The U.S. military believes the four Iranian drones were targeting regional maritime traffic, a U.S. official told Reuters. U.S. Central Command said on X that the U.S. then struck Iran’s surveillance sites in Goruk and Qeshm Island, which are both on the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s foreign ministry said the U.S. action broke an April 8 ceasefire, adding that repeated violations showed Washington had no intention of reducing tensions. It warned that the United States would bear responsibility for the consequences of its “illegal actions” and any further escalation.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had attacked U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation for U.S. strikes and fired at four tankers trying to cross the strait without its permission.

Kuwait’s army said on Saturday it engaged seven ballistic missiles that entered the country’s airspace early in the morning and passed over several residential areas, resulting in the fall of some debris. The army added that the Iranian attack caused material damage but no casualties. In Bahrain sirens sounded and residents were urged to seek shelter.

PAKISTANI MINISTER REPORTED EN ROUTE TO TEHRAN

Kuwait and Bahrain condemned the strikes. Kuwait’s foreign ministry described the Iranian attacks, including the latest one on Saturday, as “blatant” aggression that threatened citizens, residents and regional security, a ministry statement said.

Iran later said it had hit U.S. bases in both countries with ballistic missiles but the U.S. military said six missiles were intercepted and a seventh did not reach its target.

The U.S. and Iran have been engaged in largely indirect negotiations to secure an interim deal to halt the three-month-old war that would leave issues including Iran’s nuclear program to further negotiations.

But amid periodic skirmishes a deal has remained elusive.

Tehran wants access to billions of dollars in oil revenue, waivers on sanctions on crude exports, the lifting of a U.S. blockade on its ports and leverage over the strait. Iran has effectively blocked the waterway, where about a fifth of the world’s oil transited before the war.

Iranian state media reported that Mohsin Naqvi, the interior minister of Pakistan, which has been mediating an end to the conflict, was on his way to Tehran on Saturday.

A Pakistani source said Naqvi would carry a message from Pakistan to the Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

U.S. President Donald Trump is facing mounting domestic political pressure due to rising gas prices to bring the unpopular war to an end. He told NBC that while most of Iran’s drone and missile manufacturing facilities had been destroyed, the Iranians still have access to about a fifth of their missiles.

“They have some missiles, they have some drones. I would say percentage wise, maybe 21%-22% of their missiles. It’s a lot of missiles, but it’s not what it was when we first attacked,” Trump told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” program, according to excerpts released by the network on Friday.

When asked why Iran’s leaders were not more inclined to strike a deal, if they are as desperate as he has portrayed them, Trump said, “Because they are strong. They’re proud. There are things they never thought they’d be doing that they’re going to have to do, they’ve got no choice, and it takes a little while.”

After the U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran attacked Gulf states hosting U.S. bases and largely stopped shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The conflict has driven up oil prices and disrupted supply chains for other products. The U.N. World Food Programme said on Friday that it was pushing millions of people closer to hunger due to rising fuel and transport costs.

Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, told CNN on Friday that a peace deal hinged on the Trump administration unfreezing $24 billion in Iranian assets, and warned that the U.S. would “enter into a dark corridor” if it resumed attacks.

FIGHTING FLARES ACROSS REGION DESPITE CEASEFIRES

In a parallel conflict in Lebanon, two Lebanese army officers and a soldier were killed in an Israeli strike on a military vehicle in south Lebanon, the Lebanese army said, while the Israeli military said it was investigating the incident.

The Israeli military said it struck the vehicle after identifying what it described as a threat to its forces and receiving indications that Hezbollah was preparing to fire on Israeli troops from the area. Iran-aligned Hezbollah called the incident part of Israel’s continued aggression against Lebanon.

Iran has made a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah a condition for any peace deal with Washington.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem this week rejected a U.S.-brokered pact between Israel and the Lebanese government to halt the fighting in Lebanon. The deal did not provide for an Israeli withdrawal and Hezbollah had not been party to the negotiations.

Israel has said its forces would not withdraw or halt operations in the country amid increasing friction with the U.S.

The French have been developing the system with local companies including Mistral AI, Safran.AI, Thales and Airbus, Justel said in a media briefing on Thursday. The French Army has already tested the system, dubbed Arcadia, in exercises including Dacian Fall in Romania and Orion 26 in France.

NATO military personnel started training with Palantir’s Maven Smart System in August 2025, the alliance’s first use of AI-enabled command and control software. The platform is derived from the Pentagon’s Project Maven and ties together massive amounts of battlefield data and AI analysis to help commanders identify targets and make decisions more quickly.

Arcadia “is our response to Maven,” said Justel. He said NATO’s use of Maven raises issues of digital sovereignty, “so the question arises whether should we adopt Maven blindly, or should we look for other solutions.”

France’s army, general staff and Defense Digital Commission “have been working on what other solutions might look like,” Justel said. France will deploy Arcadia during NATO’s Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise, or CWIX, a live exercise held in Poland June 8-26.

Justel said several NATO countries including France have raised questions around interoperability with the Palantir system. The Army deputy chief of staff said Arcadia is designed to comply with NATO’s Federated Mission Networking standards, or FMN, and contrasted that with Maven, which he said hasn’t integrated FMN requirements.

Palantir said Maven Smart System is “compliant with the principles of FMN” and that it is working with NATO toward official certification, in an emailed response to a request for comment. The company added that the platform has proven compliance with two NATO data-security standards that are “key building blocks” of FMN.

“NATO Maven Smart System is compatible, and does allow interoperability, but of course nations are free to choose what systems they use,” said Martin O’Donnell, a spokesperson for Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers, in an emailed reply to questions.

The Palantir system is already integrated with more than 10 NATO systems, according to U.S. Army Col. Arnel David, the director of Task Force Maven at SHAPE, who said his team is “focused on securing final certification across all FMN milestones,” with the declaration of full operational capability imminent.

France plans to propose Arcadia to its European partners, with a number of countries expressing interest, and has organized demonstrations for NATO, which is also interested, the general said. “When we talk to our European partners, we get the same reaction of, `well, we’ve kind of gone with Maven because there’s no choice, but if countries in Europe are able to build an alternative, we’ll go for it.’”

Palantir said it “welcomes the opportunity to integrate with Arcadia, or any other national system.”

Arcadia builds on previous work by the Armed Forces Ministry as part of the Artemis project started in 2022, which uses AI to process massive amounts of defense data. The French Army has been developing use cases for Arcadia internally as well as in cooperation with the industry partners, according to Justel.

The United Kingdom is working on a similar AI-enabled command and control system, and is also in discussions on how to interface with Maven, according to Justel.

Based on discussions with the British, “their concept is well-established, but they don’t yet have all the technological building blocks,” said Col. Frédéric Vola, head of the planning and capacity development office in the Army general staff, in the briefing.

While Palantir is behind the version of Maven used by NATO, the system is not the same as that used by the U.S., with different databases and functionality and “certainly not the same performance,” according to Justel.

The French system is conceived to be a more resilient alternative to Maven because it will be “highly decentralized” rather than a centralized system, with all command posts connected to field-deployed servers in a mesh-network architecture rather than a distant central cloud. The French Army already has a network of data hubs and is acquiring more, Justel said.

“First, it distributes the data, and in the event of destruction or loss of connection, it allows us to maintain the autonomy of what remains, and second, it’s easier to implement,” Justel said.

The system has an open architecture, with the French armed forces inviting “all the major players in artificial intelligence” and being open to working with others, according to Justel. “We don’t want to enter into the logic that we’ve known for years, where we give a manufacturer the system and then everything goes via them, everything is closed, they own all the data,” Justel said. “We want an open system where any manufacturer can plug in, and all data can be shared by everyone, without any notion of exclusive ownership.”

As part of its work on AI for command and control, the French Army has developed its own large-language model for staff officers, called Berthier, named after Napoleon’s chief of staff, and which Justel said is used to synthesize information, retrieve operational data, and support drafting of proposed courses of action, while leaving decisions to commanders.

Caine held bilateral discussions with senior leaders of the interim government and with U.S. embassy personnel. During those meetings, he underscored the importance of Venezuelan stability, broader security across the Western Hemisphere and the military’s commitment to implementing Trump’s “three-phase plan,” Joe Holstead, a spokesman for Caine, said in a statement.

The plan focuses on avoiding chaos, bolstering an economic recovery and — eventually — facilitating a transition to democracy.

A key pillar of the effort has been restoring Venezuela’s oil industry, which Trump previously characterized as a “total bust.”

All of that changed with Operation Absolute Resolve. The sprawling military raid — which involved more than 150 aircraft — culminated in Delta Force commandos descending on a heavily fortified compound and capturing Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The pair were later flown to New York, where they each face criminal charges.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, continues to maintain a robust presence in the region, with the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group sailing into the Caribbean in May.

