To understand how the second Trump administration may use the U.S. military, the best clues aren’t written in the pages of Foreign Affairs or sussed out during panel discussions at Washington think tanks. Instead, they’re found in the chatter on X, formerly Twitter, where a handful of officials now entering top positions in the Pentagon have posted their takes on defense policy for years. This group is highly confident, highly online and scornful of Washington’s foreign policy consensus. It thinks America’s military is overstretched in wasteful areas of the world, like Europe and the Middle East. And rather than call…
Author: MAK Gojar
Two key Pentagon small business innovation programs that award technology funding to nontraditional firms have not yet been impacted by the White House budget office’s order to pause and review federal grant disbursement, according to a Defense Department spokesman. The Office of Management and Budget on Monday issued a memo directing federal agencies to temporarily pause “all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance,” according to multiple news reports. The order appears to pause any new grant awards and exempts programs like Social Security and Medicare that provide assistance directly to individuals. The Pentagon has several…
ABOARD A FRENCH NAVY FLIGHT OVER THE BALTIC SEA — With its powerful camera, the French Navy surveillance plane scouring the Baltic Sea zoomed in on a cargo ship plowing the waters below — closer, closer and closer still until the camera operator could make out details on the vessel’s front deck and smoke pouring from its chimney. The long-range Atlantique 2 aircraft on a new mission for NATO then shifted its high-tech gaze onto another target, and another after that until, after more than five hours on patrol, the plane’s array of sensors had scoped out the bulk of…
The Air Force on Monday greatly expanded funding for the prototype engine for the service’s planned sixth-generation fighter. General Electric of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Pratt & Whitney Engines of East Hartford, Connecticut, each received modifications to their initial Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion, or NGAP, contracts that bring the maximum amount for the prototype phase up to $3.5 billion apiece. That is more than three times higher than the $975 million ceiling on the original contracts awarded in 2022. NGAP is expected to be the propulsion system for the planned Next Generation Air Dominance fighter. GE and Pratt are designing so-called…
President Donald Trump’s executive order to develop a next-generation homeland missile defense shield marks a shift in the United States’ long-standing homeland missile defense strategy, which has focused on threats from rogue nations like North Korea and Iran rather than from peer adversaries like China or Russia. The order — titled “The Iron Dome For America” in a nod to the successful, lowest tier of Israel’s multilayered air defense system of the same name — also addresses a broader array of complex threats from hypersonic weapons to cruise missiles. Further, the order revives the pursuit of space-based interceptors for missile…
WARSAW, Poland — The Polish Ministry of National Defence has signed a deal to buy more than 200 AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missiles-Extended Range (AARGM-ER) from the United States, becoming the region’s first ally to secure an advanced capability to destroy enemy radar emitters associated with air defense systems. The contract to purchase the missiles, made by Northrop Grumman, comes as Poland is awaiting the delivery of the first batch of its 32 ordered F-35 fighter jets next year. Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said that the missiles will represent a significant reinforcement of the aircraft’s…
Huntsville, Alabama-based Cummings Aerospace is readying its Hellhound for submission to the U.S. Army’s loitering munition competition set to kick off later this year, having recently wrapped up flight tests of its turbo-jet powered, 3D-printed kamikaze drone. The company took its S3 version of its man-portable loitering munition out to the Pendleton Unmanned Aircraft Systems test range in Oregon this month and was able to verify and validate the system’s performance against the Army’s preliminary Low Altitude Stalking and Striking Ordnance, or LASSO, program requirements, CEO Sheila Cummings told Defense News in a Tuesday interview. “We were able to successfully…
In response to multiple audience questions about recent presidential executive orders involving the military, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George told a crowd of nearly 200 on Wednesday that he remains focused on preparing the service for future conflict. At a previously scheduled talk at the Association of the U.S. Army, the leading nonprofit support organization for the service, George spent most of his 45-minute time slot discussing changes the Army is making to its force design. But near the end of the talk, audience questions centered on President Donald Trump’s various executive orders and on recent reports of…
China’s cyber targeting took a dangerous turn in 2024. No longer content with espionage, Beijing has started laying the foundation for destructive cyberattacks on American networks. And yet, the new Trump administration is renewing an effort to break apart its greatest asset for counterstriking: the “dual hat” arrangement between U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) and the National Security Agency (NSA). Under this arrangement, one individual simultaneously serves as military cyber commander under the Defense Department and the nation’s top signals intelligence chief. Splitting this leadership structure would greatly damage U.S. cyber effectiveness. Having one individual responsible and accountable for both USCYBERCOM…
PARIS — The Netherlands plans to buy 22 Skyranger mobile air-defense cannons from Germany’s Rheinmetall to protect ground troops against the increased threat of drones, in a project with a budget of €1.3 billion (US$1.35 billion), the Dutch Ministry of Defence said. The goal is for the first contracts to be signed in the first half of 2025, which should allow for deliveries to start in 2028 and be wrapped up the following year, State Secretary for Defence Gijs Tuinman wrote in a letter to parliament on Wednesday. The budget covers the acquisition price as well as ammunition, operating costs…
