The Italian air force is due to acquire six of the drones, which are derived from Baykar’s TB-3 and are being assembled in Italy by LBA Systems, a joint venture between Baykar and Leonardo.

The Astore Levante is due to carry Leonardo sensors, but at its unveiling at the Farnborough air show in July it was presented alongside Turkish armaments, including Roketsan’s MAM family of guided bombs and Baykar’s KEMANKES-1 mini cruise missile.

Speaking in Rome on Monday, Italian air force chief Gen. Antonio Conserva said he was not ruling out other suppliers of armaments. “At the moment we have not made choices, the natural armament is Turkish but we also have activities with MBDA and small Italian industrial groups,” he said.

Conserva confirmed the new drone was set to be certified by the end of 2026 or in early 2027. European certification is deemed a prerequisite for selling the drone in Europe.

Mounting European arms will also boost sales efforts in Europe. The Italian air force will initially order three systems, each containing two drones, but Conserva said, “We will see if we go on to expand the capability.”

The Astore Levant will replace the Predator MQ1 flown by the air force, Conserva added. As well as being flown on ISR missions and providing armed support for troops, the drones will also be used for training drone pilots, he said.

Before the launch in July of the Astore Levante, the Italian navy said in April it was eyeing the TB-3 as a carrier-borne drone to fly off its Cavour carrier, which also hosts Italy’s F-35Bs.

The TB-3 is already in service on board the Turkish amphibious assault ship TCG Anadolu. Another TB-3 customer, Indonesia, is expected to base the drone on the Garibaldi, a carrier it has purchased from Italy.

Conserva spoke to reporters on Monday at a conference at the HQ of the Italian air force in Rome which gathered air force and industry officials to discuss the future of warfare.

Asked by Defense News about the prospect of Germany possibly joining the GCAP sixth generation fighter program set up by Italy, Japan and the UK, Conserva said he was in favor.

“We are talking about a strategic partner,” he said.

“We would need to find a political and industrial deal. Germany is a great country. We have already collaborated with them on the Tornado which will retire next year, and the Eurofighter which is the backbone of our national defense and deterrence. Whatever emerges I will view favorably,” he added.

The push comes as the world runs short on the weapons Ukraine needs most. U.S. forces in Europe face a “beyond critical” shortage of Patriot interceptors after stocks were moved to the Middle East for the Iran war, a NATO official said in August.

Ukraine is also bracing for another winter of Russian strikes on its energy grid, a campaign that increasingly relies on jet-powered Shahed drones too fast for most of the cheap interceptor drones Ukraine has used to stop older models.

“Russia uses almost only jet-powered Shaheds to attack Kyiv because the interceptors that we were using in the past against older generations of drones had an interception rate of around 90%,” a manager at Ukrainian interceptor developer Grim Tech told Defense News last month.

The faster drones force Ukraine to expend scarce and expensive missiles just as it tries to conserve Patriot ammunition for ballistic threats — the only reliable option against Russia’s even harder-to-stop ballistic missiles, according to Ukrainian officials.

“Ballistic missiles are especially difficult to deal with,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after a massive aerial barrage on Wednesday night saw Russia fire 70 missiles, many of them ballistic, and waves of Shahed drones at Kyiv and 12 other regions.

Soldiers downed 39 of the 48 cruise missiles but only five ballistic missiles, according to Ukraine’s air force. At least 32 people were killed in the attacks, and over 100 were injured, Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.

Civilian casualties in Ukraine have risen monthly throughout most of 2026. U.N. monitors verified 372 civilians killed and 2,349 injured in August, second only to July, with long-range missiles and drones causing 47% of the toll.

Kyiv is assembling a patchwork of antiballistic air defense solutions, each piece on a different clock: Rounds transferred from allied stocks for this winter, imported systems and licensed production that will begin to matter over the next several years, and Freyja, a Ukrainian-European interceptor still in development.

Stockpile swaps

The fastest fix depends on allies sharing existing stockpiles, a request Defense Minister Yevhen Khmara put forward at his first Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting with allies on Sept. 8.

Kyiv has signed contracts for roughly 1,000 Patriot missiles in recent months, but most will not ship for years, Khmara said.

He asked partners for 300 interceptors from their stockpiles now, offering newer missiles from those contracts as replacements.

“The situation with ballistics is much more difficult. And that difficulty is precisely down to the lack of Patriot missiles,” he told allies.

Germany answered Khmara’s call by promising an undisclosed number of PAC-2 interceptors from Bundeswehr stocks.

Britain committed £100 million through NATO’s Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) for Patriot missiles and other air-defense equipment intended to arrive before winter, according to the British government.

But the United States did not include Patriot missiles in the nearly $400 million in expiring Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative money it moved to obligate before the fiscal year ended, a source familiar with the package told Reuters.

Surging production of existing antiballistic interceptors

“Ukraine is ready not only to produce ballistic missile interceptors for its own needs, but also to strengthen the United States and its allies through joint production,” Zelenskyy wrote on X after a recent meeting with a U.S. congressional delegation in Kyiv.

Both Europe and the U.S. are in talks with Ukraine to begin ramping up joint manufacturing initiatives for both the Patriot missile system and the Franco-Italian Aster 30.

Zelenskyy said Sept. 25 that U.S. President Donald Trump made a final political decision to grant Ukraine licenses to produce Patriot missiles. But Washington and manufacturers have not publicly identified the variant, Ukraine’s workshare, production site or first-delivery date.

Lockheed Martin said it aims to raise its own annual PAC-3 MSE capacity from roughly 600 missiles to 2,000 by 2030, while a $14.7 billion Boeing contract would triple production of the interceptor’s seeker.

Germany is scheduled to begin PAC-2 GEM-T production, and Berlin has separately asked Washington and Lockheed Martin to permit PAC-3 MSE production in Germany, but that proposal remains unresolved.

France and Italy agreed in a joint declaration in July to authorize licensed production of Aster 30 interceptors in Ukraine before the end of 2026, along with providing Kyiv with four SAMP/T NG systems — becoming their first combat user.

France also committed two interim SAMP/T complexes, a GF300 radar before year’s end and progressive SAMP/T NG deployment beginning in 2027.

The sovereignty bet: Freyja

Ukraine and Europe are looking to a new weapon called “Frejya” as a longer-term solution.

Freyja is a Ukrainian-designed ballistic interceptor built around Fire Point’s FP-7.X missile, including an interceptor, launcher, radar and command-and-control network.

It’s priced at roughly $1 million per round, about one-quarter of the cost of a PAC-3 MSE, and designed to plug into NATO-standard radars and command posts already in the field.

The FP-7.X flew for the first time in early June and is built to kill ballistic targets at roughly 15 miles up using a high-explosive fragmentation warhead rather than the PAC-3’s hit-to-kill collision — which may come in later versions — at a target price of approximately $700,000 per interceptor, or roughly one-fifth the price of a PAC-3.

The company says it will build three interceptors a day starting in August. Zelenskyy wants the system up and running within a year, and the coalition is targeting its first real ballistic intercept for the end of 2027.

Zelenskyy launched the initiative with nine European countries in Paris in July — and the effort is still growing.

Poland joined the group on Sept. 17, a week after Canadian PM Mark Carney told Zelenskyy that Ottawa would contribute its technologies to Freyja along with providing Kyiv with a broader package that includes C$350 million in interceptors.

The EU is separately weighing direct funding for the program on top of national contributions, according to Militarnyi.

Analysts say these countries are turning to India to reduce their reliance on Russia, one of the region’s main arms suppliers, whose defense resources are strained by its war with Ukraine.

“They are looking for a way to diversify at a time when Russia is no longer active in defense markets as it increasingly looks inwards towards its domestic needs, reducing its capacity to export air defense systems, especially in large numbers,” Aleksei Zakharov, a fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi told Defense News. “As a result, Central Asian countries are looking for possible alternatives.”

Indian Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh confirmed the sales of the Akash surface-to-air missile system to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan earlier this month in an interview with news agency Asian New International. He did not disclose the contract value.

India moves closer to a homegrown, long-range air defense

In 2022, Armenia became India’s first foreign customer for the air defense system.

The Akash system can simultaneously engage multiple targets at ranges up to 25km according to the Defense Ministry. It also incorporates protections against electronic jamming.

Calling the system one of India’s “success stories,” Singh said: “It shows the maturing of our indigenous missile design and production system. It is effective in dealing with high-velocity aerial targets.”

Indian defense officials have said it was used effectively by the armed forces during the country’s four-day conflict with Pakistan in 2025.

Confidence in the missile system got a boost after it was “battle-tested” in a real conflict, according to Zakharov and could encourage Central Asian buyers to consider other Indian hardware, such as artillery and radar systems, as growing geopolitical uncertainty prompts countries to broaden their supplier base.

