CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — The Australian government this month announced the beginning of a long-delayed life-extension program for six diesel-electric Collins-class submarines, an effort that government auditors immediately flagged as a high-risk affair.
The boat Farncomb, the submarine with the greatest mileage, is the first vessel to undergo the process at the government-owned ASC shipyard…
NEW DELHI — India has completed final developmental trials of a new precision guided missile that can be launched from drones to engage both ground and aerial targets.
For many years the country’s drones were used primarily for intelligence, surveillance and…
PARIS — The number of military personnel engaged in peacekeeping operations around the world fell to the lowest in at least a quarter century in 2025, and geopolitical tension and lack of funding are jeopardizing the viability of multilateral peacekeeping, according to…
Rubio ratchets up pressure on NATO at key summit
May 25, 2026
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is casting new doubt on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s relevance to the United States after key allies recoiled from backing Washington’s “Operation Epic Fury.”
Rubio, speaking to reporters following a meeting with foreign ministers in Sweden on Friday, contended that the raison d’etre of NATO was undermined when allies refused to allow the U.S.
A Congressional Research Service report released this month tallied 42 U.S. aircraft lost or damaged during Operation Epic Fury, the 40-day campaign against Iran that began Feb. 28. It is the most complete public accounting of a war the Pentagon has yet to assess on its own…
The small Montana-based tech company Reveal Technology announced that its biometric tool Identifi has been formally adopted as a program of record by U.S. Special Operations Command, or USSOCOM. And, according to last week’s announcement, it’s a major milestone, not just…
ROME — Italy is considering backing out of a second EU-supported boost to defense spending, taking to about €27 billion ($31 billion) the amount of rearmament cash it could forego as it focuses on tackling soaring energy costs.
Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni has told EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen that Italy may pass on the offer of €14.9 billion in cheap, so-called SAFE…
Operation Epic Fury may have strengthened the case for directed energy weapons, but the U.S. Navy’s dream of putting “a laser on every ship” may take significantly longer than expected to realize.
In a posture statement delivered to the House Armed Services Committee…
The remotely piloted MQ-9 Reaper was the workhorse in the U.S. air campaign against Iran, Air Force leaders told Congress on May 20, even as the service’s fiscal 2027 budget request still pours the bulk of aircraft dollars into crewed fighters.
Having repeatedly proven…
ROME — The mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is set to expire at the end of 2026, despite renewed violence in the country that has already claimed the lives of six peacekeepers.
After years of U.S. pressure, the decision was taken by the UN Security Council in August last year through the adoption of Resolution 2790. The decision also tasks the Secretary-General…
