Defense News and Headlines
Defense News and Headlines
Defense Pulse
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Every morning
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Cisco Talos and Trend Micro report that Qilin and Warlock ransomware groups are employing a bring‑your‑own‑vulnerable‑driver (BYOVD) strategy to neutralize endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions. Qilin’s malware drops a malicious msimg32.dll that side‑loads two drivers—rwdrv.sys and hlpdrv.sys—to terminate more than 300 EDR drivers and hide its activity in memory. Warlock has upgraded its toolkit with the vulnerable NSecKrnl.sys driver, alongside tools like PsExec and TightVNC, to disable security controls and maintain persistence. The attacks highlight a shift toward kernel‑level evasion, demanding stricter driver governance.
Europe’s terrorism threat is resurging, with Europol logging 206 attacks and over 1,200 related arrests between 2022 and 2024. The rise is fueled by external conflicts—particularly ISIS and al‑Qaeda expansions in West Africa and Afghanistan—and by Russian hybrid activities that...
The article argues that strategic bombing of civilians to force regime change has consistently failed and is unlikely to succeed in Iran. It critiques the belief held by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—and, to a lesser extent, former U.S. President...
The Irregular Warfare Center (IWC) announced a call for papers for its 2026 Irregular Warfare Colloquium, focusing on how irregular warfare reshapes U.S. homeland defense. The two‑day event will take place September 15‑16 in the Washington, D.C. area and will...
Pakistan relies on China for roughly 80% of its imported defence hardware, including a $5 billion deal for eight Hangor‑class submarines, four of which will be built locally. The article argues that Pakistan should diversify by deepening its naval partnership with...
Russia is launching a spring offensive in Ukraine, banking on fresh foliage to mask infantry from pervasive drone surveillance. Legacy Soviet windbreaks now serve as tactical corridors, allowing Russian troops to move in small groups under tree cover. Ukrainian forces...
Russia released video of the Kuryer unmanned ground vehicle equipped with the new Bagunlnik‑82 automatic mortar module. The system demonstrated a rotating turret that autoloads 82 mm rounds in roughly five seconds, achieving a rapid sustained rate of fire. Analysts believe...
![U.S. and ROK Marines Conduct Military Operations on Urban Terrain Training [Image 4 of 7]](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://d1ldvf68ux039x.cloudfront.net/thumbs/photos/2604/9599469/250w_q95.jpg)
U.S. Marines from Company A, 9th Engineer Support Battalion, and Republic of Korea Marines from 2nd Company, Engineer Support Battalion, participated in the Korean Marine Exchange Program 26.1 on March 31, 2026 at the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex in South Korea. The...
The UK Ministry of Defence, via UK Defence Innovation, has opened a market‑engagement call to develop technologies that can detect and neutralise fibre‑optic‑controlled drones. Submissions are due by 21 April 2026, marking the first public acknowledgment that this tethered drone threat, demonstrated...
The Royal Navy has taken delivery of Adventure, its second uncrewed mine‑hunting vessel, joining Ariadne in the Anglo‑French Maritime Mine Counter Measures (MMCM) programme. Delivered by the multinational OCCAR group, the craft can carry modular payloads such as the SeaCat...
A US‑Israeli campaign against Iran is exposing how war is heavily subsidized worldwide. The piece argues that initiators rarely shoulder the full price, with costs spilling across borders, markets, and time. Recent throttling of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz...
The British Army and UK Defence Innovation have launched Project STOKES, issuing an RFI for roughly 60 vehicle‑mounted 120 mm hinged mortar systems to be integrated onto Jackal 3 Extenda light‑tactical vehicles. The procurement schedule targets a pre‑qualification questionnaire by December 2025, an invitation to...
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Kingsville station inadvertently posted a Quizlet flashcard set containing entrance codes, gate combinations, and internal system details, leaving the information publicly accessible for about six weeks. The leak was discovered in March, prompting a swift...
On April 4 the Pakistan Navy commissioned its second Babur‑class corvette, PNS Khaibar, in Karachi. The vessel was built at Turkey’s Istanbul Naval Shipyard under the MILGEM partnership and sailed to Pakistan after completing sea trials. Equipped with a CODAG propulsion system,...