“Certainly this can be an important first step for India’s entry into the defense markets of Central Asia. For those countries, it is also about reducing dependency on any one single source which can be useful if there are disruptions,” he said. “The Indian systems such as Akash are also cost-effective.”

In fact, Armenia has emerged as India’s largest buyer of military equipment, signing defense contracts worth nearly $2 billion since 2020, according to reports. Its purchases include multiple-launch rocket systems, counter-drone systems and anti-tank missiles.

Analysts say India’s outreach in Central Asia also aims to balance China’s growing influence in the region where Beijing has emerged as a major supplier of military equipment in recent years.

India, which has been a major arms importer for decades has been gradually developing its own defense industry and boosting exports, which rose about 62 per cent in the last financial year to $4.1 billion. Indian companies export missiles, drones, armored vehicles, ammunition and aircraft components to more than 80 countries.

Its most high-profile export is the BrahMos, a supersonic cruise missile developed jointly with Russia. India has won customers in Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines, where it is delivering a shore-based, anti-ship system. New Delhi has also signed a deal with Vietnam, and discussions are underway with Indonesia to supply the missiles.

“BrahMos is a kind of benchmark for our emerging export story. This is one of the high-end strategic systems that we’ve been able to export,” he said.

To his likely irritation, hordes of uniformed soldiers had gathered beneath the petite primate, filling his muddy underbrush with the heaving sound of heavy rucksacks and the smell of body odor that had been brewing in the moist terrain for days.

The soldiers, some wearing days-old green face paint, had congregated amongst the moist fauna to complete their final task in the U.S. Army’s Jungle Operations Training Course in Panama: The Green Mile.

The notorious event — in the thick of Panama’s “Green Hell” — is the 18-day course’s culminating exercise, testing participants’ newly learned jungle maneuver techniques, survival measures and fighting skills.

By that point in the course, the soldiers had run a days-long jungle reconnaissance and attack operation. That portion of the field exercise was complete, and perhaps to the howler monkey’s dismay, so were the soldiers’ attempts to stay quiet.

The course in 2025 returned to Panama at Base Aeronaval Cristóbal Colón, formerly known as the U.S. Army’s Fort Sherman, decades after it was originally shuttered.

The new course is a joint U.S.-Panamanian partnership, with Panamanian instructors leading lessons on jungle survival.

With staggered start times, each squad took off running down a soggy, uneven path. Squads in the September course had participants from across the U.S. force, including those from the Army, Marine Corps and Space Force.

Some squads had Panamanian soldiers. Other countries, such as Colombia, have expressed interest in sending soldiers in the near future.

In classes with Panamanian students, instruction is given in English and Spanish. When the course is English-only, the duration shrinks to 12 days, but without partners, officials say U.S. students can miss out on opportunities to connect with other forces.

Spc. Duncan Vaupel, a member of September’s jungle school course, said he talked with and learned from Panamanian troops who described treating soldiers who had lost legs and fighting gun battles in the jungle that stretched into the night.

“These guys not only teach it, but they live and breathe it, too,” he said.

The squad’s first major Green Mile task was to carry some of the service members’ rucks in a litter made from whatever they could find. Logs or long branches coupled with issued wet weather equipment — a poncho — did the trick.

During the course, participants are provided instructions on jungle first aid. They also practice with medical evacuation helicopters, transporting a casualty to some sliver of open sky where a medical team can send a rappel line down to hoist the injured soldier up. Jungle landing zones are few and far between.

Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Reeves, a combat medic and an instructor at the school, said that heat injuries are common because of the oppressive humidity and temperature.

Animal-related injuries are also widespread, he said. Wild, territorial bees are sensitive to loud noises and will defend their hives by attacking the camouflaged intruders.

“We do have wild bees down here that tend to get a lot of the students as they move throughout the jungle,” Reeves said. “I know we’ve had to evac a handful of students before to the aid station for bee stings, scorpion stings and a variety of insect bites.”

Once the section of muddy pathway came to an end, there was the sea to deal with.

Muddy boot after muddy boot sank into the swirling sand beneath unforgiving waves. Soldiers were instructed to file one behind the other, sometimes sinking waist-deep into the water as they skirted rocky outgrowths and navigated dense mangroves.

Fewer troop formations work in a jungle environment, said Lt. Col. Andrew Eagan, who oversees the Jungle Operations Training Center. Wedge formations, for example, do not work, he said.

“Here you fight in a column, you fight in a line, and the reason for that is the environment,” Eagan said. “The environment is so punishing.”

When the Green Mile took the service members back inland, the soldiers traded the wet coastline for brutal terrain.

Their next challenge? A hill so steep that it required crawling on hands and knees. With a grade impossible to climb with waterlogged rucks, the scrappier soldiers scaled ahead, breathlessly anchoring a rope bridge from the top so other soldiers could cling to it as they ascended while lugging the squad’s wet gear.

Soldiers slipped, ripping pants and filling scraggly fingernails with brown mud. Weapons became caked with slippery earth as they reached the peak.

During Eagen’s interview, he said Panama’s environment was the part of jungle school that U.S. students underestimated most. During The Green Mile, the true magnitude of the jungle’s hazards was revealed — relentlessly.

There was no walking down the other side of the hill, for instance. Course participants scooted or slid down on their rears, praying that their nether regions would not cross the path of a black palm — one of the treacherous plants students learn about in the jungle, in addition to the school’s flora and fauna blocks of instruction.

With pointy spikes that can reach up to 8 inches long, flaring from every inch of its trunk, soft flesh is no match for nature’s black needles.

Other plants, students learn, are edible and can help them survive in such harsh environs. Some of nature’s bounty, however, keeps the jungle students’ digestive systems unusually active.

2nd Sgt. Rubén Rodríguez, a Panamanian instructor for the course, said American students are often particularly hungry. They love to pick and eat coconuts for extra nourishment, he said.

Though delicious and healthy in moderation, coconuts can be laxatives in large quantities. The Americans’ frequent snacks, Rodríguez said, send them straight to the jungle bathroom.

As the troops progressed through the course, lanewalkers added full water jugs and ammo cans to soldiers’ loads. The extra weight pushed boots even deeper into the muddy ground.

Red-faced and exhausted, the squad hoisted the extra weight over and under the first leg of an obstacle course that represents the final, brutal stretch of the Green Mile.

The squad dragged themselves — and their equipment — through sticky, brown goop as they low-crawled beneath barbed wire. Soldiers tossed gear over a high wall before hurling their own bodies over after the dumped equipment.

Before the finish line, the squad trekked up another uneven hill — even more slowly than any hill they had summited before.

Once they hit concrete — and the familiar terrain near the schoolhouse’s campus — the jungle-battered squad had just minutes to sprint the last stretch of what was actually a four-plus-mile endeavor.

The instructors imposed a time cap on the event (because what is Army training without the addition of some artificial stress?).

As the afternoon sun beat down on the squad, the sprint slowed to a heavy shuffle.

One participant, who had been carrying extra weight, stifled a gag as he trod onwards.

In a haze of instructor-cracked purple smoke, the squad finished, collapsing in a heap under the shade of a cluster of trees.

Some soldiers emptied the water jugs over each other’s heads. Others lay spread-eagled in a lukewarm puddle of mud.

Two participants — one with a ripped pant seam exposing a dirty, pale leg — reveled in their success.

“It was a good time,” one said, looking at his friend.

After a millisecond of hesitation, the friend responded.

“Nah,” he said, shaking his head with a smile.

The China-Laos Joint Support and Training Center at Ban Keun Airport some 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the Lao capital Vientiane and the China-Laos Friendship Aviation Academy kicked off in September, the Chinese Ministry of Defense said on its website.

China’s role at the military airport, which had just finished major upgrades and features a 2,000-meter runway, suggests that the People’s Liberation Army intends to springboard into other parts of Southeast Asia – a land-border neighbor where several countries have territorial differences with China – experts say.

“As China in reality aspires to be a major power, it has to gradually and in a low-key manner build up military bases, albeit for training or other seemingly innocuous purposes,” said Oh Ei Sun, principal adviser at the Pacific Research Center think tank in Kuala Lumpur.

“Laos has long been considered to be a close ally for (China) in Southeast Asia and it is of course no surprise that China’s first base in Southeast Asia is located there,” he added.

The two countries share a border, a Communist Party leadership and a recent history of economic cooperation led by large Chinese infrastructure projects such as a railway line.

The defense ministry in Beijing said the training center, to be jointly maintained and operated, is aimed at helping Laos strengthen the training of its air force pilots.

Ban Keun will allow a “continuous” Chinese presence and primarily be used to “steer procurement to Chinese equipment” and support PLA air operations, the China Global South Project media platform says in a study.

The ministry website says China’s role at the airport is “not directed against any third party”, contributing instead to improving “practical military cooperation.”

