The Pentagon’s new target is to remove Anthropic department-wide by end of September, even as the AI titan is suing the government to overturn it.

Separately, MBDA and Rheinmetall were selected to develop a laser weapon system for the German Navy.

Depending on who’s named to head the new drone-buying office, and how they handle the inevitable friction, said a former Pentagon AI chief, “it may turn out to be a master stroke … [or] it could end up looking like the F-35.”

Ukraine will hold its first coalition meeting on a homegrown ballistic missile defense system in France “in the coming days.”

The Defense Department wants to introduce PQC requirements into the CMMC program, but experts warn industry and the underlying technology is far from ready. The post What the Pentagon’s new post-quantum cryptography directive means for defense contractors appeared first on DefenseScoop .

DARPA’s Lift Challenge is scheduled to take place Aug. 2-9 at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. The post DARPA gearing up for heavy-lift drone competition appeared first on DefenseScoop .

The volume includes 40 new files, including 19 videos.

The flight suspensions for eight Apache helicopter pilots involved in a Fourth of July flyover in South Carolina have been lifted amid pressure from Republicans and the public, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said on Friday morning. “Effective immediately, the suspension of all involved South Carolina pilots has been lifted. Carry on Patriots,” Parnell wrote...

By most measures, commercial space is thriving. Washington produced a flurry of activity over the past year: two major executive orders, a raft of directives, and “space superiority” elevated to […] The post Space capitalism needs more than a bull market appeared first on SpaceNews .

A Japanese startup developing reentry vehicles is signing up customers and preparing for its first mission while keeping a watchful eye on SpaceX’s entry into the market. The post ElevationSpace advances work on commercial reentry vehicle appeared first on SpaceNews .

HELSINKI — China launched its Long March 10B rocket early Friday and successfully recovered the first stage, marking a huge step for the country’s reusable rocket efforts. The first Long […] The post China becomes second country to recover orbital booster with Long March 10B appeared first on SpaceNews .

The Starlink 17-48 mission will add another 24 satellites to the low Earth orbit constellation. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base is scheduled for 8 p.m. PDT (11 p.m. EDT / 0300 UTC).

The FCC issued approval for startup Reflect Orbital to launch a demonstration satellite that will test a solar reflector in orbit that’s designed to reflect sunlight back to Earth. The […] The post FCC Approves Reflect Orbital Demo Satellite to Test Redirecting Sunlight appeared first on Via Satellite .

On Friday, July 10, 2026, the International Telecommunication Union’s Radio Regulations Board (ITU/RRB) formally denied a regulatory extension requested by satellite operator Globalstar Inc.. The company had sought an administrative […]

Karen Vardanyan faces up to 15 years in federal prison and agreed to pay nearly $1.2 million in restitution. The post Armenian national pleads guilty to Ryuk ransomware attacks appeared first on CyberScoop .

A major credential leak spurred the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to strengthen protections for its sensitive materials, improve how researchers can report agency vulnerabilities and develop plans for similar incidents, the agency said in a forensic report released Thursday. The blog post outlines CISA’s response to the leak that the researcher who discovered it […] The post CIS

Angelo Martino exploited his insider position and fed confidential information to ransomware co-conspirators to extort a combined $75.3 million from five U.S.-based victims. The post Former DigitalMint ransomware negotiator who duped clients sentenced to 70 months in jail appeared first on CyberScoop .

One man accused of deploying Ryuk ransomware pleaded guilty Wednesday in an Oregon federal court to conspiracy and computer fraud, while another man received a 70-month federal prison sentence in a Florida court for helping the Blackcat/AlphV gang extort multiple victims.

Last year, a statement from former White House AI advisor David Sacks stopped Washington cold. "We now have a Chinese open-weight model that is as good as the currently available models from OpenAI and Anthropic," Sacks told a podcast audience, describing Z.ai's GLM-5.2 as comparable to Anthropic's Opus and level with OpenAI's latest offerings. A Chinese startup had, in his telling, matched the tw

KREMLIN FILES/COLUMN: Three years ago, in June 2023, the Kremlin confronted one of the most dramatic internal crises of Vladimir Putin's quarter-century in power. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the former convict turned oligarch, Wagner founder, and longtime Kremlin insider known as Putin's "chef," launched an armed mutiny that stunned Russia and captivated the world. Wagner fighters seized the headquarters o

China's state-owned space company recovered its first orbital rocket booster after launch.

Apple alleges the misconduct was directed by OpenAi's senior leadership, including a long-time former employee.

Open source AI is booming, according to Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue. The company has grown into something like a GitHub for AI in recent years, where AI builders can share and download open models and datasets, now used by roughly half the Fortune 500. Delangue has seen the same story play out again and again: companies start […]

The AI chip boom just produced its biggest Wall Street moment yet. Now SK Hynix and Samsung are being asked to build U.S. factories.

Open source AI is booming, according to Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue. The company has grown into something like a GitHub for AI in recent years, where AI builders can share and download open models and datasets, now used by roughly half the Fortune 500. Delangue has seen the same story play out again and again: companies start […]

OpenAI's new family of models will continue to power Microsoft's suite of workplace and productivity apps.

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Anthropic found a hidden space where Claude puzzles over concepts The AI firm Anthropic has got the clearest glimpse yet at what’s really going on inside large language models as they…

In a 47-page omnibus reprogramming notification, the Pentagon outlines an array of weapon and tech programs it wants to strip dollars from to pay for “unforeseen military requirements” which are “determined to be necessary in the national interests.”

