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An uncrewed ground vehicle from Australian firm BIA5 was put through U.S. Army trials in Hawaii, where soldiers tested autonomous systems for evacuating wounded troops and moving supplies, the U.S. Army said. The company’s ATR platform, fitted with a remotely controlled monitor and several cameras, was evaluated on November 7 ahead of a multi-mission casualty […]View the full article

U.S. Army paratroopers from the 11th Airborne Division flew nearly 3,000 miles (4,800 km) from Alaska and jumped straight into a training assault in Hawaii, putting on their parachutes in the air along the way. The operation, called “Arctic Aloha,” was the division’s part in Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center Rotation 27-01, a large Army […]View the full article

U.S. Army air defense soldiers in Poland spent five days learning to fly FD-1 interceptor drones into incoming targets over the Baltic Sea, as the Army looks for cheaper ways to stop large waves of enemy drones. The training, called Operation Audacious Fury, ran November 2–6 at the Ustka Training Area on Poland’s northern coast, […]View the full article

U.S. Marines with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit rehearsed a land raid at Fort Stewart, Georgia, on November 7, clearing buildings and moving in Amphibious Combat Vehicles during the unit’s Realistic Urban Training, U.S. Marine Corps photos show. The Marines belong to Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, the ground combat element attached to […]View the full article

U.S. Army soldiers from the 25th Division Sustainment Brigade drove Swarmbotics AI’s FireAnt small uncrewed ground vehicles through a long-distance movement test in Hawaii on November 8, as the Army trialed autonomous systems for moving supplies and wounded troops in the Pacific, the U.S. Army said in a photo release. The test took place at […]View the full article

Ukraine’s parliament has taken the first step toward creating a Space Force within the country’s armed forces. On November 9, the Verkhovna Rada approved in the first reading draft law No. 13255, which would set up Space Forces as a new branch of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The bill calls for developing space technologies […]View the full article

Russia launched a Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying a military satellite from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region on November 7, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The launch was carried out by a crew from the Space Forces of Russia’s Aerospace Forces. “The spacecraft was placed into its designated orbit as planned. Stable telemetry communication is […]View the full article

A Russian barrage balloon fitted with protective cables has brought down a fixed-wing drone weighing about 100 kg (220 pounds) for the first time, the head of the company that developed it said. Polina Albek, founder of the aviation design bureau Pervyi Dirizhabl (“First Airship”), made the claim in comments carried by Russian media. “Yes, […]View the full article

Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) and Dutch defense company Artillerie Inrichtingen Armaments (AIA) plan to build IWI’s ARAD 5 rifle and NEGEV UX machine gun in the Netherlands, the companies said in a joint statement. AIA will set up a new factory in the country to manufacture and assemble the two weapons. Under the plan, IWI […]View the full article

A U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command MC-130 transport aircraft landed at Hamat Air Base in northern Lebanon on the evening of November 8, according to LebanonJets, a local aircraft-spotting account that tracks military flights in the country. The account said the aircraft arrived from the east at 7:25 p.m. using the callsign SMOKE83, with […]View the full article

Belgium has brought back the 51st Squadron, an air defense unit that guarded NATO airspace with Nike Hercules missiles during the Cold War, after 37 years without it. Defense Minister Theo Francken said that the Belgian Air Force reactivated the squadron on November 9 at a ceremony at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels, and that […]View the full article

Anyone who matters in the national security arena is familiar with the industrial espionage waged by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) against the West—from unsecured networks to the graduate schools of our best research institutions. Most are also aware of the PRC’s penetration of our supply chains and production floors. What if they didn’t have to do that because they simply, well, owned the companies? The Chinese Communist Party is very good at using the capitalist system against itself—using access and leverage against the West in ways the PRC would never allow foreign companies to operate on its shores. Follow the money, as the saying goes. There is a lot of money moving around, and that money buys shares. If you own enough shares—as we’ve discussed before—you control who sits on the board of directors. When you control the board, you control the company. How much of a danger is this issue in the West? Returning to the Midrats Podcast this Sunday from 5-6 p.m. Eastern will be Dr. James S. Robbins. You can join LIVE at this link. If you are reading this after the show, check the Substack page later Sunday night for all the podcast links. We will use his recent article in Real Clear Defense, Beijing’s Trojan Yacht, as a starting point for our conversation. Jim serves as the Senior Vice President for Research and Business Development at IWP. He is a national security columnist for USA Today and Senior Fellow in National Security Affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council. Dr. Robbins is a former special assistant in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and in 2007 was awarded the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Meritorious Civilian Service Award. He is also the former award-winning Senior Editorial Writer for Foreign Affairs at The Washington Times. His work has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, National Review, and other publications. He appears regularly on national and international television and radio. Dr. Robbins holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and has taught at the National Defense University and Marine Corps University, among other schools. His research interests include terrorism and national security strategy, political theory and military history. Dr. Robbins is the author of five books, including The Real Custer: From Boy General to Tragic Hero, This Time We Win: Revisiting the Tet Offensive, and the critically acclaimed Last in Their Class: Custer, Pickett and the Goats of West Point. 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