But instead, China may be increasing its military foothold “deep inside mainland Southeast Asia” after earlier establishing a naval presence at Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base, said Nguyen Thanh Trung, a political scientist at Fulbright University in Vietnam. Mainland Southeast Asia includes Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand as well as Laos and Cambodia.

Chinese operational military presence and privileged access at the Cambodian base grew from 2019 through 2025, Asian mainstream media reports have said.

China is keen on Laos now “because the Chinese feel it’s time to complement the naval facility in Cambodia with nearby air power capability,” said Denny Roy, a ­senior fellow at the East-West Centre think tank in Hawaii.

Using both its navy and air force, Beijing has shored up its South China Sea claims over the past two decades by building artificial islands, often for military use. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam dispute parts of the sea with China.

Sporadic China-Vietnam incidents have occurred in the waters since the 1970s. China and the Philippines are jousting for control over tiny islets west of Luzon and Palawan islands.

“Vietnam is probably the most sensitive, as Laos has long been its strategic buffer, and for now the foothold looks more like China asserting leverage over Hanoi and Phnom Penh,” said Hangyu Lee, East Asia Pacific analyst at the nonprofit organization Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. He said Ban Keun and Ream “together could look like a wider Chinese security network.”

Myanmar, Lee added, could be “indirectly affected” if the airport improves China’s ability to monitor activity across continental Southeast Asia. Myanmar, with its own Chinese border, has been in civil war since 2021.

China’s presence at the Laotian airport has been linked to its first confirmed overseas base, in the East African country Djibouti. The People’s Liberation Army uses it as a support base. The African base and now Ban Keun mark China’s gradual, low-key buildup of bases, Oh said.

But the Laotian site “represents a new air-centered model” distinct from Djibouti and Ream in Cambodia, the China Global South Project study says.

“Eventually it can be a pre-positioned base for PRC aircraft as needed,” Roy said. “It could also be expanded to accommodate more and larger aircraft.”

Reuters reported in April that U.S. officials had informed some European counterparts that some previously contracted weapons deliveries were likely to be delayed as the Iran war draws on weapons stocks.

“At this point it looks like we are going to be affected as well. That’s very visible in the area of PAC-3 MSE Patriot missiles, they’re going to be delayed for sure,” Nowak told a panel at the Warsaw Security Forum.

“In general there’s going to be impact and there are going to be... additional delays to the deliveries scheduled already or being under the contract already.”

The 4th Multi-Domain Task Force will focus on synchronizing long-range precision fires in the Indo-Pacific region “to deny, disrupt and disaggregate adversary capabilities” and create advantages for other units in the joint force, the Army said in a release.

The task force includes four battalions and is planned to grow to 2,100 soldiers.

Col. Hugh W.A. Jones assumed command of the task force during Thursday’s ceremony. He previously commanded the 2nd Stryker Brigade, 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, leading the brigade when it deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border last year.

“While we build this formation to deter aggression and preserve peace, if war comes, we must be prepared to fight and win,” Jones said during the ceremony. “We owe those in harm’s way every advantage we can give them, while leaving our enemy nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.”

The task force reports to the 7th Infantry Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

In June, the Army combined the 7th Infantry Division and the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force at Lewis-McChord into the 7th Infantry Division (Multi-Domain Command-Pacific), which serves as the multi-domain operational headquarters. Its mission is to integrate “maneuver, fires, air defense, cyber, space, electronic warfare, intelligence, unmanned systems, sustainment and command-and -control in support of the joint force across the Pacific,” the Army said in a release.

Maj. Gen. Bernard Harrington, commander of the 7th Infantry Division, attended the activation ceremony at Fort Carson.

“You are driving the change our nation demands today, to meet the changing character of war, to prevent conflict, and to maintain a free and open Pacific alongside our allies and partners,” Harrington told soldiers assigned to the new multi-domain task force.

The establishment of the 7th Infantry Division (Multi-Domain Command-Pacific) and the 4th Multi-Domain Task Force are part of a broader transformation initiative “to counter near-peer adversaries in an increasingly complex global landscape,” the Army said.

The initiative includes the service establishing five multi-domain task forces by 2028, according to a Congressional Research Service report. The Army activated the 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force in 2021 at the Clay Kaserne installation in Germany, and stood up the third in Hawaii in 2022. A fifth is planned for Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

The units are designed to operate across all domains — land, air, sea, space, cyberspace and information — and “provide combatant commanders with a versatile and potent array of options,” according to the Army.

“As we build this formation, we must never forget that technology earns its value in the hands of well-trained and disciplined soldiers,” Jones said Thursday. “A soldier who solves a difficult problem here may make the difference for an American fighting far beyond the horizon.”

As part of its international expansion plans, the company is promoting its unmanned solutions at this year’s AUSA conference in Washington as it seeks to strengthen its presence in the United States.

The company is pushing the project as numerous anti-drone system producers in Ukraine and other European countries are striving to make their interceptors cheaper than the targets they are meant to strike, and also suitable for mass production using readily available components.

Ranno Pajuri, business development manager at KrattWorks, told Defense News the new dummy drone is expected to be presented by the end of 2027.

“We need to obtain a working prototype that is reliable enough. The good thing is that we have software which can be adapted to different hardware quite easily,” he said. “But if the drone becomes so much different from what we have today and so much faster, then there are many variables to consider before it is stabilized and ready for a demonstration.”

The Ukrainian Army, to which the Estonian company has supplied one-way attack drones as well as other products such as its Ghost Dragon ISR drone, is one of the potential users of the new solution. KrattWorks has delivered its UAVs to customers in Europe, and the company is currently making efforts to boost its foothold in the United States as well as various markets in Asia and Africa. KrattWorks says its Ghost Dragon ISR systems have also been deployed in Estonia, Georgia and Moldova, among others.

“We produce our drones in Estonia. We have enough extra capacity to ramp up the production if the demand will grow. Aerial target drones are usually made within quite a short lead time,” Pajuri said. “But we are open to some level of transfer of production if this is necessary and the demand is large enough in the country to which we are selling our products.”

KrattWorks says its product portfolio includes the DART fixed-wing aerial target, which is intended for use against air-defense missiles, heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft cannons, and the DART-R, an aerial target decoy fitted with a radar reflector that can reach a maximum speed of 200 km/h (124 mph), according to data from the company. KrattWorks also makes the PARM aerial target quadcopter.

The manufacturer said it “builds ISR drones with wide frequency band-hopping radios and GNSS-free flight modes to help first responders and servicemen to gain fast situational awareness in situations where every second counts.”

The business cooperates closely with the Ukrainian Armed Forces and studies the UAV attacks that take place in Ukraine and the evolving tactics used there to improve its products. KrattWorks makes efforts to ensure that its aerial target drones mimic the latest operational trends and act in a realistic manner, the company representative said.

In its September 2026 report on Russia’s use of UAVs against Ukraine, the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based think tank, said the Russian military used an estimated 5,166 Shahed-type drones, including decoys, against Ukrainian targets in August alone.

Meanwhile, the Office of the President of Ukraine said on Sept. 28 that the country’s military had reached an overall drone shoot-down rate of 70%, including both piston-powered and jet-powered Shaheds.

“But for jet-powered ‘Shaheds,’ unfortunately, the rate is much lower than it needs to be – 57%,” the office said in a statement. “New interceptors are being actively tested. Some combat teams are already using them, but of course, some details still need to be refined to ensure sufficient effectiveness and deployment at scale. We are pushing the developers to move faster.”

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., visited the Middle East this week on a Congressional Delegation trip, speaking with Gulf region leaders and visiting American facilities to assess damage done by the Iran war. Murphy was denied access to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, which had suffered damage from drone strikes during the conflict.

“They are using every tool they can, including withholding information about damages, slow walking the pace of reports about casualties and denying us access to see the damage as part of a campaign of cover-up, so as to mask the true cost of the war,” Murphy told reporters on Thursday.

The “unprecedented” base denial prepared Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Defense Appropriations Committee, in the coming days to draft language that would explicitly require the Department of Defense to grant members of Congress access to military bases overseas under all circumstances if needed.

“I don’t have any illusions that that’s going to pass between now and the end of the year, but I think that’ll be a really important part of the discussion around an appropriations bill next year and the defense authorization bill,” he said during the press call.

Prior to his trip, Murphy requested access to the base through a letter and direct appeal to U.S. Central Command leadership. But he was denied access even as the Department of State supported his trip to the region, with the Defense Department saying it was due to previously imposed travel restrictions.

“Senator Murphy’s office was informed before his trip to the Middle East that he would not receive Department of War support to access Al Udeid Air Base, consistent with the Secretary of War’s directive on travel restrictions in the region ordered on March 3, 2026,” a senior Defense Department official told Military Times on Thursday.

