Global Defense News
The reported mission drew immediate attention because it suggested that Washington had fused time-sensitive intelligence, strategic long-range aviation, and…
Browsing: All news
Category Added in a WPeMatico Campaign
Mikayla Easley, DefScoop
If approved by lawmakers, the Air Force’s budget request would kick off procurement of CCA Increment 1
P.
Israeli footage has shown a successful strike on components of an Iranian Air Defence Forces S-300PMU-2 long range air defence system, as part of a broader air campaign launched against Iran on February 28. The operation is notable as it follows claims by a wide range of Western sources from October 2024 that all Iranian S-300PMU-2 systems had been destroyed during Israeli attacks that month – a claim that was widely questioned due to the speed with which it was allegedly achieved, and the need Israel had at the time for a public relations victory.
In October 2022, Unitree Robotics joined Boston Dynamics, Agility Robotics, and three other firms in signing an open letter pledging not to weaponize their machines and to review customers’ intended applications. This Chinese startup based in Hangzhou had earned its place in that group. Founded in 2016 by a 26-year-old engineer named Wang Xingxing, who quit his job at the drone maker DJI during his probationary period, Unitree set out to build affordable quadruped robots. It worked. By 2023, the company held over 60 percent of the global quadruped robot market by unit sales.
During last summer’s 12-day war between Iran, Israel, and the United States, the U.S. military supported Israeli air and missile defense operations by utilizing its regionally deployed air and missile defense assets to intercept Iranian missiles and drones. By the time the shooting had stopped, CNN reported that the United States had expended 100 to 150 upper-tier, terminal-phase missile interceptors against Iranian missiles.
In past wars, commanders worried about what would happen after crossing the line of departure. Today, the concern is whether they can cross it at all. Surely this is a concern as the United States considers sending a Marine expeditionary unit into the Persian Gulf. Before they enter, whether by air or sea, the fight will already be underway. Meanwhile, closed shipping routes are increasing the costs of shipping, America’s Gulf partners are under continued pressure, and the Houthis fired a missile to underscore the point. The path to the battlefield is the battlefield. No longer a prelude.
The U.S. Department of War’s Fiscal year 2027 Procurement Programs document has confirmed that the U.S. Air Force is set to receive 38 F-35A fighters under the new defence budget request, as the previously planned procurement rate of 48 per year continues to be missed due to new budget priorities. This compares to just 24 aircraft requested in 2025 for Fiscal Year 2026, the year the F-47 sixth generation fighter program was announced, and 40 aircraft requested for the preceding year.
The French Air Force has deployed Rafale fighters to Siauliai Air Base, a facility located 130 kilometres from Russian territory, to take the lead in NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission in Lithuania. Rafales at the airbase are capable of firing air-to-air missiles deep int Russian airspace, and can easily conduct cruise missile strikes deep into the country including thousands of kilometres beyond Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The U.S. military surged more than 150 aircraft deep into Iran’s territory this weekend in a search-and-rescue mission President Donald Trump initiated to recover an airman who hid in a mountain crevice for almost 48 hours to evade being captured after ejecting from his F-15E fighter jet that was hit by enemy fire.
When it was struck Thursday night, that F-15E — known by call sign Dude 44 — marked the first confirmed shootdown of an American military aircraft by Iran since the war began a little over a month ago.