Since September, the Pentagon has carried out at least 62 strikes in the waters off South America, killing nearly 200 people whom the Trump administration says were involved in drug trafficking, according to data compiled by Military Times. Many legal experts dispute the legality of those operations.

One answer lies in Italy, where a growing number of nations are lining up to use an unlikely location built deep underground in the 1930s by the government of Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

Lurking under woodland in Fornovo Taro near Parma lies a system of five massive, drum-shaped cisterns which once held aviation fuel as well as 2km of connecting passageways, all designed to withstand enemy bombing.

“Gaza has accelerated the use of this place like this - despite their technology, the Israelis were not ready for fighting in tunnels,” said a manager at the site, who spoke to Defense News but declined to be named due to company policy.

Israel is among 17 national customers who have now trained at the privately run site known as La Carona, with other special forces units arriving from countries including Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Poland, Greece and Turkey.

The U.S. Green Berets have also used the site as does a dedicated Italian army underground fighting unit created by the Italian army Folgore paratrooper brigade.

After resisting 150 bombing runs by the Allies in the Second World War, the cisterns continued to be used by the Italian Air Force to hold aviation fuel until 2000 when the site was abandoned and the fuel drained out.

In 2020 the La Carona was purchased and reopened for training by its current owners.

“We saw the site and decided it would be perfect for special forces training,” said the manager.

The cylindrical tanks, which are supported by concrete columns, measure around 20 meters in diameter by seven meters in height and are linked by tunnels which once channelled fuel between them. Another 1km long tunnel once carried fuel to a nearby train station.

Special forces entering the tunnels now engage in simulated combat.

The space recreates the limitations of real tunnel fighting - from darkness, to limited radio use to no GPS. A control room allows trainers to generate sound, including the noise of explosions, as well as smoke and lighting.

Robot canines and real dogs, as well as drones that can function without GPS can all be introduced.

“The key ability to learn here is how to map underground spaces,” said the manager.

Combat in tunnels grabbed the headlines as the Israel Defense Forces entered the so-called Gaza Metro - a system of tunnels thought to total hundreds of miles - when it sought out hostages taken during the Oct 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

A year earlier, Ukrainian forces held out for weeks against Russian attacks in the labyrinth of underground tunnels under the Azovstal iron and steel works in Mariupol, which was described as a ‘fortress within a city’.

“Most of the world’s population now lives in an urban setting and war is increasingly fought in cities. Underground combat can make the difference,” said the manager.

Washington has imposed a blockade on Iran’s sea trade while Tehran has fired on ships to prevent them sailing through the Strait of Hormuz waterway at the entrance to the Middle ​East Gulf.

U.S. forces have intercepted multiple commercial and oil tankers in the Indian Ocean in recent months.

Overnight, U.S. forces carried out a maritime interdiction and right-of-visit boarding of the sanctioned stateless vessel MT DAVINA located in the Indian Ocean within the INDOPACOM area of responsibility.

We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks… pic.twitter.com/7sNPNx0doN

— U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (@INDOPACOM) June 5, 2026

“We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate,” the Indo-Pacific Command wrote in an X post.

The Davina, a supertanker capable of carrying up to two million barrels of crude oil, was placed under U.S. sanctions in October 2024 for Iranian oil trading, according to ship tracking data.

The vessel, also known as the Lenore, was last seen on June 5 off Sri Lanka’s southern coast, ship tracking data on the MarineTraffic platform showed on Friday.

The vessel’s draft indicated that it was almost fully laden with an oil cargo, separate shipping data showed.

“Russia is definitely raising the stakes and risks crossing a line,” Chief of the Defence Staff Richard Knighton told BBC Radio. “We need to spend more on defense and do it faster.”

The Defence Investment Plan will lay out the funding for military equipment and services to ensure the armed forces move to a state of “warfighting readiness,” but reports say it has been held up since last year by budget rows within the government.

Defence Minister John Healey said on Monday that Prime Minister Keir Starmer was determined to publish it before a July 7 NATO summit.

Money starts flowing for new GCAP fighter, as Britain sorts out finances

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly called on Starmer and other European leaders to spend more on defense and become less reliant on Washington for the continent’s security, is due to attend the summit.

Threats greatest since the Cold War

Knighton said the risks and threats to Britain were greater than at any time since the Cold War, and the government needed to spend on defense accordingly.

“The challenge for ministers is to make those difficult trade-off decisions,” he said.

Media reports say military chiefs have warned Starmer that there is a £28 billion ($38 billion) shortfall in funding over the next four years, and say that is behind the delay to the investment plan.

Starmer has pledged the largest sustained increase in defense spending since the Cold War, aiming to lift it to 3% of national output in the next parliament, but he has been criticized for not following through on his promises.

George Robertson, who served in the 1990s as Britain’s defense secretary and then as chief of NATO, said in April that there was a gap between Starmer’s rhetoric and action and he was “not willing to make the necessary investment” in defense.

Knighton said Russia was stepping up its threat, with more incursions into British airspace and through regular “probing, challenging, testing” of defenses, as well as being behind cyberattacks, sabotage and attempts to steal technology.

“We do need to step up and enhance our capability as the threats from potential adversaries grow,” he said.

The discoveries, announced in a late May report by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, or OPCW, include chemical munitions — such as aerial bombs and rockets — as well as production materials and thousands of pages documenting the deadly program under ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

The findings come amid a nationwide power reshuffle as a patchwork of security players, including the U.S. and allies, struggle to secure a country devastated by years of war wrought by the government and extremist groups.

A recent Pentagon watchdog report described the transition as increasingly unstable, acknowledging that the new Syrian government forces quickly consolidated control over territory once held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, who had been allied with the U.S. military in the region’s fight against the Islamic State.

By mid-April, U.S. troops closed and withdrew from several American bases, handing over control to government forces and ending a 10-year presence in the country.

That same report warned that Syria’s new authorities would likely struggle to exercise control over the nation’s fragmented security apparatus, especially as the SDF — which has controlled and governed much of northern Syria for years — integrates into a national armed force.

Meanwhile, the chaos creates conditions ripe for militant groups like the Islamic State to once again flourish.

Against that fraught backdrop, OPCW investigators caution that the full extent of Syria’s chemical weapons enterprise may remain unknown.

The agency said information gathered since the December 2024 collapse of the Assad government indicated that more than 100 additional sites may be linked to the administration’s chemical weapons program, a stark increase beyond the 26 locations that were previously known.

The OPCW also found the same variety of aerial bombs used in chemical attacks on the towns of Ltamenah in March 2017 and Khan Shaykhun in April 2017. Earlier investigations found that jets dropped sarin and chlorine in Ltamenah and sarin in Khan Shaykhun.

In addition, investigators discovered the same type of rockets used in the 2013 chemical attack in Ghouta.

UNCERTAIN SECURITY

The new information adds a layer of uncertainty to the security tribulations already faced by Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, as he seeks regional stability after leading the armed group known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to topple Assad.

Since March 2025, inspectors have visited over 20 sites across Syria, many of which were inaccessible during Assad’s administration but have since been opened as military control has shifted.

In addition to questions about where other chemical weapons may be hidden, one expert said the question of exactly who has knowledge of — and access to — where those items are located could be equally troubling.

Randa Slim, the director of the Middle East program at the Stimson Center, said the discovery of previously undeclared sites raises concerns that former Assad-era officials tied to the program may retain access to materials or information.

“There is definitely an economic benefit to them to sell these materials to non-state actors — like Hezbollah or ISIS,” she said, adding that black markets for such items exist and that ISIS had used chemical weapons in the past.

The combination of military transition, combined with incomplete information about the location of chemical weapons materials, can create a “proliferation risk” given the militant groups still operating in the region.

Though Al-Sharaa’s administration vowed to rid the country of chemical weapons, the country’s transition to a unified military has given way to other security gaps.

The Pentagon watchdog assessment said at least 150 ISIS fighters escaped detention facilities during the now-Syrian government’s offensive as SDF fighters, who were guarding the prisons, redeployed to the front lines as their territorial autonomy was threatened.

The report also described mounting disorder at camps and detention centers that contained families once involved in the terror group’s short-lived caliphate.

The U.S. transferred over 5,700 ISIS detainees to facilities in Iraq but roughly 20,000 people living in al Hol, a camp for displaced persons, which included thousands of ISIS families and partners, left the settlement without any monitoring.

Slim also said that the departure of U.S. forces from Syria earlier this year could complicate efforts to track militant activity and monitor the movement of dangerous materials.