“That decision was communicated in advance by the Office of the Secretary of War for Legislative Affairs,” the official continued. “The Department applies the Secretary’s guidance evenly.”

In early March, the State and Defense departments issued travel guidance, calling on Americans to depart areas in the region and updating its travel advisory to recommend against visiting certain countries, including Qatar.

“It is absolutely ordinary for members of Congress to travel to areas of conflict and get to talk directly to the military leaders and the soldiers that are involved in the conflict and see for ourselves the damage that has been done to our bases and equipment,” Murphy said, highlighting how during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars he was able to visit operating bases.

He argued that since Congress decides funding and authorization for war, it is necessary to see the consequences, but he was unable to visit Al Udeid or have a briefing on the war with American military officials while in the region.

On the same day the travel advisory was issued in March, the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was hit ​by two Iranians drones, resulting in building damage and a fire. Murphy said that the drones impacted multiple floors of the embassy and part of the space is now “uninhabitable” with permanent damage.

The U.S. previously announced in 2023 plans to build a new embassy compound in Riyadh, which Murphy attributes the lack of repairs to.

Even though no injuries or casualties were reported from the strike, Murphy said that if the attack happened during the day it would have killed many Americans.

“[Secretary of Defense Pete] Hegseth is determined to hide the cost and the consequences of this war from the American public, and it is absolutely outrageous that I and Republican senators are being denied the ability to see the damage for ourselves,” he said.

The U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach’s Stock Barracks in Illesheim houses the Illesheim Flight Simulator Complex, or IFSC, providing one-of-a-kind training opportunities ahead of the German Armed Forces preparing to field CH‑47F Block II Chinook helicopters next fall, according to an Army release.

The IFSC, which is operated by U.S. Army Europe and Africa, provides the necessary training needed to prepare German forces to receive 60 of the heavy-lift, tandem-rotor helicopters, the release says.

Two German Air Force pilots who will be part of the first cohort to fly the new aircraft once they arrive in fall 2027 recently trained at the IFSC.

“In the simulator you can train all the scenarios you do not want to experience while flying a real aircraft,” said Lt. Col. L, a visiting pilot whose name was withheld, as is standard in the German Air Force, or Bundeswehr Luftwaffe. “Emergency procedures, challenging landings and extreme weather operations can all be practiced safely.”

“Everything you can do in a real flight, you can also do in a simulator,” the other visiting pilot, Maj. H, said.

The fleet will be stationed at two Bundeswehr installations and is meant to boost Germany’s heavy-lift and transport abilities, per the statement.

The two German pilots also trained in the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

Fort Rucker is the Army’s largest helicopter training institution and trains more than 1,300 U.S. soldiers every year. Beginning in 2028, German Air Force aviators will also trek to Fort Rucker annually for initial helicopter training and complete “track training,” including the CH‑47 qualification.

The Army did not say how many German aviators are expected to train at Fort Rucker each year, but the release noted that the German Air Force plans to staff more than 200 trained pilots to operate its future fleet.

Germany has already begun sending helicopter pilots for conversion training to the CH‑47 platform, according to the release.

Since the IFSC simulator software is tailored to U.S. Army aircraft configurations and not the Bundeswehr’s, the German pilots will need additional learning to transition to their Air Force’s aircraft.

Instead of German Air Force pilots needing to travel across the Atlantic for advanced simulator training, the IFSC allows them to drive just three to five hours from their home station.

By using the existing U.S. Army facilities in Europe, NATO partners reduce costs by not needing to build their own simulator complex, the announcement says. Even though the IFSC schedule prioritizes U.S. Army soldiers, the complex routinely supports at least five NATO partners’ pilots.

“For NATO partners requiring up-to-date, quality aircraft simulation training, USAG Ansbach’s Storck Barracks continues to prove its value: a small installation delivering strategic impact through world‑class training,” the release reads.

“We are continuing our discussions regarding the combat aviation component, particularly regarding the Rafale,” Vautrin told French lawmakers in response to questions about aid to Ukraine during a 2027 defense-budget hearing here. “From November, we will begin the first training of Ukrainian pilots on Rafale.”

Ukrainian pilots will soon begin training on Rafale aircraft in France, a major step forward for Ukraine’s combat aviation, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post on Monday, citing a conversation with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

Ukraine in July agreed on a roadmap with France that included a plan to buy 16 Rafale fighter jets together with the accompanying weapon systems. The country has previously received F-16 jets from several European countries, Mirage 2000 fighters from France, and in May agreed to buy 20 new Gripen jets, with Sweden donating 16 units of an older model.

The first Rafale jets are expected to fly in Ukrainian skies in 2028 or 2029, Macron said in July.

Both countries are continuing to work on localizing production of French missiles and aerial bombs in Ukraine, Zelenskyy said on Monday. Vautrin said in her hearing that a licensing process is currently underway for missiles.

“We are fully aware that by supporting Ukraine, we are defending Europe,” Vautrin said.

As part of the July agreement, Ukraine would also acquire an initial batch of SAMP/T NG air-defense batteries with missiles, Macron said at the time. The countries further approved licensing agreements for production in Ukraine of the AASM glide-bomb kit, the Aster 30 air-defense interceptor that arms the SAMP/T, as well as the SCALP/Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missile.

Ukraine has already operated an older version of the French-Italian SAMP/T air-defense system, which relies on the Aster family of interceptors manufactured by MBDA. The country also uses the AASM Hammer precision glide-bomb developed by Safran.

Ukraine in November last year signed a letter of intent to buy up to 100 of Rafale jets manufactured by Dassault Aviation, after a similar letter of intent a month earlier between Ukraine and Sweden for the export of up to 150 Gripen jets, produced by Saab.

The Rafale integrates MBDA’s Meteor, considered by analysts to be one of the best long-range air-to-air missiles in service with Western militaries. The aircraft also features a high-end electronic warfare suite and a radar from Thales, both of which were upgraded as part of the Rafale’s F4.1 standard, qualified in March 2023.

Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement in August, under which an armed attack on one member is considered an attack on all. The three countries have since held political and military meetings in response to the Houthi attacks.

On Monday, the countries said they had agreed to move immediately to implement their collective defense commitments and ensure the “rapid deployment” of military forces and capabilities in Saudi Arabia.

Speaking at a joint press conference with his Hungarian counterpart Anita Orban in Ankara, Fidan stressed that the pact was defensive rather than offensive, saying military officials were assessing possible contributions, particularly in air defense, electronic warfare and technical support.

“Yemen’s legitimate government forces are already continuing the battle on the ground and Saudi Arabia is supporting them,” Fidan said.

“But this is a defensive agreement. When a country party to the pact comes under attack, you stand by it in its defense. This is not an offensive agreement. Turkey will not send troops to another country to carry out attacks on its territory,” he said.

Fidan said military delegations would determine Saudi Arabia’s operational defense needs and what contributions Turkey and Pakistan could make.

On Wednesday, two officials told Reuters that Turkey was sending mainly defensive and technical support to Saudi Arabia to help its fight with Houthi militants.

Turkish officials have said any support provided at this stage would largely be in a bilateral capacity, as Turkey’s parliament has not officially ratified the joint defense pact.

Fidan said on Thursday that work was largely completed for the agreement to be submitted for parliament’s approval and that they aimed to send it “as soon as possible.”

Turkey, which has NATO’s second-largest army and a robust defense industry, has condemned the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, voiced willingness to help meet Riyadh’s technical military needs, and agreed to join a Saudi-led coalition to ensure navigational safety in the Red Sea.

The Bundestag budget committee had approved the first four vessels July 8, alongside an option for four more. The Defense Ministry said the decision to exercise that option will give the German Navy a single, eight-ship class intended chiefly for anti-submarine warfare.

Delivery of the first vessel is set for 2029, the agency said in a statement. The ships will support NATO missions in the Baltic and North seas, the Atlantic and the High North, according to the announcement.

Berlin selected the MEKO design after withdrawing from its contract with Damen Naval for six F126 frigates, which had initially been intended to supply the Navy’s future anti-submarine warfare capability. The ministry attributed its withdrawal to “considerable performance problems” by Damen, saying it had completed a broader assessment before terminating the arrangement.

The program change has already triggered a costly dispute. Damen is seeking €4.7 billion ($5.3 billion) in damages from the German government, arguing that Berlin’s termination was politically motivated and legally unfounded, Der Spiegel reported last week. The F126 effort had already cost Germany more than €2 billion without delivering a ship, according to public broadcaster ARD.

The initial four-ship MEKO purchase carried a reported €6.3 billion price tag, while the four-ship option was valued at €5.3 billion. Reuters reported that the second tranche, including project support and reserves, would cost roughly €5.6 billion; the projected operating costs for those four vessels through 2045 amount to another €1.55 billion.

