DefenseNews

DARPA challenge pushes limits of heavy-lift drone technology

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency next week will kick off its inaugural Lift Challenge, a weeklong competition that aims to “revolutionize heavy vertical-lift aviation” by finding a drone capable of lifting and transporting a payload four times its own weight. The agency will award $6.5 million in prizes to the winners. Phillip “Donna” Smith, the Lift Challenge program manager…
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DefenseNews

House-passed defense bill includes controversial US-Israel tech measure

The House of Representatives passed its version of the NDAA last week, leaving in place a controversial provision that would encourage co-development and co-production between the U.S. and Israeli defense industrial bases. The House’s version of this provision, known as Section 219, proposes further integration between the U.S. defense industrial base and Israel’s. It comes amid a dramatic…
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DefenseNews

French wildfires threaten nuclear deterrence industry, Rafale assembly

PARIS — Wildfires raging west of the French city of Bordeaux are threatening a number of France’s key defense-industrial sites, including an ArianeGroup facility that produces propulsion components for the M51 submarine-launched ballistic missile, Dassault Aviation’s final assembly line for the Rafale fighter jet, and one of Roxel’s main manufacturing sites for solid rocket motors used in…
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DefenseNews

India moves closer to a homegrown, long-range air defense

NEW DELHI — India has successfully tested a long-range surface-to-air interceptor missile, advancing development of a domestic air defense system to counter long-range aerial threats. The Defense Ministry said that the maiden flight test intercepted a simulated high-speed…
DefenseNews

US Congress approves money for Taiwan defense. Does it mean Trump is done hesitating?

NEW TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan — U.S. President Donald Trump is still holding off approval of a $14 billion weapons package for Taiwan, a potential military rival to Beijing. He pulled back in May after meeting his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, who opposes U.S. military aid to Taiwan. But on July 15, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that includes $500 million in Foreign Military…
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