Know What's Happening in Defense
Know What's Happening in Defense
U.S. IDFC boosts reinsurance guarantees for Hormuz shipping to $40 billion
The U.S. International Development Finance Corp has doubled its reinsurance guarantees for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to $40 billion, adding major insurers such as AIG and Berkshire Hathaway. The step is intended to reinforce maritime security amid escalating regional tensions.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Kraken Robotics acquires Colvya Group for $615M
A Pakistani airstrike hit the Omid rehabilitation center in Kabul on March 19, 2026, killing at least 400 patients and injuring roughly 250, though witnesses claim the toll may be higher. The facility, designed for 1,000 patients, was overcrowded with up to 1,800 individuals at the time of the strike. Families have been left searching for missing relatives amid chaotic lists and makeshift morgues. The attack occurs amid a fragile cease‑fire and escalating cross‑border hostilities between Pakistan and the Taliban‑run Afghan government.
A U.S. F‑35 was reportedly hit by Iranian fire during a combat mission, forcing an emergency landing. The incident directly contradicts Washington’s narrative that Iran’s air defenses have been “flattened” and that the United States enjoys uncontested air superiority. It...
China’s PLAAF J-16D electronic warfare jet was photographed on March 17, 2026, carrying two PL-15 beyond‑visual‑range air‑to‑air missiles and three RKZ930‑xx jamming pods, marking the first known flight appearance of this weapons combination. The J-16D, a specialized variant of the...
True Anomaly, a stealth‑born startup, is building the Jackal satellite platform— a refrigerator‑sized, highly maneuverable spacecraft designed for low‑cost, mass‑produced space‑to‑space engagements. The company has already flown two test missions and plans a third, while securing roughly $400 million in venture...
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is operating with roughly one‑third of its staff as the DHS shutdown sidelines 1,500 employees and leaves the agency without a permanent director. Despite the staffing squeeze, CISA continues to issue critical alerts—such...
President Trump invoked the legal “imminent threat” standard to rationalize a possible invasion of Iran, claiming that waiting for Tehran to develop a nuclear weapon would be a suicide pact for the United States. Earlier this year a U.S. bunker‑buster...
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to the White House, praising Japan for “stepping up” on Iran while contrasting it with NATO’s lukewarm stance. The discussion focused on securing the Strait of Hormuz, expanding energy cooperation,...
The IETF’s draft Merkle tree certificates (MTCs) promise a quantum‑resistant web that is both smaller and faster than existing post‑quantum solutions. By compressing certificate data to roughly 840 bytes, MTCs cut bandwidth and latency compared with ML‑DSA signatures that can exceed...
The Pentagon is launching an Economic Defense Unit, dubbed “Deal Team Six,” staffed by Wall Street bankers from firms like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan. The unit will make strategic equity investments in defense suppliers to address chronic production bottlenecks, such...
The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) overhaul, launched last year, saw the GSA and OMB issue nearly 50 master deviations and strip more than 2,700 pages from the rulebook. However, the promised final rules have not materialized by the September 30...
The Royal Air Force has unveiled Rapid Sentry, a short‑range air‑defence system built to counter hostile drones. It fires Thales‑manufactured Lightweight Multirole Missiles (LMM/Martlet) capable of reaching Mach 1.5 and engaging targets up to 8 km away. The system is expected to...
The U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command awarded Kratos Technology & Training Solutions a $446.8 million Ground Management and Integration contract to build the command‑and‑control backbone for the Resilient Missile Warning and Tracking program in medium‑earth‑orbit. The agreement, structured as an...
1. Keep in mind that explosions look much bigger in IR because they oversaturate the sensor. 2. It's not the explosion that does the damage it is the shrapnel so where the warhead fuzes in relation to the aircraft plays a...
NATO launched its first testing, evaluation, verification and validation (TEVV) campaign for unmanned aircraft systems and counter‑UAS technologies at Latvia’s Sēlija Military Training Area from March 9‑13, 2026. The exercise gathered defense‑industry firms from NATO members, Ukraine, operational users and government officials...