The Defense Ministry argued that selecting one ship type should simplify training, maintenance and logistics. It also said variants of the MEKO A-200 are already in service with allied navies.

TKMS described the envisioned eight-ship production run as the company’s largest-ever surface vessel contract.

“With the four frigates already on order, the program has entered the implementation phase,” the shipbuilder said in a statement.

As part of its post-2022 buildup, the German military has put a heavy emphasis on anti-submarine warfare abilities in the Baltic, North Sea and, especially since the crisis over Greenland, in the Arctic. The F-126 was meant to be an integral part of this strategy. Other, more successful, procurements aimed at combating submarines include the Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime-surveillance aircraft, the first of which landed in Germany almost exactly a year ago.

During an official visit to Athens, Rubio said Greece was particularly exposed to the threats posed by mass migration and human trafficking.

“As part of our efforts to combat these common threats to our nations, we’re proud to announce a new memorandum of understanding establishing a joint security program to strengthen the counterterrorism information sharing between our respective law enforcement agencies,” he told reporters alongside Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis.

Greece has been an important NATO ally to the United States, offering key military facilities to safeguard security in the Eastern Mediterranean, and it leads an EU maritime mission to protect commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

Rubio and Gerapetritis presided over the sixth round of a U.S.-Greece strategic dialogue that began in 2018 in which the sides agreed “to deepen defense ties, bolster trade and investment, and promote cultural ties,” according to a joint statement.

Greece, it said, would receive $4 billion to support a long-term defense plan to increase interoperability between the two militaries and to “explore future opportunities for defense industrial base cooperation.”

Gerapetritis said that Greece was willing to cooperate with the United States and offer maritime aid in the Strait of Hormuz if there is a viable peace process there.

Rubio stood by U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle after U.S. senators expressed concerns over allegations that she had threatened that the U.S. could use its influence to undermine the Greek government.

Asked if her conduct was in compliance with State Department ethics, Rubio said: “Suffice it to say, our embassy here is doing a great job. Our ambassador has been a strong ambassador here.”

Embraer’s C-390 Millennium is competing with Lockheed Martin’s C-130J Super Hercules as India seeks to replace its aging military transport fleet that includes the Soviet-era Antonov An-32.

The formal race for one of India’s biggest military aviation contracts set off in August when India issued a Request for Proposal to five Indian companies setting the stage for the bidding. Global aviation companies are partnering with Indian firms because New Delhi has mandated that while the initial multi role aircraft will be delivered ready to fly, the rest must be built domestically.

With India’s focus on building a local aerospace industrial base, Embraer announced on Oct. 1 that the company and its Indian partner, Mahindra Defence, have identified the central Indian city of Nagpur as a production site for the aircraft if they are awarded the contract.

“Identifying Nagpur as a potential location for an assembly facility is an important step in building a robust, long-term aerospace ecosystem in the country,” said Bosco da Costa Junior, president and CEO of Embraer Defense & Security, in a joint statement with Mahindra.

The two companies said they will progressively integrate Indian aerospace companies into the C-390 Millennium ecosystem to deliver manufacturing, training and lifecycle support.

Lockheed Martin already has a presence in India — the Indian Air Force currently operates 12 C-130J Super Hercules aircraft. The company says the aircraft it is now offering, the C-130J-30 in its Block 8.1.2 configuration, will be more advanced than the ones currently with the air force.

If it wins, Lockheed has said that 12 aircraft would be built in the U.S. and 48 in India in partnership with Tata Advanced Systems Limited, with which it has a joint venture.

The American company already has a manufacturing base in India. It makes key components, including the aircraft’s empennage or tail assembly, locally with Tata.

Winning the contract would mean establishing a bigger industrial footprint in India, Dan Tenney, Lockheed Martin’s senior vice president for global business development and strategy, recently told the Press Trust of India.

“We have a long partnership with Tata that produces components and empennages of the C-130J aircraft. It is a very robust capability that will be expanded in our current bid,” he said.

The company has also proposed upgrading the Indian Air Force’s existing fleet of 12 C-130Js.

India has set a requirement of minimum 40% domestic content for the aircraft. Because the country shares long Himalayan borders with rivals Pakistan and China, the aircraft must also be able to operate in high-altitude locations and from temporary or unpaved strips. Besides ferrying troops, vehicles and ammunition, India also uses military transport aircraft for disaster relief and humanitarian assistance.

The bids are due by early December, after which the proposals will go through technical evaluation.

Amid its two decade-long push for greater local production and technology transfer, the government wants the mega aviation contract to deepen the country’s defense manufacturing footprint.

The nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarine Le Vigilant fired an M51.3 missile in an acceptance test following the boat’s overhaul, the Ministry of the Armed Forces said in a statement. The missile, which didn’t carry a nuclear warhead, was launched off Finistère in western France and splashed down in the North Atlantic several hundred kilometers from any coastline, the ministry said.

France’s work to upgrade the M51 missile, manufactured by ArianeGroup, is part of a broader modernization of the country’s nuclear deterrence apparatus that also includes the construction of new ballistic-missile submarines and a future upgrade of the Rafale fighter jet that would carry a hypersonic nuclear cruise missile.

“This is a very important moment for our strategic credibility,” Macron told troops onboard a French Navy vessel from which he observed the launch. “Everything that has happened recently and what is happening today will be closely scrutinized by both our allies and our competitors alike, and it already is. Along the course we have set, this is a step forward.”

The modernization of France’s nuclear arsenal comes as the country works with several European allies on what Macron has called “forward deterrence,” a proposal that could involve extending the reach of French nuclear deterrence to those allies, although the details of what that would look like remain vague for now.

Every major overhaul of a French nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine is followed by an acceptance test firing of the M51, the ministry told Defense News in an emailed response to questions.

ArianeGroup and France’s Directorate General for Armament completed a first flight test of the modernized M51 from a launch site in Biscarrosse in southwest France in 2023, and the new missile entered operational service in October last year.

The latest M51.3 variant is estimated to have a range of more than 9,500 kilometers, from more than 9,000 kilometers for the previous version, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The missile carries four to six multiple independently-targetable reentry vehicles, or MIRVs, according to the Bulletin.

While the official range of the missile is undisclosed, ArianeGroup says the M51 reaches an altitude of more than 2,000 kilometers before reentering the atmosphere at a speed of Mach 20.

The missile is equipped with the new TNO-2 oceanic nuclear warhead, and offers better performance in terms of range, accuracy and penetration capability, according to the ministry. The solid-propellant three-stage missile weighs more than 50 metric tons, and each of France’s four ballistic missile submarines can carry 16 of them.

“The M51.3 ensures the long-term credibility of the ocean-based component in the face of evolving adversary missile defenses,” the ministry said. “It reflects the commitment of the President of the Republic to maintaining operational credibility of the nuclear forces over the long term, at the level required by the international environment.”

The first version of the M51 was fired from the Biscarrosse launch site in 2006, with the first submarine launch from the SSBN Le Terrible in January 2010. Today’s launch was the seventh time a variant of the M51 was fired from a French submarine, and the 13th launch of the missile overall, all of them “of course, conducted without a nuclear warhead,” according to the ministry.

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would consider Lithuania’s request for a permanent base: “They are friends of mine, they are great people, so we will certainly look at it.”

Lithuania, a member of the EU and NATO, borders Russia and Moscow’s close ally Belarus. The United States has kept an armored battalion of almost 1,000 troops there since 2019, in overlapping rotations, meaning the troops arrive and leave every few months.

Sinkevicius said he proposed turning this into a permanent presence at a meeting with Trump’s envoy John Coale last month in Vilnius.

“I’m glad that this idea is being taken seriously... This is a critically important guarantee of deterrence and security,” Sinkevicius wrote on Facebook.

“Our partners only need to make the political decision to permanently station troops, and Lithuania is ready to cover the costs involved.”

Defense startup funding in Europe already reached $7.4 billion as of Sept. 20, led by so-called “mega rounds” raised by Germany’s Helsing and Quantum systems, Dealroom and Resilience Media said in their annual State of Defence Tech report published Monday. That compares to $1.5 billion of funding for European startups in the defense space as of September a year earlier, based on the 2025 report.

Europe is grabbing a growing share of the defense-tech investment pie, with the European Union accounting for 21% of defense startup funding raised by September, from 15% last year. The share of the United States fell to 75%, the lowest ever, according to the Dealroom data.

“This is Europe catching up rather than the U.S. slowing,” Dealroom said. “EU 27 funding more than doubled in a year.”

Mega rounds made up more than 85% of the venture capital invested in European defense startups this year, including Helsing’s $1.8 billion Series E round in July according to Dealroom. German startups have set every fundraising record in European defense-tech venture capital funding since 2023, the report said.

