The UK Royal Air Force’s new collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) program will act like a “guardian angel” and “attack dog” for crewed fighters, Defense Readiness Minister Luke Pollard says.
The war against Iran has strained the Air Force’s budget, and the US military needs “all three” Trump administration military spending proposals—a base budget of $1.1 trillion, a reconciliation boost of $350 billion, and a multibillion-dollar supplemental package—to keep its edge, the Air Force’s top officer told Breaking Defense.
One-quarter of the jobs Space Force leaders say they need went unfilled in fiscal 2025, partly because the young service lacks a solid way to track and use troops, civilian workers, and contractors, the Government Accountability Office found.
The U.S. Navy is envisioning a future force of carrier-based uncrewed aircraft capable of attacking enemy forces at least 1,000 nautical miles away from the ship. They would also have to be able to do this without needing to refuel in midair, though tankers could further extend their reach.
Despite the pause of third-party audits in a Defense Department program for contractors, the Pentagon will likely have to return to some kind of review regime to ensure there are no unlocked virtual doors for adversary hackers to walk through, according to industry officials and experts.
The Pentagon announced that service members will get access to testosterone replacement therapy. Experts say that treating health issues associated with hormonal deficiencies is more complex than giving troops access to straight testosterone, which comes with its own risks.
House Republicans’ latest plans to pay for the Iran war could kill President Donald Trump’s dreams of a $1.5 trillion defense budget. Party leaders are racing to pass a $60 billion bill to fill a hole in the Pentagon’s balance sheet left by the war in the Middle East, which has drained crucial stockpiles of missile interceptors and other munitions. To get that measure through Congress, Republicans plan to use the reconciliation process, allowing them to circumvent Democratic resistance in the Senate.
As President Trump dials up his rhetoric against Iran, he has a new target in his sights: Pickaxe Mountain, the site of a subterranean complex under construction near one of the country’s main nuclear installations.
Fighting between the U.S. and Iran has intensified over control of the Strait of Hormuz, but hopes for a possible diplomatic solution have shown stubborn signs of life.
Competitive advantage in the defense aerospace industry is no longer about technological superiority, but the ability to execute and scale, a new report found. Site selection firm Global Location Strategies released: “2026 Best Places for Aerospace and Defense,” analyzing data around defense spending, workforce, integrated ecosystems, and established hubs to determine where in the United States is the best place for aerospace companies to do business.
The most produced American military aircraft of World War II was not a small fighter, a trainer, or a simple utility airplane—it was a complex four-engine heavy bomber called the B-24 Liberator. Over the course of five years, American industry produced a staggering 18,482 of these bombers, and they served in every theater of the war. The B-24 was a workhorse with strategic impact, but it would not have had its utility—or possibly even existed—were it not for its wing.