While American troops were largely based in northern Syria, she said the military was able to provide intelligence that helped monitor ISIS and other extremist networks.

“With them out of there, that kind of situational awareness that the U.S. forces could provide — on movement of material, movement of ISIS — is no longer there,” she said.

It remains unclear, Slim cautioned, whether Syria’s transitional authorities can independently maintain that level of monitoring while simultaneously trying to consolidate control over a fractured security apparatus.

The plant in Born, Netherlands, is run in conjunction with local company VDL Defentec, which specializes in assembling armored vehicles and their electric propulsion.

The facility has already produced its first THeMIS unmanned ground vehicle, or UGV, for the Dutch government, part of a run of more than 100 such robots the Netherlands has pledged to send Ukrainian forces, Milrem said in a statement.

Ukraine to field 25,000 ground robots in push to replace soldiers for frontline logistics

The tracked THeMIS vehicles are configurable for a plethora of battlefield applications, according to the manufacturer’s website. There are weapon-mounted versions for assault missions, sensor-laden variants for spying on enemy movements, and cargo-capable robots for carrying gear or extracting wounded personnel.

Ukrainian forces have used the UGVs since 2022, where soldiers found them to be reliable and effective in combat conditions, according to Milrem.

Near Russian border, NATO grapples with ground robots in combat

“The opening of this production line and the handover of the first THeMIS vehicles manufactured in the Netherlands mark an important milestone in our cooperation with the Dutch government and VDL Defentec,” said Milrem Robotics CEO Kuldar Väärsi.

“It demonstrates that Europe’s defense industry is capable of rapidly increasing production capacity and delivering meaningful capabilities to Ukraine,” he added.

The new assembly line is designed for flexibility and rapid scaling, the company notes, meaning it can spit out more robots faster when required.

Unmanned systems in the air and on land have become a defining feature in Ukraine’s defense against Russian forces. Both sides have used aerial drones and UGVs to such a degree that human soldiers cannot move on the front line without being immediately detected and targeted.

Rheinmetall, whose business has boomed since the start of the Ukraine war as Europe boosts defense spending, has been seeking a buyer for its Power Systems division since last year and classified it as a discontinued operation in December 2025.

The unit will be sold for a provisional €350 million, subject to potential adjustment when the deal closes, expected in the fourth quarter.

The sale will trigger additional impairment charges of about €200 million, after Rheinmetall booked a non-cash charge of around €350 million in December linked to the business.

“In particular, the further deterioration in the business situation in the automotive sector had an impact on the circumstances and terms of the final agreement,” the company said in a statement.

Aequita, an investment firm that buys and restructures companies, plans to retain the roughly 6,250 employees in the unit worldwide, Rheinmetall added.

“The company is an excellent addition to our automotive division, which will now generate revenues of approximately €5 billion,” said Axel Geuer, chairman and co-CEO of Aequita.

He added Aequita would support the business’s long-term development and seek synergies across its automotive portfolio.

Excluded from the sale are three German locations of aluminium casting specialist KS Huayu AluTech, a stake in automotive sensor joint venture Dermalog SensorTec and car parts maker Pierburg’s Abadiano plant in Spain, Rheinmetall said.

The “Global Terrorism Threat Assessment 2026″ identifies terrorism on the continent as “the greatest uncertainty,” citing the rising capabilities of al-Qaida and Islamic State affiliates.

“Unlike the Middle East’s terrorist organizations, most African terrorist groups are unquestionably ascendant,” the authors wrote, pointing to larger fighting forces, greater financial resources, and the groups’ ability to move through wide swaths of territory.

Many are also capitalizing on the proliferation of unmanned aerial systems and artificial intelligence to enhance their deadly effectiveness.

“These new capabilities unlock new forms of operation, facilitation, and inspiration for international terrorists, requiring novel responses from states, which may also take advantage of emerging technologies,” the report said. “Given the increasing pace of technological change, the future of how terrorists and counterterrorists will act against each other is increasingly unclear.”

The report classifies Al Shabaab, a Somalia-based al-Qaida-affiliated group, as Africa’s most capable – and likely largest – terrorist organization, with the clearest demonstrated intent to attack American interests. But the authors stop short of declaring that this group represents an imminent threat to the U.S. homeland.

“Al Shabaab seems focused on its regional objectives, meaning the probability that an African terrorist group attempts a mass-casualty attack against the U.S. homeland remains low,” the authors wrote.

Meanwhile, ACLED, a nonprofit organization that collects conflict data, recorded that nearly 80% of all ISIS activity during the first 11 months of 2025 occurred in Africa, marking a 50% increase from the previous year.

At the heart of that surge is the Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP, a powerful insurgent network in the Sahel that poses the most significant challenge to Al Shabaab’s dominance on the continent and increasingly serves as a hub for intelligence gathering and logistical coordination among Islamic State branches in the region.

“ISWAP has also recently benefited from external support in the form of trainers deployed by the international Islamic State organization to increase ISWAP capabilities in UAS operations, advanced explosive assembly, and military tactics,” the authors wrote.

The Trump administration has recently focused its African counterterrorism strategy on those two theaters: Somalia, where U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM, has ramped up air and drone strikes, and Nigeria, where Washington has launched a series of airstrikes alongside local partners and deployed a small contingent of U.S. personnel to support training efforts.

Yet these developments come as the United States has reduced its military footprint in Africa by 75%.

Gen. Dagvin Anderson, the head of AFRICOM, told lawmakers in May that the departure of American and allied forces had created “an intelligence black hole” on the continent. Anderson also emphasized that his command was operating with the “minimum necessary resources” and that its diminished force posture was compromising its ability to respond to crises.

The statement by U.S. Air Force General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s top commander and the head of U.S. forces in Europe, followed a decision by the Trump administration to shrink the pool of U.S. military capabilities available to NATO in a crisis.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO and told its European members they will have to take over primary responsibility for the conventional defense of the continent.

The U.S. told allies last month of its decision to reduce its contribution to a framework known as the NATO Force Model, which includes a pool of forces that could be activated during a crisis. But it did not publicly disclose any details.

Grynkewich’s statement, issued after a meeting of NATO military planners on Wednesday, was the first public indication of what areas the U.S. plans to cut first and where it expects allies to step in.

Manned and unmanned aircraft and naval vessels are two areas where Canada and European allies “can step up now and in the near term - as the United States reduces forces ‘sourced’ to the NATO Force Model in Europe and refocuses them elsewhere,” he said.

“There has been an unhealthy co-dependence in the NATO Force Model on U.S. forces,” Grynkewich said in his written statement. “President (Donald) Trump, (Defense) Secretary (Pete) Hegseth and others have been clear that this needs to change, and it will change. The potential reality of simultaneous conflict in multiple theaters demands it.”

NATO expects no gaps

The NATO alliance is under unprecedented strain, with some European countries concerned that Washington may withdraw outright. A major adjustment to the forces the U.S. would make available during wartime will only intensify those concerns.

A spokesperson for NATO’s military headquarters, U.S. Army Col. Martin O’Donnell, said the areas mentioned by Grynkewich were “where allies already have or soon will have sufficient capabilities, meaning no defence gaps are expected to emerge.”

“Nations just need to assign the capabilities they have to NATO,” he added.

O’Donnell declined to elaborate on when Grynkewich expected allied nations, whose leaders will meet at a NATO summit in Ankara in July, to have replaced the U.S. capabilities.

The number of U.S. fighter jets available to NATO is set to fall by a third, and the U.S. will also make fewer U.S. destroyers and no U.S. submarines available as part of the crisis pool, according to a report last week by German news outlet Spiegel.

Europe will also be forced to provide its own reconnaissance drones, while the U.S. plans to significantly scale back the provision of armed models, the report added.

The attacks are the latest to test a shaky ceasefire, sending oil prices up more than 2%, as the strait remains largely closed more than three months after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran.

Flights at Kuwait International Airport were suspended after an Iranian drone and missile attack damaged airport facilities and diplomatic missions, killing one person and injuring more than 60 others, according to Kuwaiti authorities and state media.

The civil aviation authority said Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways were resuming flights after taking safety measures.

Earlier, Iranian media reported that Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards had attacked the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and a U.S. airbase, as well as a vessel identified as Panaya. U.S. Central Command denied its bases had been hit and said Iranian ballistic missiles failed to strike their targets in the region.

CENTCOM said it had carried out a new round of “defensive strikes” in southern Iran, targeted missile launch sites and Iranian boats seeking to lay mines, and carried out strikes on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz after attempted Iranian attacks.

Ceasefire strained by flare-ups

Since the conflict began on February 28, Iran has repeatedly attacked targets in the Gulf region home to U.S. military bases, hitting civilian and military targets.

