CANJUERS, France — A French Army artillery demonstration in pouring rain in the south-east of the country last week showed the limits of modern warfare: When the weather gets miserable, cannons may still fire, but drones stay grounded.
It’s a lesson already learned in Ukraine, where Russian forces have been timing mechanized assaults with rain and foggy conditions, according to the Institute…
Soldiers take new mobile 81mm mortar system for test drive
October 31, 2025
The Army’s latest effort to modernize its formation took shape on the training grounds of Hawaii last week, as soldiers tested a new “shoot and scoot” mobile mortar system designed to make units more agile in combat.
Members of the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment…
Cuba's Military Agreements with Russia Uncovered
October 31, 2025
BERLIN — Ukraine has closed its embassy in Cuba and censured the government in Havana over allegations that the Caribbean dictatorship is complicit in sending troops to fight in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The move comes just weeks after Russia and Cuba signed a…
ROME — Italy is considering using a European Union loan deal to pay for new tanks and armored vehicles supplied by Germany’s Rheinmetall, a source has told Defense News.
The money for Lynx vehicles and Panther tanks would come from cheap so-called SAFE loans organized by the EU to help member states beef up their military strength as Russia threatens the bloc’s Eastern border.
Earlier this…
WASHINGTON — Executives at Israel Aerospace Industries are awaiting news on the U.S. Golden Dome missile shield architecture, hoping that defense leaders here will consider the company’s Arrow interceptor technology for two layers of the project, according to IAI chief…
The US draws down some troops on NATO’s eastern flank
October 30, 2025
BRUSSELS (AP) — The United States has informed its NATO allies that it will scale back its troop presence along Europe’s eastern border with Ukraine as it focuses on security priorities elsewhere in the world, Romania’s defense ministry said on Wednesday.
The U.S. Army…
Carrier’s move to South America leaves Mideast, Europe with none
October 30, 2025
President Donald Trump’s decision to shift the nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier to South America in his campaign against drug cartels is pulling the ship out of the Mediterranean Sea at a time when a tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been threatened by new strikes in Gaza.
The U.S. is set to be in the fairly unusual position of having only a single aircraft carrier deployed…
France updates submarine-launched nuclear missile amid arms race
October 29, 2025
PARIS — France introduced a modernized version of its M51 submarine-launched strategic ballistic missile, a “major milestone” in the modernization of the country’s ocean-based nuclear deterrent, the Armed Forces Ministry said on Tuesday.
The third and latest version…
Not long after airplanes were first used in war, armies realized that close air support required specialists on the ground to coordinate with the pilots. Hence the advent of forward air controllers, and later the U.S. military’s Joint Terminal Attack Controllers, or…
BERLIN — A Russian transport aircraft of a type linked to the country’s military and former Wagner mercenary group has landed in the Venezuelan capital over the weekend, signaling heightened Russian interest in the Latin American country.
The Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft with the registration RA-78765 arrived in Caracas on Sunday after a two-day journey that took it from Russia via…
