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Israel’s far‑right government has openly declared that its military strategy in southern Lebanon will mirror the devastation inflicted on Gaza. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich warned that Beirut’s Dahiyeh district could become “like Khan Younis,” while Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the destruction of border‑area infrastructure. In the past month, Israeli strikes have killed three Lebanese journalists and more than 50 health workers, shuttered hospitals, and used disputed evidence to justify civilian targeting. The campaign signals a deliberate extension of the Gaza playbook across Lebanon’s borders.
MiningWatch Canada testified before the House of Commons National Defence Standing Committee and submitted a detailed brief on how Canada’s critical minerals sector intersects with national defence and security. The organization highlighted environmental, Indigenous and supply‑chain risks tied to mineral...
The Ukrainian National Guard has created its first assault regiment, the 23rd Assault Regiment, built around the 4th Operational Battalion of the Khartia Brigade. Announced in March 2025 and formalized in March 2026, the unit will operate under the 2nd...
An Iranian strike on Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan Air Base destroyed a U.S. E‑3 AWACS, crippling its rotodome. Ukrainian President Zelensky claimed Russian satellite imagery helped Tehran pinpoint the aircraft, a claim that, while unverified, aligns with observed satellite passes...
The piece argues that the proposed "Golden Dome" missile‑defense architecture cannot deliver the promised invulnerability, even with trillion‑dollar spending. It points out that missile defense is fundamentally probabilistic, and recent Middle‑East engagements have shown leakage under layered defenses. Costs rise...
The Small Wars Journal roundup highlights a surge of opinion pieces and reports on escalating tensions in the Middle East and East Asia. Key items include debates over U.S. involvement in a potential ground war in Iran, concerns that the...
Le Monde’s investigation, dubbed “StravaLeaks,” identified roughly 18,000 French military personnel who publicly shared workout data on the Strava app. The disclosed routes pinpointed high‑value assets, including the Charles de Gaulle carrier strike group, nuclear‑submarine base Île Longue, and even the movements of...
Depthfirst, an AI‑focused security startup, announced its Series B funding and introduced dfs‑mini1, a specialized model that outperforms leading AI systems at detecting smart‑contract vulnerabilities while costing far less to run. The platform builds a semantic model of a customer’s environment,...
The University of Texas at San Antonio’s APEX Accelerators will host a webinar on April 14, 2026 focused on teaming agreements and joint ventures for federal contractors. Government‑contracts attorneys Shane McCall and Annie Birney of Koprince McCall Pottroff will walk...
Sweden's government proposes a SEK 400 million ($40 million) addition to its 2026 spring budget to develop sovereign launch capability at the Esrange Space Centre, with a focus on military space operations. SEK 14 million ($1.4 million) will strengthen the Swedish Space Agency’s licensing...
The White House recently submitted a classified report to Congress outlining a proposal to share nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia. The arrangement would encompass cooperation on uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing, areas traditionally reserved for advanced nuclear states. Officials argue...
A new Hallgarten note warns that Europe’s critical‑minerals strategy is misaligned, focusing on lithium and ESG while overlooking the war‑driven metals tungsten, antimony, tin, rare earths and helium. The report highlights substantial domestic resources in Spain, Portugal, Scandinavia, Cornwall and...
The United States launched a massive strike on Iran’s Isfahan ammunition depot, using 2,000‑pound bunker‑buster bombs that caused secondary explosions. Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that China and Russia are providing varying levels of support to Tehran’s war effort, though...
U.S. President Donald Trump warned that the United States will no longer assist the United Kingdom after the UK declined to join American air operations against Iran. The remark was posted on social media while U.S. forces expanded a long‑range...
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act will expire on April 20, 2026 unless Congress renews it, threatening a key intelligence tool for counter‑terrorism and cyber threat detection. The author disputes the Brennan Center’s claim that USP identifiers used...
![Defense & Aerospace Daily Podcast [Mar 31, 2026] IISS’ Ben Barry](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://hixhlmpcokxhartfkpyi.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/images/thumbnails/6df7c461ee7c5b59f9062d8261026d17.webp)
Ben Barry, retired British Army brigadier and IISS land‑warfare director, discusses his new book “The Rise and Fall of the British Army: 1975‑2025” on the Defense & Aerospace Daily Podcast. He examines the pivotal role of ground forces in a...