Hostilities have occasionally flared up in recent weeks despite a ceasefire agreed in early April, as the U.S. has pushed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a route that handled roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the war.

Last week, Iran and the U.S. signaled progress towards a tentative initial agreement to halt the war and reopen the strait, but the two sides have yet to sign off on the deal, which would leave more complex negotiations for later.

Mohsen Rezaei, military adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, said Iran would not allow the U.S. to “overreach” either in negotiations or ceasefire arrangements.

In a post on X, he warned that any aggression would be met with a barrage of missiles and drones.

Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said repeated attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain required a firm and cohesive Gulf response. “The aggression does not target one country alone, but all of us,” he wrote on X.

Uncertainty over course of talks

Since mid-March, President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he is close to a deal to end the fighting and pave the way for negotiations on thorny issues including the future of Iran’s nuclear program.

Tehran has conditioned a deal on an end to fighting in Lebanon. It also wants access to billions of dollars in oil revenues, waivers on sanctions on crude exports, a lifting of a U.S. blockade on its ports and continued leverage over the strait.

Trump, who is under pressure to bring down U.S. fuel prices while not making concessions to Iran, has said his top priority is to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes.

Trump has said negotiations are continuing, though Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Wednesday that Iran had not responded to the U.S. in recent days and that exchanges of texts through intermediaries were suspended until Iran’s conditions on Lebanon are met.

In a podcast interview released on Wednesday, Trump said Iran had agreed to not have a nuclear weapon and that Khamenei was involved in negotiations. “They’ve already agreed they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon,” he said.

Israel Keeps up strikes on Lebanon

The war has killed thousands, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, while causing global economic pain ⁠by severely disrupting energy supplies and other shipping.

It also sparked the latest round of conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, with Israel pursuing its deepest incursion into Lebanon in 25 years.

On Wednesday, Israeli drone strikes killed at least six people in southern Lebanon and targeted a car just south of Beirut, Lebanese security sources said, while Israel said it intercepted a hostile aircraft likely fired by Hezbollah.

There was no immediate response from the Israeli military to Reuters questions about the drone strikes, but the attack on the car appeared to mark the closest attack to Beirut since Trump asked Israel not to hit the Lebanese capital, under a U.S.-mediated partial ceasefire announced on Monday.

In his podcast comments, Trump acknowledged having called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “crazy” in a reportedly expletive-filled phone exchange over the fighting in Lebanon as he sought a deal over the wider war.

“At some point I said, Bibi, we got to stop this. We got to stop it,” Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.

After an initial intercept by local drone maker Eraser failed and the target returned unharmed, CEO Edgars Gauručs was so stressed in a later demonstration that he missed the details of the successful takedown. Nordic Air Defense’s Kreuger 100 interceptor hit its target on the first try, missed on a second attempt, before succeeding again in a third and final simulated attack.

Finding cost-effective drone counters has become urgent for NATO, as countries on its eastern flank have found themselves unable to fend off multiple drone incursions in recent months. Meanwhile, Russia uses thousands of drones in Ukraine every day, and Iranian drone attacks caused the United States to burn through years of interceptor production valued at billions of dollars in just weeks.

“We face serious problems, not only in Latvia,” said Maj. Modris Kairišs, head of Latvia’s Autonomous Systems Competence Center, at the testing range on May 26. Drone technology is “a couple of steps ahead” of C-UAS, he said, with interceptors having to be successful every time while only one attack drone needs to get through for damaging effect.

The threat felt particularly acute in Latvia last month after the country was unable to challenge repeated incursions by Ukrainian drones believed to have been diverted by Russian jamming. In response, the country is sending mobile teams equipped with interceptor drones from Latvia’s Origin Robotics and Eraser to its eastern border with Russia.

The war in the Middle East exposed a cost-exchange problem for C-UAS, with Shahed-class threats costing $15,000 to $50,000 being shot down with interceptors costing anywhere from $1 million to $12 million, PitchBook senior research analyst Ali Javaheri wrote in a May 26 report. He said investors should look for solutions that cost less than $30,000 per engagement against such threats.

The demonstrations at Sēlija, which hosts NATO’s new uncrewed systems testing range, featured a range of approaches by European startups to the drone problem, from autonomous interceptors to a mothership drone and jet-powered systems to engage faster threats. Much of it inspired by the war in Ukraine, and in some cases battle-tested there.

Origin Robotics showed off the Blaze interceptor that will equip Latvia’s mobile teams and which the company hopes to deliver to Ukraine “soon.” The four-rotor drone is fully autonomous, with radar for initial target detection and computer-vision software to close in on and follow the target, with an operator deciding whether or not to trigger the interceptor’s fragmentation warhead.

Light rain complicated visibility across the testing range, a 2 by 2 kilometers square of cleared terrain of grass and sand hemmed in by pine forest, with military brass and officials following the action on a several meter-high video screen set up for the occasion.

“There was the big kaboom and the target is down,” said Maris Kuda, head of government relations at Origin Robotics, after the drone identified, approached and hit a target drone from Temeso, another Latvian company. “Hopefully soon those will be some Shaheds on the eastern border.”

Ukraine remains the reference for combat drone operations, and several companies at the Sēlija range noted their systems had already been tested there. While the concept of interceptor drones predates Russia’s 2022 invasion, Ukraine has turned them into a mass weapon, with production of 100,000 units in 2025, according to the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine.

“Ukraine has demonstrated with absolute clarity that drones, counter-drone systems, electronic warfare, autonomy and rapid innovation cycles are now central to the military efficiency,” said Maj. Gen. Andis Dilāns, undersecretary of state for logistics in Latvia’s Ministry of Defence.

Latvia aims to develop the Sēlija training area into a place where NATO allies and industry can test technologies, validate concepts and speed up development, which is especially important in counter-UAS due to constantly evolving threats, according to Dilāns.

The country signed a letter of intent with the Netherlands last week to let the Dutch armed forces use the range for drone and counter-drone exercises and testing.

NATO is setting up five innovation ranges as part of its Rapid Adoption Action Plan, including the one in Sēlija focused on unmanned aerial systems and their countermeasures. The goal is to make it easier for companies to test new systems and show they work, and make it less risky for countries to buy those systems because the capabilities are proven.

Sweden’s Nordic Air Defense demonstrated its first C-UAS product, a portable carbon-fiber drone called Kreuger 100, which it launched from a winged mothership that can additionally function as a communications relay or be equipped with a sensor gimbal to cue the interceptor.

The drone performed three simulated strikes on the target, with a first head-on hit counting as a kill as the Kreuger got within the 3-meter distance where its fragmentation head is effective. The interceptor, chasing the threat in intercept mode without manual control, didn’t get close enough in a second pass from a cornering angle, before success on a third attempt.

The company says it aims to reach a price point at which the interceptor can be used as a disposable air-defense tool.

With Russia adapting to Ukraine’s drone interceptors by switching to jet-powered attack UAVs, two German companies demonstrated high-speed drones for use against high-flying or faster targets, though neither demo included an interception.

Munich-based RDC Systems showcased a 3D-printed rotor-powered interceptor drone called Raven, with rocket-assisted launch to save battery life while climbing to operating height. The company says the drone was measured by NATO radars at the Sēlija range in March doing 450 kilometers per hour.

JetDrones, a startup from the same German city and only registered since February, demonstrated a jet-powered interceptor aimed at Shaheds flying at an altitude of four to eight kilometers, a range which the company said would typically require expensive interceptor missiles such as IRIS-T. The firm says its drone can operate fully autonomously or monitored by a human operator.

The company was flying the drone in FPV mode, and a company representative said adding a radar would double the price tag, when JetDrones has been told by Ukrainian operators that the cost needs to below that of a Shahed.

Eraser wrapped up the demonstrations at Sēlija with a successful takedown of the Temeso target using a faster version of its modular drone, after the earlier attempt with a slower version and a smaller target proved inconclusive.

“There is the target,” Gauručs said, tracking the interception on-screen, after just describing how cloudy skies and sun can complicate visual detection. “We think we… oh, no, we got it, the target is going down in the corner.”

The executive said he wasn’t sure whether the Eraser drone took down the target autonomously or in manual mode.

“To be fair, I was so stressed that I didn’t see the result.”

The U.S. is withdrawing thousands of troops based in Germany and Poland as the rift between the administration of President Donald Trump and its NATO allies and partners in Europe over the Iran war widens.

In Lithuania, U.S. troops presently stationed in the country are now leaving as expected, but the next scheduled group is not arriving, Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas said.

“(The next) rotation is currently under review ... because the number of (U.S. troops) in Europe is changing, this naturally leads to a review of regional stance”, Kaunas told reporters in Vilnius.

