The United States can leverage this uranium impasse to mediate a face‑saving resolution, potentially reviving its counter‑terrorism partnership and curbing Russian influence in the Sahel. Time is limited as the junta’s desperation grows.
It's great that allies are helping. And both France and UK have aircraft carriers that could help. But let's not forget that Europe was a LOT more concerned with keeping the Red Sea open than Biden was... yet, collectively, not...
Threat actors masquerading as IT support used a spam‑email and phone‑call campaign to deliver the Havoc command‑and‑control framework across five organizations. By tricking users into remote‑access sessions, they sideloaded malicious DLLs that deployed Havoc Demon payloads and legitimate RMM tools...
The United Kingdom has dispatched the Type‑45 destroyer HMS Dragon and two Wildcat helicopters armed with Martlet missiles to the Eastern Mediterranean. The warship’s Sea Viper system can launch eight missiles in under ten seconds and guide sixteen simultaneously, bolstering air‑defence...
Umm… we own the GPS satellites. We can also just turn them off for non-military use. We did it in 2003 at the start of the Iraq war (although officially it was a “malfunction”) That’s the reason the EU, China and Russia built...
The Diplomat’s Asia Geopolitics podcast examined the U.S. and Israeli bombing of Iran, framing it as a flashpoint that could reshape Asian strategic calculations. Hosts Ankit Panda and Catherine Putz highlighted how the conflict tests nuclear deterrence credibility and may inspire North...
Regime Change in Iran? Just some thoughts (with a historical note) about regime change in Iran. IMO the U.S. has made clear they will seek to set the conditions for regime change but not be involved in it directly. Israel conducting...
CloudSEK has uncovered a sophisticated Android espionage campaign dubbed RedAlert, which distributes a trojanized version of Israel’s official Red Alert rocket‑warning app via SMS phishing. The fake app mimics the legitimate interface, delivers real alerts, and silently requests high‑risk permissions...
Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups, often backed by nation‑states, are intensifying attacks on industrial control systems worldwide. Dragos reports that only about 10 % of critical infrastructure facilities have continuous monitoring, leaving most OT environments exposed. Iranian‑backed actors such as IRGC‑affiliated...
Private equity is pouring capital into space and defense, reviving investor enthusiasm, but firms still depend on steady government funding to realize long‑term value. AE Industrial Partners, which backs Redwire, Firefly Aerospace and York Space Systems, highlighted that government contracts...
At the outset of World War II, the United States relied almost entirely on imported natural rubber, which supplied roughly 70 percent of tire production. When Japan cut off shipments in April 1942, the country faced a crippling rubber famine that limited military...
X is producing the best Iran coverage on earth right now but 90% is slop and most of mainstream media is too focused on political nonsense. As a Pentagon reporter & founder of the world’s most-read maritime news site, here’s who...
Hermeus successfully completed the first flight of its Quarterhorse Mk 2.1 supersonic demonstrator on March 2 at Spaceport America, New Mexico. The remotely piloted aircraft is powered by a Pratt & Whitney F100‑229 engine, marking a step up from the earlier Mk 1 flight at...
Silicon Sensing and Kongsberg Discovery have unveiled a tactical‑grade north‑seeking MEMS gyroscope, the SGH03, delivering navigation‑grade performance in a compact, solid‑state package. The device operates without GNSS or magnetometer assistance, making it resilient in GPS‑denied or magnetically hostile environments. Developed...
LexisNexis Legal & Professional confirmed a breach after hackers exploited an unpatched React frontend, using the React2Shell vulnerability to access its AWS environment. The threat actor FulcrumSec leaked over 2 GB of data, including 21,042 customer accounts, 45 attorney password hashes,...
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Davos speech called on Canada, India, Australia and Japan to form a middle‑powers club as the liberal order strains under U.S. pressure. The proposal marks a shift toward collective diversification away from the United States...
The Joint Special Operations University report warns that sensor‑rich battlefields are turning every movement into a data point, exposing Special Operations Forces to automated inference, overhead drones, subsurface vibration detectors, and ambient device networks. Gielas argues that merely knowing these...
Security researcher Gjoko Krstic disclosed a high‑risk flaw in Honeywell's IQ4 building‑management controller, claiming the web‑based HMI is unauthenticated by default and can be exploited to create admin accounts. He identified roughly 7,500 internet‑exposed devices, with about 20% lacking authentication,...
Western and Indo‑Pacific allies launched the Global Coalition on Telecoms (GCOT) at Mobile World Congress, uniting the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Australia, Sweden and Finland. The coalition released a set of voluntary security and resilience principles designed to...
The Port of Chancay, inaugurated in 2024, is a joint COSCO‑Volcan venture financed by a $975 million Chinese loan. In its first ten months of operation, the port moved $1.88 billion in trade and generated $234 million in customs revenue, moving toward a...
Primoco UAV SE secured a €4 million contract with Spain's Guardia Civil to supply its One 150 medium‑weight UAV, marking the company's first major 2026 deal. The order follows a record 2025 where Primoco delivered 42 aircraft worth CZK 1.06 billion. To meet growing...
Pakistan’s deputy prime minister warned Iran that the 2025 Saudi‑Pakistan Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement obliges Islamabad to defend Riyadh against aggression. The pact, which includes all military means and an implied nuclear umbrella, is being used to deter Iran’s recent...
The Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully completed three successive flight trials of its Very Short‑Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS) from Chandipur’s Integrated Test Range on 27 February. The missiles intercepted high‑speed aerial targets across varied speeds, ranges and...
Navantia UK announced it will recruit 35 apprentices for its Scottish yards in Methil and Arnish, covering Level 2 and Level 3 programmes in electrical engineering, fabrication, welding and CAD design. The hiring supports the company's broader pledge to train 500 apprentices...
