Rnews Crooked Bough News Round-up: Defense News

Defense News

— The US Army is back in the jungle. Panamanians are showing soldiers the way.: at 10/12/26 4:32pm
Gunshots erupted from solid ground towards a boat that ferried Panamanian soldier Albis Fajardo and his team during a counter-drug mission along the country’s Pacific coastline.The team attempted to return fire as they pulled back from a harrowing effort to target a cartel leader. Fajardo, then early into his military career, felt his adrenaline surge as he realized the team had been unsuccessful: A bullet had torn through the flesh of his friend.Over a decade later, with the early autumn sun sinking over Panamanian base Aeronaval Cristóbal Colón, the 47-year-old, now a first sergeant, recounted the ordeal. His friend survived, but the horror changed Fajardo’s life. The brush with death, he said, fueled him to learn as much as he could, militarily, and eventually led him to become an instructor at the U.S. Army’s Jungle Operations Training Course in Panama.The class, offered for decades in the Central American nation before it was shuttered in 1999, has resumed in partnership between U.S. and Panamanian forces, with Panamanian service members teaching and attending the 18-day course. As Panama’s troops have trained, lived — and in some cases, fought — in such environments, they are largely seen by U.S. personnel as the ultimate masters of the terrain.Lt. Col. Andrew Eagen, who heads the U.S. Jungle Operations Training Center in Panama, said that as U.S. forces developed the course, they became quickly attuned to the deft tactics their Panamanian counterparts had developed for survival. “They are the experts of this environment. We will never catch up,” he told Military Times in a mosquito-riddled interview at the jungle school. “This does not exist in the continental United States,” he said, gesturing to the lush canopy, which was twinkling with the day’s last glimmers of sun and abuzz with the evening hum of jungle creatures. “We do not have an exposure to it. They do, and they have incredible techniques and an incredible level of comfort that the average American [does not].”Fajardo is one of nine Panamanian instructors — from three branches of the country’s armed forces — who teach at the reestablished school. The instructors assist in some parts of the course, but lead in areas where students learn about jungle survival, Eagen said.In addition to the leading group, more than 10 Panamanian service members attended the course in which Military Times took part, according to Eagen.Throughout each exercise, Panamanian troops sat interspersed with U.S. personnel and were placed in squads with a Spanish-speaking U.S. participant for course assignments. Though the language barrier admittedly made some tactical movements difficult, U.S. personnel seemingly learned just from observing their Panamanian counterparts.During one practical exercise, one squad had to hide in the jungle, cover their tracks to erase any disturbance to the foliage, and position themselves so they would be alerted to any incoming intruders. The other squad’s job was to hunt down the hiding squad using tracking clues, the activity forming a tense game of tactical hide-and-seek.The hunters ultimately won, thanks to one Panamanian squadmate who spotted a tiny vine that appeared slightly too parallel to the ground. One rule of the jungle? Nothing is a straight line. The Panamanian student correctly identified the trailing plant, hovering inches above the muddy ground, as a hasty trip wire. Made using a vine and a piece of trash, it would have alerted the hiding squad to the hunters’ presence.When the two groups gathered to discuss the interaction, the lanewalker found that the Panamanian student in the other squad had set up the tripwire; a particularly impressive development, considering a tripwire class was scheduled for later in the day.During that class, an American instructor showed students how to create different forms of tripwires that could act as early warning systems. Some set off rattling cans. Others used fauna. Before letting students practice, the instructor shared stories from Panamanian cadres who once operated in the Darién Gap, a roadless land bridge of brutally dense, remote jungle that spans 60-plus miles between Panama and Colombia and has been notoriously rife with human and drug trafficking. Trip wires there are not historical relics of warfare from decades ago, the instructor said. Cartel members are using them now.Several instructors, including Fajardo, have attended Panama’s own jungle school, called Panajungla. Fajardo shook his head and shivered as he recounted the intense course in which participants were forced to survive on their own in the Teribe region of Panama’s Bocas del Toro province.Students of the Panamanian course must shop at the “supermarket de la selva” — the jungle supermarket — to eat, using machetes to prepare or kill any nourishment they can find, Fajardo said. Fajardo’s prized jungle delicacy is ñame, a tropical root vegetable similar to a yam. He also appreciates the taste of grubs, he said, which he likens to butter.Tucked neatly into each Panamanian instructor’s backpack, razor-sharp machetes sat nestled in intricately carved leather coverings. The U.S. Army teaches machete training in its jungle school, but some Panamanian instructors have attended a separate, more intensive course on using the long, daunting blade. It can clear brush, help prepare food, carve shelter and even help start a fire.To Fajardo, it is the single most important tool for survival in the jungle. And with a smile, he jokingly referred to the machete as “mi esposa,” or my wife, in English.To date, the U.S. Army is developing the course to dedicate at least 20 of its 120 spots to partner forces and at least 15 to Panamanians. Though no other countries have sent soldiers yet, Eagen is confident that the school is close to having Colombian students join. The U.S. has partnered with Colombia’s Lancero course, which is similar to Ranger School, and all three countries exchange information. Panama supports hosting Colombian forces, Eagen added, as “they have a direct relationship with the country. “They have a lot of shared bilat right there at the Darién,” Eagen said, “so both Panamanian leaders and Colombian leaders want them to be first.” Panama’s expertise in navigating such unforgiving terrain, meanwhile, has also prompted other countries, like Costa Rica and Brazil, to express interest in the course, Eagen said.Other jungle courses worldwide have so far informed the new U.S. Army jungle school’s curriculum, and Eagen said the Army is designing a scenario construct for the school using threat characteristics seen by Panamanian service members. And while Panamanian forces often confront small-team drug trafficking operations attempting to establish supply lines, Eagen was clear that the Army endeavored to replicate a potential combat environment, not the country’s security situation.“That is not the premise of us being in Panama,” he said. “We try to make sure there are clear boundaries of understanding for the students that this is about the skills required of the environment, not about the situation in Panama.” Though public sentiment between the countries has ebbed and flowed in the decades that followed Panama’s 1994 formal abolishment of its standing army — several years after a U.S. military invasion ousted military dictator Manuel Noriega — those tensions were absent from interactions Military Times observed among the service members during the course. Eagen said the U.S. is mindful of the pride Panamanians take in their nation’s sovereignty. The Army, he added, has been purposeful in approaching the course’s renewed partnership with an emphasis on learning from — rather than simply teaching — its Panamanian counterparts.
[Category: Land] [Link to media]
— Twenty-Six Defense unveils new soldier-worn tech: at 10/12/26 1:59pm
The company that previously operated as Elbit Systems’ American subsidiary made its AUSA expo debut this week as Twenty-Six Defense. Under the new brand, the Texas-based defense firm debuted Primex, a lightweight wearable meant to provide soldiers with night-vision capabilities and augmented reality so they can “maintain awareness without distraction or cognitive overload.” For the design, Twenty-Six Defense said it engineered Primex for sustained operational use by equipping it with “the lightest head-borne load and near-neutral center of gravity.” The company explained Primex uses low-light sensors, thermal imagery, and real-time processing to produce an ultra-low-latency digital perception that enables operators to better interpret the surrounding area even amid challenging environmental conditions.What separates Primex from other advanced lightweight heads-up display units for operators, according to Twenty-Six Defense, is that its design was built on mature technologies that have already been fielded. The company said it already produces AN/PSQ-44 Enhanced Night Vision Goggles, which contain features that allow for rapid target acquisition and augment reality to enhance visual clarity. In August, Ernie Basic, Twenty-Six Defense’s senior director of research and development, explained how his company was developing equipment for the Soldier Borne Mission Command, a project to deliver augmented reality wearables to soldiers. He said the technology combines fighter-pilot displays with night-vision systems, so soldiers get “the full operational picture.”“You are not only seeing what is in front of you. You can leverage a feed coming from a drone or from other assets,” he said. “You can start seeing what is going on behind a house or another structure, cue a squad to a different location, and continuously update them.”In addition to Primex, Twenty-Six Defense showcased defensive weapons and equipment like the XM1168 mobile 120mm mortar system, Autonomous Relocatable Surveillance Tower and SkyStriker Block 4E.