The Leopard main battle tank family, originating in the 1960s and refined with the Leopard 2 in the 1970s, remains Germany’s flagship armored platform. Over six decades, the series has been continuously upgraded to meet evolving threats, keeping it competitive against...
Reflectiz has launched AI Assistant, a conversational AI built directly into its web supply‑chain security platform. The tool lets analysts ask natural‑language questions and receive answers drawn from live security data, eliminating the need to toggle between dashboards. It also...
Researchers at Morocco's Higher School of Technology examined emerging cyber threats to smart grids, highlighting AI‑driven detection and defense methods. They cataloged attacks such as DDoS, false data injection, replay, and IoT‑based intrusions, emphasizing their potential to disrupt power operations....
President Donald Trump posted a profanity‑filled warning on Truth Social demanding Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz, signaling heightened U.S. pressure amid the US‑Israel‑Iran conflict. The weekend saw fresh attacks on Gulf ports, including a fire at the UAE’s Khorfakkan...
Ukrainian defence firm Fire Point confirmed it is developing an air‑launched ballistic missile (ALBM) derived from its FP‑9 platform, which already reaches 800 km when ground‑launched. By using a combat aircraft as the launch vehicle, the missile could achieve significantly longer...
NASA satellite imagery revealed a fire at Russia’s Sheskharis oil terminal in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. The blaze erupted after an overnight drone attack, according to Bloomberg’s report. The Sheskharis facility, operated by Transneft, handles roughly five million...
The Bay of Bengal is transitioning from a traditional naval contest to an "infrastructure diplomacy" race, where deep‑sea ports and undersea fiber‑optic cables are the new strategic assets. New steel anchors such as Bangladesh's Matarbari, Myanmar's Kyaukphyu, and India's Great...
HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding has finished post‑shakedown availability work on the Virginia‑class fast‑attack submarine USS New Jersey (SSN 796) and redelivered it to the U.S. Navy on April 3, 2026. The PSA incorporated combat‑systems and electronics upgrades along with routine maintenance, ensuring the...
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service told lawmakers it has "credible intelligence" that Kim Jong Un’s teenage daughter, Ju Ae, is being positioned as his successor. The agency cited recent images of the 13‑year‑old driving a tank and handling weapons as deliberate propaganda...
Open-source software (OSS) malware exploded in 2025, with more than 90% of OSV malware advisories issued—a 14‑fold increase over the prior two years, and 92% of NPM account takeovers occurring that year. Although 81% of organizations rank OSS malware as...
On April 3, 2026 the Indian Navy commissioned INS Taragiri, the fourth vessel of the Project 17A stealth frigate class, at Visakhapatnam. The 6,670‑tonne warship, designed by the Warship Design Bureau and built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, incorporates reduced‑radar‑signature technology and a suite of...
Cybersecurity researcher Taylor Monahan disclosed that North Korean IT specialists have been embedded in more than 40 decentralized finance projects for at least seven years. The Lazarus Group, linked to the DPRK, has stolen roughly $7 billion in crypto, including high‑profile...
Amid rising geopolitical tension, Asian governments are treating sovereign AI as a strategic imperative, extending beyond data sovereignty to control the entire AI lifecycle. Initiatives such as India’s $1.25 billion IndiaAI Mission, Singapore’s multilingual LLM push, China’s AI‑Plus plan, and Japan’s...
India's decades‑long Maoist insurgency effectively ended in early 2026 as senior leaders died, were killed or surrendered. Home Minister Amit Shah announced the country is now Naxal‑free after systematic security operations across six states dismantled the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army....
Iran shot down a Chinese‑made drone over Shiraz, accusing Saudi Arabia and the UAE, while China clarified the strategic role of its 20‑metre ultra‑large underwater drone. Hongkongers flocked to Shenzhen’s new Science and Technology Museum for Easter, underscoring growing tech...
European leaders are confronting deep economic and military reliance on the United States after a year of Trump‑era tariffs, threats to withdraw troops, and pressure on energy supplies. The U.S. now accounts for over 20% of Europe’s exports and supplies...
A Republican congressional delegation headed by Rep. Zach Nunn, chair of the Republican Study Committee's National Security Task Force, arrived in Taiwan this week to meet President Lai Ching‑te. The six‑member group, including Reps. Scott Fitzgerald, Julie Fedorchak and Jefferson...
