Todd South, A&SF Mag.
Author: Michael
The Serbian Defence Ministry is planning to procure new air defence equipment from China, according to reports from multiple local sources, as President Aleksandar Vucic has announced the imminent signing of new contracts to strengthen the country’s network. Serbia relies more heavy on surface-to-air missile systems than any other European state, with its limited defence spending levels and small relatively old fighter fleet limiting its ability to seriously contest control of its airspace using its combat aviation assets.
U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has informed Congress that the U.S. Armed Forces are actively adapting to lessons from Russian-Ukrainian War, stressing that the way forces in the theatre have responded to the conflict has resulted in a fundamental transformation of how war is waged. “They have fundamentally altered how humans engage in conflict,” Driscoll told lawmakers regarding the Ukrainian Armed Forces in particular: “They have done an absolutely amazing job of innovating.
The U.S. Air Force’s budget for the Fiscal Year 2027 has increased planned procurements of F-15EX fighters to 267 aircraft, up from a previously planned 129. Of these, 24 of the fighters will be procured in 2027 at a cost of $3 billion. An Air Force spokesperson commented that procurements are intended to “begin to recapitalise the aging F-15E fleet,” expanding on the previous primary rationale for procurements which was to replace the even older F-15C/D fleet. Plans to surge annual defence spending to approximately $1.
Editor’s note: This article is the seventh in an 11-part series examining how the United States should organize, lead, and integrate economic statecraft into strategy, defense practice, and the broader national security ecosystem. This special series is brought to you by the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies and War on the Rocks. Prior installments can be found at the War by Other Ledgers page.Americans lost nearly $21 billion to cybercrime in 2025, a new record for cyber-enabled economic losses.
The debate over how best to deter China in the western Pacific has reached a new level of ambition. Ely Ratner, a former senior defense official in the Biden administration, proposed a “Pacific Defense Pact” — a legally binding multilateral treaty among the United States, Japan, Australia, and the Philippines. This reflects serious concerns over China’s rise and its potential future use of force along the first island chain. The underlying diagnosis is sound: Existing U.S.
The Russian Su-57 fifth generation fighter is benefitting from continuous improvements to its artificial intelligence related capabilities, according to a recent announcement by a spokesman for the state intermediary agency for Russian defence exports Rosoboronexport. “The Sukhoi Design Bureau is continuously working to improve the technical design of the advanced multirole Su-57E fighter, including its modern onboard equipment with AI components.
During U.S. Armed Forces’ military assault against Iran from February 28, the very widespread reliance on Cold War era KC-135 Stratotankers to support operations drew considerable attention to the ongoing issues with the Boeing KC-46A Pegasus tanker program intended to provide a direct replacement with next generation features. Due to ongoing issues and development delays, the KC-46A is still not fully through operational testing, despite already being in limited service, which has for years represented a concurrency problem for the Air Force.
The Russian 35th Guards Combined Arms Army’s Nuclear Biological Chemical Protection Troops have deployed TOS-1A thermobaric rocket artillery systems to bombard Ukrainian positions in the Zaporizhzhia region, where ground forces are making major advances. Footage released from the settlement of Komsomolske has shown large explosions as the TOS-1A systems appear to inflict major damage.
The Russian Su-35 long range air superiority fighter in 2025 achieved a major turnaround on global export markets, with leaked Russian government documents that year showing that 48 of the aircraft had been ordered to re-equip the Iranian Air Force, and six more to equip the Ethiopian Air Force. Combined with the delivery of 18 aircraft to Algeria from February that year, this represented a quintupling o confirmed export orders in 2025, from a previous 24 fighters sold to China, to 96 fighters sold to four separate foreign clients.