[Category: Land] [Link to media]
— Italy eyes MBDA armaments for new Italo-Turkish drone: at 10/12/26 12:48pm
ROME — Italy is holding tests with MBDA to mount the European firm’s armaments on the new Astore Levante drone being built by Turkey’s Baykar and Italy’s Leonardo, the head of the Italian air force has said.The Italian air force is due to acquire six of the drones, which are derived from Baykar’s TB-3 and are being assembled in Italy by LBA Systems, a joint venture between Baykar and Leonardo.The Astore Levante is due to carry Leonardo sensors, but at its unveiling at the Farnborough air show in July it was presented alongside Turkish armaments, including Roketsan’s MAM family of guided bombs and Baykar’s KEMANKES-1 mini cruise missile.Speaking in Rome on Monday, Italian air force chief Gen. Antonio Conserva said he was not ruling out other suppliers of armaments. “At the moment we have not made choices, the natural armament is Turkish but we also have activities with MBDA and small Italian industrial groups,” he said.Conserva confirmed the new drone was set to be certified by the end of 2026 or in early 2027. European certification is deemed a prerequisite for selling the drone in Europe.Mounting European arms will also boost sales efforts in Europe. The Italian air force will initially order three systems, each containing two drones, but Conserva said, “We will see if we go on to expand the capability.”The Astore Levant will replace the Predator MQ1 flown by the air force, Conserva added. As well as being flown on ISR missions and providing armed support for troops, the drones will also be used for training drone pilots, he said.Before the launch in July of the Astore Levante, the Italian navy said in April it was eyeing the TB-3 as a carrier-borne drone to fly off its Cavour carrier, which also hosts Italy’s F-35Bs.The TB-3 is already in service on board the Turkish amphibious assault ship TCG Anadolu. Another TB-3 customer, Indonesia, is expected to base the drone on the Garibaldi, a carrier it has purchased from Italy.Conserva spoke to reporters on Monday at a conference at the HQ of the Italian air force in Rome which gathered air force and industry officials to discuss the future of warfare.Asked by Defense News about the prospect of Germany possibly joining the GCAP sixth generation fighter program set up by Italy, Japan and the UK, Conserva said he was in favor.“We are talking about a strategic partner,” he said.“We would need to find a political and industrial deal. Germany is a great country. We have already collaborated with them on the Tornado which will retire next year, and the Eurofighter which is the backbone of our national defense and deterrence. Whatever emerges I will view favorably,” he added.
[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]
— US Army creates robotics technician job to focus on drone warfare: at 10/12/26 12:30pm
The U.S. Army kickstarted a military occupational specialty focusing on robotics and unmanned systems with an induction ceremony this month at the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. During the ceremony, 10 warrant officers were formally introduced as 390A robotics technicians. They will now serve as subject-matter experts on all aspects of using robotic and autonomous systems, including programming, building and repairing them, plus integrating them into combat.The 390A inauguration is the result of a lengthy process that has been in the works since 2024, when U.S. Army Special Operations Command announced its aim to train experts in using autonomous systems.The Army deemed it necessary to introduce robotics as a separate specialization to avoid overburdening special warfare operators with having to master an additional, highly complex skill set, in addition to their existing knowledge.“What we’ve determined is it cannot be an additional task or an additional hat for someone on the ODA,” Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jerry Brown, command chief warrant officer for 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne), said in a release, adding that the new specialists will be able to leverage their specific field of knowledge within robotics to help the force as a whole.The new 390A technicians will be assigned to tactical formations at the brigade and group level. As experts in autonomous warfare, they will advise commanders on how best to deploy autonomous systems during operations. They will also be required to think quickly in the field to instantly propose solutions to any problems that may arise with robotics in the field, and to use their expertise to come up with innovative ways of using drones to reach objectives. To prepare them for this role, 390A candidates are required to complete a 19-week course, where they must build drones from scratch that do not require GPS or radio frequencies to navigate.The Army stated in a release that robotic systems assembled during the course will rely primarily on artificial intelligence and machine learning to navigate to targets. Fiber optic cables also provide a way for drones to reach targets while being invulnerable to external signal interference, such as jamming. Known as “tethered drones,” cable-linked unmanned aircraft systems can use artificial intelligence for targeting and navigation while having a direct physical connection to their operator. At the time of publication, the Army had not responded to questions about whether 390A candidates would be learning to build and field tethered drones.“The Army is implementing changes in force structures, adding a multi-domain task force equipped with autonomous long-range fires,” Gen. Christopher LaNeve, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, said in a statement. “These technical experts will help command teams understand integration across the force. We are scaling this across the Army.”
[Category: Unmanned] [Link to media]
— Lockheed’s New PAC-3 Edge interceptor aims for agility: at 10/12/26 12:11pm
The latest iteration of Lockheed Martin’s PAC-3 family of missile interceptors is designed to bring extreme agility to bear against a diverse array of missile threats, Defense News learned. The defense giant unveiled the PAC-3 Edge this Friday and debuted it at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., today.“This missile is capable of being launched from the traditional M903 launcher. It’s capable of being launched from the containerized launchers that are being sought after domestically and internationally, as well as our HIMARS FLEX, which is the offense and defense configuration of our traditional HIMARS vehicle,” Jason Reynolds, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control Integrated Air and Missile Defense, told Defense News. Lockheed in January announced a seven-year framework agreement to increase annual PAC-3 interceptor production from approximately 600 to 2,000.Designed to defend against hypersonic and advanced missile threats, the unveiling of the PAC-3 Edge comes as the U.S. military’s reliance on costly interceptors against cheap munitions, particularly those deployed by Iran during Operation Epic Fury, has come under increased scrutiny over the past eight months.The new PAC-3 Edge missile builds on the foundations of the PAC-3 MSE, Lockheed’s baseline missile, and pushes its abilities farther. The Edge system is longer and features a larger diameter, increasing its range. “It also goes higher in altitude and has more agility. It has attitude control motors, which are located near the front of the missile and basically divert the missile in flight,” Reynolds explained. “This has additional attitude control motors that give it additional agility.”While the PAC-3 MSE uses a two-pulse solid rocket motor to speedily approach moving targets, the new system has multi-pulse motor designed by Northrop Grumman. “It has a third pulse to the motor, so that means the motor will fire three times during its flight, giving it additional agility to kill the target,” Reynolds said. The weapon is designed not only for unprecedented maneuverability but to be easily integrated with both present and future missile defense networks. It is compatible with Northrop’s Integrated Battle Command System, or IBCS, a command-and-control network the Army uses to mesh air and missile defense sensors into a central hub. The company intends to begin testing the PAC-3 Edge in 2027 and have it ready to deploy by 2031, although Lockheed aims to have it ready earlier, Reynolds added. “The U.S. Army’s timeline is 2031. We, Lockheed Martin, are trying to pull that in and deliver this capability sooner, so around the turn of the decade,” he said.
[Category: / MilTech] [Link to media]
— Sikorsky packs 4 Nomad drones into a single shipping container: at 10/12/26 12:00pm
Sikorsky on Monday introduced a containerized kit that packs four of its Nomad 100 drones and the gear needed to fly them into a single shipping container. The announcement came as the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual meeting opened in Washington.The Nomad 100 fast pack fits four aircraft, mission-command software, power, communications and sustainment equipment inside one standard 20-foot shipping container, the company said in a release.In its planned configuration, two of the aircraft can be mission ready in under 15 minutes, and the other two available within four to six hours, according to Sikorsky.The system is designed to launch without a runway from sites such as naval vessels, tactical vehicle staging areas and improvised landing zones. After a mission, crews can repack the container, load it onto a compatible vehicle and move it to a new site.Depending on how a customer configures it, the kit could support intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting missions, as well as light attack and contested logistics, the company said.Sikorsky said the U.S. military needs to rapidly expand its inventory of autonomous aircraft with compact systems that can be deployed, sustained and moved quickly in contested environments.“By packaging aircraft, mission command, communications, power and sustainment into a single containerized system, we are making it easier to move, employ and reposition VTOL UAS capability with urgency and flexibility,” Rich Benton, Sikorsky’s vice president and general manager, said in the release.The Nomad 100 has an 18-foot wingspan and is a Group 3 drone under the Defense Department’s classification system. It uses Sikorsky’s rotor blown wing design, which pairs a helicopter’s vertical lift and hover with the speed, range and endurance of a fixed-wing aircraft, and it flies with the company’s MATRIX autonomy software.The company has not released the Nomad 100’s payload, range or endurance.Sikorsky developed the aircraft with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, under its Early VTOL Aircraft Demonstration program, known as EVADE.In July, Sikorsky said it had finished initial ground and flight testing of the Nomad 100 and would next put the drone through an intensive flight test campaign at a government facility. The company said DARPA chose MATRIX as the autonomy system for all five aircraft in the EVADE program.Sikorsky introduced the Nomad family in October 2025, after an extended flight test of a smaller prototype, the Nomad 50, with a 10.3-foot wingspan.Monday’s release did not say whether a fast pack has been built, or whether any military service has ordered or is evaluating one.