“The Pentagon is building a better mousetrap while the mice are rewriting the blueprint for the house,” argues this analyst.

“Space Operational Energy is a growing focus for us. We hope to host industry days and create avenues for collaboration with industry partners in the near future,” an Air Force spokesperson told Breaking Defense.

Joe Jewell left academia and his role directing hypersonic wind tunnels to oversee the Pentagon’s science and technology enterprise. He wants more researchers to make the same move. He joins Jonathan to discuss the Pentagon’s science enterprise, why he thinks academia is the envy of America’s closest allies, and how his office gets technology from the lab into the hands of the warfighter.Image: Ga

In the span of two weeks, the White House issued two of the most ambitious artificial intelligence directives in American history. On June 2, President Donald Trump signed an executive order mandating rapid AI adoption and hardened cyber defense across the government. Three days later, National Security Presidential Memorandum 11 directed every element of the national security enterprise to accele

Impulse Space and Relativity Federal can compete for national-security missions against SpaceX, Blue Origin, and others.

SecDef Hegseth's no-warning termination of worker agreements broke the law and caused "confusion and disruption," the suit alleges.

Officials from the company, Defense Department and General Services Administration were unforthcoming about the procurement. The post Post-Advana rebrand, Accenture selected for $821M War Data Platform integration deal appeared first on DefenseScoop .

Defense officials have long-touted the benefits of directed energy systems such as their high-speed engagement, low cost-per-shot and deep magazines. The post Pentagon awards deals for laser weapons that could shoot down drone swarms appeared first on DefenseScoop .

How AI-powered platforms move defense agencies from reactive staffing to predictive workforce planning and improved readiness. The post Turning defense workforce data into mission readiness appeared first on DefenseScoop .

President Trump is setting up a fight with Congress and regional allies over his announcement Tuesday that he will remove sanctions on Turkey and potentially welcome Ankara back into the F-35 fighter jet program, despite its possession of a Russian air defense system. Several GOP lawmakers have come out against Trump lifting sanctions on Turkey...

An office of the U.S. Department of the Interior is seeking information on concepts for performing offshore orbital launches, part of a broader effort to reduce congestion at existing spaceports. The post Interior Department requests information on offshore launch options appeared first on SpaceNews .

Environmental and scientific groups are calling for a halt to processing orbital data center applications, arguing the rush to move computing infrastructure into space has raised the stakes in a broader push for more megaconstellation oversight. The post Environmental groups urge FCC to pause orbital data center applications appeared first on SpaceNews .

For the growing number of constellations being designed around Starship, the wild ups and downs in the early days of SpaceX’s historic IPO have a familiar rhythm. While some of […] The post Volatility is often the price of ambition appeared first on SpaceNews .

New portfolio acquisition executives will control requirements and modernization decisions across major mission areas The post Space Force completes procurement reorganization, creating nine acquisition portfolios appeared first on SpaceNews .

The startup is developing laser systems that transmit power and data between spacecraft The post Space Force awards Pulse Space $40 million to advance laser power technology appeared first on SpaceNews .

Blue Origin is planning to raise $10 billion in the company’s first outside investment to support its ambitions in launch services and satellite constellations. The post Blue Origin seeks to raise $10 billion in outside capital appeared first on SpaceNews .

Canadian company MDA Space is buying a French Earth data analytics company in its second big acquisition in recent weeks, part of wave of mergers and acquisitions in the industry. The post MDA Space buys French Earth data analytics company CLS appeared first on SpaceNews .

The flight-leading booster, B1067, launched the Starlink 10-42 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff from pad 40 happened at 5:25 a.m. EDT (0925 UTC) on Thursday morning.

SpaceX has asked the FCC for authority to launch 100,000 satellites in a Gen3 constellation to deliver “multi-gigabit” connectivity. The filing indicates SpaceX intends to move into W- and D-band […] The post SpaceX Files for 100,000-Satellite Gen-3 Constellation appeared first on Via Satellite .

On Wednesday, July 8, 2026, satellite manufacturer York Space Systems, Inc. announced the successful completion of its commercial acquisition of satellite terminal and multi-network connectivity provider ALL.SPACE. Following the closing […]

On Tuesday, July 7, 2026, NASA’s Geodetic Reference Instrument Transponder for Small Satellites (GRITSS) technology demonstration spacecraft successfully launched into low Earth orbit. The payload lifted off from Vandenberg Space […]

On Wednesday, July 8, 2026, aerospace manufacturer Blue Origin announced its first-ever foray into external capital markets, initiating a private financing round to raise up to 10 billion dollars. The […]

BELLEVUE, WA — On Thursday, July 9, 2026, space hardware developer Pulse Space announced it has been awarded a $40 million technology development contract from the U.S. Space Force. Targeting […]

On Thursday, July 9, 2026, Spanish aerospace mechanisms developer OCCAM Space confirmed that its proprietary KISS 24 clampband separation system successfully achieved flight heritage during a SpaceX rideshare campaign. The […]

The anti-fraud crackdown, dubbed Operation First Light, identified more than 142,000 victims of various social-engineering scams. The post Interpol cybercrime crackdown nets 5,800 arrests across 97 countries appeared first on CyberScoop .

