DefenseNews

Italy weighs using EU defense loan on new tanks, eying Hungary team-up

ROME — Italy is considering using a European Union loan deal to pay for new tanks and armored vehicles supplied by Germany’s Rheinmetall, a source has told Defense News. The money for Lynx vehicles and Panther tanks would come from cheap so-called SAFE loans organized by the EU to help member states beef up their military strength as Russia threatens the bloc’s Eastern border. Earlier this…
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DefenseNews

The US draws down some troops on NATO’s eastern flank

BRUSSELS (AP) — The United States has informed its NATO allies that it will scale back its troop presence along Europe’s eastern border with Ukraine as it focuses on security priorities elsewhere in the world, Romania’s defense ministry said on Wednesday. The U.S. Army…
DefenseNews

Carrier’s move to South America leaves Mideast, Europe with none

President Donald Trump’s decision to shift the nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier to South America in his campaign against drug cartels is pulling the ship out of the Mediterranean Sea at a time when a tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been threatened by new strikes in Gaza. The U.S. is set to be in the fairly unusual position of having only a single aircraft carrier deployed…
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DefenseNews

Heavy Russian cargo plane lands in Caracas amid US-Venezuela tensions

BERLIN — A Russian transport aircraft of a type linked to the country’s military and former Wagner mercenary group has landed in the Venezuelan capital over the weekend, signaling heightened Russian interest in the Latin American country. The Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft with the registration RA-78765 arrived in Caracas on Sunday after a two-day journey that took it from Russia via…
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DefenseNews

US to deploy USS Gerald R. Ford to Latin America

The U.S. military is sending an aircraft carrier to the waters off South America, in the latest escalation and buildup of military forces in the region, the Pentagon announced Friday. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group to…
DefenseNews

Drones could replace large US Army units in Europe, expert suggests

Since 1945, the U.S. Army has been designed to defend Europe. Despite detours into counterinsurgency in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, the core of the Army remains a large force of heavy mechanized brigades. But the times are changing. The Obama administration shifted American strategic policy from Europe to Asia. Today, the Trump administration is prioritizing homeland defense, the Western…
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