[Category: / MilTech] [Link to media]
— 3 US soldiers awarded Purple Hearts after March missile attack on Saudi Arabia base: at 10/12/26 11:32am
Three U.S. soldiers were awarded Purple Hearts for their efforts assisting fellow service members despite their own injuries after a missile attack hit their air base during Operation Epic Fury.On March 27, when a missile hit Prince Sultan Air Base in Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia, Staff Sgt. Kalob Mitchell, Spc. Nicholas Cabo and Sgt. Xavier Jones, all with the 6th Battalion, 56th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division Artillery, sprang into action.A 550-pound ballistic missile exploded yards from a bunker on base, filling it with dust and debris.“We’re sitting there talking, and then all of a sudden, we didn’t hear anything, no sound at all. Everything went black, so we were hit,” Mitchell said in a recent release.While expecting just another missile warning, the soldiers were thrown from their position and slammed against the opposing interior wall, forcing all three to lose consciousness. They had their initial medical evaluation later that day at the Role 2 Medical Facility on base.“Woke up, checked on them. They were good. At that time, we heard screams from the opposite side of the bunker. Two Soldiers, I’m not too sure who they were, who had significant injuries; ran over there, applied tourniquets, T Triple C (Tactical Combat Casualty Care), everything,” Mitchell recounted.Mitchell, Cabo and Jones applied a tourniquet to a severely wounded soldier, treated another with a neck injury and helped keep a disoriented soldier safe until it was safe to evacuate the bunker, per the release.Despite their own injuries, the trio continued to assist others, carrying others out to an ambulance and helping a soldier whose leg was severely damaged, speculating that the soldier could have lost their life if not for the group.Capt. Tyler Ritter, commander of 6-56 ADAR, 1st Cav. DIVARTY, received messages from the injured soldier saying, “Sir, your Soldiers saved my life. I thank God every day that these gentlemen survived. Their actions brought great credit upon the 6-56 Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division and III Armored Corps. These Soldiers are my heroes. May God bless them.”Mitchell, Cabo and Jones’ service, described as the “ultimate description of what we mean when we talk about warfighting, readiness, grit and taking care of our Soldiers,” earned them each a Purple Heart during an Oct. 1 ceremony at the III Armored Corps headquarters building at Fort Hood, Texas.“So honestly, it’s kind of cool,” Jones said in the release. “I don’t think any of us was like going for a Purple Heart because it actually sucked. Like that situation was horrible … When I saw it on my STP (Soldier Talent Profile), I was like, man, I never would have thought I would have got a Purple Heart. I never thought I was going to see anything like we saw.”
[Category: / AUSA] [Link to media]
— Ukraine is building a patchwork antiballistic defense, one stopgap at a time: at 10/12/26 11:30am
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine is scrambling to secure enough Patriot interceptors to stop Russian ballistic missiles this winter, piecing together allied stockpile transfers, new production agreements and a homegrown interceptor program as quickly as possible before the cold sets in.The push comes as the world runs short on the weapons Ukraine needs most. U.S. forces in Europe face a “beyond critical” shortage of Patriot interceptors after stocks were moved to the Middle East for the Iran war, a NATO official said in August.Ukraine is also bracing for another winter of Russian strikes on its energy grid, a campaign that increasingly relies on jet-powered Shahed drones too fast for most of the cheap interceptor drones Ukraine has used to stop older models.“Russia uses almost only jet-powered Shaheds to attack Kyiv because the interceptors that we were using in the past against older generations of drones had an interception rate of around 90%,” a manager at Ukrainian interceptor developer Grim Tech told Defense News last month.The faster drones force Ukraine to expend scarce and expensive missiles just as it tries to conserve Patriot ammunition for ballistic threats — the only reliable option against Russia’s even harder-to-stop ballistic missiles, according to Ukrainian officials. “Ballistic missiles are especially difficult to deal with,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after a massive aerial barrage on Wednesday night saw Russia fire 70 missiles, many of them ballistic, and waves of Shahed drones at Kyiv and 12 other regions. Soldiers downed 39 of the 48 cruise missiles but only five ballistic missiles, according to Ukraine’s air force. At least 32 people were killed in the attacks, and over 100 were injured, Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.Civilian casualties in Ukraine have risen monthly throughout most of 2026. U.N. monitors verified 372 civilians killed and 2,349 injured in August, second only to July, with long-range missiles and drones causing 47% of the toll.Kyiv is assembling a patchwork of antiballistic air defense solutions, each piece on a different clock: Rounds transferred from allied stocks for this winter, imported systems and licensed production that will begin to matter over the next several years, and Freyja, a Ukrainian-European interceptor still in development.Stockpile swapsThe fastest fix depends on allies sharing existing stockpiles, a request Defense Minister Yevhen Khmara put forward at his first Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting with allies on Sept. 8.Kyiv has signed contracts for roughly 1,000 Patriot missiles in recent months, but most will not ship for years, Khmara said. He asked partners for 300 interceptors from their stockpiles now, offering newer missiles from those contracts as replacements.“The situation with ballistics is much more difficult. And that difficulty is precisely down to the lack of Patriot missiles,” he told allies.Germany answered Khmara’s call by promising an undisclosed number of PAC-2 interceptors from Bundeswehr stocks. Britain committed £100 million through NATO’s Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) for Patriot missiles and other air-defense equipment intended to arrive before winter, according to the British government.But the United States did not include Patriot missiles in the nearly $400 million in expiring Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative money it moved to obligate before the fiscal year ended, a source familiar with the package told Reuters.Surging production of existing antiballistic interceptors“Ukraine is ready not only to produce ballistic missile interceptors for its own needs, but also to strengthen the United States and its allies through joint production,” Zelenskyy wrote on X after a recent meeting with a U.S. congressional delegation in Kyiv.Both Europe and the U.S. are in talks with Ukraine to begin ramping up joint manufacturing initiatives for both the Patriot missile system and the Franco-Italian Aster 30.Zelenskyy said Sept. 25 that U.S. President Donald Trump made a final political decision to grant Ukraine licenses to produce Patriot missiles. But Washington and manufacturers have not publicly identified the variant, Ukraine’s workshare, production site or first-delivery date.Lockheed Martin said it aims to raise its own annual PAC-3 MSE capacity from roughly 600 missiles to 2,000 by 2030, while a $14.7 billion Boeing contract would triple production of the interceptor’s seeker.Germany is scheduled to begin PAC-2 GEM-T production, and Berlin has separately asked Washington and Lockheed Martin to permit PAC-3 MSE production in Germany, but that proposal remains unresolved.France and Italy agreed in a joint declaration in July to authorize licensed production of Aster 30 interceptors in Ukraine before the end of 2026, along with providing Kyiv with four SAMP/T NG systems — becoming their first combat user.France also committed two interim SAMP/T complexes, a GF300 radar before year’s end and progressive SAMP/T NG deployment beginning in 2027.The sovereignty bet: FreyjaUkraine and Europe are looking to a new weapon called “Frejya” as a longer-term solution. Freyja is a Ukrainian-designed ballistic interceptor built around Fire Point’s FP-7.X missile, including an interceptor, launcher, radar and command-and-control network.It’s priced at roughly $1 million per round, about one-quarter of the cost of a PAC-3 MSE, and designed to plug into NATO-standard radars and command posts already in the field. The FP-7.X flew for the first time in early June and is built to kill ballistic targets at roughly 15 miles up using a high-explosive fragmentation warhead rather than the PAC-3’s hit-to-kill collision — which may come in later versions — at a target price of approximately $700,000 per interceptor, or roughly one-fifth the price of a PAC-3.The company says it will build three interceptors a day starting in August. Zelenskyy wants the system up and running within a year, and the coalition is targeting its first real ballistic intercept for the end of 2027.Zelenskyy launched the initiative with nine European countries in Paris in July — and the effort is still growing.Poland joined the group on Sept. 17, a week after Canadian PM Mark Carney told Zelenskyy that Ottawa would contribute its technologies to Freyja along with providing Kyiv with a broader package that includes C$350 million in interceptors.The EU is separately weighing direct funding for the program on top of national contributions, according to Militarnyi.
