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A robotic combat vehicle carrying an autonomous laser weapon system designed to shoot down drones rolled onto the floor of a Detroit manufacturing conference this week, placing one of the most futuristic weapons concepts in modern defense squarely in the middle of America’s industrial heartland. Aurelius Systems, a defense technology company developing autonomous directed energy […]View the full article

A small British aerospace company has successfully flight-tested a long-range strike weapon under a UK Ministry of Defence program, validating a development model that bypassed the traditional procurement bureaucracy and delivered a working one-way attack system at a fraction of the cost and time that established defense primes typically require. Rotron Aerospace, a UK-based advanced […]View the full article

Europe’s largest missile manufacturer has successfully fired its newest ground-launched deep strike weapon twice in the span of three months, completing a development cycle so compressed that the weapon went from drawing board to live firing in under a year, a timeline that would have been considered impossible by conventional defense industry standards a decade […]View the full article

A known design flaw in the U.S. Air Force’s newest and most expensive aerial refueling tanker has now contributed to four separate midair accidents since 2022, including two incidents where the aircraft’s refueling boom, a 15-meter (50-foot) telescoping arm worth millions of dollars, was torn completely off the plane and fell into the ocean, Task […]View the full article

Britain’s military is exploring a radical new concept for its naval missile defenses, one where warships and robotic vessels can sit armed and ready to fire for a month at a time with nobody on board to maintain them, and the UK Ministry of Defence is now asking the defense industry to help figure out […]View the full article

Russia laid the keel of a new nuclear-powered attack submarine on June 17, 2026, the first vessel of its class to enter construction in six years and a signal that Moscow is pressing ahead with its most capable undersea weapons program despite the enormous financial and industrial strain of the war in Ukraine. The ceremony […]View the full article

Turkey has begun construction of a second naval replenishment and logistics support ship for the Portuguese Navy, marking a significant expansion of Ankara’s defense export portfolio into NATO’s maritime domain, Ulusavunma reported. STM, Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik, the Ankara-based state-affiliated Turkish defense technology company that serves as the prime contractor for the program, started construction of […]View the full article

A mystery military aircraft draped entirely in white fabric was spotted at Japan’s Gifu Air Base on June 18, 2026, triggering immediate speculation across defense-focused social media about what the shrouded airframe might be and why it was being kept hidden in plain sight on an active flight line. The sighting was first posted by […]View the full article

Russia appears to have modified its most advanced attack helicopter with new electronic warfare equipment, and the changes visible in recently released Russian military footage suggest the Mi-28NM is being adapted to counter the drone threat that has fundamentally reshaped the battlefield over Ukraine. Israeli defense analyst Guy Plopsky, who closely tracks Russian military aviation […]View the full article

Britain’s military aircraft fleet, from Typhoon fighter jets to Chinook helicopters currently flying combat support missions in the Middle East, will stay in the air under a new contract that ensures a steady supply of the thousands of small consumable parts that keep modern warplanes mission-ready. The National Armaments Director Group, the UK defence procurement […]View the full article

Russia is preparing a new mobilization wave, and the evidence is no longer confined to analyst assessments — it is showing up in deleted government reports, police roundups on city streets, and a sitting member of Russia’s own parliament warning publicly that the Kremlin has run out of other options. Mobilization drills for civil administrators […]View the full article

A Canadian armored vehicle manufacturer has unveiled a new generation of one of its most versatile protected vehicles, building it on an entirely new platform and pushing its payload capacity to levels the company says are the highest in its class, at a moment when demand for light protected mobility has rarely been stronger. Roshel, […]View the full article

On Thursday, we were reminded what the word exceptional actually means. Three were awarded the Medal of Honor. I tried to find a copy of the text of their citations, but they are not posted yet that I could find. Retired Marine Corps Maj. James Capers Jr.: Recognized for his exceptional bravery and leadership while leading a rescue mission while severely wounded during the Vietnam War. Retired Army Maj. Nicholas Dockery: Awarded for his courageous actions and for defending his platoon while under heavy attack in the Kapisa Province of Afghanistan. Late Marine Corps Col. John W. Ripley (Posthumous): Honored for his extraordinary heroism during the Vietnam War, where he exposed himself to intense fire to rig and detonate explosives that destroyed the Dong Ha Bridge and halted an enemy advance. We covered him in March, if you’d like to read more. If you missed it, here’s the video. Any more commentary on my part would be superfluous. Share Leave a comment This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. View the full article

An Idaho National Guard cavalry unit that once rode into battle on horses and later trained on 70-ton tanks reorganized from an armored combined arms battalion into a mobile infantry battalion equipped with Infantry Squad Vehicles on June 18, 2026, in a ceremony that signals how profoundly the U.S. Army believes the character of ground […]View the full article

The U.S. Army is building a biotech startup accelerator designed to fast-track biological defense technologies from laboratory bench to battlefield, and it wants nonprofit organizations to run it, with up to $95 million on the table and the possibility of a follow-on contract worth as much as $500 million. The Army’s Capability Program Executive for […]View the full article

The Pentagon’s most ambitious research arm wants to build computers that can think in the dark, operate on almost no power, and keep working even when their own hardware is failing, and it is now asking the technology world to help figure out how. DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Pentagon’s research and technology […]View the full article

