Defense

PARIS — Russia’s defense spending in 2025 rose at the slowest pace since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago, impacted by financial reforms at the Ministry of Defence and a struggling economy in the face of Western sanctions, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Defense spending by Russia rose by 3% last year in real terms, after a 57% jump…

MILAN — Armed with a fresh defense-cooperation agreement, Denmark and Canada stand to exploit their shared use of MQ-9B drones as a practical touchpoint for Arctic surveillance, according to issue experts. The Danish Air Force officially established Squadron 729 on Feb. 16, which will operate the four MQ-9B long-range unmanned aircraft out of Aalborg Air Base, located in northern Denmark…

The Defense Department this week began testing for the initial phase of its Drone Dominance Program, an effort to expand the use of commercial drones across the military. Dubbed “the Gauntlet,” military operators will fly and evaluate uncrewed aerial systems, or UASs, at Fort Benning, Georgia, to determine which of the 25 competing vendors will advance to the next phase of the…

PARIS — Airbus is open to a “two-fighter solution” to break the deadlock on the future air-combat system that France, Germany and Spain are developing, Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury said, as work on the next-generation fighter (NGF) that’s part of the program has stalled amid infighting between Airbus and Dassault Aviation. The Future Combat Air System program, or FCAS, is at…