[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]
— ‘Noticeable shift in warfare’: US Army under secretary on the lessons of modern combat: at 10/12/26 11:00am
The U.S. Army is entering unprecedented territory. Demand for exquisite munitions has skyrocketed as conflicts in Iran and Ukraine — and an ever-tense Indo-Pacific — continue to redefine stockpile demand. So, too, has there developed an insatiable market for cheap systems and interceptors capable of balancing scales that, in regions like the Middle East, have been encumbered by cost-per-kill ratios as lopsided as 114-1 — in the case of a PAC-3 interceptor versus a Shahed-136 drone. If that weren’t enough to consider, there’s the lightning-quick speed of AI integration and unmanned systems into formations, and the reality of having to rethink a simple concept — hiding — that was seldom given a second thought due to the total air superiority of the Global War on Terror. Such frenzied developments, meanwhile, come against a backdrop of new Pentagon policy that aims to eliminate the antiquated red tape of the acquisition process and speed development to the battlefield. A daunting cluster of problems to solve, no doubt. But if encountering such a catalog of to-dos is stress-inducing, one would not know it when speaking to U.S. Army Under Secretary Mike Obadal, who finds himself at the center of many of these discussions. From his office and out on the trail, Obadal oversees the service’s business operations, acquisition strategy, and manpower and personnel systems, among myriad other duties. Obadal assumed the position after a stint in the private sector, which followed a military career that included time as a Special Operations officer, the status of Master Army Aviator and qualifications in nine different aircraft. Obadal spoke to Military Times about how he and the Army are approaching these seismic shifts in warfighting philosophy, and how this year’s AUSA exposition reflects the blistering pace of innovation that catalyzes them.There are many examples of individuals without military experience working in consequential positions within the Pentagon. You are not one. How has your military experience shaped how you approach this role?What I try very hard to do is not let my experience drive the way I do things. I want it to inform the way I do things, whether that’s my experience working with the interagency and seeing how other executive branch agencies operate, my experience in the conventional military or in other parts of the military, doing joint work, working with partners and allies or going out into corporate America. I don’t want any one of those things to be the driver of how I make decisions and conduct myself in the business of the Army, but I do want all of it to come together and inform it. So, it’s certainly very helpful for me when I talk to soldiers or when I look at programs or weapon systems. The biggest thing it helps me with is understanding that there’s no single weapon system that operates by itself anywhere. They are all part of a joint force, and within that, you have a maneuver Army that is reliant — tanks are reliant on infantry, infantry is reliant on fires, all of it is reliant on aviation, medical and logistics. All those components work together as a chain, and you have to make sure every link in the chain is as strong as possible. That’s one of the biggest things that I take away from being in the military: an understanding that all of these things have to work in synergy, and there are no easy solutions.We continue to watch the conflicts in Ukraine and Iran unfold. What do you expect to see at an event like AUSA that reflects what America has learned from them?If you walk around the hall at AUSA, it’ll give you a good indication of the Army’s priorities. Our priorities are reflected in what we’re procuring. Going back several years, when we were in the Middle East and we first saw adversary drones — counter-drone systems became a really important topic. It kind of started in the special operations and then expanded into the larger Army. Ukraine has not just reinforced that counter-UAS is a critical part of operations today; it’s cemented it. So, if you walk around AUSA, you’re going to see an immense number of not only drones but also counter-UAS. That’s a reflection of the procurement and the budget, not just in the Army but in the Pentagon. That’s number one. Number two is software. Being able to see, sense and integrate to understand what your positional advantage is, and understand the adversary and their vulnerabilities. That’s just military operations, but today it’s looking at how we apply the best sensors and best software to bring all of that together to give decision advantage to our commanders. The third one is fires, and when you look at current conflicts, the importance of long-range precision fires is highlighted. So, what you’ll also see at the conference is a reflection of our investment portfolio in our magazine depth, but also the variety of munitions. Expanding out the optionality that commanders have beyond just one or two exquisite munitions, with everything from longer-range artillery, one-way attack and loitering munitions, up into our higher-end missiles. All of those represent our fires portfolio, but that’s just for offensive operations. When we get into the defensive side, we’ll be seeing everything from ballistic missiles down to Group One drones. If you look at those three areas — drones and counter-UAS; software and sensors; and the fires portfolio — and were to roll back the clock to AUSA 10 years ago, the difference is remarkable. At that time, the focus was very vehicle-centric, armor-centric, pieces of kit for individual soldiers. All of those things are important and are continuing to advance, but these newer investment areas represent a noticeable shift in warfare.These conflicts are obviously influencing the speed of acquisition. But that process includes an emphasis on both cost-friendly and exquisite munition stockpiles. What is the best balance to ensure success?The conflicts are definitely influencing and accelerating the way the Army — and certainly the broader Department — are innovating, prototyping, procuring and then fielding different capabilities. If you were to roll back a decade or even less, you would see very traditional models that go from experimentation into writing an initial requirement document, then into prototyping, then selection, then low-rate production and then finally into fielding and high-rate production. That’s years long. That process is very deliberate, and it built our military to where it is today, which is still the most dominant, but with a number of vulnerabilities because of technical innovation in the commercial market that adversaries are able to take advantage of. So, where can we compress this cycle and get it more into a process where we ask the commercial industry to experiment on their dime? A lot of this has to do with private capital being interested in the defense market. They’re making a bet that they can get through some of the experimentation, and then we can follow on with prototyping and quickly get into low-rate and high-rate production before fielding.Fielding then allows us to get immediate feedback that goes back into industry. That is essentially what had to happen in Ukraine because it’s existential to them. So, when we say wartime footing, Ukraine is on the ultimate wartime footing, and there are lessons to draw from there. What are the unnecessary steps in the acquisition process? Where can you smartly accept risk? Probably one of the biggest drivers of speeding things up is acknowledging that we’re willing to accept risk. We know that if we get a tighter innovation cycle, we’re accepting more risk on the battlefield, but we’re also driving down risk on the battlefield because we’re getting it to them much sooner. So, then we get into how that translates to fires. Exquisite versus low cost. It’s a balance, or a high-low mix, essentially, where we have to have both offensive and defensive exquisite weapons. We have to have certain stockpiles to be able to counter the exquisite weapons of our adversaries and have our own effects. Then you get into mass, which comes when we start going beyond the first few days of a conflict, and we’re in protraction. We have to have affordable mass. The cost curve needs to come back in our favor.While balancing the above, how much of a difference has the surge in domestic manufacturing made in having these pre-positioned elements assisting efforts? A massive difference. The Infantry Squad Vehicle is a perfect example. That’s a Chevy Colorado chassis; the drivetrain and suspension are a little different, but it’s nothing unusual. Essentially, it then goes to a detailer that puts the military-specific equipment on top of it. It’s everything that we need it to be. As with anything, it has its vulnerabilities. We’re sacrificing heavy armor and survivability, which we needed throughout the GWOT years, for mobility, transportability and ease of repair.But using this model also allows us to sustain it far more easily because so many of the components are commercial. It especially matters when you get into keeping the ISV — or domestically made equipment — in the decades ahead and needing improvements over the years. With the ISV, as Chevy makes improvements to its chassis and drivetrain, that immediately feeds back into the production line of ISVs. So, we’re now getting upgrades that are just byproducts of the commercial market.With acquisition, there’s a major emphasis on AI. What are you discussing with tech companies to ensure the human-in-the-loop element equates to maintaining final say despite the speed of the tech?Every company that deals with this emerging technology and the military is of the same mindset, which is that the human-in-the-loop factor has to be the default. There are workflows and cycles that human commanders can say, “I need this to run in the background, and I don’t need to see it or be on it.” But when it comes to kinetic kill chains and making decisions on the battlefield, the workflows that enable commanders have to have very hard stops. It’s not just a commander saying yes or no. It’s far more complicated and nuanced. It’s presenting options based on a tremendous amount of computing analysis and saying, “Here are all the courses of action based on the priorities that you gave, based on the environmental factors that the agents have been able to ingest and all of the long-term planning that goes into it. That allows the commanders to then take highly complex tasks like mission planning and distill it down into areas where they can consume it more easily, and then apply what only humans can do, which is context and reason. That context and reason part is what the tech companies that work with us are very focused on enabling, as opposed to taking over entire workflows. Autonomy is important, really, in three areas when it comes to warfighting.Think about combat breaching. That’s one of the most dangerous things we ask a human to do: to breach a linear minefield or barrier. If we can automate that, that removes something inherently dangerous. The second is highly complex, like command and control. How do you distill what would take human staff officers hours or days into seconds, and give a commander not only several options, but the analysis behind it and the confidence in the product being presented? The third is the ability to remove repetitive and mundane things human soldiers are doing. Resupplying via trucks, for instance. If we can automate that, we are removing that task from our logistics soldiers and allowing them to apply their talents to solving real problems with a clear vision and mindset. Beyond weapon systems, something as simple as staging — or hiding — equipment or personnel requires a vastly different strategy than even 10 years ago. How does something as simple as saying, “How do we hide this helo?” impact your conversations with industry?It’s not something that we’ve had to truly consider as an Army for 40 or 50 years because we were guaranteed air superiority. We don’t have air superiority at this point because of long-range fires and precision targeting from space. So, you go back to dispersion, displacement of assets and disaggregation of large headquarters. As you remember from recent decades, a division headquarters would be a massive entity with satellite dishes and other assets in the open. Those days are gone. We now have to consider how we bring in technology from the companies to allow us to displace 10-foot satellite dishes and 20 miles of wire, and actually have small-scale edge compute and transport systems that can disaggregate everyone. That’s incredibly important. Certainly, camouflage comes into play. Other classified capabilities come into play as well, and that’s all just the visible element. Then you get into electronic warfare and the ability to monitor. So, how do you disaggregate some of that? Those are all things that we are actively moving — and coming back to — in a more modern stance.
