DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian government forces have taken control of a base in the east of the country that was run for years by U.S. troops as part of the war against the Islamic State group, the Defense Ministry said in a statement Thursday.
The al-Tanf base sits on a strategic location close to the borders with Jordan and Iraq. In a terse statement, the Syrian Defense Ministry said the handover…
SINGAPORE — Beyond China’s ostentatious display of its J-35A fighter jet at the Singapore Airshow was a lower-profile piece of equipment, the new Wing-Loong X combat drone, which experts say is far more likely to find international success.
Beijing banked on Asia’s…
PARIS — NATO kicked off operation Arctic Sentry to bolster the alliance’s posture in the high north, after weeks of deliberations by allies how to address claims by U.S. President Donald Trump that security threats in the region require the United States to take control…
US Marine Corps advances plans for drone wingman
February 12, 2026
The Marine Corps has big plans in 2026 to advance toward fielding a drone wingman to collaborate with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
On Tuesday, the Corps released its 2026 Aviation Plan, outlining its strategy to maintain and develop its aviation fleets.
A top priority: testing and developing Marine Air-Ground Task Force Unmanned Expeditionary (MUX) TACAIR, an unmanned “collaborative combat…
MILAN — Russia is not expected to attack any NATO member states in the next two years, a testament, in part, to European efforts to quickly boost their defenses in the last few years, the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service concluded in a report this week.
But Moscow’s…
German startup aims to deliver European hypersonic strike by 2029
February 11, 2026
PARIS — German startup Hypersonica claimed a “significant” step toward delivering Europe’s first sovereign hypersonic strike capability by 2029, after the company’s first hypersonic test flight in Norway pushed its missile prototype to more than Mach 6 and a range…
İZMİR — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Saudi Arabia and Egypt earlier this month, marking fresh steps in the normalization of relations with key regional powers and opening the door to new defense deals.
The first stop of the two-day tour was Riyadh, where Erdoğan met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. According to official statements, both sides emphasized the need to…
Russian stealth jets have arrived in North Africa, as filmed by Algerian potato farmer
February 11, 2026
BERLIN — A new video snapped by a potato farmer appears to confirm that Algeria is the first country to have received the fifth-generation Su-57 stealth fighter jet from Russia.
The online video shows the distinctive silhouette of Russia’s most modern fighter jet against…
Ukraine seeks god mode with new control app for drone war
February 10, 2026
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine has launched Mission Control, a first-of-its-kind digital command-and-control system designed to unify planning, execution and reporting for all drone operations across the country, as Kyiv seeks more innovative ways to move the frozen front line on…
BERLIN — The Trump administration’s push to acquire Greenland has produced a carefully calibrated response from Moscow. An air of restraint in public comments masks more private concern over potential threats to Russian submarine operations, combined with satisfaction at widening cracks in the transatlantic alliance, according to analysts.
Russian officials and policy experts described the…