The move would leave Lithuania without an armored U.S. battalion of about 1,000 troops on its soil for the first time since 2020.

The minister said he had discussed the situation with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Shangri-La Dialogue conference in Singapore last week.

“We have assurance that (the next rotation in Lithuania) will arrive, but when exactly, and with which capabilities, and at what size — this is due to be announced," said Kaunas.

“We were reassured that the Baltic region is of critical importance to NATO and the U.S., they see our investment, and our defense spending is shown as an example to other allies,” he added.

Lithuania, which borders Russia, has tripled its defense spending since 2022, and is due to spend 5.4% of its gross domestic product on defense this year.

The current U.S. rotation, which arrived in October 2025, consists of two battalions of Texas-based 1st Cavalry Division, with Abrams tanks, Bradley armored vehicles and Paladin tracked self-propelled howitzers, the Lithuanian defense ministry said.

The troops were the first to be based at the new permanent facilities which Lithuania built for them at Pabrade military base, close to the Belarus border.

Following a French government decision, Israeli exhibitors at the Eurosatory defense exhibition on June 15-19 in Paris will only be allowed to showcase equipment and products exclusively intended for air, missile and ballistic-missile defense, organizer Coges Events said in an emailed statement. The restrictions apply only to Israeli exhibitors, it said.

Israeli defense firms have faced restrictions at some major European defense exhibitions in recent years, particularly in France. The French government already excluded Israeli defense companies from the 2024 edition of Eurosatory, though that decision was overturned in court, while several Israeli booths were closed at the Paris Air Show in 2025.

“This policy is applied selectively and discriminatorily relative to other participating nations, in direct violation of the established norms governing international defense exhibitions,” the Israeli Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Monday.

The United Kingdom barred official Israeli government and military delegations from participating in the DSEI UK 2025 defense show, though companies could still exhibit independently, while Israeli firms were barred from the Dutch NEDS 2025 exhibition.

The restrictions come amid strained relations between Paris and Jerusalem over Israel’s military operations in Lebanon, with France on Monday calling an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council over escalating violence there. France in 2024 cited Israel’s military actions in Gaza to justify that year’s Eurosatory ban.

For Eurosatory, “the organizers wish to reiterate that the exhibition operates in strict compliance with the decisions and regulations established by the French authorities,” Coges Events said.

Israel’s MoD said France is hiding behind “a pretense of political justification” to exclude the country’s offensive systems from an international form, saying the decision “reeks of political and commercial calculation.”

Israeli defense companies continue to exhibit in France despite the restrictions, and some of the firms scheduled to exhibit at Eurosatory 2026 told Defense News they were unaware of any update and intended to exhibit as planned.

The latest measure represents the fourth attempt by France to restrict Israeli defense participation in two years, starting with Eurosatory 2024, though that ban was overturned by a French commercial court. That same year, Israeli companies were prohibited from displaying at the Euronaval exhibition, another measure that was overturned in court.

Israel’s Ministry of Defense suspended all defense procurement from France in April 2026, citing an “ongoing pattern of French policies” that compromises Israel’s national defense, including what Israel described as a French refusal to allow Israel-bound flights carrying U.S. weaponry to overfly French airspace during the conflict with Iran.

Eurosatory 2026 is an international defense exhibition held every two years at the Villepinte Exhibition Centre north of Paris. According to data from the latest exhibition, it attracts approximately 2,000 exhibitors from around 61 countries, alongside 355 official delegations from 92 nations.

Ruitenberg reported from Paris.

The annual exercise, held for more than five decades since 1971, brings together some 20 vessels from 15 nations with around 6,000 personnel - roughly half the size of last year’s drills - during a period of heightened tensions in the Baltic region.

Officials say the smaller footprint reflects operational realities rather than waning commitment, as Western navies remain tied up in other areas including the Middle East’s Strait of Hormuz and the Arctic.

The US BALTOPS naval exercise, which takes place from June 4 to June 20, will still be the biggest maneuver in the Baltic Sea this year, with Washington providing the flagship Mount Whitney vessel, despite months of fierce criticism of NATO by U.S. President Donald Trump and plans to cut U.S. commitments to the alliance.

While the U.S.-led exercise is not designed as a direct response to current events, German Rear Admiral Stephan Haisch said the timing inevitably amplifies its political relevance.

“In this period, it is a sign of the alliance’s strength, that a major exercise is being conducted, under U.S. leadership, with broad NATO participation”, he said. “It is a sign of the alliance’s unity and strength, and I am speaking of all allies here.”

As Commander Task Force Baltic, Haisch is in charge of a multinational naval headquarters for the Baltic Sea, established by Germany in the coastal city of Rostock in 2024 amid a growing focus on the area as tensions with Russia grew.

His headquarters is capable of leading NATO operations in the Baltic Sea during a conflict with Russia and will do so for the upcoming US BALTOPS drills which are traditionally planned by the U.S.

Securing vital sea routes

BALTOPS will begin with drills in the western Baltic before shifting eastward to rehearse resupply and protection of free sea routes around the Swedish island of Gotland - a core task for NATO as the region’s strategic importance has grown.

Open sea routes are seen as critical, particularly for supplying the Baltic states - linked only by a narrow land corridor to NATO’s mainland - in a crisis.

“Free sea lines of communication - that is central,” Haisch said, pointing to the need to safeguard military logistics as well as commercial shipping.

Asked about past incidents in the Baltics attributed to Russia by Western officials, Haisch said he did not expect Moscow to cross a threshold that would trigger NATO’s collective defense clause, known as Article 5, even as tensions remain elevated.

“I would assume Russia to stay below the Article 5 threshold if they seek to test us.”

The Financial Times was the first to report the discussions on Tuesday, citing three unnamed people “briefed on the discussions.” The conversations were reportedly focused on the forward deployment of what Washington calls dual-capable aircraft - military jets that can carry out either conventional missions or drop nuclear bombs.

Such DCAs are integral to the NATO nuclear sharing architecture, which currently has forward-deployed U.S. nuclear bombs at air bases in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Turkey and the U.K.

Countries at the eastern flank of NATO, particularly Poland and the Baltic States, were the most vocally interested in hosting U.S. dual-capable aircraft, the Financial Times reported its sources as saying.

Poland has publicly courted nuclear bombs being deployed in its country to deter Russia, with former president Duda explicitly inviting such a deployment from the U.S. This has since been walked back somewhat by the new government, but the conversation remains active and urgent in Warsaw.

Poland has also signed up for France’s “forward deterrence” scheme, which promises to expand the French nuclear umbrella over the Eastern European country and may see the temporary deployment of French nuclear-capable jets to Poland down the line.

According to the Financial Times, the current U.S. nuclear sharing discussions are being held through NATO channels.

The alliance is undergoing a transformation as the U.S. reduces its focus and conventional forces in Europe, and capitals on the continent significantly step up their own defense spending. The discussion surrounding expanded U.S. nuclear sharing is meant to assuage fears in European capitals that they may be left to fend for themselves by their powerful treaty partner in Washington, the FT cited its sources as saying.

While the discussions were ongoing, an agreement to expand U.S. nuclear hosting was not imminent, an unnamed source told the FT.

Hegseth, speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asia’s premier forum for defense leaders, militaries and diplomats, said a stronger, more self-reliant network of allies is essential to deter aggression and preserve the balance of power.

“There is rightful alarm regarding China’s historic military buildup and the expansion of its military activities in the region and beyond,” he said.

“A Pacific dominated by any hegemon would unravel the regional balance of power,” Hegseth said. “No state, including China, can impose its hegemony and hold the security or prosperity of our nation and our allies in question.”

The U.S. expects its Asian allies and partners to increase defense spending to 3.5% of GDP as it pledged a $1.5 trillion investment in its military, the Pentagon chief said.

“Less Shangri-La, more ships, more subs,” Hegseth said, stressing that the region needed greater defense capability than conferences. Allies want stability, not escalation, he said.

“What they want, and what the United States delivers, is strength that is disciplined, resolve that is steady, and leadership that is confident enough to speak and walk softly while carrying a big stick.”

Hegseth also struck a measured tone on U.S.-China ties, saying relations are “better than they have been in many years,” with more frequent military-to-military engagement helping to manage tensions.

“We are meeting more frequently with our Chinese counterparts by maintaining open lines of military-to-military communication.”

Zhou Bo, a senior fellow at Tsinghua University and retired People’s Liberation Army senior colonel who was part of the Chinese delegation, described U.S.-China relations as “complicated.”

Nonetheless, he said Hegseth struck “a much better tone” this year than last, attributing the shift to Trump’s visit to China.

