Defense

U.S. forces are set to depart from their last bases in Iraq by Wednesday, a move celebrated as a victory by Iran and its allies, who now have deep influence in the country where 4,500 Americans died during more than two decades of war. Iraqi security experts say the withdrawal — agreed to in 2024 under U.S. President Joe Biden and carried out by Donald Trump’s administration even as it wages…

LIVERPOOL, England — British finance minister John Healey will put his support firmly behind firms investing in defense on Monday, part of what he will describe as a new industrialization drive to try to spur the nation’s anaemic economic growth. In his first speech to the governing Labour Party’s annual conference as finance minister, Healey will aim to put flesh on the bones of Prime…

PARIS — French defense-technology firm Thales is “quite advanced” in discussions with a number of NATO countries about using its artificial intelligence-powered command-and-control system HexaForce, said the company’s vice president for multi-domain operations, Patrick Moreau. Thales announced the availability of HexaForce last week, after testing it during NATO’s Coalition Warrior…

Despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s nostalgia for old-fashioned steam catapults, the U.S. Navy appears to be sticking with electromagnetics for its newest class of aircraft carriers. The Navy recently awarded contracts for the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, which uses electrically generated magnetic fields to launch aircraft from Ford-class carriers. Kato Engineering…