Defense

VIENNA — Global military spending reached a new record of almost $2.9 trillion in 2025 − the 11th consecutive year of growth − even as the United States recorded its sharpest single-year decline in decades, according to new data published Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The main engine of growth was Europe, where expenditure surged 14% to $864 billion − the…

VIENNA — NATO’s Support and Procurement Agency has selected Sweden’s Saab and Canada’s Bombardier to replace the alliance’s aging fleet of Boeing E-3A Sentry airborne warning and control system aircraft with the GlobalEye platform, according to French defense publication La Lettre and confirmed independently by the German press agency DPA. The decision, if formally announced, marks the…

The U.S. Marine Corps and Navy are collaborating to boost the nation’s current inadequate amphibious fleet size, according to the top-ranked U.S. Marine Corps officer. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith said at the 2026 Sea-Air-Space Conference during a Tuesday keynote that the two services are working together with a “unified sense of purpose” to increase the size and availability of…

PARIS — Russia could be ready to start a regional conflict with NATO within a year after the end of hostilities in Ukraine, with the aim of creating political division in the alliance, according to Dutch military intelligence service MIVD. Under the most favorable conditions for Russia, it could build up enough combat power for a regional challenge to NATO within a year after fighting stops in…