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung publicly apologized to North Korea for a January drone incursion that was later linked to government officials, reversing earlier claims that civilians were responsible. The drones, equipped with surveillance gear, were shot down by...
Donald Trump’s harsh criticism of Somalia underscores a stark contrast with Somaliland, which has built a functioning democratic state since its 1991 independence claim. Somaliland operates under a 2001 constitution, holds regular elections, and maintains its own security forces, currency,...
Iran's culture minister denounced President Donald Trump as unstable after Trump threatened to bomb Iranian power plants and bridges if the Strait of Hormuz stayed closed. Trump warned of a strike on Tuesday, insisting the waterway must remain open for...
The U.S. Air Force broke ground on a prototype silo in Promontory, Utah to house the next‑generation LGM‑35A Sentinel ICBM, which will replace the aging Minuteman III fleet. Northrop Grumman and Bechtel are using a modular, pre‑cast concrete design with software‑defined electronics...
Anthropic announced it will not provide its Claude AI system for fully autonomous weapons, citing reliability concerns and lack of safety guardrails. The company confirmed Claude is already used by the U.S. Department of Defense for intelligence analysis, modeling, and...
The Russian Navy’s Mediterranean presence has contracted to a single surface vessel, the Steregushchiy‑class corvette RFS Stoykiy. The Project 636.6 Kilo‑class submarine RFS Krasnodar and its support tug Altay completed a three‑month patrol and exited the region via the Strait of Gibraltar on...
Chandra Donelson, the first permanent Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer for the United States Space Force, announced her resignation on April 3, 2026, ending a tenure that reshaped the service’s data strategy. She led the shift toward a data‑centric architecture that...
On February 28 the United States and Israel launched a coordinated war against Iran, prompting Tehran to strike U.S. assets across the Persian Gulf and fire missiles at Israeli targets. Israel responded with a ground invasion of southern Lebanon to counter...
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Syrian President Ahmed al‑Sharaa in Damascus, pledging security cooperation and joint food‑security initiatives. The visit follows a rapid Middle‑East tour where Kyiv offered its drone‑defense expertise, recently sealing military‑cooperation deals with Saudi Arabia and Qatar....
Four Corners revisits PBS Frontline’s updated documentary "Strike on Iran: The Nuclear Question," which examines the aftermath of U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Emmy‑winning journalist Sebastian Walker returns to Iran with partners including The Washington Post, Evident Media and...
President Donald Trump claimed on Truth Social that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed and that Iranian military and security forces were reluctant to fight. Within weeks, Iran shot down two U.S. aircraft and wounded members of...
The Nigerian army rescued 31 civilians taken hostage during an Easter attack on a church in Ariko village, Kaduna state. The assault left five dead at the scene, while local Christian leaders reported seven fatalities and additional hostages. Security forces...
A cargo vessel carrying wheat, the Volgo‑Balt, sank in the Sea of Azov after a reported Ukrainian drone strike, according to a Russia‑installed official in Kherson. The attack on April 3 left one crew member dead, two missing, and nine rescued,...
The U.S. Senate is drafting the MATCH Act, a legislation that would tighten export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment and extend U.S. jurisdiction to foreign‑made tools if allies do not align. The bill specifically targets deep‑ultraviolet immersion lithography machines and...
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a drone strike on the MSC Ishyka container vessel, claiming it caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz. AIS data, however, places the ship at a berth in Manama, Bahrain, and shows intermittent signal...
The 1980s Iran‑Iraq "Tanker War" prompted the U.S. Fifth Fleet to enter the Persian Gulf, establishing a permanent military footprint that has grown to roughly 40,000‑50,000 troops across Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Iran’s Revolutionary...
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Iran’s foreign minister that the United States should abandon its ultimatum‑style rhetoric and return to negotiations after President Donald Trump threatened to strike Iranian power plants and bridges if Tehran does not reopen the...
The UK Ministry of Defence confirmed that the 50 kW DragonFire high‑energy laser will be fitted to Type 45 destroyers by 2027, five years ahead of schedule. A £316 million (~$414 million) contract with MBDA UK covers two units, making Britain the first European...
On April 5, 2026 Planet Labs announced an indefinite suspension of satellite imagery covering Iran and surrounding Middle East conflict zones, following a direct request from the U.S. national‑security team. The blackout, retroactive to March 9, replaces the previous 14‑day delay...