“Both sides have open channels of communication, the situation is not as exaggerated as the outside world makes it out to be,” Zhou said.

China, whose defense minister is skipping the dialogue for a second consecutive year, accused Hegseth last year of making “vilifying” remarks.

‘No freeloading’

Hegseth echoed President Donald Trump’s long-standing demand that allies shoulder more of their own defense costs. Trump has pointedly said European and NATO partners should reduce reliance on Washington.

“The era of the United States subsidizing the defense of wealthy nations is over,” Hegseth said. “We need partners, not protectorates,” he added. “We don’t have a strong alliance unless everyone has skin in the game. No freeloading.”

Hegseth praised contributions from allies including South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, and said Japan was taking concrete steps to bolster its defenses.

Tokyo and Washington “must each pull our weight to strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance,” he said.

Ready to restart strikes on Iran

On the Middle East conflict, Hegseth said the United States stands ready to resume strikes on Iran if diplomacy fails, as negotiators from Washington and Tehran work to bridge major differences blocking a deal.

“Our ability to recommence if necessary ... we are more than capable,” Hegseth said. He added that Trump remains “patient” and is seeking a “strong deal” to ensure Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.

Trump said on Friday he would convene advisers in a secure White House setting to make a “final determination” on a proposal to end the Iran war.

Hegseth also pushed back on concerns the conflict would distract from Asia-Pacific priorities.

“We can do two things at one time.”

Arms sales decision to Taiwan is Trump’s call

In his speech, Hegseth made no mention of Taiwan, a hotspot in relations between the U.S. and China.

When asked about arms sales to the island during questions that followed, Hegseth downplayed concerns that a multi-billion-dollar package could be affected as the United States draws down its weapons stockpiles amid the Middle East conflict. “We feel very good about our stockpiles and how we use them,” he said.

Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, has been waiting for the U.S. to approve an arms sale that Reuters ​reported could be worth up to $14 billion.

Trump sowed uncertainty in Taipei by saying, after meeting ​China’s President Xi Jinping this month, that he was undecided on whether to approve the package.

Any decision on future arms sales would rest with President Trump, Hegseth said, signalling no shift in Washington’s longstanding approach despite recent engagement with Beijing.

“Those decisions will depend on the president and the nature of that relationship,” Hegseth said. “There’s been no change in our status.”

Seoul plans to launch its first boat in the mid-2030s, and commission it in “the late 2030s,” the government proclaimed last week.

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) announced what it has dubbed the “Basic Plan for the Development of South Korean Nuclear-Propelled Submarines” on May 26.

This effort is being labeled as the Jang Bogo-N project, named after South Korea’s first ever submarine; built in Germany, it was commissioned in 1992. The “N” refers to “next generation,” “nuclear” and “neo technology.”

The Republic of Korea Navy previously declared a need for four SSNs. The submarines are likely to displace some 8,000 tons, which makes them similar in size to the American Virginia class.

Why is South Korea going nuclear?

Kim Jae Yeop, senior researcher at the Sungkyun Institute for Global Strategy in Seoul, listed four reasons why Seoul wants to adopt SSNs. The first has to do with fielding a counterweight military capability, as it must “counter Pyongyang’s submarine-launched ballistic missile threats, and possess a highly survivable deterrent against neighboring powers like China.”

North Korea unveiled its new nuclear-powered, missile-armed submarine in December 2025. Pyongyang’s first move in this direction gave South Korea a political and moral green light to follow suit.

Secondly, Kim said, Seoul wishes to deepen and enhance cooperation with the United States, just as Australia is doing under the AUKUS program.

A new national nuclear-submarine push “will enable Seoul to broaden the geographical range of combined military activities with the U.S beyond the Korean Peninsula,” he added.

A third factor is boosting the politico-military status of Korea in the international community. Finally, Kim pointed out, SSNs “present a valid alternative to nuclear armaments, which have been strongly demanded in Korea for the past several years in response to growing threats of nuclear weapons by the Pyongyang regime.”

According to the Defense Ministry announcement, “Nuclear-powered submarines possess dramatically enhanced operational capabilities compared to existing diesel submarines,” especially their submerged endurance and mobility.

Indigenous development

The ministry said development of SSNs “is a national industrial development project spanning over 40 years (ten years of construction plus over 30 years of operation) that connects shipbuilding, nuclear power and defense industries.”

The emphasis is on domestic construction, with a prediction of 40,000+ jobs being created. This is in contrast to President Donald Trump’s declaration last October that Seoul should construct them at Philadelphia Shipyards in the United States. Hanwha Ocean acquired that shipyard in late 2024, but the site is not equipped to build nuclear-powered vessels.

Importantly, Korean submarines will use low-enriched uranium and long-cycle reactors, rather than the highly enriched fuel the U.S. Navy utilizes. This choice of fuel will minimize Korean submarine refueling requirements.

“As one of the leading powerhouses in nuclear energy and shipbuilding industry in the world, Korea is widely believed to have sufficient capacity for developing and building its own nuclear-powered submarine,” said Kim.

This includes developing a small modular reactor. Nonetheless, the main challenge will be nuclear fuel supply and complying with international nonproliferation regulations, Kim indicated.

Seoul will work with the United States to secure and manage its uranium, and the two allies are expected to launch a working group in early June.

Kim pointed out that his country has produced more than 20 conventional submarines to date. The latest 4,000-ton vessel arrived in Canada on May 23 after completing a first-ever trans-Pacific voyage.

Design concept

The same day the Jang Bogo-N project was announced, shares in local shipbuilders Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries rose 10.2% and 9.6%, respectively.

Hanwha Ocean displayed an SSN concept at Busan’s MADEX exhibition in May 2025. That radical submarine design featured technological leaps such as a rim-driven propulsor, X-form rudder, electro-optical mast with 360º view, AI-based combat management system, a diver lockout, and manned-unmanned teaming.

Not all these features will end up on the Jang Bogo-N, but it does indicate Korea’s shipbuilding ambitions. A vertical-launch missile section will definitely be part of the design, however.

Because it will take at least a decade for Korea to develop the new submarine type, Kim said the navy “will need to keep up efforts to improve current conventional submarine forces in countering underwater challenges from Pyongyang or other regional powers.”

The Defense Ministry described the Jang Bogo-N as a “historic milestone that opens a new horizon for the Republic of Korea’s maritime security.”

The government vowed not to pursue nuclear weapons, but Kim noted the acquisition of SSNs “will contribute to efforts of the U.S and its allies and partners in the Asia-Pacific region to maintain a strategic balance against the challenge of revisionist powers like China.”

However, one side effect, according to Kim, is that “it’s highly probable Japan may also pursue development of nuclear-powered submarines in response to Korea’s choice. In this case, Seoul will have to closely coordinate with Tokyo on the matter, so that such moves shall not endanger security cooperation between the two countries.”

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said last November that Tokyo would consider acquiring nuclear-powered submarines.

The solicitation, issued in late May on behalf of Joint Special Operations Task Force-Somalia, or JSOTF-SOM, calls for three cultural and political advisors to communicate with the country’s government and tribes and also to provide translation.

“This effort will allow JSOTF-SOM to successfully conduct its mission with an understanding of local customs, history, cultural routines, tribal dynamics, local government, and the socio-cultural context in which operations are being planned and conducted,” the notices states.

The notice comes as U.S. Africa Command has seen a 75% force draw down over the past 10 years. When paired with other nations’ reductions, the cuts have created what Gen. Dagvin Anderson, the command’s head, described in testimony before Congress as, “an intelligence black hole.”

Anderson said the force cuts hindered intelligence gathering across the region, and he warned that terrorist groups like ISIS still wanted to strike the U.S.

President Donald Trump, in mid-May, said he ordered a strike that killed the second-highest-ranking ISIS member, Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, in Lake Chad Basin, an area that sits in the Sahel region in the upper half of the continent — far from Somalia, but rife with extremism.

Somalia is a hotspot for Islamic militant groups, including ISIS and al Shabab, an insurgent group related to al-Qaeda, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

Despite the reductions in the region, the U.S. has continued to pummel Somalia with airstrikes at a pace rivaling the year before. In 2025, the command carried out 124 strikes against the militant organizations, up from just 10 in 2024.

The new contractors would be located primarily in Mogadishu, the country’s capital, and must have a Top Secret clearance, according to the notice. They would also be required to travel to different locations inside Somalia, Djibouti and Kenya, and work in “austere locations,” sometimes at personal risk. The new role would begin in September.

The purchases will be bankrolled by the European Union’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) low-cost loan program.

At the official signing ceremony held May 30, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Polish deputy prime minister and defense minister, criticized Poland’s right-wing President Karol Nawrocki for vetoing a bill that was to enable the government to utilize the Brussels loan scheme.

