Daily Report

Dec. 16, 2025
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Edited by Greg Hadley with Courtney Albon, Matthew Cox and Shaun Waterman

Numbers Game Squeezes USAF Fighter Force

By Greg Hadley
Congress set the legal floor for how many primary mission aircraft the Air Force had to have in its fighter force in 2018, requiring at least 1,145 fighters through Oct. 1, 2026. In each of the past past two legislative cycles, lawmakers agreed to reduce the number. But when the House passed the compromise 2026 National Defense Authorization bill Dec. 10, it included no such provision for the next fiscal year, putting the Air Force in potential violation of the law.

Radar Sweep

Russia-Ukraine Peace Deal Could Be Closer Than Ever, US Officials Signal

ABC News

U.S. administration officials signaled Dec. 15 a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine may be closer than ever. “We believe that we probably solved ... 90 percent, literally 90 percent of the issues between Ukraine and Russia, but there's some more things that have to be worked out,” a U.S. official said during a phone call briefing with reporters.

Gift link

Pentagon Plan Calls for Major Power Shifts Within US Military

The Washington Post

Senior Pentagon officials are preparing a plan to downgrade several of the U.S. military’s major headquarters and shift the balance of power among its top generals, in a major consolidation sought by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, people familiar with the matter said.

Trump Declares Fentanyl a Weapon of Mass Destruction

POLITICO

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Dec. 15 classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, giving the U.S. government additional legal firepower in its efforts to combat illegal trafficking of the synthetic drug.

NDAA Gives New Counter-Drone Office Veto over Service Programs, Official Says

Breaking Defense

The annual defense policy bill gives the Pentagon’s new counter-small-drone task force extraordinary authority over acquisition programs across the armed forces—including the power to set technical standards, run field tests, and, if a system doesn’t pass muster, forbid the armed services from acquiring it, said a senior officer from Joint Interagency Task Force 401.

Why (and How) the US Military Wants to Resupply Troops from Space

Task & Purpose

The Air Force and Space Force are spending millions of dollars researching a concept called “rocket cargo,” where they would shoot a capsule full of troops or supplies into orbit and land it anywhere on Earth in 90 minutes or less, which is way faster than anything they have currently.

China’s Stealthy CH-7 Flying Wing Drone Has Flown

The War Zone

We have got what could be our first look at China’s CH-7 stealthy flying-wing drone in flight. While it’s no longer the biggest Chinese drone of this configuration, it’s still of impressive size and, as we have noted in the past, appears to be tailored for intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance, as well as possibly a secondary strike role.

One More Thing

How Field Marshal Montgomery Predicted the Rise of Drone Warfare

Defense News

It might seem inconceivable that the use of drones in future battles would have come to the forefront of discussions of NATO strategy in the 1950s, but that is exactly what happened when Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery delivered an address to the Royal United Services Institute in 1954.