Breaking Defense

America is sailing through the Taiwan Strait less. Does it matter?

Allen Zhang and Charity Ihrman — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 18:00:00 +0000

A Heritage Foundation study shows a significant drop in Taiwan Strait transits by the US military under the second Trump administration.

Army picks M1 to lead Flight School Next pilot training program

Carley Welch — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 17:08:25 +0000

The announcement is the culmination of a months-long competition to win a contract worth up to $10 billion over the next three decades.

Army tells industry: Soldiers need more power, but don’t just offer batteries and generators

Carley Welch — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 15:48:31 +0000

As new drones, networks and weapons come online, the Army faces a power crunch that senior officials are asking industry to help solve. “And it’s not by buying more generators,” Brig. Gen. Troy Denomy, PAE for Maneuver, said.

Pentagon inks SM-3 framework deals with RTX, Boeing on critical components

Ashley Roque — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:55:00 +0000

The seven-year framework deals cover key SM-3 components including avionics and ejector assemblies.

Trump opens door for foreign-built Navy ships. It could get complicated.

Diana Stancy — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:02:00 +0000

President Donald Trump has called for the US to outsource the building of at least a few Navy ships to foreign shipyards.

CENTCOM launches multinational one-way attack drone force

Agnes Helou — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 13:26:22 +0000

The force “will employ one-way attack drones consisting of unmanned systems from above, on, and below the sea operated by military support staff from the United States and regional partners,” the command said.

Trump orders return of steam catapults on carriers, fifth public shipyard

Diana Stancy — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 21:49:57 +0000

The memo also called for the establishment of a new component repair center in an attempt to reduce submarine repair delays.

Priorities for Army fires top off SMD Day 3

Breaking Defense Video — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 21:48:40 +0000

Top news from the final day of the 2026 Space and Missile Defense Symposium.

Army gears up to ‘engage’ enemy surveillance satellites

Theresa Hitchens — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 20:32:07 +0000

The Army’s space superiority efforts are focused on countering adversary ISR satellites, as well as conducting “stratospheric warfare,” Col. Joe Mroszcyck told Breaking Defense.

Army fires community tackling four ‘capability gaps,’ including magazine depth

Ashley Roque — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 19:34:30 +0000

Brig. Gen. Robert Mikesh, charged with offensive fires, detailed a quadruple challenge — energetics and propulsion, targeting and seekers, the industrial base and “munitions breadth and depth.”

Day 3 of the 2026 Space and Missile Defense Symposium

Breaking Defense Staff — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 19:14:33 +0000

A final round of photos from around the show floor in Huntsville, Ala.

Polish Navy floats first frigate under major modernization program

Bartosz Głowacki — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:47:29 +0000

The frigate is scheduled to be delivered to the Polish Navy in 2029. Work on the second Miecznik-class frigate is ongoing.

Army’s Iron Horse brigade prepares to test M1E3, XM30 prototypes

Carley Welch — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 17:49:56 +0000

The Army could choose a winner late next spring after both the M1E3 and XM30 are operated by the Iron Horse brigade in a National Training Center rotation, an Army official told Breaking Defense.

On Asia trip, DoD policy chief has praise for AUKUS, and a warning for ‘middle powers’

Mike Yeo — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 16:27:24 +0000

Elbridge Colby said at the start of his multi-nation tour that his message would be “realistic and perhaps bracing, but also reassuring.”

AI’s next leap for the Intelligence Community: Agents managing agents

Barry Rosenberg — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:00:00 +0000

DIA, NGA and the FBI are building the infrastructure and guardrails needed for increasingly autonomous artificial intelligence.