[Category: Land] [Link to media]
— India sells air defense missiles to Tajikistan, Turkmenistan in Central Asia push: at 10/12/26 10:49am
NEW DELHI — India has sold its homegrown, short-range surface-to-air missile system called Akash, to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan gaining a foothold in Central Asia as it seeks to expand its defense exports.Analysts say these countries are turning to India to reduce their reliance on Russia, one of the region’s main arms suppliers, whose defense resources are strained by its war with Ukraine.“They are looking for a way to diversify at a time when Russia is no longer active in defense markets as it increasingly looks inwards towards its domestic needs, reducing its capacity to export air defense systems, especially in large numbers,” Aleksei Zakharov, a fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi told Defense News. “As a result, Central Asian countries are looking for possible alternatives.”Indian Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh confirmed the sales of the Akash surface-to-air missile system to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan earlier this month in an interview with news agency Asian New International. He did not disclose the contract value.India moves closer to a homegrown, long-range air defenseIn 2022, Armenia became India’s first foreign customer for the air defense system.The Akash system can simultaneously engage multiple targets at ranges up to 25km according to the Defense Ministry. It also incorporates protections against electronic jamming.Calling the system one of India’s “success stories,” Singh said: “It shows the maturing of our indigenous missile design and production system. It is effective in dealing with high-velocity aerial targets.”Indian defense officials have said it was used effectively by the armed forces during the country’s four-day conflict with Pakistan in 2025.Confidence in the missile system got a boost after it was “battle-tested” in a real conflict, according to Zakharov and could encourage Central Asian buyers to consider other Indian hardware, such as artillery and radar systems, as growing geopolitical uncertainty prompts countries to broaden their supplier base.“Certainly this can be an important first step for India’s entry into the defense markets of Central Asia. For those countries, it is also about reducing dependency on any one single source which can be useful if there are disruptions,” he said. “The Indian systems such as Akash are also cost-effective.”In fact, Armenia has emerged as India’s largest buyer of military equipment, signing defense contracts worth nearly $2 billion since 2020, according to reports. Its purchases include multiple-launch rocket systems, counter-drone systems and anti-tank missiles.Analysts say India’s outreach in Central Asia also aims to balance China’s growing influence in the region where Beijing has emerged as a major supplier of military equipment in recent years.India, which has been a major arms importer for decades has been gradually developing its own defense industry and boosting exports, which rose about 62 per cent in the last financial year to $4.1 billion. Indian companies export missiles, drones, armored vehicles, ammunition and aircraft components to more than 80 countries.Its most high-profile export is the BrahMos, a supersonic cruise missile developed jointly with Russia. India has won customers in Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines, where it is delivering a shore-based, anti-ship system. New Delhi has also signed a deal with Vietnam, and discussions are underway with Indonesia to supply the missiles. “BrahMos is a kind of benchmark for our emerging export story. This is one of the high-end strategic systems that we’ve been able to export,” he said.
[Category: / Asia Pacific] [Link to media]
— Mangroves and mud: Inside the Army jungle school’s notorious ‘Green Mile’: at 10/12/26 10:33am
Aeronaval Base Cristóbal Colón, Panama — A howler monkey looked down from his perch atop the lush canopy before unleashing a bellow so guttural that it seemed to temporarily swallow up the jungle’s hum.To his likely irritation, hordes of uniformed soldiers had gathered beneath the petite primate, filling his muddy underbrush with the heaving sound of heavy rucksacks and the smell of body odor that had been brewing in the moist terrain for days. The soldiers, some wearing days-old green face paint, had congregated amongst the moist fauna to complete their final task in the U.S. Army’s Jungle Operations Training Course in Panama: The Green Mile. The notorious event — in the thick of Panama’s “Green Hell” — is the 18-day course’s culminating exercise, testing participants’ newly learned jungle maneuver techniques, survival measures and fighting skills. By that point in the course, the soldiers had run a days-long jungle reconnaissance and attack operation. That portion of the field exercise was complete, and perhaps to the howler monkey’s dismay, so were the soldiers’ attempts to stay quiet. The course in 2025 returned to Panama at Base Aeronaval Cristóbal Colón, formerly known as the U.S. Army’s Fort Sherman, decades after it was originally shuttered. The new course is a joint U.S.-Panamanian partnership, with Panamanian instructors leading lessons on jungle survival. With staggered start times, each squad took off running down a soggy, uneven path. Squads in the September course had participants from across the U.S. force, including those from the Army, Marine Corps and Space Force. Some squads had Panamanian soldiers. Other countries, such as Colombia, have expressed interest in sending soldiers in the near future. In classes with Panamanian students, instruction is given in English and Spanish. When the course is English-only, the duration shrinks to 12 days, but without partners, officials say U.S. students can miss out on opportunities to connect with other forces. Spc. Duncan Vaupel, a member of September’s jungle school course, said he talked with and learned from Panamanian troops who described treating soldiers who had lost legs and fighting gun battles in the jungle that stretched into the night. “These guys not only teach it, but they live and breathe it, too,” he said. The squad’s first major Green Mile task was to carry some of the service members’ rucks in a litter made from whatever they could find. Logs or long branches coupled with issued wet weather equipment — a poncho — did the trick. During the course, participants are provided instructions on jungle first aid. They also practice with medical evacuation helicopters, transporting a casualty to some sliver of open sky where a medical team can send a rappel line down to hoist the injured soldier up. Jungle landing zones are few and far between. Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Reeves, a combat medic and an instructor at the school, said that heat injuries are common because of the oppressive humidity and temperature. Animal-related injuries are also widespread, he said. Wild, territorial bees are sensitive to loud noises and will defend their hives by attacking the camouflaged intruders. “We do have wild bees down here that tend to get a lot of the students as they move throughout the jungle,” Reeves said. “I know we’ve had to evac a handful of students before to the aid station for bee stings, scorpion stings and a variety of insect bites.” Once the section of muddy pathway came to an end, there was the sea to deal with. Muddy boot after muddy boot sank into the swirling sand beneath unforgiving waves. Soldiers were instructed to file one behind the other, sometimes sinking waist-deep into the water as they skirted rocky outgrowths and navigated dense mangroves. Fewer troop formations work in a jungle environment, said Lt. Col. Andrew Eagan, who oversees the Jungle Operations Training Center. Wedge formations, for example, do not work, he said. “Here you fight in a column, you fight in a line, and the reason for that is the environment,” Eagan said. “The environment is so punishing.” When the Green Mile took the service members back inland, the soldiers traded the wet coastline for brutal terrain. Their next challenge? A hill so steep that it required crawling on hands and knees. With a grade impossible to climb with waterlogged rucks, the scrappier soldiers scaled ahead, breathlessly anchoring a rope bridge from the top so other soldiers could cling to it as they ascended while lugging the squad’s wet gear. Soldiers slipped, ripping pants and filling scraggly fingernails with brown mud. Weapons became caked with slippery earth as they reached the peak. During Eagen’s interview, he said Panama’s environment was the part of jungle school that U.S. students underestimated most. During The Green Mile, the true magnitude of the jungle’s hazards was revealed — relentlessly. There was no walking down the other side of the hill, for instance. Course participants scooted or slid down on their rears, praying that their nether regions would not cross the path of a black palm — one of the treacherous plants students learn about in the jungle, in addition to the school’s flora and fauna blocks of instruction. With pointy spikes that can reach up to 8 inches long, flaring from every inch of its trunk, soft flesh is no match for nature’s black needles. Other plants, students learn, are edible and can help them survive in such harsh environs. Some of nature’s bounty, however, keeps the jungle students’ digestive systems unusually active. 2nd Sgt. Rubén Rodríguez, a Panamanian instructor for the course, said American students are often particularly hungry. They love to pick and eat coconuts for extra nourishment, he said. Though delicious and healthy in moderation, coconuts can be laxatives in large quantities. The Americans’ frequent snacks, Rodríguez said, send them straight to the jungle bathroom.As the troops progressed through the course, lanewalkers added full water jugs and ammo cans to soldiers’ loads. The extra weight pushed boots even deeper into the muddy ground. Red-faced and exhausted, the squad hoisted the extra weight over and under the first leg of an obstacle course that represents the final, brutal stretch of the Green Mile. The squad dragged themselves — and their equipment — through sticky, brown goop as they low-crawled beneath barbed wire. Soldiers tossed gear over a high wall before hurling their own bodies over after the dumped equipment. Before the finish line, the squad trekked up another uneven hill — even more slowly than any hill they had summited before. Once they hit concrete — and the familiar terrain near the schoolhouse’s campus — the jungle-battered squad had just minutes to sprint the last stretch of what was actually a four-plus-mile endeavor. The instructors imposed a time cap on the event (because what is Army training without the addition of some artificial stress?).As the afternoon sun beat down on the squad, the sprint slowed to a heavy shuffle. One participant, who had been carrying extra weight, stifled a gag as he trod onwards. In a haze of instructor-cracked purple smoke, the squad finished, collapsing in a heap under the shade of a cluster of trees. Some soldiers emptied the water jugs over each other’s heads. Others lay spread-eagled in a lukewarm puddle of mud. Two participants — one with a ripped pant seam exposing a dirty, pale leg — reveled in their success. “It was a good time,” one said, looking at his friend. After a millisecond of hesitation, the friend responded.“Nah,” he said, shaking his head with a smile.