Alexis Chavez coerced multiple girls to commit self harm and produce child sexual abuse material for notoriety in a sprawling violent extremist collective affiliated with the Com. The post 764 splinter group leader sentenced to 40 years in jail appeared first on CyberScoop .

Dutch police said Thursday they had uncovered evidence suggesting that Dutch criminals were involved in the cyberattack on telecom provider Odido that exposed the personal data of more than 6 million customers earlier this year.

Recent discussion of artificial intelligence in intelligence analysis has consistently framed the technology as a means of accelerating an existing process. The intelligence cycle (collection, processing, analysis, production, dissemination) remains the implicit organizing schema, with AI cast as something used to drive its stages faster, increase resource efficiency, or widen its scope. We find t

OpenAI's No. 2 executive, Fidji Simo, is stepping down from her full-time role after her medical leave proved longer than expected — a leadership vacuum that comes at a tricky time as the company eyes a possible IPO and races to catch Anthropic in the enterprise market.

OpenAI's latest family of models promises improvements across a range of areas, including cybersecurity.

Lyzr, a startup that builds AI agents for enterprises, used its own AI agent to raise a $100 million round — proof, evidently, that the product actually works.

OpenAI is sunsetting its AI-powered browser after less than a year. But it's moving some agentic browsing features to its desktop app and a Chrome extension.

Should Anthropic trust Elon Musk to host its models? With about $40 billion in revenue at stake, Musk insists that the company can.

Meta's pitch to users is Spark's ability to handle large agentic workloads, fix bugs, and help with large code migrations — the kind of automation that enterprises are increasingly turning to AI companies to provide.

News publishers say OpenAI hid tools and datasets that could identify copyrighted journalism in ChatGPT outputs, escalating their lawsuit with a new motion for sanctions.

The company is using the cash to open an office in the Bay Area and compete for talent there, "strengthening its position at the heart of the world's leading AI ecosystem."

"Exactly what that dialog looked like between the government and Anthropic and OpenAI is unclear."

The company is taking a modular approach to designing these chips, anticipating that their needs will change as AI evolves rapidly by the time the chips are in production.

Having proven how valuable compute can be, the company finds itself at the center of a market everyone wants to be in — while simpler technologies and less interesting companies get rich on the sidelines.

Claude’s new Reflect dashboard doesn’t just visualize how you use AI. It also subtly reinforces how much of your daily work now depends on Anthropic’s chatbot.

The AI firm Anthropic has developed a technique that has given it the clearest glimpse yet at what’s really going on inside large language models as they answer questions or carry out tasks. What they found ranges from the mundane to the unnerving. Researchers at the company built a tool called the Jacobian lens (or…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Four nuclear reactors hit a big milestone in the US —Casey Crownhart I was really looking forward to July 4, and not just because I love a poolside barbecue. This year…

The Massed Modular Aircraft project aims to develop a drone that can operate in such large numbers that it can absorb losses and still overwhelm defenses.

Too much of this debate treats a new service as a judgment on Cyber Command’s performance. It is not.

The Massed Modular Aircraft project aims to develop a drone that can operate in such large numbers that it can absorb losses and still overwhelm defenses.

Kirsten Davies said her office is adding focus on cybersecurity and the warfighter.

One analyst said the Pentagon’s waffling on the E-7 contributed to an “own goal.”

The initiative comes as the Pentagon faces challenges in competing with the private sector to hire established cyber experts. The post Pentagon opens application window for paid cyber apprenticeships appeared first on DefenseScoop .

The senior legal counsel to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine is stepping down nearly a year ahead of schedule — the latest top official to leave or be pushed out of the Pentagon since the start of the second Trump administration. Brig. Gen. Eric Widmar told ProPublica he was leaving “for personal reasons”...

Japanese lunar exploration company ispace is buying space on a future Starship lunar lander mission to deliver larger payloads to the moon. The post ispace to send larger payloads to the moon on SpaceX’s Starship appeared first on SpaceNews .

The company is raising $10 billion, leading to a valuation of $130 billion.

The field of companies eligible for National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3, Lane 1 awards is now at seven after U.S. Space Force‘s Space Systems Command (SSC) awarded two […] The post Impulse Space and Relativity Space Join the Field for Space Force NSSL Phase 3, Lane 1 appeared first on Via Satellite .

REDONDO BEACH, CA — On Wednesday, July 8, 2026, in-space transport developer Impulse Space announced it has secured a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity contract from the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems […]

On Monday, July 6, 2026, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. filed a comprehensive application with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission seeking regulatory authorization to deploy up to 100,000 third-generation satellites. Operating […]

One of the project’s top goals is stitching together an international, quick response coalition of governments, businesses and civil experts for AI-related threats. The post French nonprofit starts global intelligence and research hub for AI cyber threats appeared first on CyberScoop .

The government's new AI clearinghouse risks becoming a committee that discovers more problems than it solves — unless it's designed around patching, not just scanning. The post Found fast, fixed slow: The gap the AI clearinghouse must close appeared first on CyberScoop .