In a live session at the SCSP AI + Education Summit, U.S. Senator Mike Rounds and NVIDIA co‑founder Chris Malachowsky argued that America must seize the AI moment to stay globally competitive. They cited a potential $4.7 trillion boost to the U.S. economy if...
Comtech has delivered the first batch of Enterprise Digital Intermediate Frequency Multi‑Carrier (EDIM) modems under a $48.6 million U.S. Army contract signed in 2023. The units are still in development and will undergo final acceptance testing this summer before fielding. The...
The U.S. State Department approved a series of Foreign Military Sales to Gulf allies, including a $1.22 billion AMRAAM missile deal, a $644 million F‑16 munitions package, a $4.5 billion THAAD‑integrated radar, and a $2.10 billion FS‑LIDS counter‑drone system for the United Arab Emirates....
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have agreed to launch a joint mediation mission aimed at reconciling Dassault Aviation and Airbus and rescuing the €100‑billion Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme. The effort, announced at an EU...
President Donald Trump has plunged the United States into a new, rapidly expanding Middle East war, a move that diverges sharply from the objectives outlined in his three‑month‑old National Security Strategy. The conflict’s goals are shifting daily, creating a chaotic...
The defense sector is accelerating development of uncrewed rotary aircraft to support logistics in contested environments. Airbus leads the effort with its MQ‑72C, built for the U.S. Marine Corps Aerial Logistics Connector demonstration. These UAVs are derived from existing crewed...
The Pentagon terminated its $200 million contract with Anthropic after the company demanded safeguards against mass surveillance and autonomous weapons, while the DoD insisted on unrestricted model access. In response, the Defense Department has moved to integrate OpenAI’s GPT and xAI’s...
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi warned that recent U.S. and Israeli strikes have not dismantled Iran’s core nuclear capabilities. He said the enriched uranium stockpile remains largely where it was, primarily at the Isfahan complex and in smaller quantities at...
I have a bad feeling Trump is going to give up the remaining support of Ukraine in exchange for Putin's help re-opening the Strait of Hormuz.
FRENCH NATO GEN. YAKOVLEFF: “.. [Trump] wants to share the political risk, not the military risk. .. He’ll drop us the minute it suits him. .. This isn’t the time to buy a promo ticket on the Titanic.” https://t.co/mEGqDFMbiq
The White House released President Trump’s Cyber Strategy for America in mid‑March, outlining six policy pillars that target critical‑infrastructure protection, emerging‑technology superiority, and a broadened offensive cyber posture. Notably, the strategy calls for securing supply‑chain integrity, promoting U.S.‑made hardware, and...
My take in @BusinessInsider on the US-Israeli war against Iran: "The war planners in Washington, D.C. and Jerusalem apparently never understood that, when under attack, Iran would adopt Muhammad Ali's classic rope-a-dope strategy." https://t.co/Mw1R4PoFVd
The FBI appears to have seized the website of an Iran-linked hacker group that claimed responsibility for the only known significant cyberattack on a U.S. company since war between the countries started in February. https://t.co/B8Efsx5dD0
HMS Mersey, supported by a Wildcat helicopter, spent 48 hours shadowing the Steregushchiy‑class corvette RFS Soobrazitelny and the sanctioned oil tanker MV Anatoly Kolodkin as they transited the English Channel. After separating at the western approaches, Soobrazitelny turned back east while the tanker continued into...
If genuine: A pop up attack with an IR sensor tracking the F-35 from the ground. Likely seen flying by day Iran has small IR SAMs derived from Soviet AAMs like R-27T/ET. Might also be Saqr-1/2 (358/359) loitering SAM Q: why didn’t F-35...
Hegseth wants Pentagon to dump Anthropic's Claude, but military users say it's not so easy https://t.co/JpevYXENl9
At Space‑Comm London, a panel of government and industry leaders warned that space has become a core national security arena, with satellite jamming and anti‑satellite weapons now routine. Speakers stressed the need for the UK to protect its interests by...