Across NATO countries, defense startups raised $27.1 billion in venture capital so far in 2026, already more than $14.5 billion raised in all of 2025, and the amount is forecast to total $38.5 billion by the end of December.

Europe is channeling the largest share of venture capital into drones and autonomous systems, which accounted for 74% of the funding in the EU and 77% in the United Kingdom, compared to 57% in the United States. European startups in that segment that raised money included Helsing, Quantum Systems and Stark in Germany, Harmattan AI in France and Cambridge Aerospace in the U.K.

In Europe, the segment of unmanned aerial vehicles accounted for $4.7 billion raised as of September, according to the Dealroom data, followed by Earth observation and satellite imagery with $1.8 billion, anti-drone solutions and launch vehicles, each with $1.2 billion, and maritime robotics, with $796 million raised.

European startups in ground robotics, or unmanned ground vehicles, are trailing for now, with $77.6 million of venture capital funding so far this year, according to the Dealroom data.

Germany is the top European country for defense venture capital funding this year, with $3.5 billion raised, ahead of Finland with $1.2 billion, the U.K. with $932 million and France with $376 million. Munich is the European defense tech capital, attracting $3 billion in VC funding as of Sept. 20, ahead of Helsinki, London, Berlin, the English city of Cambridge, and Paris.

“Munich is the powerhouse of the European defense tech ecosystem,” Dealroom said. “Helsing and Quantum Systems drive most of it, together worth $25.7 billion. Behind them a younger cohort is forming across ground robotics, counter-drone and hypersonics.”

Funding for defense startups is diversifying as the sector grows, and total private investment in NATO defense startups, which also includes private equity, debt and grants, is forecast to reach $42.7 billion from $16.9 billion a year earlier, according to Dealroom.

Defense is the fastest-growing sector in Europe in terms of startup funding, ahead of space and robotics, according to Dealroom. Defense accounted for 15% of overall venture capital funding in the EU, from 6.2% reported a year earlier, while across NATO, defense attracted 4.9% of venture-capital funding as of September.

Speaking Oct. 1 at the Bergen military training area during the army’s “Experimentalserie Land” trials, Pistorius said ground forces will begin forming the regiment in 2027. Officials credited direct operational exchanges with Ukrainian frontline units for shaping the live-fire trials, which tested both aerial drones and unmanned ground systems. Pistorius emphasized that ground robotics will serve as an equal operational pillar alongside aerial systems, with the regiment consolidating reconnaissance, deep-strike capabilities, unmanned ground vehicles, electronic warfare, and counter-drone defenses under a unified command.

Once-reluctant Germany goes big on one-way attack drones

The regiment will serve as a divisional asset assigned to the 10th Panzer Division − the formation earmarked as Germany’s high-readiness “Division 2025” pledge to NATO, which also oversees Panzerbrigade 45 in Lithuania.

German Army Chief Lt. Gen. Christian Freuding said the Bundeswehr is pursuing a dual-track strategy that envisions setting aside dedication formations while also institutionalizing drone usage throughout the entire force.. At the turn of the year, the service will simultaneously begin fielding tactical unmanned systems directly across three core combat branches: light infantry, reconnaissance, and armor units.

The army plans to recruit between 300 and 350 personnel for the regiment’s initial footprint in 2027 before expanding the unit to an end strength of up to 600 troops, according to Freuding. In remarks to German wire service dpa, Freuding said planners target full operational capability by 2029.

The envisioned structure comprises five or six companies, including units for close-range combat, deep strikes at ranges of up to 500 kilometers depending on commercial equipment availability, electronic warfare, counter-UAS protection, and an internal trials company intended to fast-track operational testing. The Bundeswehr also plans to equip the formation with loitering munitions, which are currently undergoing evaluation and should reach troops in 2027, according to dpa information.

Unmanned systems have fundamentally reshaped modern combat, accounting for the vast majority of casualties on the battlefield in Ukraine. Western militaries have often lagged in retrofitting their forces, slowed by peacetime procurement practices and protracted political debates over weaponized drones and autonomy.

Key procurement questions surrounding the new unmanned-tech formation remain. The defense ministry has yet to finalize a permanent basing location or award contracts for the specific long-range platforms the regiment requires.

Keen Sword, the largest U.S.-Japan biennial joint drill, will feature two key systems of the Marine Corps’ littoral force: the anti-ship NMESIS (Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System) and air-defense MADIS (Marine Air Defense Integrated System).

Yonaguni’s local government disclosed the deployment on Friday, a day after the Okinawa Defense Bureau relayed deployment plans on Oct. 1.

The systems will be deployed to Yonaguni for the first time, as this year’s iteration shifts to ground-based, multi-island, sea-denial operations aimed at distributing American and Japanese forces across the southwestern islands.

The deployment also reflects a broader shift by the United States and Japan toward mobile missile and air-defense systems that can operate from scattered islands.

NMESIS and MADIS form the cornerstone of the U.S. Marine Corps’ force design modernization and restructuring plan, which moves away from heavy armored platforms to focus on small-unit, expeditionary forces that can capture and defend islands.

NMESIS can strike targets at around 115 miles and could threaten ships operating in waters around Taiwan. The reported deployment, in turn, has drawn criticism from Chinese military experts even while China’s PLA Navy and coast guard vessels have increased activities around Taiwan.

The NMESIS and MADIS systems first arrived with the Okinawa-based 12th Marine Littoral Regiment 3rd Marine Division in June. The units were earlier deployed to the Philippines’ northern Batanes Islands and western Laoag province during the Balikatan drills.

The deployment comes as Japan tests what defense officials describe as standoff-strike capabilities, missile systems that can strike targets far from enemy weapons, while strengthening its southwestern islands for distributed military operations.

According to the Ministry of Defense, troops from nine countries, including the Australian and French armies, will join 45,000 Japanese Self-Defense Forces personnel for this year’s exercise, which will run from Oct. 19 to 29.

The exercise will also bring together a number of U.S. and Japanese ground-based missile systems.

The U.S. Army will deploy HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems) weapons to Camp Ishigaki, some 80 miles from Yonaguni.

The Army’s Typhon missile launcher will also be moved to Okinawa mid-month, although no disclosures have been made about whether the mid-range system will be used for the exercise.

In past iterations of the drill, the USS George Washington joined the exercises, but the carrier strike group was sent to the Arabian Sea in August to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln, which was returning home after a prolonged deployment.

That prominent naval absence is expected to emphasize the exercise scenario shift toward a land-based network of mobile systems.

Last year, exercises in Yonaguni focused on maximizing the island as a forward operating base. This year, Keen Sword will showcase the Ground Self-Defense Force’s three anti-ship missile systems, which are the core of Japan’s long-range standoff-strike capabilities.

The JGSDF will train with the new ground-launched Type-25 surface-to-ship guided missile system, formerly known as the upgraded Type-12, which was fielded across the Nansei Islands in late March. The Type-25 SSM has a strike reach of 1,000 kilometers.

The lineup also includes the Type-88 ground-to-ship missile and the upgraded Type 03 Chu-SAM Kai medium-range ground-to-air guided missile.

Keen Sword was originally planned as a much larger exercise, local government officials said, but opposition forced the ministry to scale it down to its current iteration.

Yonaguni is Japan’s last inhabited island in the Nansei, a chain of scattered islands in southwestern Okinawa and a fast-emerging flashpoint amid rising tensions around Taiwan.

The JGSDF set up a radar and surveillance system on the island in 2016 to fill a “surveillance vacuum” in the seascapes stretching from the island to Taiwan, according to officials.

The island has seen increased joint exercises between Japanese and U.S. troops while it faces incursions from Chinese ships.

In June this year, the government reported incursions by Chinese Coast Guard ships encroaching on Japan’s exclusive economic zone between Yonaguni and Taiwan. In 2022, China’s ballistic missile landed just 80 kilometers from the island.

While tensions surround the island, local officials have raised concerns about the use of civilian roads, ports, and airways.

Large equipment for the exercise will be transported by sea through Kubura Port, and local authorities have asked residents to avoid using roads during the movement of military equipment.

There are also concerns after a Japan Self-Defense Forces V-22 Osprey was involved in a ground-strike incident in the same exercise in 2024. The incident prompted then-defense minister Gen Nakatani to order the grounding of Japan’s 17 Osprey aircraft.

This year, however, the V-22 Osprey will not participate, Yonaguni Mayor Tsuneo Uechi told Mainichi Shimbun on Oct. 2.

While the island understands the need for military training, Uechi said it is not ready for large-scale exercises that exceed the island’s capacity. The local government remains opposed to the exercises and continues to hold talks with the defense ministry.

As European nations are bracing for intensified Russian hybrid attacks, defense companies are pitching products for different capability gaps, with European and American producers partnering rather than working in isolation, industry representatives said during the event over the weekend.