Russian President Vladimir Putin can no longer conceal the cost of his Ukraine war from the Russian public. There are fuel shortages throughout the Russian Federation. Videos show hundreds of automobiles lining up to get a few liters of gasoline at gas stations around Moscow. Gasoline sales to civilian vehicles in occupied Crimea have been suspended as the Ukrainian blockade of the peninsula takes

Generative AI should be managed like a human source: useful, fast, sometimes brilliant, sometimes wrong, and never a substitute for disciplined questioning and human judgment. The three of us spent our careers in an environment where bad information costs lives. We learned early that the most dangerous source isn’t someone who lies to you. It’s someone who tells you what you want to hear—and does

Your phone buzzes with a text from your bank: “Did you authorize a $2,400 transfer? Reply NO to stop it.” You reply, and seconds later a calm “fraud agent” calls, knows your name and the last four digits of your card, and walks you through “securing” your money by moving it into an account under the criminal’s control. No password was stolen, no malware installed. You handed over the money yoursel

Author’s Note: This article is not about ‘endless wars’ as a critique of U.S. military interventions — that debate belongs elsewhere. It examines a distinct and increasingly visible pattern: how U.S. adversaries wage continuous, long-term conflict against the United States across peace and war, both below and above the threshold of open conflict. The aim is to clarify the nature of the competition

Blue Origin is raising $10 billion at a $130 billion pre-money valuation from Coatue Asset Management, Bezos himself, and other big-name investors, The New York Times reported.

Kevin Weil's new role at Stoke Space suggests reusable rockets are the next hot thing in Silicon Valley.

The U.S. Navy is searching for better methods of protecting its missile subs, as well as the shore installations that support them.

China has repeatedly called out the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal between Australia, the U.S. and the U.K. as violating the treaty.

The sanctions were imposed in 2020 over the country's purchase of Russian defense missiles.

The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have exposed a strategic reality that military planners are only beginning to confront: In a data-centric age, digital infrastructure has become part of the battlespace. Data centers and cloud regions are now the digital backbone of military power and economic prosperity. As such, they present attractive targets for rapidly proliferating long-range strike sy

To sustain future maritime operations, the U.S military will need to run supplies through an environment that spans thousands of miles of open ocean, denied ports, contested straits, and archipelagic chokepoints against adversaries that have spent decades studying how to target American logistics. That problem does not require one identical vessel for every mission. It does require a more common f

The measurements of a soldier's waist and height must be less than a 0.55 ratio, according to the Army, matching a Pentagon standard. The post Army rolls out rules on waist-to-height body standards appeared first on Task & Purpose .

The GlobalEye acquisition comes alongside a raft of NATO capability announcements spanning drones, maritime patrol aircraft, tankers, and airlifters. The post NATO Picks Saab GlobalEye To Replace Aging E-3 AWACS Fleet appeared first on TWZ .

Cyber intruders accessed the unclassified network being used to help support World Cup games around the U.S., a senator said last week.

The Government Accountability Office's annual assessment of major DOD programs details potential risks and delays for three high-profile hypersonic weapons. The post GAO: Pentagon’s hypersonic programs grappling with schedule constraints, production woes appeared first on DefenseScoop .

Authorities didn’t name the man or file formal charges, but accuse him of participating in attacks linked to Cyber Army of Russia Reborn and NoName. The post Spain arrests suspected hacker linked to Russian hacktivist campaign appeared first on CyberScoop .

Two new alleged victims detailed how Grok was used by friends and family to generate sexual images of them as minors. The suit also adds Stability AI as a defendant. The post Deepfake CSAM lawsuit against xAI, Grok expands appeared first on CyberScoop .

Proofpoint researchers said attackers targeted physics and engineering departments, and warn that the campaign is likely ongoing. The post Suspected Chinese espionage group used a Roundcube exploit chain to burrow into universities appeared first on CyberScoop .

“We [the Joint Chiefs of Staff] often times in the national security decision-making process or White House meetings -- outside of the Pentagon process -- will go back and forth between military issues and political issues. And I think it's incumbent upon us to kind of stay in, you know, what the current [Joint Chiefs] Chairman [Air Force Gen. Dan] Caine describes as ‘the midfield’ in that regard.

Colombia stands at a crossroads because of the narrow victory of right‑wing outsider Abelardo de la Espriella over leftist Senator Iván Cepeda. On August 7, 2026, Colombia will close the country’s first experiment with a left‑wing presidency while leaving its worsening social, economic, and security dilemmas unresolved. The choice between these competing projects forced Colombians to decide whethe

As NATO leaders gather in Ankara this week , the alliance faces a myriad of security challenges unlike anything it has confronted in decades. With Russia's war against Ukraine raging on and instability in the Middle East following the conflict with Iran, President Donald Trump continues to press European allies to take on more of the burden for their defense. This all comes to a head in Ankara, wh

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Your family’s $300 stake in OpenAI Sam Altman’s proposal that Americans should share in the wealth created by AI is back in the spotlight, with reports that he is discussing giving…

With the rapid progress of AI capabilities and the move to agentic systems, organizations are expanding their use cases as the technology continues to grow. That constant evolution also introduces risk, leaving IT leaders to wonder which investments will prove valuable even six months into the future. Returning to the foundational elements of AI architecture—the…

The 12-boat procurement is one of Canada’s biggest-ever defense buys and marks a major shift toward closer military cooperation with European allies. The post Canada Picks German Type 212 Submarine For Badly Needed Fleet Renewal appeared first on TWZ .