[Category: Land] [Link to media]
— ‘We’ve drowned ourselves in buzzwords’: Acting US Army secretary gives sermon-like first speech: at 10/12/26 9:35am
One year ago, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll eviscerated bureaucratic delay and acquisition roadblocks in a profanity-laced public address. On Monday, his successor, Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle, took things back to the biblical book of Genesis in his first public speech to troops since assuming the role.“Controlling land is fundamental to humanity,” he told a packed ballroom at the Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting. “The Army does it better than anyone, and it’s on us, the people in this room, to keep it that way. Humanity’s connection to the land is biblical, and it even transcends faith, since the dawn of creation, as recorded in Genesis.”Telle, who previously served as the assistant secretary of the Army for public works, enlisted the Old Testament to preach a message of simplicity of purpose, invoking the sacred ground of past battlefields and the Army’s long history of protecting American territory.“It makes me wonder why the United States Army, again the most lethal and dominant institution in human history, struggles to explain in common terms who we are in 2026, who we really are,” Telle said. “We’ve drowned ourselves and the public in buzzwords, strategies, slideshows, government acronyms and bureaucratic doublespeak — things that are advertised as revolutionary. But the Army’s value proposition is actually too fundamental for goofy corporate jargon.”Though Telle’s rhetorical approach differed from Driscoll’s, he quickly made it clear that the Army was holding the course set by his predecessor, who resigned Aug. 31 over growing disagreements and friction with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.Telle hailed the Army’s work to streamline acquisition and reduce roadblocks to getting soldiers the gear they need, citing the Army’s work to reduce service “fiefdoms” from thousands to a few newly named portfolio acquisition executives. The service, he said, is moving away from what he called “compound self-interest,” or bureaucratic risk avoidance.“We’re empowering a small number of teams to address our biggest mandates to make difficult trade-offs around speed, manufacturability and supply chain realities early, often and together,” he said. “This is how you generate compound soldier-interest. That’s the opposite of compound self-interest.”He demonstrated the Pentagon’s new small drones online marketplace, likening it to Amazon.com and showing how soldiers could access it on their smartphones and leave reviews for future soldiers based on how well their gear worked. Likewise, he compared the Army’s new online test range reservation system for industry, initiated under Driscoll, to the hotel reservation site Booking.com. The site, he said, is like a “white-glove concierge service that allows innovators to get a reservation on the range faster.” Officials have previously said the new system can accelerate companies’ range-testing schedules from as much as 18 months to 30 days.Telle also reasserted the Army’s commitment to what the military has called a “right to repair,” meaning that it will demand open-architecture systems from all future vendors and limit industry’s ability to control intellectual property and charge a premium for fixes and spare parts.“Right now, we’re sprinting to field low-cost interceptors with open architecture built in from the outset. We need these low-cost interceptors to shoot down missiles and drones headed our way,” Telle said. “We know we need thousands of these things, but they have to seamlessly connect to our network.“If the data is trapped behind proprietary moats, and we have to call a contractor to decode the data, our superintelligent command and control doesn’t matter,” He continued. “Everything we buy from here on out will have open architecture; it’s non-negotiable.”A ‘manufacturing rodeo’Next, he said, the Army will launch a new project: a “manufacturing rodeo,” to be held early next year, that will put the service’s industrial base suppliers in competition with each other.“We’ve invested a lot in our organic industrial base. Now we need to strain it in the nation’s larger industrial base,” Telle said. “We’re going to stress-test the supply chain, the manufacturing processes and see where it breaks.”Telle did not provide specifics, such as the precise mechanism for competition or the challenges in which companies would be asked to compete.“We’re going to learn by doing, not by sitting around postulating at the Pentagon,” he said. “We’re going to find the weak links. We’re going to make them stronger, and we’re going to keep iterating.”Telle did not refer to Driscoll or allude to the fact that the service has no current Army secretary nominee. He did, however, address the “beautifully chaotic” system of American government, saying that while it wasn’t efficient, it centered human freedom and allowed for creativity and innovation.“The United States Army laid the groundwork for that, and will continue to guarantee that it’s never extinguished. Meanwhile, the other team’s human spirit, its imagination, is bounded and boxed and regulated,” Telle said. “The United States of America is where the magic happens, where brilliant people turn science fiction into science fact, and you can’t flip a switch to turn that on.“The Army’s work over the course of history has been so fundamental, so successful that the American spirit it unleashed is now the most important and potent force we have,” he continued. “It’s a potent force that the other guys don’t have.”
[Category: Pentagon] [Link to media]
— US Army, GM Defense agree to add 12,000 Infantry Squad Vehicles to fleet: at 10/12/26 9:30am
GM Defense announced on Monday that the Army has expanded orders for the Infantry Squad Vehicle, or ISV, from the initial 649 to nearly 12,000. The announcement, made at the annual exposition for the Association of the United States Army, means the service will be increasing its fleet of ISVs by roughly 1,750%. Company President Steve duMont praised his GM Defense’s ability to deliver on the fast-paced needs of the Army, touting the company’s ability to meet the demands of the “modern defense landscape” with “advanced capability, rapid fielding and sustainable scale.” “By transferring GM’s world-class engineering, supply chain and manufacturing scale directly to the service member, we are transforming customer needs into mission-ready capability faster than ever before,” duMont said. To illustrate the pace at which it operates, the company referenced how it delivered PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement housing components to Lockheed Martin in just 22 days. The company said the feat shows how “GM’s advanced casting and precision-fabrication capabilities can immediately scale” to deliver critical components. Ahead of development of the ISV, GM worked closely with the Army to identify “a clear operational gap,” according to the company. It then used the information to self-fund the creation of an ISV-Utility prototype. In turn, the GM Defense delivered seven prototypes of the “highly versatile five-soldier variant” for unit-level assessments “at no cost” to the Army. The company added that those variants will be fielded across 39 active-duty and National Guard mobile brigades. Unlike traditional combat vehicles, the ISV does not have armor. In fact, the standard design doesn’t even have doors or windows. The ISV and ISV-Heavy, which are modeled after GM’s Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 and Chevrolet Silverado HD 3500 ZR2, respectively, are designed to be adapted to changes on the battlefield rather than specific mission sets. Using lessons learned from Ukraine, Army officials say the ISV will serve as a platform for newly established Mobile Brigade Combat Teams, or MBCTs, which are designed to quickly respond to evolving threats and the demands of large-scale combat operations.At AUSA, GM Defense also unveiled concepts for an unmanned ground vehicle, or UGV, and an expeditionary energy storage system.The UGV uses what the company described as “Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD dual-rear-wheel skateboard architecture” and is intended for “silent logistics and casualty evacuation.” GM Defense aims to begin testing the vehicle in 2027.The company also showcased the EPIQ Hybrid prototype, an Army-inspired expeditionary energy storage system. According to GM Defense, the 60-kilowatt, 100-kilowatt-hour system is paired with an onboard generator designed to reduce thermal and noise signatures.