Fire Point has developed its flagship missile, which has attracted praise from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to be part of the pan-European Freyja anti-ballistic missile defense program, with the system’s prototype expected to be ready in the first half of 2027. Meanwhile, the company is working on an extended-range version that is to be released this year, Terekh said during a panel discussion on the first day of the forum, Oct. 2.

“Yesterday we launched our ballistic missile onto Russian territory for the first time. It is a tactical ballistic missile for [a range of] 300 kilometers maximum. We are working on a longer [range] version that will also come this year,” Terekh said. “We were able to make this missile in two years as a private company.”

Fire Point’s executive said the capability is crucial for Ukraine, as the country is joining “a VIP league of operators of their own independent ballistic missiles with no kill switch. We don’t have to ask now anybody if we want to conduct self-defense.”

The Ukrainian authorities have entrusted a private company with developing a key component of the missile defense program because Fire Point has slashed bureaucracy and accelerated research and development on its missile range, she said.

“Also, we were able to make it a few times cheaper than any” competitor, Terekh said.

The forum was officially inaugurated by Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Moldovan President Maia Sandu. Encouraged by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Finland joined NATO in April 2023. In Moldova, concern over intensifying Russian hybrid threats and the war in neighboring Ukraine is pushing the country’s government to seek closer cooperation with NATO, while maintaining its constitutionally mandated neutrality.

“This year, Russian drones have entered our airspace more than 45 times, eight of them in the past week. Last month, Russia deliberately hit Ukraine’s border crossings with Moldova, killing two people,” Sandu said during an Oct. 2 joint press conference with Stubb. “Our answer is to grow stronger. We are investing in air defense, modernizing our Army and raising defense spending.”

During the panel discussion featuring both heads of state, the Finnish president said that Russia has embarked on a campaign of hybrid warfare directed against Europe whose aim is to destabilize allied nations and “make sure we don’t support Ukraine.”

“The warfare that Russia is conducting in Ukraine is kinetic, traditional warfare. But what it is conducting in Europe is hybrid, and hybrid has many different elements. You have daily cyber attacks, you have sabotage attempts as we saw in Leipzig,” Stubb said.

Meanwhile, on Oct. 1, two Finnish companies, satellite operator Iceye and telecoms equipment giant Nokia, unveiled their new partnership to develop sovereign satellite communications for governments and defense customers, offering broadband low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications systems. The first satellites are to be launched in 2028.

Iceye is already supplying radar-satellite systems to numerous European allies, including Finland, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Sweden, and Germany’s December 2025 order for a 40-satellite constellation marked the first-ever European move to create a large tactical system on the continent, according to its CEO Rafal Modrzewski.

Modrzewski and Nokia’s CEO Justin Hotard discussed their companies’ joint project during a panel discussion at the forum, saying it comes in response to nations’ drive for sovereignty in satellite communications across priority mission areas.

“Sovereignty doesn’t exist without competitiveness. Sovereignty without competitiveness is isolation … and the reality, as we see here in Finland and in Europe is that neither the U.S., nor Europe can win in a war of isolation,” Hotard said.

Also on Oct. 1, Finland formally presented the first two of the 64 F-35 fighter jets the nation has ordered from Lockheed Martin. At a Helsinki Security Forum panel, Elizabeth Parcella, the vice president for Strategy and Business Development for Aeronautics at Lockheed Martin, said that, while the move improves Finland’s defense posture, it also comes as the company is expanding its manufacturing collaboration with local industry partners.

“Patria is a key partner with us. They are starting to manufacture the forward fuselage of the aircraft. They are also partnered with our engine provider, Pratt & Whitney,” Parcella said. “And, together with other European manufacturers, about 25 percent of the value of every F-35 will be produced in Europe moving forward.”

In his remarks during a panel, Panu Routila, the CEO of Patria, referred to last week’s award of a contract to supply the first Trackx light armored personnel carriers to Finland and Sweden as an example of how European nations work together to fill their capability gaps.

One example “is Trackx, our tracked vehicle, which we started developing just three years ago, actually, because of the demand for Arctic mobility, mobility in very difficult conditions. And this is a vehicle that is now ready,” Routila said.

Deliveries of the vehicles are to commence in 2027, Patria said in a statement.

“Following delivery, both countries will conduct national field trials and evaluations to assess the vehicles’ suitability for operational use. In addition, part of the testing is expected to be conducted jointly between the nations,” the statement said.

A dozen B-1 bombers were stationed at RAF Fairford air base, located northwest of London. The planes had been used for U.S. strikes on Iran.

“While operational security precluded us from confirming the movement of our assets and forces in real-time, we can acknowledge now that all US bombers that were deployed to RAF Fairford have re-deployed to their home stations in the United States,” a Pentagon spokesman wrote in an email.

Britain has “strong indications” that Iran was involved in a suspected plot targeting the base, Prime Minister Andy ​Burnham said on Wednesday. Iran said accusations linking Tehran to the alleged plan were baseless and summoned the British ambassador in Tehran over the issue.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that the aircraft were removed from the base amid security concerns over suspected terror plots against the facility.

The British government had allowed the U.S. to use bombers based at Fairford to strike Iranian missile sites that were attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. President Donald Trump said those involved in the plot had planned “big damage” while US ​Secretary of State Marco Rubio also pointed to the “hands of a foreign actor.”

The government’s armed forces would press the offensive “until the country is liberated from the grip of the terrorist militia,” Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi said in a televised address. A military spokesman later called on the Houthis to lay down their weapons.

The Houthis, known formally as Ansar Allah, have held Yemen’s capital Sanaa and vast parts of the northwest, where most of the population live, since 2014. They have so far withstood a series of attacks over the years by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and their Western allies, and have updated their weaponry with the help of Iran.

The movement launched a surprise offensive last month which captured the strategic Bab el-Mandeb strait and some 90 miles of coast on the Red Sea in a matter of weeks, giving the Houthis new leverage over the international shipping route.

That advance also opened a new front in the wider U.S.-Israeli war launched in February against Iran, to which Tehran’s responses included choking oil shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, to the other side of the Arabian Peninsula.

HOUTHIS SAY THEY STRUCK SAUDI ARABIA

As the Yemeni government, known as the Presidential Leadership Council, made its announcement, the Houthis said they had launched ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi Aramco sites in Riyadh and the Khurais area of Saudi Arabia.

They claimed the attacks caused major fires and were in response to what they said were 50 Saudi-led air and missile strikes in Yemen in the past 12 hours.

There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi Arabia.

Alimi said the decision to launch the counteroffensive came after all chances of de-escalating the conflict had been exhausted.

He thanked Saudi Arabia for its support and called on Yemen’s regional allies and international partners to support PLC forces and institutions.

Regional and Western officials told Reuters earlier this week that Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies were planning to launch an assault on the Houthis, with the Saudis leading aerial combat and Yemeni forces fighting on the ground.

NEW FRONT IN MIDEAST WAR

The U.S. is already providing intelligence to support Riyadh’s operations in Yemen, while some regional and European nations are providing mainly defensive military aid to the kingdom, six people with knowledge of the Saudi preparations told Reuters.

The United States’ war on Iran has decimated a layer of Iranian military and political leadership, but has also entangled Washington in a new engagement in the Middle East and depleted crucial military hardware.

Yemen has been mired in conflict for years, with an array of local armed groups and factions backed by competing regional and international actors.

After a popular uprising that was part of the Arab Spring movements in 2011, the Houthis, an armed group of Zaidi Shi’ite Muslims, captured Sanaa.

The Saudi-backed PLC, which is also recognized by the United Nations, has, since the Houthi takeover, controlled the south and east of the country, based in the former South Yemen capital of Aden.

Saudi Arabia entered Yemen’s civil war in 2015 at the head of an Arab coalition in support of the PLC, but failed to defeat the Houthis.

A truce agreed between the warring parties in 2022 largely held until this year, when the Houthis launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi shipping and oil infrastructure in a spillover from the Iran war.

HOUTHIS ON FRONT FOOT

The Houthis have maintained the initiative on the ground since seizing control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in their lightning offensive last month that saw government forces collapse.

Bab el-Mandeb is the southern exit passage of the Red Sea, a key shipping route between the Mediterranean and Asia that has assumed even more importance this year as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

In the last 48 hours, the Houthis have also made gains against government and local forces on strategic hilltops near Yemen’s Taiz, military sources said, advancing on the last road between the city and Aden on the southern coast.

Houthi control over the Taiz-Aden road would lead to an effective siege of the city, Yemen’s third-largest, inhabited by hundreds of thousands of civilians and where thousands of government forces are also stationed.

The city is important not just for its strategic location; Alimi is from the region, and a siege of Taiz would amplify an already-dire humanitarian situation in the country.

