Defense

President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to seize Kharg Island — the linchpin of Iran’s oil industry — as he escalated pressure on Tehran amid a fraying ceasefire. In a post on Truth Social, the president wrote the United States would be hitting Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT,” adding that “at some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil…

BERLIN — Germany’s ILA air show opened on Wednesday under the twin shadows of the Iran war and the collapse this week of a flagship Franco-German fighter jet project, clouding what is meant to be one of Europe’s premier aerospace showcases. The Berlin event, which dates back to 1909, puts a large slice of Europe’s defense industry on display as companies pitch new technology to governments…

The Pentagon recently named the winners of the Lethality Prize Challenge in the Drone Dominance program, a $1.1 billion effort to expand domestic drone production and reduce the cost of commercial drones for military use. The Defense Innovation Unit announced in a LinkedIn post last month that the winners — Bravo Ordnance, Kela Technologies, Kraken Kinetics, Mountain Horse Solutions and Northrop…

BERZGALE, Latvia — A French military Rafale fighter jet shot down a drone that entered NATO member Latvia’s airspace from Russia on Monday, the latest in a series of such security incidents along Europe’s eastern border regions. The Latvian army, without saying who launched the drone, said it entered from Russia “as a result of Russian electromagnetic warfare.” Latvian Prime Minister…