NEW TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan — Taiwan President Lai Ching-te told a forum in late September he was seeking “resilience through unity” with a new alliance that would let world officials and non-governmental groups prepare together in case of disaster.
For Taiwan, that could mean an attack or blockade by the militarily more powerful China.
Lai’s pitch to 500 experts and guests augured an…
Saudis plan assault on Houthis to break Red Sea chokehold
October 4, 2026
Saudi Arabia is planning an offensive against Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, with options being considered, including a coastal push to secure the Red Sea shipping route or an assault on multiple fronts, regional and Western officials told Reuters.
The operation…
ROME — Italian military planners risk losing out on €8 billion ($9 billion) in funding as government and opposition parties seek to cut both defense spending and support for Ukraine.
The plans to limit spending emerged this week as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni…
TAITUNG, Taiwan — The first two of a batch of 66 new F-16V Block 70 fighter jets ordered in 2019 arrived in Taiwan on Friday after months of delays, helping to strengthen an air force that has to scramble almost daily to shadow China’s military.
Taiwan faces a rising military threat from Beijing, which claims the democratically governed island as its own territory. Taipei has complained of…
PARIS — France’s Air Force, together with the country’s Directorate General for Armament and the agency for defense artificial intelligence, plans to fly crewed fighter jets in collaboration with combat drones in 2028, part of a project to experiment with AI in combat…
US leaders send mixed messages to Indo-Pacific nations
October 3, 2026
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Army officials from 25 different Indo-Pacific nations recently met in New Zealand to hammer out cooperative defense strategies. Simultaneously, the top political leaders in the United States were sending conflicting messages about its…
Two California-based startups took the top spots in the latest phase of the Drone Dominance competition, a Pentagon effort to find companies that can produce high-quality, low-cost commercial drones at scale.
According to the competition’s leaderboard, Neros Technologies scored highest in the confined-environment testing category. Perennial Autonomy claimed the top spot in “deep-strike”…
KYIV, Ukraine — The Space Force and the Pentagon have commissioned two companies to build new reconnaissance satellites capable of delivering high-resolution “space-to-space imagery” of objects more than 22,000 miles above Earth.
Space Systems Command awarded the…
Ukraine has struck Russian factory vital for Moscow’s missiles, private intelligence firm says
October 2, 2026
GLASGOW, Scotland — A Russian factory that Ukraine struck on Sept. 26 supplies electronics for a wide range of Russia’s missiles, potentially leaving Moscow without a fallback supplier, according to leaked documents obtained by the Ukrainian private intelligence firm…
U.S. Marines participated in a “first-of-its-kind mission” in the remote Arctic this summer, meant to test their ability to work with Norwegian and British troops in harsh conditions.
The operation — on the far-flung and strategically valuable island of Jan Mayen, Norway — reflects NATO’s increasing focus on the Arctic, where the alliance is worried about Russia’s ability to project…