Three in four ​families in parts of Yemen are going hungry from the impact of the surge in fighting, ‌which has displaced tens of thousands of people and disrupted supplies to millions, the World Food Programme said last week.

The operation, expected to be launched in the coming weeks, will be led by Yemeni forces on the ground, which are overseen by Riyadh, and supported by Saudi air strikes, according to six people with knowledge of the preparations.

While the US is already providing intelligence to support Riyadh’s operations in Yemen, and some regional and European nations are providing mainly defensive military aid to the kingdom, the Saudi allies aren’t expected to play a direct role in combat operations, said the people who requested anonymity to discuss security matters.

Saudi Arabia entered neighboring Yemen’s civil war in 2015 at the head of an Arab coalition in support of the internationally recognized government, which the Houthis had driven out of the capital Sanaa. A truce agreed between the warring parties in 2022 largely held until this year, when the Houthis launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi shipping and oil infrastructure in a spillover from the Iran war.

A key objective of the planned Saudi offensive, which hasn’t been previously reported, is aimed at reversing the rapid gains made by the Houthis last month when they advanced down the coast and seized control of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, according to people with knowledge of the plans who include Gulf and Yemeni officials and Western diplomats.

The Saudis are considering two options for the assault, the Gulf and Yemeni officials said: either a narrowly focused attack around Bab el-Mandeb or a broader offensive that also includes synchronized attacks on multiple fronts around Yemen, in the governorates of Al-Bayda, Marib, Taiz and Al-Jawf.

More than 100,000 Yemeni troops could be mobilized in the offensive, depending on the scale, the officials all said.

Spokespeople for the Saudi and Yemeni governments, the Houthi group and the US military didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment about the Saudi plans.

Bab el-Mandeb is the southern exit passage of the Red Sea, a key shipping route between the Mediterranean and Asia that’s assumed even more importance this year as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed by the Iran conflict.

Riyadh has concluded it cannot enter new Yemeni peace negotiations with the Houthis while the militants remain in control of Bab el-Mandeb, giving them significant global leverage, the Western diplomats and Gulf official said.

The six people with knowledge of the Saudi preparations couldn’t give a precise timing for the launch of the offensive, with their estimates ranging from within a week to after the US midterm elections in early November.

Michael Ratney, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said he expected an offensive to be narrowly focused and certainly more modest in scope than the Saudi-led operation in 2015 that sought to rout the militants.

“As much [as] they want to vanquish the Houthis completely, they also need to get back to status quo ante before Houthis controlled territory along Bab el-Mandeb,” he added. “Ideally, it would be a fairly limited operation to retake coastal areas and get back to normal maritime traffic.”

The Houthis have become Iran’s most formidable ally in the Middle East since Israel’s degradation of Hezbollah in Lebanon over the past three years.

A Saudi-directed offensive against the group would mark a new flashpoint in a region engulfed by conflict since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel of Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent US-Israeli war on Iran.

TRUMP, TURKEY AND PAKISTAN

Washington, Saudi Arabia’s most powerful ally, is providing military advisers and intelligence, including targeting information, to support Saudi air operations in Yemen, according to one of the Western diplomats.

However, the extent of support may be limited. Reuters has previously reported that US President Donald Trump rebuffed requests by the de facto Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman for direct military support such as air strikes.

Turkey and Pakistan, with whom Saudi Arabia signed a joint defense agreement last month, have provided military equipment that the kingdom is using in Yemen, Pakistani and regional officials said.

Last month, Pakistan sent four cargo planes with equipment including air defense systems, light artillery, drones and anti-drone systems to Aden, the seat of Yemen’s Saudi-backed government, a Pakistani government official said.

Pakistani military advisers are also on the ground with Saudi counterparts to support Yemeni forces, according to a second Pakistani official, the Gulf official and a Western diplomat. Turkish drones, bought by Saudi Arabia before the current war, have also been deployed over Yemen, they added.

One of the kingdom’s key concerns in launching a new offensive in Yemen is how to protect its oil facilities and other infrastructure from Houthi drone and missile attacks, according to regional officials who said Riyadh has asked several allies for help with defensive systems.

Pakistan has deployed between 30,000 and 40,000 troops to Saudi Arabia to help defend the kingdom’s land borders and help with drone and missile interceptions, according to the second Pakistani official, who said the troops arrived in waves beginning last year but also after the recent escalation. Islamabad hasn’t made any decision to send troops into Yemen in a fighting capacity, the official said.

The Pakistani and Turkish defense ministries didn’t respond to requests for comment on their military support for Riyadh.

France, meanwhile, has announced it will send defensive systems and troops to Saudi Arabia to help protect the Red Sea port ‌city of Yanbu.

FRACTURED YEMENI FORCES

Any ground operation inside Yemen will rely on the disparate coalition of Yemeni fighting factions that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates armed and trained at earlier stages of the civil war when the conflict ground to a bloody stalemate.

“Many anti-Houthi forces are still not organized or prepared for the kind of sustained offensive required to push back a disciplined Houthi military force. And they are being tested right now, as the Houthis apply pressure across several fronts at once,” said Yemen analyst Mohammed Albasha.

Yemeni forces were further fractured last winter when southern fighters backed by the UAE tried to take territory in the east and announce secession plans, leading to their defeat by Saudi-backed fighters after a series of clashes.

Ali Shihabi, a Saudi political analyst close to government thinking, cautioned that the outcome of any offensive by the Saudis against the Houthis would depend on how ground forces perform.

“The priority so far has been to defend the positions on the ground and stabilize the front, but certainly they will be going on the offensive,” he said. “Success greatly depends on the quality of the performance of the local forces.”

The plans to limit spending emerged this week as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni continues to be squeezed between NATO spending targets and voter opposition to spending tax payers’ cash on arms not hospitals.

The possible €8 billion shortfall is tied up with Italy’s hot-and-cold approach to a European Union scheme to allow states to exempt a quantity of defense spending from their calculations of annual deficit spending over a number of years.

The so-called National Escape Clause would allow EU states to rearm while not breaking EU deficit rules.

After Meloni’s government promoted the scheme, it then appeared less enthusiastic when the EU finally approved it before Meloni announced this year she would use the extra cash not only for defense but also to cover Italy’s soaring fuel costs.

That was due to generate a defense windfall of between €21 billion and €22 billion thanks to NEC. But the calculation changed on Thursday at a Cabinet meeting when deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini succeeded in pushing the amount down to around €14 billion, a drop of up to €8 billion.

“It’s yet to be made definite but the reduction was agreed,” a government source told Defense News.

Salvini leads the League party which is part of Meloni’s governing coalition and is battling defense spending hikes, opposing sending military support to Ukraine and wants a deal with Moscow to end the conflict in the country.

That contrasts with Meloni’s firm backing for Kyiv and support for Europe’s hardline opposition to Moscow, but she is in a minority in Italian politics. To her right, a new challenger Roberto Vannacci is calling for an end to sanctions on Russia, while among Italy’s left-wing opposition parties, the Five Star party has blamed the Ukraine conflict on a “war mongering Europe.”

A poll of Five Star’s members this month found over 90% opposed European rearmament and believed sending arms to Ukraine was to blame for prolonging the war.

Despite a groundswell of opposition to defense spending in Italy, Meloni has meanwhile committed to NATO’s spending target of 5% of GDP, and she has claimed Italy has reached 2.8% this year, including spending on domestic security.

But details are scant: this year’s budget breakdown has yet to be published.

Meanwhile, Rome said in August it would request €8 billion euros in cheap loans from the European Union’s SAFE defense funding program, down from its original intention to ask for €14.9 billion euros in loans.

In a parliamentary hearing on Sept. 23, the CEO of Italian defense giant Leonardo said he was a big fan of SAFE loans, since they guaranteed cash for defense programs with few complications.

“I believe SAFE is the first, real useful measure that Europe has come up with,” said Lorenzo Mariani.

“The money has never been much and it’s been complicated. Now SAFE is moving a lot of money and using a system which we believe is not complex like other European schemes have been,” he added.

“Portugal is buying FREMM frigates built by Leonardo and Fincantieri thanks to SAFE funds,” he said.

Mariani said he had talked up the virtues of SAFE loans to the Meloni government.

“SAFE is very positive. The use of it does not depend on me. I have made proposals which I hope are accepted by the government,” he said.

One analyst said Rome needed to make up its mind about spending.

“The government needs to take important decisions about NEC and SAFE loans which were granted to all member states after years of requests by Italian governments,” said Alessandro Marrone, who heads the Defence Security and Space Programme at Rome think tank IAI.

“The government should have implemented its decision by now to enable better planning by the Italian defense ministry. It’s urgent. This is not just about NATO targets but about filling gaps left in Europe next year by U.S. pull-outs and now following through on Italy’s desire to send naval vessels to defend the Red Sea.”