Ukraine is trying to get allies to donate more Patriot interceptors at a time when the missiles are in very low supply and extreme demand. The post Out Of Patriot Interceptors, Ukraine Can’t Down Any Ballistic Missiles Striking Kyiv appeared first on TWZ .

An extremely rare Chinese SLBM launch sends clear signals and puts a brighter spotlight on Beijing's rapidly evolving strategic arsenal. The post China’s Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile Test In The Pacific Is A Big Deal appeared first on TWZ .

SpaceX launched a series of 81 payloads to a Sun-synchronous Earth orbit over a roughly 2.5-hour-long deployment period. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 12:12 a.m. PDT (0312 EDT / 0712 UTC).

Bellingcat has geolocated footage circulating on social media that appears to show coffins placed in newly dug trenches following the recent deadly earthquakes in Venezuela. The site identified extends over two hectares beside an existing cemetery in La Esperanza, a town near La Guaira on the country’s northern coast. It was visited by a representative of […] The post Between Graves and Uncertaint

We are good at winning wars and generally bad at what comes after. Far from a partisan observation; this is a pattern with receipts. We removed Saddam Hussein in three weeks and then spent eight years discovering that we had no plan for Iraq. We helped topple Qaddafi in 2011 and left Libya to sort itself out, which it did into a decade of competing militias and open-air slave markets. We spent twe

When the two earthquakes struck Venezuela last week, killing more than 1,400 people and leaving tens of thousands missing, there was a silent pause in Washington with everyone wondering: with no USAID, how will the U.S. respond to this disaster? Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, USAID surged resources, with urban search-and-rescue teams wheels-up within hours. Naval vessels steamed to Haiti’s c

DARPA program aims to create a 30-year battery minimally viable prototype by early 2027.

NASA awarded Rocket Lab deals for three dedicated launches using the company's Electron rocket.

I recently returned from commemorating the 82nd Anniversary of D-Day in Normandy—a much anticipated trip since I participated in the 80th Anniversary. I left with a sense of humility and gratitude for having walked the hallowed grounds of Normandy, and with admiration for the Greatest Generation and their sacrifices and actions that changed human history. The connection with Americans, grateful No

Defense tech startups are repurposing automotive chips and pipes used in fracking in an effort to deliver weapons to the Pentagon faster and at lower cost.

During a recent conference on the People’s Liberation Army, I heard the same question posed to attendees and paper writers: “How would China react to U.S. force posture change X, Y, or Z?” or “How would the Chinese military respond to U.S. strikes in certain locations?” Having participated in dozens of unclassified wargames at the RAND Corporation and elsewhere, I hear a similar refrain when playi

Some veterans groups believe the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act is the best chance to pass reforms. Others believe it does more harm than good. The post A congressional fight over VA benefits is dividing veterans groups appeared first on Task & Purpose .

The Air Force is hitting refresh on electronic warfare and the EA-37B Compass Call may have an outsized role to play. The post Why the Air Force is turning this business jet into a weapon appeared first on Task & Purpose .

As service extends its capabilities and reach, SASC orders up a look at its prospective legal needs.

“If he doesn’t care about blowing up cyber exploits, putting foreign relationships at risk, or getting people killed, he could declassify a lot,” one former official said.

“It's just a really exciting time for generative AI in the department,” the Pentagon’s chief artificial intelligence officer said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the creation of the DRPM-UxS, or direct reporting portfolio manager for unmanned offensive and defensive systems, via memo.

BLUF: Armenia, a small country of about 3 million people, is located at an important strategic crossroads among Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Central Asia. For centuries, this position has left the landlocked country vulnerable to foreign rule, conflict, irregular warfare tactics, and geopolitical influence. With its 7 June parliamentary election, Armenia has taken an important step in the d

I was sitting in the front seat of a “Yandex Taxi” in Moscow in the summer of 2018, dropping off some friends after we had drinks together at a local bar. As the driver, a Russian male in his 50’s, maneuvered through traffic, he asked me if the couple were Americans? “Yes. They are Americans.” “How about you?” he asked. “I am also an American.” Hearing this, the driver continued “You know, 10 year

True Anomaly and Rocket Lab are performing Top Gun-style satellite fly-bys for the U.S. military.

Two ground vehicles could define how the Pentagon fields high-energy laser weapons at scale.

The Pentagon is studying the lesson as it shifts focus toward a possible conflict with China.

In 1990, the idea that deployed commanders could access the latest intelligence from three-letter agencies in the middle of nowhere was radical. But the Army was starting to make this idea real through a program called Trojan Spirit, so they could address a major strategic barrier: There were too many systems and databases for intelligence collection and analysis, some centralized and some forward

A White House panel recommended an annual training requirement along with expanded role for religion across the military. Pentagon officials said they "welcome" the recommendations. The post Annual ‘religious liberty training’ for troops could be on the way appeared first on Task & Purpose .

The Leo Atlas 8 mission was also the final flight of an Atlas 5 551 configuration. Liftoff from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 12:30:15 a.m. EDT (0430:15 UTC).

The Starlink 17-46 mission flew on the 77th Falcon 9 rocket launch of the year. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 7:58 p.m. PDT (10:58 p.m. EDT / 0258 UTC).

"We've got time into 2027 before we're getting nervous."

