Aerospace & Defense
The latest coverage of the Defense Department, State Department and aerospace industry.
Russia attacks Black Sea port after U.S. announces major agricultural aid package
Russia launched a round of missile and drone strikes on the Ukrainian port of Odesa on Wednesday, hours after the U.S. Agency for International Development announced a $750 million humanitarian and agricultural aid package following Moscow’s decision to pull out of a Black Sea grain deal.
Tourist who saw U.S. soldier sprint to North Korea initially thought it was a stunt
Sarah Leslie thought she was witnessing a stunt when she saw an American soldier start sprinting toward North Korea.
Blinken blasts GOP senators’ hold on diplomatic nominees, says ‘it’s irresponsible’
Republican senators are endangering U.S. national security and harming America’s reputation abroad by blocking dozens of would-be ambassadors and diplomatic nominees from confirmation, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday.
House, Senate defense bills have amendments to declassify UFO documents
Lawmakers are pushing for more transparency on the government’s UFO documents, with additions to an annual Pentagon policy bill.
Moscow cracking down on insubordinate army generals
Moscow has begun sacking commanders of military units involved in the fighting in Ukraine as part of a growing crackdown on high-level insubordination against top officials in the Defense Ministry.
Russia blames Ukraine for attack on key Crimea military supply bridge that kills 2
Vehicle traffic on the single bridge that links Russia to Moscow-annexed Crimea and serves as a key supply route for the Kremlin’s forces in the war with Ukraine came to a standstill Monday after one of its sections was blown up, killing a married couple and wounding their daughter.
Traffic on key bridge from Crimea to Russia’s mainland halted after attack that kills 2
Traffic on the key bridge connecting Crimea to Russia’s mainland was halted on Monday after one of its sections was blown up in what Russian officials said was a Ukrainian attack that also killed a married couple and injured their daughter.
Sen. Tom Cotton: Taxpayers shouldn’t fund Pentagon’s ‘abortion tourism,’ DEI policies
A key Senate Republican said Sunday that it was President Biden, not congressional conservatives, who was guilty of playing politics with the troops, days after the House pushed through a massive $886 billion Pentagon policy bill containing several policy riders targeting what critics say are “woke” military policies under Mr. Biden.
Post-mutiny, Wagner Group mercenaries still a threat in Africa, Middle East
The notorious Wagner Group mercenary army hasn’t taken part in major combat operations in Ukraine since its founder, Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, went into exile on June 24 after abruptly calling off a brief mutiny against the country’s military leadership.
House GOP approves defense bill that restricts abortion access and halts diversity initiatives
The U.S. House on Friday approved a sweeping annual defense bill that provides an expected 5.2% pay raise for service members but strays from traditional military policy with political add-ons from Republicans to block abortion coverage, diversity initiatives at the Pentagon and transgender issues that deeply divided the chamber.
Crowds cheer as India launches a lander and rover to explore the moon’s south pole
An Indian spacecraft blazed its way to the far side of the moon Friday in a follow-up mission to its failed effort nearly four years ago to land a rover softly on the lunar surface, the country’s space agency said.
Putin says he offered Wagner mercenaries the option to keep operating as a single unit
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he offered mercenaries from the Wagner private military company the option of continuing to serve as a single unit under the same officer when he met with them five days after the group’s abortive revolt last month that posed the most serious threat to his 23-year rule amid the war in Ukraine.
China and Russia feel blowback as NATO embraces Asia-Pacific allies
Watching Asia-Pacific leaders mingle with their European counterparts at the annual NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, U.S. strategists might well have lit up celebratory cigars.
Locked and loaded? $41.3B in U.S. military aid to Ukraine diminishes America’s weapons stockpiles
America’s guns are rapidly running out of ammunition, and there are serious questions about how quickly they can be reloaded.