Chinese sellers on Alibaba are advertising functional copies of Iran’s Shahed‑136 loitering munition, disguising them as model planes, pesticide sprayers or survey drones. Despite China’s UAV export controls that began on September 1 2025 and Alibaba’s ban on military hardware, four listings...
Technological advances and rising defense spending have accelerated development of lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS), which can select and engage targets without human intervention. The global autonomous weapons market, valued at $14.2 billion in 2024, is projected to more than double...
Cohesity announced native integration of Sophos next‑generation malware scanning into its Data Cloud platform. The feature, included with the Enterprise Edition, detects zero‑day, polymorphic and fileless threats hidden in backup data without requiring a separate Sophos license. Scans run incrementally...
Rackspace Technology and Rubrik have launched the UK Sovereign Cyber Recovery Cloud, a ransomware‑focused recovery service that keeps all data, hardware and management within UK borders. The offering provides an automated, isolated "clean‑room" environment that can restore public‑sector and regulated...
The Iran‑Israel conflict has spilled onto nuclear sites, with Iran’s missiles striking near Israel’s Dimona research center and multiple attacks on Iran’s Bushehr plant and Arak heavy‑water complex. While the Bushehr reactor remained operational and radiation levels stayed stable, the...
Since President Xi Jinping’s 2013 call to "tell China’s story well," the PRC has built a thirteen‑year strategic narrative program that treats discourse power as a core element of comprehensive national power. The effort is organized around four pillars—Party, Dream,...
The Department of Defense is piloting a third acquisition model called the Collaborative Integrator, where the government contracts multiple vendors to deliver discrete capability pieces while actively coordinating their work. This approach is being used for the Golden Dome command‑and‑control...
The White House revealed that Iran is engaging in private negotiations even as it publicly rejects dialogue, while a key U.S. ally has begun blocking its airspace to Iranian military flights, heightening regional tension. Meanwhile, a major airline sparked controversy...
Iran retains a sizable cache of highly enriched uranium despite the June 2025 "12‑Day War" in which Israel and the United States bombed its nuclear facilities. The last verified inventory shows roughly 200 kg of 20% enriched uranium and 440 kg of...
In March 2026, low‑cost unmanned aerial systems continued to out‑pace traditional air defenses, with drones under $50,000 striking assets worth millions. The U.S. counter‑UAS effort in the Iran conflict highlighted a shift toward electronic warfare, artificial intelligence and distributed sensor...
Iran’s conventional armed forces, the Artesh, operate alongside the ideologically driven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a dual‑structure military. The Artesh handles ground warfare, territorial defense, and conventional air and naval operations, while the IRGC focuses on strategic strike,...
The article outlines how Russian intelligence continues to rely on classic, low‑tech tradecraft—chalk marks, utility‑pole signals, and dead drops—while integrating modern encrypted communications. It details the RIS’s handling methods, from “tainiki” concealed containers to sophisticated surveillance detection routes used abroad....
Two USAF EA-37B Compass Call electronic‑warfare aircraft touched down at RAF Mildenhall on March 31, 2026 after a fuel stop in New Jersey, and are expected to continue on to Turkey. The movement likely marks the first operational overseas deployment...
Princess Royal, Colonel-in-Chief of The King’s Royal Hussars, inspected Exercise Iron Cyclone on Salisbury Plain, a four‑week field exercise preparing the armoured unit for a NATO deployment to Estonia. Troops showcased modern warfighting techniques, including night manoeuvres, integration of tanks,...
The British Army and Royal Air Force executed the UK’s largest parachute exercise in over a decade, dropping roughly 270 troops from three RAF A400M aircraft onto Salisbury Plain. A fourth A400M delivered 24 tonnes of equipment, including Javelin missiles...
On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched coordinated air strikes against Iran, aiming to dismantle its ballistic‑missile arsenal, naval forces, terrorist proxies, and nuclear ambitions. Iran responded with unprecedented attacks across the Gulf region, including strikes on...