[Category: Land] [Link to media]
— FN America unveils M240 upgrade kit for modern optics: at 10/12/26 9:00am
FN America introduced a new upgrade kit for the M240 machine gun on Monday at the annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army, giving soldiers a way to mount modern optics on the legacy platform.In a press release, Daryl Atkins, FN’s director for industrialized weapons, said the M240 Tactical Long Rail Upgrade Kit will allow military organizations to continue “taking advantage of the weapon’s proven performance while making it relevant for today’s combat requirements.”According to the company, the kit preserves the weapon’s original operating system and can be installed on new guns or used to upgrade existing weapons. The kit includes:An 11-inch monolithic Picatinny top rail to accommodate night-vision and thermal optics, along with other components;An FN Side-Click feed cover designed to make one-handed operation easier;An FN Auto-Lock feed cover retention system that holds the cover open during loading, unloading and cleaning;A long, articulated carrying handle designed to accommodate full-size optics; An adjustable buttstock that allows soldiers to change the length of pull and cheek height or fold the stock for storage.“With this upgrade kit, modern warfighters can achieve faster target acquisition, more consistent shooter fit and better management of optics, while military organizations can extend the value and relevance of currently fielded platforms,” Atkins said.FN, the Belgian firearms manufacturer with operations in Virginia and South Carolina, has produced more than 100,000 M240 machine guns for the U.S. military since the 7.62mm weapon entered service in 1977.However, last year the Army revealed through budget documents that it was investing $3.6 billion in a project, dubbed the Future Medium Machine Gun, or FMMG, to replace the legacy system. The Army and Marine Corps are also pursuing separate efforts to modernize their squad-level weapons. The Army has begun fielding its M7 and M8 rifles along with the M250 automatic rifle, while the Marine Corps has adopted the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle as its standard infantry automatic weapon.
[Category: / MilTech] [Link to media]
— Airport training site in Laos extends China’s clout in Southeast Asia: at 10/12/26 8:31am
NEW TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan — China’s design to use a Laotian airport for joint military training has put much of Southeast Asia on guard about how far the People’s Liberation Army will extend its reach.The China-Laos Joint Support and Training Center at Ban Keun Airport some 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the Lao capital Vientiane and the China-Laos Friendship Aviation Academy kicked off in September, the Chinese Ministry of Defense said on its website.China’s role at the military airport, which had just finished major upgrades and features a 2,000-meter runway, suggests that the People’s Liberation Army intends to springboard into other parts of Southeast Asia – a land-border neighbor where several countries have territorial differences with China – experts say.“As China in reality aspires to be a major power, it has to gradually and in a low-key manner build up military bases, albeit for training or other seemingly innocuous purposes,” said Oh Ei Sun, principal adviser at the Pacific Research Center think tank in Kuala Lumpur.“Laos has long been considered to be a close ally for (China) in Southeast Asia and it is of course no surprise that China’s first base in Southeast Asia is located there,” he added.The two countries share a border, a Communist Party leadership and a recent history of economic cooperation led by large Chinese infrastructure projects such as a railway line.The defense ministry in Beijing said the training center, to be jointly maintained and operated, is aimed at helping Laos strengthen the training of its air force pilots.Ban Keun will allow a “continuous” Chinese presence and primarily be used to “steer procurement to Chinese equipment” and support PLA air operations, the China Global South Project media platform says in a study.The ministry website says China’s role at the airport is “not directed against any third party”, contributing instead to improving “practical military cooperation.”But instead, China may be increasing its military foothold “deep inside mainland Southeast Asia” after earlier establishing a naval presence at Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base, said Nguyen Thanh Trung, a political scientist at Fulbright University in Vietnam. Mainland Southeast Asia includes Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand as well as Laos and Cambodia.Chinese operational military presence and privileged access at the Cambodian base grew from 2019 through 2025, Asian mainstream media reports have said.China is keen on Laos now “because the Chinese feel it’s time to complement the naval facility in Cambodia with nearby air power capability,” said Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East-West Centre think tank in Hawaii.Using both its navy and air force, Beijing has shored up its South China Sea claims over the past two decades by building artificial islands, often for military use. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam dispute parts of the sea with China.Sporadic China-Vietnam incidents have occurred in the waters since the 1970s. China and the Philippines are jousting for control over tiny islets west of Luzon and Palawan islands.“Vietnam is probably the most sensitive, as Laos has long been its strategic buffer, and for now the foothold looks more like China asserting leverage over Hanoi and Phnom Penh,” said Hangyu Lee, East Asia Pacific analyst at the nonprofit organization Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. He said Ban Keun and Ream “together could look like a wider Chinese security network.”Myanmar, Lee added, could be “indirectly affected” if the airport improves China’s ability to monitor activity across continental Southeast Asia. Myanmar, with its own Chinese border, has been in civil war since 2021.China’s presence at the Laotian airport has been linked to its first confirmed overseas base, in the East African country Djibouti. The People’s Liberation Army uses it as a support base. The African base and now Ban Keun mark China’s gradual, low-key buildup of bases, Oh said.But the Laotian site “represents a new air-centered model” distinct from Djibouti and Ream in Cambodia, the China Global South Project study says.“Eventually it can be a pre-positioned base for PRC aircraft as needed,” Roy said. “It could also be expanded to accommodate more and larger aircraft.”
[Category: / Asia Pacific] [Link to media]
— Powerus unveils fully autonomous drone interceptors: at 10/12/26 8:20am
The South Carolina-based startup Powerus unveiled a fully autonomous version of its Guardian interceptor on Monday at the Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting.Brett Velicovich, the company’s president and co-founder, said in an interview with Military Times that logical product upgrades have been key to the company’s success. He explained how the company’s growth, the evolution of its interceptors and rising U.S. military demand for drone-defense systems amid the war in Iran have converged.“You know, the U.S. government had a big problem at the beginning of the Iran war, when they sent a bunch of Ukrainian interceptors to the Middle East thinking that it was going to solve a problem,” he said. According to analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, the U.S. used roughly two-thirds of its inventory of certain missile-defense interceptors by Aug. 1 to stop drones like Iran’s Shahed. Because rebuilding the supply could take years and cost billions, the government has sought quicker and cheaper solutions like those used in Ukraine, but implementing them hasn’t been easy. “When you go to Ukraine, most of the interceptors, believe it or not, are manually controlled,” he said, explaining that Ukrainian operators are highly skilled at finding and stopping one-way attack drones in the air. “And that’s great for Ukraine, where you could probably throw a rock and hit a drone pilot.” The problem with the government’s initial thinking, according to Velicovich, was that Ukraine has a “proper drone army,” as the country has “entire brigades that are pilots. So those guys have extreme combat experience in knowing how to take a drone and send it into another drone. In other countries, they don’t.”With that understanding, Velicovich explained how Powerus provided the U.S. with the Guardian 1 — modeled after manually controlled Ukrainian drone interceptors — to the semi-autonomous Guardian 2, which, when paired with a radar to detect threats, will launch the interceptor in the direction of a drone. “It’ll know the speed and the telemetry. It’ll launch it in that direction, but you still have to do that final phase of manual kill,” he said. And finally, Powerus developed the fully autonomous Guardian 3. He explained that when the radar cues it, the system launches in the direction of the threat and can detect and strike using artificial intelligence and navigation systems. “So you kind of take the human error out of it,” he said. Velicovich credits this strategy, which he and his team derived from first-hand experience in the military and using drones in combat, to the company’s recent success. In about one year, Powerus has transformed into a publicly traded company with a market capitalization of nearly $390 million. On Oct. 1, it completed a merger with Aureus Greenway Holdings Inc., a golf course holding company backed by the two eldest Trump sons.As the U.S. government looks for ways to find low-cost drone interceptors, it’s also looking for low-cost missile interceptors. Power has partnered with the Netherlands-based defense company Destinus to help meet that challenge. “Destinus brings this just overwhelming, incredible ownership of the technology,” Velicovich said, adding that Powerus will be its “business development channel in the U.S. to sell systems that otherwise had not really been sold here yet.” He added that Powerus received the demand signal from the Pentagon and aims to deliver. “We know you’d be crazy not to buy these products because of just how effective they are on the battlefield,” he said.
