The Pentagon burned through $5.6 billion worth of munitions during the first two days of its military assault on Iran, according to three U.S. officials, a figure that underscores the deepening alarm among some on Capitol Hill over the speed at which U.S. forces have eaten into the scarce supply of America’s most advanced weaponry.
In a phone interview with CBS News on March 9, President Trump said the U.S. war with Iran could almost be over. “I think the war is very complete, pretty much,” the president said, speaking from his Doral, Fla., golf club. “[Iran has] no navy, no communications, they’ve got no air force. Their missiles are down to a scatter. Their drones are being blown up all over the place, including their manufacturing of drones.”
Anthropic on March 9 sued the Trump administration for declaring the artificial intelligence company a risk to the Defense Department’s supply chain, a step that further escalates a standoff over the ethical limits on increasingly powerful AI.
When President Trump voiced hope last weekend that the air war he was unleashing against Iran would topple the country’s regime, he was making a bet against history. Never before have warplanes, missiles, and bombs been enough on their own to remove one government and replace it with another. The U.S. military has upended governments in the past, but all of those operations have required troops or at least an indigenous force.
The battle between AI model builder Anthropic and the Pentagon has exposed a huge gap between what AI tools the military wants and what companies like Anthropic, xAI, and OpenAI actually make: AI tools for use by everyone, not specifically for the military. A handful of veteran-run or -financed startups aim to fill that gap. Their pitch: AI for war should have some basic understanding of war, beyond reading Tom Clancy fan fiction.
A U.K.-based unmanned aerial system manufacturer claimed the top spot in the first round of the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance competition, reaping delivery orders from the Defense Department.
Join Mitchell Institute fellows for an in-depth conversation to better understand the strategic, operational, and tactical factors surrounding Operation Epic Fury. Heather Penney speaks with retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula on how to design an air campaign; Charles Galbreath on spacepower’s contribution to the fight; retired Brig. Gen. Houston Cantwell on the challenges involved with prosecuting high value targets; and JV Venable on the realities of fighting an air war in the Middle East.
NATO nations are sending troops to Norway for a cold-weather exercise this week, as alliance officials kick off a yearslong analysis into causes for conflict in the Arctic. As part of the planning effort, a U.S. and Norwegian-led research task force will compile a report by 2029 under the name “High North Scenarios for Wargaming and Analysis — Winter Storm 2030.”
Europe bought 33 percent of global arms imports over the last five years, making it the largest defense importer by region on the globe, according to a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Ukraine, Poland, and the United Kingdom were the three biggest European weapon system importers between 2021 and 2025, said SIPRI, with close to half of all supplies in the region, as a whole, coming from the U.S.
Troops taking part in the war with Iran are “writing history” and showcasing their “wartime readiness,” the acting commander of the Air National Guard told his forces. A letter to National Guard troops, dated March 5, was sent out by the National Guard Bureau and signed by Maj. Gen. Duke Pirak, the acting director of the Air National Guard, and Chief Master Sgt. Joshua Moore, command chief for the Air National Guard.
The French Navy will send eight frigates and two amphibious assault ships to the Eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea, joining aircraft carrier FS Charles De Gaulle (R91), following an Iranian drone attack on a Cyprus-based joint operating installation.
President Donald Trump has appointed Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, to fill a seat on the Air Force Academy’s Board of Visitors. Charlie Kirk, the founder of conservative group Turning Point USA, was a member of the Board of Visitors and attended a meeting before his assassination in September.
Traditional methods of therapy failed to heal all the wounds, physical and emotional, that veteran Jason Morgan endured during and after his years in the U.S. Air Force. Then, he found hope and a calmed mind.
