Defense

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 of the M51 has new nuclear warheads as well as improved range, accuracy and capability to penetrate enemy defenses, the…

The U.S. military is sending an aircraft carrier to the waters off South America, in the latest escalation and buildup of military forces in the region, the Pentagon announced Friday. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group to deploy to U.S. Southern Command to “bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that…

MILAN — The Lithuanian Army has tested heavy machine guns and Swedish-designed surface-to-air missiles against high-speed drones, as more militaries are exploring the potential of firearms as drone countermeasures of last resort. In a video released this week by the Lithuanian armed forces, air defense artillery units are seen training with large-caliber machine guns and launching the Saab-made…

Since the early days of the Cold War, the early warning radars on Greenland have been a linchpin for defending North America against nuclear attack by intercontinental ballistic missiles. But the radars themselves are vulnerable to attack by hypersonic missiles, critics warn. U.S. bases in Greenland can neither detect those missiles, nor shoot them down. “The U.S. does not have a standing…