Space is no longer a place we visit to plant flags. It is where the global economy and national security now live — and our rulebook is nearly sixty years out of date. For half a century, space was a government project. Nations went there to prove something about science, about engineering, and about national will. The astronauts were public employees, the rockets were public property, and the poi

Most enterprise AI agents today are still being deployed in controlled environments. They sit inside a platform, perform a defined task and operate under the identity and access controls of that environment, however that window is closing. For many security teams, the current state makes the problem feel manageable. If the agent is inside the fence, the thinking goes, it can be governed by the con

Five intelligence services rarely speak with one voice. When they warn the window of vulnerability has narrowed to months, the real question is whether the defenders can move as fast as the threat. Throughout my years in the intelligence world, I don’t recall a single instance in which the Five Eyes partners jointly issued a public warning, so when they do, the message lies in the act as much as t

The company made several announcements geared towards its government customers, including up to $1 billion in cloud credits for U.S. intelligence agencies.

Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., discussed his plans to scrutinize Trump-era contracting practices, revive federal IT oversight, and push for AI policy.

“War Force” of young two-year recruits will get access to “policymaking and national-scale impact,” according to the announcement.

The new recruitment effort operates under the Office of Personnel Management's larger Tech Force program.

The explosion of a New Glenn rocket on May 28 is still under investigation. The company said it’s moving to a hybrid horizontal-vertical integration for its rockets moving forward.

If you’ve seen reports of a wildfire in your region and you’re looking for open source data, NASA’s fire-tracking tool is often the first place to start. It provides a heat signature and an approximate location. But detection is only the first step in understanding what’s happened. In this guide, we explore ways to analyse […] The post Burning Forests: Tools for Tracking and Reporting Wildfire Dam

There are 65 active state-based conflicts in the world today, according to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program. That is not 65 separate crises. It is 65 living laboratories. The contest that matters is not understanding any one of them. It is recognizing the 66th — the next emerging theater — while it is still only a collection of weak signals. The war before the war has already begun, and it will b

“I’m deeply concerned that the Presidential proposal for $350 billion mandatory funding [to be carried in a reconciliation bill and not an appropriations bill] for defense will have no Appropriations [Committee] input on the enactment. That’s not the right way to fund the Department of Defense, because it took the Department ten months to explain to Congress how they were going to spend the $150 b

The world's counterterrorism chiefs are meeting in New York this week. We brought a list of demands and not much else. A plot hatched in a chat room in one country, funded from a second, carried out by a man walking into a crowd in a third – that's the shape of terrorism now. It doesn't stop at borders. It never agreed to. That's the problem sitting in front of the world's counterterrorism chiefs

But the company is still claiming that New Glenn will return to flight this year.

As the relationship between the United States and Canada continues to degrade, it now comes at the expense of each country’s industrial security.Last month, the Pentagon announced the unilateral suspension of the 86-year-old Canadian Permanent Joint Board on Defense in response to what the White House sees as Ottawa’s failure to present a credible plan to spend 3.5 percent of GDP on defense by 203

"We believe this will be one of the most transformative deals in the space industry."

At least 1,719 people are reported to have died after two devastating earthquakes struck northwestern Venezuela last week. The final casualty count is expected to rise significantly. Some media outlets report resident’s growing frustration with the Venezuelan government and its recovery efforts. Sky News on June 29 reported that the United Nations Coordinator for Humanitarian […] The post Satellit

The all-stock deal values Iridium at $8 billion and gives Rocket Lab even more firepower to compete against Amazon and SpaceX.

The SXM-11 satellite was built by Intuitive Machines and is more than 230-feet-tall. Liftoff on SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 10:25 p.m. EDT (0225 UTC).

The Starlink 17-40 mission will add another 24 broadband internet satellites to SpaceX’s low Earth orbit constellation. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base occurred at 9:09 a.m. PDT (12:09 p.m. EDT / 1609 UTC)

This article is the result of a collaboration with The Sunday Times. You can find their corresponding piece here. Every Friday evening, the brochure says, players can compete to win cash prizes in one of the world’s fastest-growing racquet sports. The padel club in Dubai’s west is the picture of modern wellness culture: climate-controlled courts, […] The post Poster Boy: Sanctioned Kinahan Cartel

Not everyone is buying Elon Musk’s vision for orbital data centers.

Mesh came out of stealth in February with a $50 million Series A.

Ideally, Iran should not be permitted to enrich uranium, even at the 3.67% low enriched uranium level, enough for nuclear reactors to generate electricity, not a nuclear explosion. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of nuclear weapons (NPT) does not grant an unfettered right to enrich uranium, but even if it did, Iran’s egregious behavior should disqualify them. Indeed, the NPT recognizes the rig

The company's goal is to ramp up production to two satellites a week as it responds to surging demand from European militaries.

The Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine is the next generation of American nuclear deterrence. Twelve of these boats will replace the aging Ohio-class fleet, entering service over the 2030s and 2040s, each carrying 16 Trident IIs and driven by a ghost-quiet electric motor that renders them acoustically invisible to any adversary. What makes all of that possible — the propulsion, the stealth

Between February 2022 and September 2025, Bellingcat staff and volunteers collected, geolocated, and shared more than 2,500 incidents of civilian harm following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As part of this effort, Bellingcat tested a new machine learning model intended to rank Telegram social media posts on their likelihood of containing incidents of civilian harm. […] The post How to

The AI bubble is not a capability bubble. It is an expectation bubble. National security leaders are treating AI as a replacement for analysts, engineers, and tradecraft when it is really a volatile acceleration layer that still requires human judgment, security controls, and cost discipline. The current state of AI is defined by inflated assumptions. Vendors overstate capability, users over-deleg

Author's Note In our first paper, DNI Day One: Three Strategic Decisions for National Security Evolution , we identified three challenges confronting the next Director of National Intelligence: enterprise leadership, resource alignment, and strategic competition. This paper focuses on the reforms most likely to improve the Intelligence Community's ability to meet those challenges. The recommendati

In 2024, Paul Scharre and Michael Depp wrote, “Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear Stability,” where they argued integrating artificial intelligence into the nuclear chain of command presents both opportunities and risks. Two years later, as AI becomes increasingly integrated into military systems and processes, we asked them to revisit their arguments. Image: Senior Airman Jason Wiese via Wikimed

This exclusive Cogs of War interview is with Maxwell Maduka, the co-founder and chief engineer of Terra Industries, an African defense technology company building autonomous drone and counter-drone systems designed for the continent’s operating conditions. As cheap imported airframes flood African markets and non-state actors employ drones across the Sahel, we asked Max why Terra is betting on Afr

Armies run on more than what happens at the front. Behind every operation is a vast amount of coordination, administration, logistics, and judgment. Bill Pessin, senior vice president of national security at Salesforce and a former U.S. Army logistics officer, joins Jonathan to discuss how military organizations can use AI agents, what makes these tools different from ordinary software, and why sa

Warning: Includes graphic descriptions of animal harm and images of animal parts from the outset. A Bellingcat investigation has uncovered a Myanmar-based wildlife trafficker who has operated openly across social media for at least six years, claiming to have sold tiger bones, rhino horn, elephant skin and other products from protected and endangered species to […] The post Rhino Horn, Leopard Ski

This article was co-published with Signal Ohio and STAT. In high school, Ashley Delgado dreamed of becoming a doctor and one day buying her father a Rolls-Royce. “She wanted to heal people,” said her father, James Taylor. She had a high GPA, Taylor added, and did especially well in science and Latin. In her mid-20s, […] The post Super-Potent Synthetic Opioids Spread Across US Amid Fentanyl Crackdo

Relativity Space — a rocket maker acquired by former Google executive chair Eric Schmidt last year after stumbling on the path to orbit — might just beat SpaceX to Mars.

The former Sequoia Capital leader is filling an "existing vacancy" on SpaceX's board, days after the company went public in the largest IPO ever.

SpaceX's valuation has increased by $1 trillion since its shares started trading on Friday.

TechCrunch has followed SpaceX's start, struggles, and successes from the early days. And we're here for what happens next too. This package of SpaceX IPO coverage includes who stands to win (and maybe some who won't), pre-IPO deals, and what's tucked inside its S-1 registration document.

The deal is supposed to help SpaceX's struggling AI division. The company told IPO investors it sees a $26 trillion addressable market in AI.

In late May 2026, South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back unveiled a roadmap to achieving one of Seoul’s top military acquisition goals: nuclear-powered submarines. This roadmap is heading in the wrong direction.During last month’s inaugural meeting of the Future Defense Strategy Committee, South Korea published its Basic Plan for the Development of Nuclear-Powered Submarines. Chaired by Presid

SpaceX's IPO underwriters maxed out their share purchases, adding to an already historic amount of money raised.

Startups are trying to "ride that SpaceX IPO wave."

On February 15, 2026, the bulk carrier, Grumant (IMO: 9385879) was pictured at the occupied Ukrainian Port of Feodosia on the Crimean peninsula. Satellite imagery suggests it had already been there for several days. It appeared to stock up on grain before departing on a two-month-long journey eventually docking at the Port of Benghazi in […] The post Heading Off: New Technique Helps Track Grain Sm

The company made its heavily anticipated debut on Friday, trading higher than its initial $135 IPO price.

A SpaceX-Tesla merger seems inevitable.

A few months ago, I attended a panel discussion for a wargame simulating rapid industrial mobilization for armed conflict. Conducted by a leading university, with teams composed of former senior defense officials, the game probed how government and industry collaboration would play out given minimal coordination before the onset of a crisis. On the panel, the defense leaders confessed how infreque

Rarely a week passes without a new story about Russia’s shadow fleet. Tankers catch fire in the Mediterranean, are added to sanctions lists, or are boarded while passing through European waters. But the bigger story is not the vessels that are caught, but those that aren’t — ships moving between registries, ports, shell companies, and service providers that obscure their ties to Russia while keepi

Congress rarely moves fast, but Reps. Rob Wittman and Pat Ryan are trying to change that. The two lawmakers founded the bipartisan House Defense Modernization Caucus in 2024 and have driven reforms through two consecutive defense authorization acts, targeting acquisitions and other bottlenecks. Jonathan sits down with both congressmen to discuss their initiatives, how a caucus without markup power

Adversaries do not need to breach the Pentagon’s systems: They only need to harvest the logic of the publicly released frontier AI models that underpin them. This is a defining risk as the Department of Defense pivots to an “AI-first” warfighting machine. In this new context, military predominance is a derivative of AI model supremacy. From Project Maven’s intelligence fusion to the high-velocity