Dr. Carter Malkasian’s Winter 2026 TNSR article argues that the Cold War fundamentally reshaped warfare in the greater Middle East, eroding state monopolies on violence and empowering non‑state actors. Post‑colonial regimes built conventional armies modeled on European powers, but social...
RS Aqua has entered a strategic partnership with San Diego‑based USV developer Seasats to market its autonomous surface vehicles in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The deal gives RS Aqua exclusive representation of Seasats' Lightfish and Quickfish platforms, which combine...
The Italian Ministry of Defence has awarded BAE Systems OneArc a five‑year contract to replace legacy VBS3 with the newer VBS4 virtual desktop platform and to deploy the Mantle terrain‑generation suite. The upgrade will deliver multi‑weapon, multi‑domain simulation for armored,...
U.S. Central Command confirmed that its forces struck Iran’s domestically built drone carrier Shahid Bagheri during the initial phase of Operation Epic Fury, while dismissing the Revolutionary Guard Corps’ claim that a U.S. aircraft carrier was hit. The IRGC alleged four...
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members have asked Italy for SAMP/T air‑defence batteries as regional tensions flare following Iranian‑linked missile and drone attacks. The French‑Italian system, equipped with Aster‑30 missiles and the Arabel radar, is the only European platform capable of...
In this episode, Brian Siegelwax interviews a partner from Holland & Knight who also leads the Quantum Industry Coalition, discussing the risks of overstating quantum technology to the U.S. government and the importance of realistic roadmaps. They explore how export...
US Department of State instructs all American civilians to leave the Middle East North Africa region.
A superseding indictment in Texas adds material‑support‑to‑terrorism charges under 18 U.S.C. § 2339A to nine defendants accused of shooting a police officer during a July 4, 2025 protest at an ICE detention center. The statute, originally crafted to disrupt terrorist logistics, does not require proof...
Ukraine has emerged from its harshest winter with its power grid crippled by Russian attacks that cut electricity production by roughly 80%, yet civilian life in Kyiv continues thanks to generators and restored heating. On the battlefield, the front remains...
The article defines the “gray zone” as a strategic space where states apply coercive actions that fall short of open warfare, leveraging ambiguity and deniability. It highlights how Russia, China, Iran and even the United States employ cyber intrusions, disinformation,...
It has been almost a year since the Kremlin’s rosy dream, along with that of its useful idiots, became reality: the U.S. administration withdrew 99% of its support for Ukraine, despite the American public opinion. And yet even that scenario,...
A strike on the Assembly of Experts is the clearest statement that Israel's goal is regime change not counterproliferation. I will repeat what I said in June: the operation is a tactical success if the regime falls, a failure if...
The article defines the "third nuclear age" as a chaotic, multipolar era marked by expanding arsenals, the 2026 expiration of the New START treaty, and rapid modernization in the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and France. Emerging technologies...
Incredible conversation with @emilmichael. - Lessons from tech for the Pentagon - Peacetime vs wartime speed - Making applied AI his #1 focus - The AI race with China - Commercial AI in the Pentagon https://t.co/xQpz6pZAQK
.@thalesgroup: @Thales_Alenia_S rev rose 7.6% in 2025, on pace for 7%+ EBIT margin in 2027; merger w/ @AirbusSpace & @LDO_Space on track; @industriAll_EU unions pose conditions for accepting the deal. @esa @defis_eu.https://t.co/GarzC7tTBf https://t.co/8oHhgoms52
KC-135 model in the Oval. So there's a VC-25B, B-2, F-35, F-22 and KC-135? https://t.co/rMEE6kvj9A
Don’t forget: China has a naval base nearby in Djibouti. They have stood silently by for years watching the US and EU protect ships in the Red Sea without doing anything to help. But they could…
Ukrainian ombudsman: 337 Ukrainian POWs are known to have been executed in Russian captivity, as of late 2025. 95% of Ukrainian POWs are subjected to systematic torture.
Not a single aircraft is visible on the ramp in satellite imagery of Al Udeid Air Base. Absolutely massive installation usually littered with aircraft. I have never seen this before. Eerie to look at.
Am late to the party, but I had not noticed that the US used the PrSM Increment 1 for the first time in combat. At ~500 km range, it's a big improvement over ~300 km range ATACMs given the...
Gulf Arab States Under Pressure As Iranian Attacks Grind On Energy infrastructure and ports around the Gulf are increasingly on the receiving end of Iranian drones and missiles. Live updating: https://t.co/SSyRW1QGcb
Pentagon policy chief Bridge Colby tells lawmakers just now the DOD doesn't plan to do a formal Nuclear Posture Review. Prior declaratory strategy from Trump's first term remains relevant
The @cmacgm announced they are suspending bookings into the Persian Gulf. The @MarineNationale provided escorts for CMA CGM to sail through the Bab el-Mandeb when the Houthi attacked. What will happen with the French Navy arrives in the Strait of...
Worth remembering in all this debate about interceptor missiles vs drones/cruise missiles and stocks/reserves running out, that doctrinally the standard engagement RoE is always fire TWO missiles at every target. Then watch and fire 2 more to ensure a kill...
As of August 2025, the US Army's PEO Missiles and Space had 202 FMS cases in the Middle East, totaling about $43.7b. Slide from SMD Symposium: (no, I have no idea why the former flag of Afghanistan is on there)...
Apropos of nothing, Facebook reminds me two years ago today I flew backseat in an F-15E. Didn't think the ejection training would have relevance to current events two years later. https://t.co/kVxJj2kS3j
