Bone fragments from the sword hand of a medieval Russian prince who won a famous victory over the Mongols have been sent to the front in Ukraine to raise army morale in the Russian Orthodox Church’s latest show of support for President Vladimir Putin’s war.
The sarcophagus of Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy, who died in 1389 and is revered by Russian nationalists for defeating the Mongol Golden…
NATO allies foil Russian subsea cable sabotage plot
September 11, 2026
LONDON/WASHINGTON — Deep in Arctic waters near the remote Svalbard archipelago this spring, NATO allies caught Russian subs training to unleash a secret weapon designed to disable critical undersea cables without leaving any fingerprints.
The clandestine Russian operation…
Defense startup’s AI aims to make every munition count
September 10, 2026
When Andy Markoff deployed to Mosul with the U.S. Marine Raiders in 2016, one of the challenges they faced as they pushed ISIS fighters back along a hundred-mile front was that they never had enough munitions, he said.
Markoff explained that calling in air support was an…
KIELCE, Poland — As Russia’s military is increasingly relying on jet-powered drones in its war against Ukraine, Ukrainian defense companies are intensifying their efforts to counter the threat while striving to make the interceptors cheaper than the targets they strike.
A number of anti-drone system producers from Ukraine are showcasing their solutions to military and industry representatives…
South Korea supercharges defense budget to record levels
September 10, 2026
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — South Korea will spend more on its military in the year ahead than it ever has before. The country’s defense budget is set to rise 8.2%, after government leaders announced the increased expenditure on Sept. 3.
The boosted defense spending of…
US Air Force seeks air-defense guns to protect overseas bases
September 9, 2026
In the wake of Iranian attacks that devastated U.S. bases in the Middle East, the U.S. Air Force wants portable air-defense guns that can destroy drones and cruise missiles.
The Ground-Based, Medium-Caliber Gun Weapon System project is aiming for a weapon “that fires…
EU abruptly shelves Kallas-led defense panel after pushback from Berlin, Paris, Rome
September 9, 2026
VIENNA — EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas scrapped plans to launch a high-level advisory group on European defense just hours before its scheduled unveiling, after several member states, reportedly including Germany, Italy and France, pushed back against the initiative.
The group, first announced by Kallas at an informal defense ministers’ meeting in Wicklow, Ireland, on Sept. 1, was meant…
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing the Army to explain why it is shuttering a specialized drone battalion less than a year after establishing it, a move that comes as conflicts across the world have become increasingly defined by unmanned aerial systems and…
US Air Force speeds Reaper successor timeline after Iran losses
September 5, 2026
The U.S. Air Force is accelerating its timeline for a cheaper, more expendable successor to the MQ-9A Reaper, officials said Sept. 3, after combat losses left the service unwilling to wait out the rest of the drone’s life.
Lt. Gen. Christopher Niemi, the Air Force’s…
Opposition by US and Russia raises doubts over autonomous weapons talks outcome, diplomats say
September 5, 2026
Opposition from the United States and Russia has raised doubts that countries meeting in Geneva will on Friday agree on a document that could pave the way to international rules on the use of autonomous weapons, three diplomats said.
The 128 states that are party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), an international framework hosted under the United Nations in Geneva that…
