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Austal launched final Guardian-class Patrol Boat. Credit: Austal via LinkedIn. Austal has launched Hull 544, the final Guardian-class patrol boat built for Defence Australia’s Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement Project.   This vessel is the last in a programme that began in May 2017 and brings the total number of Guardian-class patrol boats produced to 24.   Discover B2B Marketing That Performs Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms. Find out more Since the outset, Austal has delivered 22 vessels to date, with each deployment intended to enhance maritime security throughout the Pacific region.  The new Guardian-class vessels are larger than…

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s unclassified version of the National Defense Strategy places the homeland as the department’s number one priority above the Indo-Pacific, and seemingly signals cuts to come to US forces in Europe and South Korea.  However, the document denies a push towards “isolationism” while calling for greater burden sharing from allies and increased investments in the defense industrial base. The NDS, which lays out how the Defense Department will follow the guidance of the National Security Strategy (NSS), is traditionally considered a foundational document for the Pentagon. But in a contrast with past releases, the department chose an…

Rep. Jeff Crank believes in the “Golden Dome” missile defense shield proposal — but worries that the U.S. risks missing its moment to pull it off as Congress awaits a blueprint from the White House.Crank, a Colorado Republican, launched the House Golden Dome Caucus last June with Rep. Dale Strong, R-Ala., saying the caucus would serve as an “educational clearinghouse” for lawmakers and staff seeking to understand the ambitious initiative and network better with the military and industry. He stressed that keeping to the ambitious game plan — that would have a prototype of the system ready by the end…

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org Air Combat Command will hold its distinguished William Tell Air-to-Air Weapons Meet in March after it was postponed last year. Hundreds of Airmen from ACC, Pacific Air Forces, and the Air National Guard competed in the last iteration of the competition in 2023, which ended a 19-year hiatus for the famous contest named after the Swiss folk hero and legendary archer. With a rich history dating back to the 1950s, the…

President Donald Trump has sparked global indignation by suggesting NATO troops avoided frontline combat, minimizing the sacrifice made by America’s allies during the war in Afghanistan.“We’ve never needed them,” Trump said of non-U.S. soldiers in a Fox Business interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday. “We have never really asked anything of them. You know, they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan or this or that. And they did. They stayed a little back, little off the frontlines.”Trump cast doubt on NATO’s commitment to the United States, questioning if the alliance would come to America’s defense…

Neurable, a consumer neurotechnology startup, has partnered with the Air Force to study whether electrode-studded headphones can track service members’ cognitive fitness, much like Garmin smartwatches have monitored Space Force members’ physical fitness, company and government officials said this month. The $1.2 million project adds to the Pentagon’s growing investment in the $3 billion market for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) — helmets, earbuds, other wearable devices and medical implants that use artificial intelligence to make sense of brain signals. Elon Musk’s Neuralink, perhaps the most high-profile implantable example, has enabled clinical trial patients who cannot move or speak to type words…

I was in southern Afghanistan in May 2014 when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated near me while covering a routine patrol as a public affairs specialist.It was something I had done a dozen times before, but in a flash I was on my back, ears ringing, lungs full of dust.The blast knocked me out cold. When I came to, nothing was where it had been. The explosion left me with a traumatic brain injury and partial deafness in my right ear, with tinnitus that still rings to this day. I deal with memory loss, light sensitivity and sudden moments…

Having confirmed Tesla will start charging $99 a month for supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD), CEO Elon Musk has told the faithful that the cost will rise “as FSD’s capabilities improve.” Musk revealed the plan on his social media mouthpiece, X (formerly Twitter), on January 23, a week after stating that the hands-free driving technology would shift from an $8,000 one-off payment to a subscription-only model in February. Tesla announced the change to a monthly subscription on January 14. It will shift to a subscription model for FSD on February 14, and Musk’s post indicates the $99 per month fee will…

The DESIR programme will develop technologies for sovereign French space radar imaging. Credit: © Loft Orbital/Thales Alenia Space/TEKEVER France. France’s National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), in collaboration with the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA), has selected Thales Alenia Space for the Démonstrateur des Éléments Souverains d’Imagerie Radar (DESIR) programme. Thales Alenia Space, which is a joint venture between Thales and Leonardo, will develop and deliver a radar payload and its user ground segment for this project. Discover B2B Marketing That Performs Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms. Find out more…

The TWZ Newsletter Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy. The U.S. is continuing to build up its military presence in the Middle East ahead of a possible attack on Iran. The USS Abraham Lincoln and its Carrier Strike Group (CSG) is now in the Indian Ocean, a U.S. Navy official told The War Zone on Thursday. The CSG was in the South China Sea until U.S. President Donald Trump ordered it moved west. In addition, more cargo jets and aerial refueling tankers have arrived in the region. Trump on Thursday said…