Flipping Iran’s playbook by launching reverse-engineered, Shahed-like weapons as part of a coordinated air campaign, the U.S. military’s initial wave of strikes in Operation Epic Fury marked the first confirmed deployment of American-made, long-range, one-way attack drones in real-world combat.
Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command, told DefenseScoop on Monday that the operation demonstrates how warfighters are rapidly adopting low-cost drones “as part of the joint force effort to neutralize imminent threats” posed by Iran.
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In his first message as the new director of the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit, Owen West stated that the organization’s efforts will focus on fielding emerging technologies that can keep warfighters out of harm’s way and be quickly scaled at low cost.
“Our investment priorities will narrow. We solve operational problems identified by the joint force and integrate into the Department’s innovation strategy. We will invest where speed, scale and lethality intersect,” West wrote in a memorandum to DIU employees.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who served Iran as President from 2005 to 2013, was killed in an Israeli missile strike on his residence in Tehran, according to Iranian officials. The report has not yet been confirmed by the United States or Israel. His bodyguards were also killed in the attack. He was 69.
It was during Ahmadinejad’s tenure as president that Tehran first announced its ability to enrich uranium and that Iran had finally become a nuclear state.
The Danish procurement authority has finalised a contract with Rheinmetall Mobile Systeme for the delivery of five Role 2 field hospitals.
Backed and Iran, Hezbollah could open up a new front in the ongoing Middle East crisis, as Tehran launches strikes around the region.
Welcome to The Ukraine Compass, a weekly digest of Ukrainian commentary and analysis from across the political spectrum only for War on the Rocks members. Each Monday, we bring you a curated selection of articles from Ukrainian media offering insight into how Ukrainians themselves debate the issues shaping their country.American coverage often narrows the view to the battlefield — these pieces widen it, revealing the texture of daily life, politics, and public argument in a nation at war.
Summary and Key Points: Steve Balestrieri, a national security columnist and former U.S. Army Special Forces officer, evaluates the EA-18G Growler’s decisive role in Operation Epic Fury.
-Operating from the USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln, 18 Growlers are currently suppressing Iranian S-300 and S-400 integrated air defense systems.
An E/A-18G Growler, attached to Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 141, taxis on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73), while underway in the Indian Ocean, July 24, 2025.
Summary and Key Points: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood, a defense analyst and former U.S. Army Infantry officer, evaluates the potential deployment of the B-52 Stratofortress in Operation Epic Fury.
-While the B-2 Spirit conducted initial night strikes with 2,000-pound munitions, the B-52 offers a massive “stand-off” advantage utilizing AGM-158 JASSM-ER cruise missiles with a 571-mile range.
U.S. Airmen assigned to the 96th Expeditionary Bomber Generation Squadron salute the crew of a B-52H Stratofortress aircraft as they begin to taxi at Morón Air Base, Spain, Nov.
Some call them “kamikaze” drones, evoking the image of Japanese suicide attacks on the U.S. Navy toward the end of World War II. The U.S. military seems to prefer the unintentionally hilarious term “one-way” drone.
No matter what you call it, America’s newest weapon, dubbed the Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, or LUCAS drone, is now being employed for the first time ever, according to The War Zone.
In the past few years, many a defense analyst has spent countless sleepless, sweaty nights worrying about the future of drone warfare. The era of exquisite air defense is passing gently into that good night. Counter-drone tech is still struggling to keep up.
For decades, the Pentagon and its allies operated under the wonderful delusion that air superiority was a birthright, bought with billion-dollar toys and protected by $4 million interceptors.