Defense

WAIOURU, New Zealand — The whump of exploding 105 mm artillery rounds reverberate across the “battlefield” as Kiwi soldiers in NZLAV 8×8 armored vehicles race across a valley to assault a network of enemy trenches. Witnessed by Defense News on Aug. 27, this live-fire episode formed part of the New Zealand Army’s largest exercise of 2026. Called Hill 60 – named after the final battle…

VIENNA — Russia’s war spending pushed the state to the brink of running out of cash this spring, according to a Bloomberg report that offers the clearest account yet of how the financial burden of the Ukraine invasion is straining Moscow’s finances. Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that Finance Minister Anton Siluanov warned Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in April…

MANILA, Philippines — Japan’s defense-procurement agency has signed a mass production procurement agreement for interceptor drones made using 3D printers, the latest move to rapidly deploy a large unmanned fleet by 2027. The Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Agency selected Terra B1, a rocket-launched interceptor drone, after a demonstration with the Maritime Self-Defense Forces last…

VIENNA — With the United Kingdom passing classified blueprints for British-made components of the SCALP cruise missile to Ukraine, the country is now in possession of the intellectual property and permissions needed to build the high-tech European weapon domestically. France had already provided Ukraine with a production license for the Franco-British weapon, called Storm Shadow in its U.K.