Nawrocki has claimed that “SAFE is a mechanism through which Brussels can withhold funding at will.” Due to his opposition to the scheme, Poland’s centrist Cabinet was forced to implement the loans through executive action.

“They say the terms are not favorable. These are twice as favorable as the first contracts signed in [South] Korea,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said, referring to the weapon acquisitions from the South Korean industry contracted by Poland’s previous government. “I was in the opposition at that time, and I wasn’t complaining about those … [acquisitions] because it was a time when it was necessary to look for markets where it was possible to buy fast.”

The ministry’s May 30 purchases include 146 Borsuk tracked infantry fighting vehicles, 96 Krab 155mm self-propelled howitzers, 1,000 ammunition, command, and communications vehicles for the Homar-K multiple rocket launcher system, and 64 Rak 120mm self-propelled wheeled mortars.

The contracts were awarded to a group of companies led by state-run defense giant PGZ, and signed at the headquarters of Huta Stalowa Wola (HSW), a PGZ subsidiary focused on the development of howitzers, infantry fighting vehicles and other gear for the land forces.

Kosiniak-Kamysz said that, in addition to procuring the necessary equipment for the Polish military, the contracts are to enable Poland’s defense industry to boost its production capacities for export sales.

“Now we have to build up the strength and potential not only for producing for our own needs, but also for exports of what is today our strategic asset,” the deputy prime minister said.

In total, Poland has been allocated some €43.7 billion ($50.9 billion) in loans by Brussels for defense acquisitions carried out under the SAFE scheme. This potentially makes the nation the largest beneficiary of the program.

Mariusz Błaszczak, Poland’s former Minister of National Defence who is a lawmaker for the opposition Law and Justice party, told Defense News that using SAFE loans to purchase weapons creates the risk of the EU’s interference in what type of equipment Warsaw will buy for the military. He also voiced concern that, by sourcing funds through the scheme, Poland could reduce its purchases from the United States and begin favoring European suppliers.

“For Law and Justice, security is not a field for political experiments. It is a matter of strategic responsibility and the consistent strengthening of the alliance with the USA and Poland’s position in NATO,” Błaszczak said.

At the same time, Kosiniak-Kamysz said that, alongside purchases from its defense industry, Poland will continue to source weapons from allied countries, including the United States.

“This doesn’t change the fact that, while there is SAFE, other deals do not disappear. We have deals with the United States for more than 200 billion zloty,” the politician said.

Also on May 30, the ministry awarded a contract worth more than 13.5 billion zloty to procure “several hundred thousand” 155mm artillery rounds from a PGZ-led consortium. Drawing lessons from the war in neighboring Ukraine, the Polish authorities have intensified efforts to build up the country’s ammunition stockpiles, but also secure domestic manufacturing capacities.

“Every single one of the hundreds of thousands of ordered shells will be produced in Poland, ensuring complete independence in the possession of this key artillery caliber. Every shell body delivered under this contract will be forged in Poland and filled at Polish facilities using Polish TNT,” Arkadiusz Bąk, PGZ’s first vice president, was quoted in a statement released by the group.

In September 2025, PGZ selected the U.K.’s BAE Systems as its technology partner for the ongoing ramp-up of local artillery ammunition production.

The announcement came following a visit by the Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Stoere, to Paris last week. Also present in Paris were delegates from other European countries that had signed up for what France bills as “forward deterrence,” a still nebulous but historically significant redefinition of what France’s nuclear weapons are for.

Norway will not host nuclear weapons in peacetime, Stoere said. But the new French doctrine, which was announced in theatrical fashion by Emmanuel Macron, the country’s president, while standing in front of a nuclear submarine in March, promises to link existential threats to European allies to a French nuclear response even if the U.S. may disengage. All decision-making powers will remain in Paris, as will the control over nuclear weapons. France would, in effect, act as a protective power for Europe.

What this means in practice is still up for definition, and Norway, as the latest newcomer, is still at the beginning of the process of figuring it out. Others are farther along: The discussions in Poland, for example, envision a possible role for forward deployment of French nuclear-capable Rafale aircraft.

Macron opens door to deploying French nuclear forces to European allies

The nuclear-deterrence framework is perhaps most mature in Germany: The two countries formed a steering group on the issue earlier this year, promising first concrete steps by the end of 2026.

Germany was also present at the meeting in Paris last week, sending Chancellor Merz’s foreign policy and security advisor, according to reporting by German magazine Der Spiegel. The next steering group meeting is supposed to take place shortly, ahead of the summer break when most of Europe’s bureaucrats are out of office.

Germany will participate in French nuclear exercises as soon as September, joining them in an observer role. Additionally, they will visit and learn about French nuclear weapons facilities and infrastructure. Later, the Bundeswehr may play a more active part, Spiegel reported, though this would be limited to supporting roles that don’t directly interact with nuclear weapons.

The confusion and ambiguity about the specifics of what France is actually offering its European allies may be by design. The French nuclear doctrine is openly “strategically ambiguous,” as has been publicly confirmed by the relevant ministries and policy thinkers in Paris. What does seem clear is that it will be a less participative process than the current U.S.-backed NATO nuclear sharing, which currently has nuclear bombs based in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Turkey, and provides for German warplanes to drop U.S.-armed and owned nuclear bombs in the event of a war.

Rather, it’s a redefinition of French nuclear doctrine to include a sort of sphere of influence, where the French president may choose to respond to incursions with a nuclear response − or not. Aside from Norway, Germany and Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, Belgium and the U.K. have also signed up to the new French forward deterrence scheme.

France is one of five countries permitted under international treaties to possess nuclear weapons, and one of nine that actually do. At around 290 warheads, the French nuclear arsenal is the fourth-largest in the world, after China, the U.S. and Russia, and ahead of the U.K.

U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Francis Donovan, the head of U.S. Southern Command, briefly discussed operational security matters with the Cuban delegation, which included Cuban Gen. Roberto Legra Sotolongo, first deputy minister of the chief of the General Staff, U.S. Southern Command said on X.

“Donovan also led a perimeter security assessment of the naval base and discussed force protection, safety of service members and their families, and operational readiness with base officials,” it said.

Donovan’s meeting in Cuba is the first in recent memory by a head of Southern Command and comes amid growing concerns in Cuba of a possible U.S. military attack on the Communist-run island.

Cuba’s armed forces said on Facebook that the meeting took place with mutual agreement and that both sides agreed to maintain communication.

“Both delegations evaluate positively the meeting where issues related to security around the dividing perimeter of the military enclave were addressed and agreed to maintain communication between both military commands,” the statement said.

The meeting follows a rare visit earlier in May by CIA ​Director ⁠John Ratcliffe to Havana.

President Donald Trump has often cited Cuba among the foreign policy goals of his second term and has hinted it will become his focus once the war with Iran is over.

U.S. ANTAGONIST

Cuba has been a U.S. antagonist for decades, since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution.

Trump is strongly supported by hardline Cuban Americans in Florida, who have pushed for U.S.-instigated regime change for decades, and his administration has been steadily ramping up pressure on the island.

On May 20, the U.S. formally charged former President Raul Castro with four counts of murder for the 1996 downing of civilian aircraft operated by Miami-based exiles.

The indictment was the latest example of the Trump administration’s efforts to assert U.S. influence in the Western Hemisphere.

Washington’s more assertive role in Latin America was epitomized by an audacious raid by the U.S. military on Jan. 3 to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, and then fly him to New York to face drug trafficking charges.

Maduro, a socialist aligned with Havana, pleaded not guilty.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who is seen as a possible contender for the 2028 Republican nomination for president, has raised alarm in Havana by talking about the national security risk posed by what he calls a failed state just 90 miles (145 km) from Florida.

On May 5, Rubio and Donovan posed in front of a map of Cuba in a post on X by Donovan’s Southern Command. It said the talks focused on “U.S. efforts to counter threats that undermine security, stability and democracy in our hemisphere.”

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez has warned that any military action would lead to a “bloodbath” in which thousands of Cubans and Americans would die.

Trump has effectively imposed a fuel blockade on the island by threatening tariffs on countries supplying it with fuel, igniting seemingly endless power outages and delivering new blows to the island’s already ailing economy.

Experts say instability in Cuba threatens a migration crisis.

Russia’s interference reached Lithuania’s capital on May 20, when a drone forced Vilnius into shelters, shut its airport and cleared parliament, the first such alert in the city since 2022.

The jamming has been escalating for nearly three years, since Russia began disrupting signals around the 2023 NATO summit in Vilnius, and now spikes whenever Ukrainian drones fly toward Russian targets.

