Defense

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine military will test a new defense plan to be spearheaded by a new command, as officials here game out what it would take to repel invaders without immediate help from allies. The exercises take place amid heightened security concerns over China’s aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea and regional developments involving Taiwan. “We are looking at…

BERLIN — A Russian cargo plane that recently arrived in Venezuela later made several stops in other Kremlin-aligned Latin American countries, flight records show, after making a similar journey back in August. The Ilyushin Il-76, operated by the private but government-affiliated cargo charter airline Aviacon Zitotrans, arrived in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas on Oct. 26, as previously…

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine has received more American-made Patriot air defense systems to help it counter Russia’s daily barrages, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as Russian drones killed a man and injured five of his family members, including two children, in the latest nighttime attack. Russia’s relentless pounding of urban areas behind the front line following its full-scale…

CANJUERS, France — A French Army artillery demonstration in pouring rain in the south-east of the country last week showed the limits of modern warfare: When the weather gets miserable, cannons may still fire, but drones stay grounded. It’s a lesson already learned in Ukraine, where Russian forces have been timing mechanized assaults with rain and foggy conditions, according to the Institute…