A Ukrainian military video published this week shows the aftermath of a Russian fiber-optic FPV drone strike on an American-supplied Oshkosh M-ATV armored vehicle, with Ukrainian forces reporting that the armored crew compartment held and the soldiers inside survived the impact, though the vehicle itself suffered serious damage. The footage, released by Ukrainian military personnel, […]View the full article

A sprawling Cuban intelligence facility just 145 kilometers (90 miles) from the Florida coast has completed construction of a powerful new antenna array capable of intercepting and tracking American military communications across the southeastern United States and the Caribbean, the Center for Strategic and International Studies reported on June 18, 2026. Satellite imagery analyzed by […]View the full article

Hanwha Aerospace, the South Korean defense giant behind one of the most combat-credible rocket artillery systems currently in service, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with French defense technology company Thales on June 17, 2026, at Eurosatory 2026, the biennial land warfare exhibition held at Paris Nord Villepinte. The agreement commits the two companies to integrating […]View the full article

Germany is about to become the production floor for the largest unmanned ground vehicle order ever placed in Europe, and the robots heading to the front line were designed and battle-tested in Ukraine before a single one rolls off a German assembly line. Quantum Systems, a Munich-based deep-tech defense company, and Tencore, a leading Ukrainian […]View the full article

Editor’s note: Robert Brüll is the founder and CEO of FibreCoat, a materials technology company that supplies lightweight, electrically conductive fibers used in defense, space, and industrial applications. He writes here in a personal capacity. The views expressed are his own and do not reflect the editorial position of The Defence Blog. At the time […]View the full article

Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, the Navy’s primary in-house science and technology arm, confirmed they successfully demonstrated a laser system that does both jobs without missing a beat, wirelessly transmitting power across long distances and then shifting into a defensive posture against drones, a dual-use capability the lab says could reshape how troops […]View the full article

Finland’s Minister of Defence, Antti Häkkänen, authorized the Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command on June 18 to purchase additional GBU-53 Small Diameter Bomb II glide bombs from the United States, adding to a stockpile that will arm the country’s incoming fleet of F-35A stealth fighters with a weapon few air forces in the world currently […]View the full article

DroneShield and Defenture have signed a memorandum of understanding to combine the Australian company’s counter-drone hardware, software, command-and-control, and operational support with Defenture’s tactical vehicle platforms, including the GRF and Mammoth, betting that the pairing will give NATO armies the kind of mobile drone defense they have been scrambling to buy as cheap unmanned aircraft […]View the full article

Words matter. Clarity matters. Consistency matters. I don’t think anyone has been happy with how we describe “drones”, “unmanned”, or the cringy reactionary-woke “uncrewed” phraseology. Don’t even get me started with the “kamikaze drone” and other such kludges. OK, I may be nine months late to the game, but it appears we may be moving past the awkward and tiresome, “Do we call it unmanned, uncrewed, or something else that starts with a ‘u’? I’m tired of being yelled at.” stage. Have you noticed something seeping into the…drone?…space recently? From what I can tell—and if you can find earlier official uses please let us know in comments—what brought this acronym to the front was a memo by then-SECNAV Phelan on September 3, 2025. In accordance with the Secretary of Defense’s Memorandum dated 10 July 2025, “Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance,” I am establishing the positions of Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Robotic and Autonomous Systems (DASN (RAS)), Program Executive Office for Robotic and Autonomous Systems (PEO RAS) and Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Robotic and Autonomous Systems (PAE RAS). The Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN (RD&A)) is directed to immediately conduct a focused 30-day analysis (the “sprint”) to develop an implementation plan. I don’t hate it. If I may extend the concept: Surface RAS = SRAS. Pronounced, “S-Rass” Air RAS = ARAS. Pronounced, “A-Rass” Underwater RAS = URAS. Pronounced, “You-Rass” Ground RAS = GRAS. Pronounced, “G-Rass” That works. I think this new phrasing may stick. On Monday, the GAO put out, Robotic Autonomous Systems: Navy Needs to Address Leadership and Organizational Challenges to Meet Urgent Needs, a document that should be getting more attention. Recent conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East prove that robotic and autonomous systems (RAS) are disrupting naval warfare and challenging traditional naval superiority. To provide more adaptable, dispersed operations, the Navy intends to shift away from its World War II-era operating model, which was based on closely knit battle groups comprised of several traditional platforms, such as planes, ships and submarines. According to Navy strategic documents, a hybrid fleet is necessary to enable this shift and would incorporate smaller, more numerous, and distributed capabilities—including RAS capabilities—as a complement to larger, more individually powerful, traditional capabilities. In this context, RAS capabilities could allow naval forces to take on greater operational risk while maintaining a tactical and strategic advantage. The Navy plans to spend billions of dollars on researching and developing enabling technologies for RAS. In March 2025, GAO found that the Navy had not taken steps to address key challenges to developing RAS capabilities quickly despite critical needs for RAS implementation. We need to ditch the “hybrid fleet” silly talk, but the RAS? Not bad. With expanding operational systems nearing IOC…we should firm up our lexicon. I haven’t seen better. Leave a comment Share This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. View the full article