China’s plan to become a world leader in AI by 2030 is a fixture of practically every Congressional briefing and expert commentary on Beijing’s AI ambitions. The plan’s logic — introduced in 2017 — was simple and alarming: Beijing would direct capital, mobilize its firms, recruit talent, and execute with the strategic patience of a state-led innovation ecosystem. Nearly a decade later, that frame

“In the age of misinformation, the line between fact and fiction is blurrier than ever.” “For those of us working in video news, verification isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a necessity. It is how we protect the stories we help shape and how we earn and maintain trust in an increasingly chaotic information ecosystem,” Abu Dhabi-registered […] The post Tracing Digital Links Between Viory and Ruptly appe

One of the most effective counter-drone systems in the largest drone war in history between Ukraine and Russia is a German anti-aircraft gun designed during the Cold War. The Gepard — a self-propelled 35 mm cannon that first entered service in 1976 — has earned recognition from Ukrainian military experts as the most effective weapon against Shahed-type drones, at a cost of a few thousand dollars p

On April 15, technology podcaster Dwarkesh Patel published a two-hour interview with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. For roughly forty minutes, Patel asked one question six different ways. The question was this: If American-made compute trains AI models with the serious cyber-offensive capabilities Anthropic’s Mythos Preview demonstrated — and that compute is sold to a strategic adversary — what responsi

Sea control has changed. In recent years, there has been a quiet revolution in maritime strategy that has seen navies increasingly expected to exert greater levels of control over more of the world’s oceans, more of the time. Whether it is NATO forces protecting critical maritime infrastructure in the Baltic, Pacific Island nations requiring maritime domain awareness to protect against illegal fis

The 11th Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) concluded on May 22. Held every five years, the conference offers an opportunity to evaluate the treaty’s implementation, respond to technological and geopolitical developments, and reinforce states’ commitment to the treaty. For the third time in a row, the conference failed to reach consensus on a final document.We asked fi

In 2025, Nazmelis Zengin wrote, “The Fragility of U.S. Space Power in a Multipolar World,” where she argued Washington’s space superiority could be challenged if the United States doesn’t rethink its course, taking lessons from mid-tier space powers. A year later, we asked Nazmelis to revisit her arguments.Image: NASA Kennedy Space Center/NASA/Chris Swanson via Wikimedia CommonsIn your 2025 articl

Is it too late to stop criminals and American adversaries from exploiting AI to conduct cyberattacks or design novel pathogens? Has regulation kept pace with the threat civilian drones pose to critical infrastructure? AI researcher Lennart Heim, Army drone strategist Paul Lushenko, and CEO of Sentinel Bio Claire Qureshi join Jonathan to discuss the trade-offs between protecting the public and lett

A “river of blood” was how one survivor described the scene in western Myanmar. “I saw shooting. I saw mass killing.” Another told the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHRC) how 20 relatives, including three children, had been killed in the 2024 attack on Htan Shauk Khan village. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said earlier […] The post The ‘Lost’ Villages of Myanmar’s Rakhine appeared first on be

Editor’s note: This is the ninth article in an 11-part series examining how the United States should organize, lead, and integrate economic statecraft into strategy, defense practice, and the broader national security ecosystem. The special series is brought to you by the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies and War on the Rocks. Prior installments can be found at the War by Other Ledgers page.In

The Department of Defense does not primarily have a cyber recruiting problem — it has a cyber talent management problem. The military already possesses serious qualification frameworks, scholarship programs, credentialing systems, and selection tools. What it still lacks is a system tying assessment, training, assignment, performance, and retention together across an entire cyber career.In March 2

For a quarter century, the Google search box has been one of the most recognizable interfaces in computing: a thin white rectangle, a blinking cursor, a few typed words, and a list of blue links. On Tuesday, Google will formally retire that paradigm. At its annual I/O developer conference , Google announced a sweeping redesign of the search box itself — the literal text field where billions of que

Railway , a San Francisco-based cloud platform that has quietly amassed two million developers without spending a dollar on marketing, announced Thursday that it raised $100 million in a Series B funding round, as surging demand for artificial intelligence applications exposes the limitations of legacy cloud infrastructure. TQ Ventures led the round, with participation from FPV Ventures , Redpoint

The artificial intelligence coding revolution comes with a catch: it's expensive. Claude Code , Anthropic's terminal-based AI agent that can write, debug, and deploy code autonomously, has captured the imagination of software developers worldwide. But its pricing — ranging from $20 to $200 per month depending on usage — has sparked a growing rebellion among the very programmers it aims to serve. N

Alfred Wahlforss was running out of options. His startup, Listen Labs , needed to hire over 100 engineers, but competing against Mark Zuckerberg's $100 million offers seemed impossible. So he spent $5,000 — a fifth of his marketing budget — on a billboard in San Francisco displaying what looked like gibberish: five strings of random numbers. The numbers were actually AI tokens. Decoded, they led t

Salesforce on Tuesday launched an entirely rebuilt version of Slackbot , the company's workplace assistant, transforming it from a simple notification tool into what executives describe as a fully powered AI agent capable of searching enterprise data, drafting documents, and taking action on behalf of employees. The new Slackbot, now generally available to Business+ and Enterprise+ customers, is S

Anthropic released Cowork on Monday, a new AI agent capability that extends the power of its wildly successful Claude Code tool to non-technical users — and according to company insiders, the team built the entire feature in approximately a week and a half, largely using Claude Code itself. The launch marks a major inflection point in the race to deliver practical AI agents to mainstream users, po