“This is the new reality of what the Baltic states face,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas said last week.

Romanian F-16s scrambled in response, President Nicușor Dan said.

Unlike the attacks that struck homes in Romania on Friday, most of the drones that have crossed into Baltic airspace over the last few months have not been launched by Russia, but instead have been operated by Ukraine and thrown off course by Russia.

Both strike drones launched at refineries and ports inside Russia and interceptor drones meant to take out incoming attacks have been steered off course and into NATO airspace by Russian spoofing several times over the last few years.

They have already done damage on allied soil: one struck a Latvian oil depot on May 7, exploding on impact. On May 19, a Romanian F-16 on NATO patrol shot another down over Estonia, the first time an allied jet had downed a drone believed to be Ukrainian.

From Kaliningrad, Russian transmitters broadcast counterfeit satellite signals strong enough to seize a drone’s navigation in flight, feed it false coordinates and send it off course.

Lithuania counted 36 of those spoofing transmitters this week, up from three at the start of 2025, reaching 450 kilometers (280 miles) across the region, according to Reuters.

NATO has condemned each strike and scrambled jets to meet them, but has not threatened any retaliation.

Romania’s foreign minister said the Galați strike could justify emergency consultations under NATO’s Article 4, the treaty’s mechanism for talks when a member’s security is threatened.

After speaking with Dan on Friday, Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the alliance stands ready to defend “every inch” of allied territory.

No member, though, has invoked Article 5, the clause that treats an attack on one ally as an attack on all.

Spoofing, meanwhile, is a form of electronic warfare that works by deception rather than brute force.

While jamming overwhelms a drone’s receiver with noise until it can no longer fix its position, spoofing instead sends a stronger, counterfeit signal that the receiver treats as genuine.

“The idea behind spoofing is to create deception,” Thomas Withington, an electronic-warfare specialist at the Royal United Services Institute, told PBS.

When a drone is fed a false fix, it can fly on a completely different path than its operator intended.

The drones most exposed are Ukraine’s long-range models, which fly north toward Russian oil-export terminals on the Gulf of Finland, including Ust-Luga and Primorsk near St. Petersburg.

Their routes hug the Baltic coast, where Russian electronic warfare is densest, and a drone that loses its true fix drifts into allied airspace, according to the Atlantic Council.

Drones crossed into Latvia “as a result of Russian electronic warfare systems,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said this month.

Ukraine’s own investigations, he said, “proved that this was the result of Russian electronic warfare deliberately diverting Ukrainian drones from their targets in Russia.”

Outside researchers have started to locate the transmitters.

A team from Gdynia Maritime University and the University of Colorado traced Baltic interference over the last year to two coastal sites in Kaliningrad, near the town of Okunevo and the naval base at Baltiysk, each beside known Russian electronic-warfare units.

“Interfering with GNSS signals is, unfortunately, very easy,” Ralf Ziebold of the German Aerospace Center told Defense News.

The network has only grown more entrenched.

“Now they have built up the infrastructure and the interference has become systemic, permanent,” Darius Kuliešius, deputy head of Lithuania’s communications regulator, told Reuters this week.

Ukraine has spent weeks insisting the strays are not its fault. Kyiv says it never routes attacks through allied airspace and has apologized to the Baltic states for drones it argues Russian jamming pushed off course.

Heorhii Tykhyi, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said as much after the Estonia shootdown on May 19.

“Moscow does this on purpose,” he said, apologizing to “Estonia and all our Baltic friends” and noting Ukraine’s only targets lie inside Russia.

Russia has denied steering the drones, casting the incursions instead as proof that the Baltics are abetting Ukrainian attacks.

To beat the spoofing, Ukraine is building drones that can fly without satellites at all.

Newer long-range models carry controlled-reception-pattern antennas that filter out spoofing signals, plus cameras and inertial backups that hold a course when the satellite link drops. Kyiv unveiled one, the Sichen, built to fly “under conditions of active electronic warfare,” in April, according to Militarnyi.

Countering wired drones that emit no signal at all is another challenge.

“Fiber-optic drones have shown us that drones insensitive to electronic warfare are a serious threat to logistics and personnel,” Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said last month.

Kyiv is racing to field more of them, even building a shared ground station to fly them at scale, he said, though the skyrocketing cost of fiber-optic cable limits how far they reach.

Officials from Kyiv and the Baltic states said they hope that increasing air defense coordination between countries in the region will help counter the threat, according to ERR.

Sybiha has offered to send Ukrainian experts to strengthen Baltic air defenses, and Kyiv and Vilnius agreed this week to build drones together and station Ukrainian specialists in Lithuania, according to Militarnyi.

The decision to fire on an intruding drone rests with national governments, not the alliance: NATO’s Baltic air-policing mission, run from a combined air operations center in Uedem, Germany, intercepts only on a member’s behalf, and each country sets its own rules of engagement.

Romania changed its law in 2024 to let its military shoot down intruding drones as a last resort, and its pilots were cleared to fire over Galați had they been able to do so without endangering civilians.

For the alliance’s frontline states, the working assumption is that the drones will keep coming.

“We need to adapt,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas said, “because the possibility of repeated similar scenarios is very high.”

Russia is now losing roughly 1,000 troops a day in killed and wounded along the front, according to Ukraine’s General Staff.

Western officials are reaching a consensus that Ukraine has gained a serious edge on the battlefield for the first time in years as Russia struggles to break through Ukraine’s multilayer air defense or stand up to Kyiv’s growing arsenal and strengthening counteroffensive.

“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin is going backwards on the battlefield, with new intelligence showing that almost half a million Russian soldiers have been killed since the conflict began,” the UK’s GCHQ intelligence director Anne Keast-Butler said Wednesday.

Until now, Western governments have hedged on Russia’s total losses, citing only a combined killed-and-wounded of around 1.2 million by late 2025.

The new figure recasts that picture: If nearly half a million Russian troops are dead, hundreds of thousands more are almost certainly wounded — and Moscow’s real casualty cost is far steeper.

The disclosure hardens a growing consensus: Russia is on its heels for the first time since the war’s opening months.

Russian battlefield gains are “approaching net zero” as Ukrainian forces are beginning to break out of the positional warfare that has gripped the front since 2023, the Institute for the Study of War concluded this week, after Russia lost 116 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory in April — the first net territorial loss in 20 months.

“This should now be regarded as an official estimate given its source,” Michael Clarke, former director-general of the Royal United Services Institute, told CBS News.

The real toll “might well be higher” because Russian forces are “so neglectful of their front line wounded,” Clarke said.

The figure broadly tracks an earlier Dutch military intelligence assessment that put Russian “permanent losses” at roughly 1.2 million, including more than 500,000 killed.

It runs well above the floor that independent Russian investigators have documented: more than 108,000 Russian war dead individually named through open-source reporting and an extrapolated minimum of around 350,000, according to Meduza.

U.S. intelligence agencies have not publicly endorsed a Russian fatality-specific estimate of their own, but the Office of the Director of National Intelligence assessed in March 2025 that Russia had suffered more than 750,000 killed and wounded.

Britain’s new estimate, covering only the dead, suggests Russia’s total casualty bill now runs far higher than either U.S. assessment noted.

Ukraine’s General Staff has put cumulative Russian losses higher still, at roughly 1.36 million killed and wounded.

The Russian casualty count came up during a broader discussion about Russian hybrid operations targeting the UK, including cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, sabotage attempts and efforts to smuggle Western technology to Moscow’s defense industry, according to British intelligence.

GCHQ is “working tirelessly with intelligence and defence partners to degrade and reduce the Russian threat,” Keast-Butler said.

For now, Moscow is replacing those losses through a recruiting machine built on cash signing bonuses, prisoner conscription and waves of North Korean troops dispatched by Pyongyang to backstop the front, allowing Putin to avoid the politically costly second mobilization wave that destabilized his rule in late 2022, experts have said.

Despite the toll, Russian forces remain on the offensive across Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia and continue to fire massed missile-and-drone salvos at Ukrainian cities, with Moscow recently warning foreign diplomats to leave Kyiv ahead of what it called “systemic and sustained” strikes on decision-making centers.

But the trade is becoming visibly unfavorable.

Russia ground its way through more than a year of combat to capture Pokrovsk in late 2025, an advance the Center for Strategic and International Studies assessed was slower than Allied progress at the Battle of the Somme.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier this month that Russia is losing roughly five soldiers for every Ukrainian casualty — a ratio that, if accurate, suggests the Kremlin is paying far more per square mile of captured ground than during any earlier phase of the more than four-year war.

“The Ukrainian armed forces are the strongest, most powerful armed forces in all of Europe,” Rubio said earlier this month.