Meaningful development here as red lines are trying to be drawn around civilian infrastructure in the Gulf.
SCOOP: Marine Corps F-35Bs are set to deliver in Lot 17 without radars due to delays with the APG-85. Starting in Lot 18, all F-35s delivered to the U.S. military will be awaiting a radar. With @michaeldmarrow and @Diana_Stancy : https://t.co/6HIqluDOZx
SpiderOak has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems PMO to conduct supply‑chain analysis and cybersecurity assessments for vendors in the Drone Dominance Program. The company will apply its Advanced Cyber Threat & Resilience Assessments (ACTRA)...
On @BloombergTV with @kaileyleinz and @JMathieuReports, I walked through the maps and data behind a widening conflict, from the Strait of Hormuz to shifting Iranian strike patterns to damaged energy infrastructure. The takeaway: expect more escalation. https://t.co/MMeopdNbnK
Ernest King famously allowed the Japanese to keep trading oil and lifted sanctions on them in the middle of the war.
Russian state‑backed APT28 leveraged the high‑severity Zimbra Collaboration Suite flaw CVE‑2025‑66376, a stored XSS that enables unauthenticated remote code execution, to target Ukrainian government entities. The vulnerability was patched in early November, yet attackers continue to exploit unpatched installations. The...
Two cents here from the back row of this briefing: In convos with veterans, military families and other Americans, I've heard thanks from some for asking hard questions and frustration from others. Our role is to scrutinize each step of the...
USAF F-35 Makes Emergency Landing After Allegedly Being Hit by Iranian Fire The F-35 was flying a mission over Iran when it was forced to divert. A video claiming to show the engagement points to a key threat we have highlighted...
With renewed talk of a large supplemental request, here’s the recent history of DoD supplemental funding in both constant and then-year dollars. #DefenseBudget #SupplementalFunding https://t.co/Y2B7v3yI9W
ISRAEL shrugs off criticism of attack on Iran's South Pars gas field - citing deep coordination with the United States: https://t.co/1CMmLeQHgy
"The role of the U.S. military is to give the President options...strategy isn't a plan that you start on Day 1 and check off a list, it evolves in the uncertainty of what the enemy is doing..." Discussing U.S.-Israel war...
A-10 Warthogs Are Prowling For Iranian Boats In The Strait Of Hormuz A-10s are executing one of the lesser-known missions they've trained to do for decades, hunting down Iranian fast attack boats and mine layers in the strait. https://t.co/PkTgNzVTsV
Distinguished Prof. John Mearsheimer on Iran’s strategy: “When you listen to Hegseth and Trump talk, they talk about the Iranians like they’re a bunch of country bumpkins and we’re the strategic geniuses...I think that's not the case…we are up against a formidable...
Headed to RSAC to sign copies of Guardians of the Machine age: Why AI Security Will Define the Future of Digital Defense. Hit me up for the three venues where you can get free signed copies. https://t.co/kurVMvO4fo ...
Is it crazy to think Iran military could prob. be funded by them just trading US markets and releasing headlines on X, because I refuse to believe it can't, market so whippy in this geopolitical environment
Europe counts the cost of Middle East war as leaders meet in Brussels https://t.co/Uw7ebXs3sG via @suzannelynch1 https://t.co/4He3c2iNMm
US intelligence assessment admits China is not planning a 2027 Taiwan invasion, contrary to the assertions of numerous China hawks. h/t PA https://t.co/yR1D5boDrL
Secret RQ-180 Stealth Drone Appears To Have Made An Emergency Landing At A Greek Air Base (Updated) Spotters in Greece have caught an especially good look at what appears to be a particularly secretive drone. https://t.co/TVPXCvTUzz
“.. We were very worried this was going to go really wrong,” said one European official about Trump’s repeated threats over Greenland .. @FT https://t.co/aRJZu8MTXr https://t.co/pj12dd13ct
