Defense

Setermoen, Norway — Following their success in Ukraine, Arctic nations are assessing whether first-person-view drones could be deployed on Arctic battlefields. Roughly 240 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, two soldiers — part of the Norwegian Armed Forces’ long-range reconnaissance unit — were imperceptible from their position deep in the woods during NATO’s Cold Response 2026…

Pentagon officials told senators in a classified briefing this week that the first six days of Operation Epic Fury cost American taxpayers an estimated $11.3 billion, according to a person familiar with the session. The figure, however, omitted a range of war-related expenses, indicating the overall total is likely to rise. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., in brief remarks to reporters on Wednesday…

Facing jittery global markets and drooping poll numbers since launching a war on Iran, President Donald Trump has cycled from calls for “unconditional surrender” to sounding amenable to an end state in which Iran trades one hard-line ayatollah for another. Shifting comments from the Republican president and his top aides are adding to the precariousness of the 12-day-old conflict, which is…

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that Tuesday “will be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran: The most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes, intelligence more refined and better than ever.” Shortly before the statement shared at Tuesday’s press briefing, he said “the last 24 hours have seen Iran fire the lowest amount of missiles they have fired…