The Defense Logistics Agency committed $2 billion during fiscal year 2026 to buy strategic and critical materials for the National Defense Stockpile, the U.S. government’s reserve of raw materials held for national emergencies, the agency said on November 6. The fiscal year ran from October 2025 through September 2026. DLA did not publish a list […]View the full article

Yemen’s Houthis launched a large-scale missile and drone attack on Saudi Arabia on Sunday, targeting Riyadh, the oil-rich Eastern Province and the southern border region. In the capital, the Aramco tower in the King Abdullah Financial District was damaged, witnesses said. Air raid alerts sounded in Riyadh and Najran, and in the Eastern Province cities […]View the full article

The U.S. Marine Corps has shown off a smaller, lighter version of the system its aviation units use to control airspace and manage air operations, the Common Aviation Command and Control System, or CAC2S. The new Small Form Factor variant was put through an operational demonstration last week, the Marine Corps’ acquisition office, Portfolio Acquisition […]View the full article

Hypersonica, a British-German defense company developing hypersonic strike missiles, has raised €100 million ($111.5 million) in a Series B funding round, UK Defence Journal reported. The money will go toward turning its tested HS-1 prototype into an operational long-range strike system for European militaries. The round was co-led by venture firms Lightspeed and General Catalyst, […]View the full article

Poland’s Łukasiewicz–PIAP research institute has sent two of its uncrewed ground vehicles, the HUNTeR and the IBIS TRANSPORT, to ALPEX 2026, a European military experiment in Switzerland that tests how robots and drones can support troops in the field, the institute said in a post. ALPEX 2026 is run by the European Defence Agency together […]View the full article

Russia used North Korean-made KN-23 ballistic missiles to strike a key energy facility in Ukraine overnight on November 7, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, citing preliminary data. He made the claim after a meeting on the damage from the attack and the repair work. Russia fired 36 ballistic missiles during the night, and Ukrainian air […]View the full article

The United Kingdom has put a second military satellite into orbit. Titania, a small British-built spacecraft, launched last month and will be operated by UK Space Command, the Ministry of Defence said on November 7. Titania was built in Hampshire by BAE Systems and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, the ministry’s research arm, under […]View the full article

Ukraine’s armed forces have hit two Russian Iskander ballistic missile launchers and a Pantsir-S1 air defense system in Russia’s Bryansk region, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on November 7. The strike came hours after Russia fired 36 ballistic missiles and 172 drones at Ukraine overnight. Every missile was aimed at […]View the full article

Debris left inside the gun barrel of a Japanese Type 10 tank likely set off the April explosion that killed three soldiers during live-fire training in Oita Prefecture, the Mainichi Shimbun reported, citing Defense Ministry sources. The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force is preparing to publish the results of its investigation as early as the end […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy has awarded Vigor Marine a $222.5 million contract to overhaul and modernize the destroyer USS Gridley (DDG 101), taking the warship out of service for about two years after nearly back-to-back deployments to the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific and Latin America. The work, which the U.S. Navy calls a fiscal 2027 Depot […]View the full article

Japanese aircraft maker ShinMaywa Industries will build a new factory on Kobe Airport Island to assemble the US-2 search-and-rescue flying boat it supplies to Japan’s Ministry of Defense, the company said at its latest earnings briefing. The firm expects to invest several billion yen in the plant and aims to start operations in 2029. The […]View the full article

The U.S. Marine Corps has more than doubled the ceiling on its sole-source contract with Heckler & Koch for M27 Infantry Automatic Rifles. The modification adds $45.4 million and raises the maximum value of the deal from $39.2 million to $84.6 million, covering continued purchases of rifles, spare parts and associated equipment. The modification, announced […]View the full article

The Indian Air Force has landed an Il-76MD heavy transport aircraft at Nyoma airbase in eastern Ladakh, about 4,150 meters (13,629 feet) above sea level. The service said in a post that it was the highest-altitude landing the aircraft type has ever made anywhere in the world. The Il-76MD is a four-engine Soviet-designed airlifter that […]View the full article