[Category: / MilTech] [Link to media]
— One user interface, multiple autonomous systems: Forterra debuts OASIS-OneLink technology: at 10/12/26 7:49am
Defense tech company Forterra introduced a new platform on Monday at the Association of the United States Army conference in Washington that will allow service members to control different autonomous systems using one user interface.OASIS-OneLink builds upon Forterra’s OASIS-Fabric, a shared data network that allows unmanned machines to connect in communication-degraded environments where they can’t log onto a shared data grid.“Requiring operators to start an integration process from scratch every time a new system is introduced is both inefficient and burdensome for the end user,” Phil Cotter, Forterra’s head of growth, told Military Times. “OneLink gives operators one place from which to monitor and command, and it’s designed to grow and adapt as mission requirements change.”OASIS-Fabric was essentially the internet, but for battlefield products, according to Jenna Tuck, vice president of distributed warfare at Forterra.While Fabric provided a new way for machines to connect, OneLink provides a new way to control them.New systems and pieces of technology come with their own operating systems and visual layouts, not unlike different computers or phones.The same often goes for the military.If a service member wants to control several different autonomous systems, or if a new one is introduced to the mix, they may have to learn a completely new user interface or remember several different ones while toggling between them.But OASIS-OneLink would allow several different autonomous machines, potentially all from different companies, to be controlled using the same operating control framework, said Tuck.This would make switching between them much more seamless and easier for users.The shared interface could also speed up the testing and evaluation phase before fielding new technology, since it would allow the Defense Department to focus on the performance of new autonomous systems and reduce time otherwise devoted to the tedious mastery of new controls.The Army’s Joint Readiness Training Center has already begun using OASIS-OneLink to pilot unmanned systems, Forterra said.Oasis-OneLink wasn’t the only shiny new toy the company showed off at AUSA.The company unveiled a new autonomous ground vehicle that it created with Hypercraft, integrating its AutoDrive autonomous software platform to form a machine capable of carrying out high-risk missions without endangering soldiers’ lives.Forterra has a proven track record of supplying cutting-edge technology to support missions in contested environments.It was the first ground autonomy company to be actively deployed in Ukraine and has deployed for 88 casualty evacuation missions to rescue Ukrainian soldiers from the front lines.Forterra was also selected by the Army as a prime contractor for its Engineer Autonomous Breaching Capability program focused on the development of unmanned vehicles to assist with mine-clearing in combat zones.
[Category: / MilTech] [Link to media]
— Watch AUSA 2026 Day 1: Live: at 10/12/26 7:32am
[Category: / AUSA] [Link to media]
— Patriot interceptor deliveries to Poland will be delayed, top general says: at 10/12/26 6:36am
Deliveries of some U.S. weapons systems to Poland are set to be delayed, including interceptors for the Patriot air defense system, Polish army operational commander Gen. Ireneusz Nowak said on Monday.Reuters reported in April that U.S. officials had informed some European counterparts that some previously contracted weapons deliveries were likely to be delayed as the Iran war draws on weapons stocks.“At this point it looks like we are going to be affected as well. That’s very visible in the area of PAC-3 MSE Patriot missiles, they’re going to be delayed for sure,” Nowak told a panel at the Warsaw Security Forum.“In general there’s going to be impact and there are going to be... additional delays to the deliveries scheduled already or being under the contract already.”
[Category: Global] [Link to media]
— US Army helicopter pilots test new in-flight ‘relief’ system: at 10/12/26 5:28am
U.S. Army Helicopter pilots in the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade are evaluating a system designed to let them relieve themselves in flight. Soldiers will evaluate whether it can help address a problem pilots face during prolonged missions: limiting fluid intake to avoid restroom breaks.The brigade completed the Army’s first-ever helicopter test flights using the Advanced Inflight Relief Universal System, or AIRUS, at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, from Oct. 5 to 7. The testing examined the system’s airworthiness for use on Army helicopters.Aircrews from 1-101 Attack Battalion “No Mercy,” 6-101 Assault Helicopter Battalion “Eagle Assault” and 7-101 Heavy Lift Battalion “Eagle Lift” completed human-factors surveys, checked AIRUS for fit and tested its ability to let them relieve themselves in flight. The crews believe AIRUS will help them stay in the air longer.The brigade’s Holistic Health and Fitness, or H2F, team sought out AIRION, the aerospace medical systems company that developed AIRUS, to help reduce the number of pilots purposefully dehydrating themselves to limit the need for restroom breaks during missions.“We had pilots tell us they tactically dehydrate,” Capt. Gena Baisa, lead dietitian for the 101st CAB H2F team, said per an Army release. “So, we thought, how can we get a system specifically designed to allow them to use the bathroom in air so they can stay hydrated and optimize their performance?”Chief Warrant Officer 2 Collin McAllister, an AH-64 Apache pilot who tested AIRUS, said the system differs from previous systems that used bags containing coagulant, according to an Army account of the testing.“As we look to fight in contested environments where we will need to stay a lot longer to support the ground force, this could be a great contribution,” McAllister said in the account.Representatives from Redstone Arsenal observed the test to provide recommendations on AIRUS’ flight suitability. A critical aspect of the evaluation involved assessing how aircrews with different body types could move while wearing the system.“We tested AIRUS to see its airworthiness and started with egress testing,” said Elizabeth Rhonenus, a human-factors engineer with the Aviation Flight Test Directorate, in the release. “We took our smallest participant around the fifth percentile and our largest around the 95th percentile and saw if they could get in and out of the aircraft safely.”The testing marked a developmental milestone, transitioning the system into the Army’s rotary-wing fleet, according to the Army. It was AIRION’s first time testing with the Army and its first time testing the system on helicopters, according to Colt Seman, the company’s founder and chief executive officer.“We tested to get the system integrated into the Apache, Black Hawk, and Chinook helicopters,” Seman said per the release. “The pilots were able to put on AIRUS, wear it, and be able to use it. It was comfortable, and it worked.”Baisa said the brigade is preparing for upcoming missions, including the Long Range Large Scale Air Assault concept and the new MV-75 Cheyenne II helicopters’ ability to stay in flight longer.“We are setting the foundation now to support the upcoming missions our Soldiers will face,” Baisa said. “Looking at L2A2 and the new MV-75 Cheyenne II helicopters’ ability to stay in flight longer, we want to improve Soldier readiness. The AIRUS is a capability that could help us achieve it across the enterprise.”
[Category: / MilTech] [Link to media]
— US Army gets first mobile cannon to replace M777 howitzer, officials say: at 10/12/26 4:00am
The U.S. Army has taken delivery of its first Korean-made mobile tactical cannon less than a year after first issuing a solicitation, service officials said Thursday.Speaking to reporters ahead of the Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting, the Army’s leader for offensive fires said that the mobile tactical cannon, made by Hanwha Defense USA, was on display at a first-of-its-kind “Army Modernization Day” held on Capitol Hill earlier this month.“We’re excited to have that and get ready to test it,” said Brig. Gen. Robert J. “RJ” Mikesh Jr., portfolio management executive for offensive fires. “And get that soldier feedback, that we think is so important.”The Army in August announced it had entered a prototyping contract with Hanwha for the Mobile Tactical Cannon, a 155mm self-propelled howitzer intended to replace the legacy M777 155mm howitzers that have been in service since 2005. The four-year contract, worth up to nearly $263 million, covers procurement of up to 18 of the systems for “rapid prototyping, testing, and Soldier experimentation,” the Army said in August. It calls for “accelerated delivery” of the first six system prototypes and allows the Army to execute options for up to a dozen more.While the service hadn’t released full details about the testing regimen, officials said a series of operational experiments would take place to ensure the systems could perform reliably in “realistic combat conditions.”The Mobile Tactical Cannon, which was contracted through an Other Transaction Authority agreement, is based on Hanwha’s K9 mobile howitzers, which have been employed by the South Korean military since 1999 and now have variants operating in 10 other countries, making up more than half of all self-propelled howitzers in service around the world.The company announced at the time of the contract award that it was building an integration and test site in Opelika, Alabama, to develop and roll out the cannons.“What enabled that was this close partnership under the PAE construct and trying new and novel ways of contracting,” Mikesh said Thursday. “In this case, we were not going after a clean-sheet design; we were looking for mature and available technologies. We opened our aperture for companies around the world, knowing that they’d have to onshore production within two years. That howitzer is now on contract.”The Army has said in budget solicitations that its fielding effort for the new self-propelled howitzers will focus initially on Stryker Brigade Combat Teams, followed by Mobile and Infantry Brigade Combat Teams. And while the solicitation that received the Hanwha contract is for a wheeled self-propelled howitzer, the Army in late August published a new solicitation for a tracked variant of the Mobile Tactical Cannon. Hanwha officials told Breaking Defense they’re seeking to fill that requirement as well. Army budget request documents for fiscal 2027 illuminate an additional testing role for the Mobile Tactical Cannon: It will facilitate work in the Army’s 155mm Artillery Propulsion Modernization project, designed to improve range and performance by pursuing novel propulsion technologies and advancements in “propelling charge, modular charge, ignition systems, propellant, and packaging solutions.” “Solutions will be integrated into a system of systems capability to ensure interoperability, closing fires capability gaps to destroy or neutralize artillery targets out to 70 kilometers,” the document states.The M777 has an effective range of under 24 kilometers, or about 15 miles, and up to 40 kilometers, or 25 miles, with the extended-range Excalibur round. The K9, a 52-caliber system, has a range of more than 60 kilometers, or about 37 miles.Army leaders have said they want to field a ready version of the Mobile Tactical Cannon by 2031.
[Category: Land] [Link to media]

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