PARIS — Denmark is better known for LEGO bricks and leading in wind energy than for military power – a possible reason why U.S. President Donald Trump might have felt he could demand the country hand over its territory of Greenland, or else. Whatever the Nordic nation’s martial prowess, the Danes have made a difference in Ukraine by leading an initiative to spend Western military aid on locally produced weapons rather than foreign equipment. That’s helping Ukraine rebuild and grow its battered defense industry by paying for “Made in Ukraine” howitzers, missiles, and long-range strike drones. For countries such as…
Americans have demonstrated a deep weariness with the burdens of “U.S. global leadership” that foreign policy professionals under governments from both parties have said America must bear. A reexamination of how American military power is used could help to lessen that burden. Americans see the annual defense budget grow, seemingly without bounds, from approximately $650 billion in 2017 to just over $800 billion in 2021, to around $900 billion today. At the same time, Americans are told by distinguished and elite blue-ribbon panels like the 2024 report of the Commission on the National Defense Strategy that they are no safer,…
PARIS — Sweden will provide Ukraine with 13.5 billion kronor (US$1.23 billion) in funding and equipment in its biggest military aid package yet, the government said on Thursday. The Nordic country will double the amount of Stridsbåt 90 combat boats it’s donating from Swedish armed forces stocks to 32 boats, Minister for Defence Pål Jonson said in a post on X. Other equipment will include 1,500 TOW anti-tank missiles and 200 AT4 anti-tank weapons, with total donations from stocks amounting to about $294 million, or around 25% of the aid package. Sweden will provide about 5.9 billion kronor to buy…
The U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that collided midair with an American Airlines passenger jet above Reagan National Airport in Washington on Wednesday night was piloted by experienced aviators that typically fly VIP missions in busy air space, according to a retired Army chief warrant officer with over 30 years of flying experience, who serves in the Headquarters Department of the Army Aviation Directorate at the Pentagon. The two aircraft crashed in a clear night sky right as the American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, with 64 people aboard, was approaching the runway flying over the Potomac River. The…
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Korea Aerospace Industries’ production line for the Surion helicopter is receiving a shot in the arm thanks to the development of two new versions for South Korea’s military, plus production for a new export customer. When KAI first mooted the Surion in 2007, officials voiced ambitious plans to export 300 helicopters over 25 years. Unfortunately, those dreams are nowhere close to being realized, as just two have been sold overseas so far. Nonetheless, new variants like the Marine Attack Helicopter (MAH) – heavily armed and designed to support Korean amphibious operations – will keep KAI’s production…
President Xi Jinping attended the grand opening ceremony of the Vietnam-China Friendship Palace, which was built with Chinese assistance, in the middle of a new district of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on Sunday. President Xi Jinping attended the grand opening ceremony of the Vietnam-China Friendship Palace, which was built with Chinese assistance, in the middle of a new district of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on Sunday. President Xi Jinping attended the grand opening ceremony of the Vietnam-China Friendship Palace, which was built with Chinese assistance, in the middle of a new district of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on Sunday.
After DHS revoked previous guidance for immigration enforcement, we VERIFY if ICE agents can now enter schools, churches and hospitals. After DHS revoked previous guidance for immigration enforcement, we VERIFY if ICE agents can now enter schools, churches and hospitals. After DHS revoked previous guidance for immigration enforcement, we VERIFY if ICE agents can now enter schools, churches and hospitals. Shortly after President Donald Trump took office, his administration eliminated a Department of Homeland Security policy that previously limited where federal immigration arrests and other enforcement actions can take place. The Department of Homeland Security’s new directive “rescinds the Biden…
How to watch Tennessee vs. Florida basketball game How to watch Tennessee vs. Florida basketball game Halftime Report The last time Tennessee and Florida met, the game was decided by 30 points, but it sure doesn’t look like the final score will be so lopsided this time. After one quarter, neither team has the match in the bag, but Tennessee leads 24-21 over Florida. Tennessee came into the contest with some extra motivation after the defeat they were dealt the last time these two teams faced off. We’ll see if they’re able to flip the script or if it’ll just…
SportsLine’s model simulated Saturday’s UNC Tar Heels vs. Duke Blue Devils game 10,000 times as Cooper Flagg plays in his first Tobacco Road Rivalry matchup SportsLine’s model simulated Saturday’s UNC Tar Heels vs. Duke Blue Devils game 10,000 times as Cooper Flagg plays in his first Tobacco Road Rivalry matchup USATSI The second-ranked Duke Blue Devils will look to win their 15th game in a row when they battle the arch-rival North Carolina Tar Heels in a key ACC matchup on Saturday. UNC is coming off a 73-65 loss at Pittsburgh on Tuesday, while Duke defeated North Carolina State 74-64…
Manning is ‘all-in’ on helping New York find its next franchise signal-caller Manning is ‘all-in’ on helping New York find its next franchise signal-caller Getty Images The New York Giants are in the market for a quarterback following the failed Daniel Jones experiment, and the franchise has a couple of different options with how they can acquire that new quarterback. New York will consider the free-agent market first, but also holds the No. 3 overall pick in the upcoming draft. Joe Schoen and Co. will certainly do their due diligence on this incoming class. During a recent interview on “Up…