DefenseNews

Pentagon calls for cheaper long-range strike weapons, with testing in just 3 months

With the U.S. running low on expensive guided munitions, the Pentagon is pushing yet another project to develop cheap, long-range weapons that can be mass produced. But this time, the Pentagon is in a hurry. The Iran war has exposed the problem of relying on costly long-range missiles such as the Tomahawk. To remedy that, DoD is putting out a call for long-range, autonomously guided Ground-Based…
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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

From steppe to sea, a Ukrainian drone unit hunts Russian ships

In a field in southern Ukraine, soldiers scrawled sardonic messages on a sleek grey attack drone that would soon be hunting Russian ships on the Black Sea — part of a widening Ukrainian campaign to isolate Crimea and weaken Moscow’s war effort. Operating far behind the front line on Ukraine’s sweeping steppe, such units have hit more than 180 vessels and other sea-borne targets around the…
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DefenseNews

‘Incredible work’: Ukrainian F-16 downs Russian fighter jet for first time

KYIV, Ukraine — A Ukrainian F-16 shot down a Russian fighter jet for the first time since the American-designed planes arrived on the battlefield in 2024, the top-ranking U.S. general told Congress on Tuesday, emphasizing the impressive progress of Kyiv’s air defense forces in shielding the country’s skies. Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pointed to the kill at a…
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DefenseNews

Australia whips together a hybrid air defense weapon

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Australia successfully tested a “Frankenstein” medium-range air defense system last month, harnessing existing and new capabilities in a way nobody has tried before. After dawdling over the need to improve its ground-based air defense (GBAD)…
DefenseNews

Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat makes Farnborough Airshow debut

LONDON — An unusually warm London sun beat down on the grey body of an aircraft. Sleek and gently curved, an average onlooker taking a cursory glance at the airframe may have assumed it to be a small fighter jet. And it may accompany fighter jets, but no pilot will ever buckle themselves into a seat in the cockpit of a Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat. Australia’s flight-ready uncrewed aircraft made…
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