On January 5 2026 the General Services Administration issued an IT Security Procedural Guide that instantly raises cybersecurity requirements for any contractor handling Controlled Unclassified Information. The guide forces compliance with NIST SP 800‑171 Rev 3, selected SP 800‑172 Rev 3 controls, and privacy controls from...
The U.S. Navy has positioned the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli, carrying roughly 3,500 Marines, in the Gulf amid rising regional tension. Analysts argue the vessel is highly vulnerable to swarms of Iranian aerial and sea drones, despite its layered defenses....
The United Nations is reportedly preparing contingency plans for an Israeli nuclear retaliation, known as the Samson Option, against Iran’s densely populated areas. A UN diplomat, Muhammad Safa, resigned after internal discussions acknowledged the growing likelihood of such a strike....
Ukraine has launched an experimental program that lets private companies operate their own short‑range air‑defense systems, including interceptor drones and automated gun turrets, under the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ command. The first private unit has already downed Shahed and Zala drones...
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Good Morning America that the U.S. war against Iran is guided by four precise objectives: destroying Iran’s air force, navy, missile capability, and weapons‑manufacturing factories. He said the campaign is ahead of schedule and...
During Operation Epic Fury, U.S. Air Force A-10 Warthogs have been captured on video executing unusually long strafing runs in Iraq, with bursts lasting six to nine seconds—far beyond the typical two‑to‑three‑second bursts. Veteran pilots confirm these extended firings are...
A post on The Women Post claims extremist cells in major U.S. cities are planning a 9/11‑scale attack as retaliation for the killing of 168 Iranian schoolgirls and 17 staff members. The article describes decentralized groups using encrypted messaging to...
Geopolitical Dispatch invites subscribers to next week’s Private Roundtables focused on the Iran war, offering two sessions on Monday and Tuesday. The events feature senior advisor Heidi Venamore, former Australian ambassador to the UAE and Jordan, as the Iran expert....
Merlin Labs, fresh from a SPAC merger that raised over $200 million, is adapting its defense‑grade Merlin Pilot AI flight control system for civil aviation. The company is testing the system on a Cessna Grand Caravan 208B and aims first at...
Ukraine’s 1st Assault Regiment has been equipped with an undisclosed number of Australian‑supplied M1 Abrams tanks, marking the second formation to receive the Western main battle tank. The first recipient, the 425th Assault Regiment, was publicly identified in December 2025 after...
A 23‑year‑old U.S. Marine, Corporal Andrew Paul Amarillas, has been indicted for stealing a Javelin shoulder‑fired missile system and more than two million rounds of M855 ammunition from Camp Pendleton between February 2022 and November 2025. He allegedly transported the weapons to Arizona,...
The Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs released a 35,000‑word report titled “Containment without Commitment: China and the Limits of the CRINK Alignment,” part of its Fault Lines series that dissects trust and mistrust among China, Russia, Iran and North...
Foreign ministers from Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia met in Islamabad to explore diplomatic pathways for ending the Iran‑Saudi conflict. The quartet discussed forming a multilateral consortium to oversee commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, proposing a fee...
A new Survival Dispatch briefing warns that jihadist terrorists are already operating inside U.S. communities rather than arriving via the border. The report cites behavioral shifts—such as sudden changes in routine, increased late‑night vehicle traffic, and cash purchases of storage...
Politico co‑founder Robert Allbritton has taken a minority stake in The Arsenal, the B2B defense‑tech news and consulting brand that operates under Tim Mak’s The Counteroffensive out of Kyiv. The Arsenal, launched in 2024, currently has about 3,300 free subscribers...
The article warns that U.S. federal budget shutdowns erode national security by crippling frontline agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services. More than 460 TSA officers have quit and absenteeism has risen...
Foremay Inc. has launched the InterStellar series, a line of radiation‑hardened SSDs designed for low‑Earth orbit through deep‑space missions. The drives combine Graded‑Z shielding, which lowers a 10,000 krad exposure to a survivable 500 krad, with AI‑driven block management that maps radiation...
Admirals Paparo and Caudle warn that the U.S. Navy is heavily investing in a general‑purpose, 95‑percent force while neglecting low‑cost, high‑end hedge capabilities needed for the most dangerous 5‑percent of scenarios, such as a war with China. The article proposes...
